"Using your experiences on this project and relating your programmes to other webisodes you have researched, discuss how taking account of the online audience affects the process of showing creative work"
Our project is called show project, for it I would make and distribute a micro-series online - webisode. Micro-series on television and radio have a lot of disadvantages, while online distribution has a lot of advantages, for example; publishing work online give anyone with an internet instant access to the material, this gives the video an instant audience. Without the internet publishing videos as a student with such a wide audience for free would have been next to impossible. Other media types such as photography have been given the same treatment, you can upload photos sites such as Flickr for a more artistic pictures while other websites for social networking such as Facebook give you a chance to share pciture of yourself, friends and social events such as gigs or parties. For videos you can upload it to public broadcasting websites like youtube or vimeo. With these sites anybody can publish their work as long as they have access to the internet and a video camera. This is why the internet has changed the world.
I mentioned Facebook earlier, this website was our main outlet for information around my webisodes, such as details on shoots, character updates when and where my episodes were being punlished, but the main purpose was a fan site. I chose Facebook over other websites such as Myspace because Facebook is more commonly used by a wider range of people from all ages to race, there aren't many people I know who don't have facebook, even my Grandma and Granddad use it. I said ealier about uploading photos to Facebook, you can also upload Videos which Facebook users can then comment on. These comments were important to us as I could take on board the viewers feedback, both positive and negative, I could then make changes to the episodes on how the viewers felt.
Facebook is also home to other webseries such as 'Living with the Infidels' or 'The guild'. The Guild unlike our webseries has been going for alot longer, a much wider fan base and in my opinion a much better weseries. They have even managed to get promotional finance from Microsoft due to growth in technoligies you can now download and view films and videos from Xbox live for the Xbox 360 such as The Guild. This asks the question; Why has The Guild stuck with Facebook and not branched out further? Facebook is much more personal than a website, users can comment on the The Guilds page, on photos and videos and you are more likely to stumble upon a facebook page rather than a website. While a website a user may not feel they are going to get heard.
Due to the project being a student project, there were things I could and couldn't do due to working to a client (our teacher). Such as length and having the class logo after the video, but other rules came later; after I finished my first episode I realised there was a lot of swearing, due to this the teacher decided there were to be no swearing so I could show my work to other students and teaching officials, this included other offensive material for example gore or sexual references. Due to this I had to bleep out swearing before the first episode was uploaded, this was immediately picked upon by my audience and myself and both thought it sounded ridiculous for this reason I decided to cut out any form of swearing as I didn't want to use bleeps, this turned out well and the audience responded well.
The audience also helped me in my work for the opening credits, I wanted to make something creative and up to date, I used whip cuts and music from current artists, one being The Avalanches. I also tried to create a title logo which involved current media, for exmaple graffiti, but then I wanted to go for a more professional look this is why I decided to research other episodes and their titles.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Question and Answer time with the Producer
are you happy with the 3 episodes of the webseries we made for you?
I am happy with the improved quality through the 3 series but i am very dissapointed by the lack of keeping to deadlines. this would have caused a number of serious issues were this a commercial brief. the episodes were too long as well. the third episode was the right length.
after interviewing members of the audeince, they said that they liked the second episodes length which was 4.30. they said that episode 3 was too short. what are your thoughts on that?
i'm glad that the audience responded well to the length but i still believe that it could have been shorter. on television there's a specific slot for a series. if the slot was 30minutes, the episode couldn't have been any longer. i suppose online it's different because you don't have the specific time gaps.
do you like the idea of the series, the fact that it's in a detention room?
i think the concept is very strong and i have been very excited by the idea from the beginning. i feel the first episode did not do justice to the concept but the last episode has a much stronger appeal.
what didn't you like about the series?
the bad language and needless aggression in the first episode. i liked the fact that you changed the offensive language into more inventive expressions of rage for the other episodes.
what did you like about the series?
The title sequence is very good, both in terms of genre conventions and technical ability. the whip cutting was very effective. i enjoyed the more surreal elements of the third episode as well.
what did you think of the characters, and the acting?
i thought matt hornby's performance and character consistently amusing. the other acting improved over time.
we missed deadlines and the lengths of the episodes you werent happy with either, but what could we have done better?
communicated better and looked out for each other more to ensure everything was completed to time and to a high enough standard.
if we made a fourth episode, what would you like us to include, and how would you like us to go about it?
continue in the slightly surreal, mighty-boosh like direction you have begun to take.
