by Angelique Toschi on January 11th, 2010
What if someone gave you the chance to start over? That is the question asked in the new lonelygirl15: The Show Is Yours Season 2 trailer. While knowing that this will have something to do with the mythology of the lonelygirl franchise, this is also a question that could be asked to anybody in their teens or older. We all have things we wish we had done differently, better, or not at all. There are always circumstances beyond our control that are not to our liking. Not one person can say that, given the chance, they wouldn’t want to “start over”.
By asking this question Austin McConnell, the producer of LG15: Outbreak and a dedicated lg15 community member, is making an immediate connection with his audience and allowing them to put themselves in his young protagonist’s shoes. By doing this there is hope that LG15: Outbreak not only will cater to the already established community of LG15 fans, but also to a wider, newer audience that has yet to be introduced to the mythology.
From the trailer alone it appears that LG15: Outbreak will be a return to the roots of lonelygirl15, which started with a girl vlogging from her bedroom. Although very little of the story has been revealed thus far, what has been seen has shown exceptional production quality, what can be assumed to be visuals of the main characters, and a lot of questions that will, hopefully, be answered as the story unfolds.
by Marc Hustvedt on December 30th, 2009
The Bannen Way continues to drum up anticipation with their latest promo video (above) out today. This time it’s all about co-creator Mark Gantt who stars as protag Neal Bannen, aka “The Man.” We are still wondering just what kind of “research” went into this role… [Crackle]
The Guild: Season Three DVD is now available for pre-orders on Amazon, and is 10% off through January 4th. It didn’t quite make it in time for Holiday wish lists, but it still will be loaded with Goodies for Guildies, like a making-of featurette of the “Do You Want to Date My Avatar” music video and Guild Applicant Rejects, How to Build Vork’s Sword and interviews with the Axis of Anarchy. [Amazon]
Top Chef reality chefs The Voltaggio Brothers may be out of Bravo’s TV limelight, but they are now taking the family kitchen antics online with the launch of their new web series in January. EQAL is producing the series and their Umbrella-based web site that recently launched. Is the EQAL team a bunch of foodies? This marks the second cooking-themed series from them after having launched Paula Deen’s Get Cookin’ earlier this year. [Eater]
The Halloween 2010 lineup is already taking shape it looks like with news that Jonathan Moody will be launching his new Scream Queen Campfire web series next October. No video available yet, but a Facebook group is live along with their plug: “5 beautiful scream queens will tell 2 stories each giving us 10 terrifying and entertaining stories in the series during a campfire.” [Dread Central]
Take 180 put out a new sneak peek at season 2 of I Heart Vampires (I <3 Vampires) (below) where head writer Julie Restivo Murphy walks through what to expect this season—like “a bigger badder vampire” on the scene and news that episodes will now come out weekly instead of bi-weekly. Season 2 will premiere in January. [YouTube]
by Marc Hustvedt on October 27th, 2009
It’s been about two months since the release of CSI-creator Anthony Zuiker’s cross-platform crime thriller, Level 26: Dark Origins, the first true integration of a novel with a companion web series. Finally today came the release of the Level 26 iPhone app and desktop movie through the iTunes App store, which actually marries the text and video all in one seamless experience.
Before this, readers of the 400-page book had to enter a printed code at the end of select chapters that would unlock the ‘cyber-bridge’ episodes, a process that even web video junkies found tedious. Though coining a new term with their “digi-novel,” the actual experience was still lacking any real innovation until now.
“The Level 26: Dark Origins App and iTunes Extras makes reading more entertaining than ever,” said Zuiker about the app release. “We’re delivering new levels of engagement way beyond mere white pages.”
Zuiker and his Dare to Pass team even applied for a trademark on the “digi-novel” term, which after an initial rejection from the USPTO, appears to have made it through on a supplemental approval. (The whole back-and-forth between Zuiker’s lawyers and the PTO is worth a read if you’re into that sort of thing.)
by Marc Hustvedt on September 10th, 2009
There’s nothing like a decent product giveaway to light up Twitter screens. Seriously, search for #LEVEL26 on Twitter lately and it’s a near constant stream of entries into a daily drawing for custom Level 26 HD Flip cams. Apparently despite all the backlash over so-called sponsored tweets, that eager young tweeters are still pushovers when it comes to giving away a decent gadget.
The 7-day contest, which runs through the 15th, is a promotion tied into the launch of Level 26: Dark Origins this week. The crime novel hit shelves on Tuesday and the eighteen corresponding 3-5 minute “cyberbridges” went live on the Level26.com site. From the mind of CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, the whole project is being called the world’s first Digi-Novel, essentially a combination of novel and web series woven together.
I had a chance to dive into this earlier this summer after a sneak preview release of the book and series at Comic-Con, and this isn’t your parents’ CSI in book form. Squeegel, the salacious killer on which the story centers, only becomes creepier when firing up the cyberbridge episodes and seeing human contortion you didn’t know was possible.
by Marc Hustvedt on August 19th, 2009
I’m a little over halfway through an advanced copy of Anthony E. Zuiker’s novel Level 26 that was given out at Comic-Con last month. And I can honestly say that this latex wearing contortionist killer (”Sqweegel”) has officially creeped me out. It’s one thing when you read a crime novel and are limited to your own mind’s imagery of the twisted killings. But when you mix that with interstitial video episodes, you get those perverse contorting images burned into your retinas. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Zuiker, most known for creating the megahit procedural crime drama franchise CSI, has made the move into two mediums he hasn’t touched—publishing and web television. Ok, it’s really three if you count his surprisingly formidable start to his blogging career on the Level 26 site. It’s everything you don’t normally get from Hollywood players—refreshingly candid and actively updated by the man himself.
His attention to the web series’ production shows, and Zuiker’s TV background is not lost on the 20-episode series. He shot on the RED camera and cast professionals, recognizable faces like Michael Ironside, Daniel Buran, Kevin Weisman and Bill Duke. And to really sell the creepiness of his uber-killer, he found actor (and world record holding contortionist) Daniel Browning Smith to play Sqweegel. He even brought on fashion designer Marc Ecko to go the book cover art and even a special edition t-shirt.
by Marc Hustvedt on July 30th, 2009
Web studio EQAL, which now likes to call itself a social entertainment company, is taking a big step into the platform game today. The company announced today (at Twiistup in Los Angeles) it is rolling out a consumer version of their core social website platform that they are calling Umbrella.
This tool will allow independent producers, celebrity talent and online personalities to create their own Web site and develop an audience on the Internet using the same enterprise-grade platform that powers EQAL’s premium partner Web sites, but with simplified publishing and a clean, user-friendly management interface. (from the annoucement)
These guys built their brand around creating not only the first breakout episodic drama (lonelygirl15) but the social community that formed around it.
by Daisy Whitney on July 9th, 2009
The media agency Digitas is doing its part to ferry more money into the Web video business. It expects to book about 10 new advertising deals stemming from the “NewFront” Web video showcase it hosted along with its visit to the Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival, both early June.
Buoyed by that success, the agency will now bring a smaller version of the NewFront to its regional offices and advertisers around the country starting this week. Joining Digitas in the mini road show will be DECA, EQAL, Next New Networks, blip.tv, CBS Interactive, CAA, Reveille and others, said John McCarus, VP and ground director for brand content at the Third Act, the branded entertainment arm of the media agency. Most of those companies were also presenters at the NewFront.
by Marc Hustvedt on July 9th, 2009
The trailer to Level 26:Dark Origins, the new digi-novel web series from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker was released today. The series, announced in March, is a prequel for Zuiker’s upcoming crime novel Level 26, which is being published by Dutton for release September 8th.
EQAL, the web studio behind lonelygirl15, KateModern and Harper’s Globe was tapped to develop the online experience for the series. Production of the series itself is being handled by Zuiker and his team as part of a seven-figure multi-series deal signed with Dutton last year.
The series is basically 20 “cyber-bridges,” written and directed by Zuiker, which are short two-minute episodes that follow the book’s narrative. With a new cyber bridge every five chapters, readers will have to register at the Level26 site and enter a code from the book to view videos, audio files and photos.