I am happy with the improved quality through the 3 series but i am very dissapointed by the lack of keeping to deadlines. this would have caused a number of serious issues were this a commercial brief. the episodes were too long as well. the third episode was the right length.
after interviewing members of the audeince, they said that they liked the second episodes length which was 4.30. they said that episode 3 was too short. what are your thoughts on that?
i'm glad that the audience responded well to the length but i still believe that it could have been shorter. on television there's a specific slot for a series. if the slot was 30minutes, the episode couldn't have been any longer. i suppose online it's different because you don't have the specific time gaps.
do you like the idea of the series, the fact that it's in a detention room?
i think the concept is very strong and i have been very excited by the idea from the beginning. i feel the first episode did not do justice to the concept but the last episode has a much stronger appeal.
what didn't you like about the series?
the bad language and needless aggression in the first episode. i liked the fact that you changed the offensive language into more inventive expressions of rage for the other episodes.
what did you like about the series?
The title sequence is very good, both in terms of genre conventions and technical ability. the whip cutting was very effective. i enjoyed the more surreal elements of the third episode as well.
what did you think of the characters, and the acting?
i thought matt hornby's performance and character consistently amusing. the other acting improved over time.
we missed deadlines and the lengths of the episodes you werent happy with either, but what could we have done better?
communicated better and looked out for each other more to ensure everything was completed to time and to a high enough standard.
if we made a fourth episode, what would you like us to include, and how would you like us to go about it?
continue in the slightly surreal, mighty-boosh like direction you have begun to take.
Executive Producer Questions
are you happy with the 3 episodes of the webseries we made for you?
do you like the idea of the series, the fact that it's in a detention room?
what didn't you like about the series?
what did you like about the series?
what did you think of the characters, and the acting?
we missed deadlines and the lengths of the episodes you werent happy with either, but what could we have done better?
if we made a fourth episode, what would you like us to include, and how would you like us to go about it?
do you like the idea of the series, the fact that it's in a detention room?
what didn't you like about the series?
what did you like about the series?
what did you think of the characters, and the acting?
we missed deadlines and the lengths of the episodes you werent happy with either, but what could we have done better?
if we made a fourth episode, what would you like us to include, and how would you like us to go about it?
Focus Group Interview - Transcript
interview of focus group - written up.
INTERVIEWER: What are you initial thoughts and feelings of the micro-series?It was comedy, and it was one of those things that you could watch again because its not bad bad, but its kind of bad good. Like, it knows it's bad, but it makes it good. Like with the editing and stuff.
They developed, the characters, as it went on. I thought the second episode was better than the first, and the 3rd one. There was a lot more comedy and action to it.
I think the girl should have been in it more because she was just there and she didn't really do anything.
I think the first one focused more on the development of the characters. Just introducing them separately. Then the second one had a story base, and then the third one is just kind of random. It was just trippy and 'getting high' for no apparant reason until the end.
INTERVIEWER: What do you think of the characters and their interactions?
Josh's character (Chris) It might have been the shot type, but it just felt like he had been pasted in there.
INTERVIEWER: The idea was that the characters in each episode didn't really notice he was there because he was kind of in the back of the room.
I really liked Keith's character. But I didn't really like the girls character, but thats because she didn't really do much. But my favourite character is keith, and I liked Sonny, and Pier. They're probably joint second.
You had a good range of characters, and they weren't the same or anything which was good.
And they were really different which was good.
INTERVIEWER: Do you prefer the first, second or third episode and why?
The second one, because it didn't have all the hassle of the first one and the third one was just a bit confusing.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think it worked though?
I think the effect was to confuse the audience which worked, but it was just a bit weird and random. In terms of story-line.
INTERVIEWER: So did you prefer the second one?
I did prefer the second one but I got what was happening in the third one.
I prefered the second one. I though the first episode was too long and the thrid one was too short.
INTERVIEWER: Was the episode structure for the second and third episodes better than the first?
It flowed better than the first one.
INTERVIEWER: What do you think of the fan page on Facebook?
I havent seen a lot of it so far but from what I've seen i think it's good. I like the idea of posting things from the characters perspectives.
Yes, it gives you more of an insight into the characters.
I like the fan page, it's quite simple, but effective. It does keep it interesting, like you said about the characters posting things. It keeps the background story going for the web-series.
INTERVIEWER: The target audience was people our age. 16-21. Do you think Facebook is a good place for a fan page?
Yeah, definitely.
INTERVIEWER: Do you all have facebook?
(All four) Yes
INTERVIEWER: What do you think could be improved for the next episode if we made one?
Development of the second episode.I think you should cut out the swearing because it's just like a beep a minute. I know it was just in the first one but it was just like beep after beep after beep.
I'd quite like the same setting as the second one, but with a different story-line and different characters.Maybe have one or two main characters, and then rotate the other characters around. So you get to see the old characters, like the audience favourites, but then you get to see their new reactions with the new characters.
INTERVIEWER: What are the good and bad points of the episodes? Let's start with the first one...
It was too long, and too much swearing. The good points were that it managed to establish a good base for the episodes to start on, and it wasn't too tiresome that you couldn't watch it again.I think the first one introduced the characters well. There was too much swearing though, it was just beep, beep, beep.
I think you focus the humour too much on Keith going crazy at the beginning. Apart from the Frijj bit which was really funny. Good word play, but I found that there were the two funny bits, you need to stretch the comedy out. I found myself waiting the whole episode for the Frijj joke. There should be more.
INTERVIEWER: What about the second one?
I really liked the second one. It was funny and it had a good story.
I liked it too, and throughout all three of the episodes, the characters managed to stay the same which was good. Sometimes in television series the characters change. They're nice one time and then they're really horrible the next but your characters didn't change.
The only bad point was when you looked at the camera and when the teacher was at the door. But every time I see that it makes me laugh anyway.
INTERVIEWER: What about the third one then?
It was too short, I got the idea you were trying to create an element of confusion but it kind of gave it away a bit with the title so maybe something a little bit more criptic could have worked better.
I didn't like the teachers acting. She was smiling too much about the fact that theres been a gas leak.
INTERVIEWER: Who is your favourite character?
I'd have to say Sonny, your character. it just made me laugh the way he kept hitting people. It was just one of those things I, personally, found hilarious.
Little things please little minds...[Laughs]
I just really liked your reactions.I liked Keith.I liked the one who kept trying to escape, Pier.
INTERVIEWER: Did you think the acting was good?
I think the acting was good for all the characters.
INTERVIEWER: What did you think of vince as a character?
It felt as if he was just stuck on there to fill screen time because he kind of just sat there and said something every now and then.I think he's one of those characters that doesn't really do or say much but hes a part of it. And makes the whole thing whole.
INTERVIEWER: What makes the micro-series watchable?
Humour, slapstick humour. Nonsense really. Silly stuff.The comedic stuff. The way it was random, but good random.
It was just really funny.
Group Self-appraisal
As a group I felt we all did well working together, we all knew our roles and all entered into the show project with creativity though there were breakdowns in communication and organisation. We missed the deadline for Episode 1 and 3. This was mostly due to shoot locations being double booked etc. One of our shoots was also disrupted due to a class meeting. The final episode was previewed on vimeo on the airing date and on the next day we aired the finished episode.
DETENTION DEFICIT
EPISODE 1: episode late but all model release forms signed before airing
EPISODE 2: deadline met but model release forms not signed
EPISODE 3: episode unfinished and model release forms not signed
EPISODE 1: episode late but all model release forms signed before airing
EPISODE 2: deadline met but model release forms not signed
EPISODE 3: episode unfinished and model release forms not signed
Much of the time there was only one person exporting videos, as lesson would have finished one person would volunteer to do it. This wasn't the best way to approach the situation as we should have been more organised and been exporting before the end of the lesson. I was not part of the editing team but on one occassion I offered to sit with Hayden who was exporting till he finished but he said he was fine.
Before the current group, when it was a class project, I don't believe we would have succesfully and enjoyably made 3 webisodes. By being split up in to two we gained one thing; competition. I believe this was and is the main reason we held together as a group as we were determined to do better than the other team, though we went about it the wrong way, for example we wanted to make a better webisode rather than concentrate on the paperwork etc, which is what really counts. Towards the end we were doing better at paperwork, blogging and still managed to make some better webisodes.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Focus Group Questions
what are your initial thoughts and feelings on the webseries?
what do you think of the characters and their interactions?
do you prefer the 1st, 2nd or 3rd episode? and why is that?
was changing the episode structure for the 2nd and 3rd episodes a good idea? was it better than the 1st episode?
do you think the episode lengths are suitable for a webseries?
what do you think of the fan page? is facebook a suitable place for the fan page?
what do you think could be improved for the next episode if we made one?
what are the good and bad points of each episode?
who is your favourite character?
what makes this webseries watchable?
what do you think of the characters and their interactions?
do you prefer the 1st, 2nd or 3rd episode? and why is that?
was changing the episode structure for the 2nd and 3rd episodes a good idea? was it better than the 1st episode?
do you think the episode lengths are suitable for a webseries?
what do you think of the fan page? is facebook a suitable place for the fan page?
what do you think could be improved for the next episode if we made one?
what are the good and bad points of each episode?
who is your favourite character?
what makes this webseries watchable?
Focus Group
Today I am going to interview some people and find out what they thought of the webseries, 'Detention Deficit'. I'm going to show them the fan page and show them each episode. Then I've arranged a series of questions to ask them to get some non-bias feedback.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Script Episode 3
script for episode 3 - gas leak
pier: why are you always getting at me? your always around me. where is the pen? vince! (pause) your always, like getting at me. i just cant stand it, the one time..
sonny: (interrupts) well think of a desent plan then and i'll stop getting at you.
pier: i just cant think of a plan, like, what the hell. (looks at keith)
sonny: you are such a vegetarian
shot of keith looking really 'out of it'. sonny and pier stare at him unable to figure out whats up with him. vince goes to see if he's okay.
vince: what seems to be the matter keith?
keith: i have eaten a rare amasoneon coffee bean. (sticks head up while talking and then continues looking around the room)
vince: aah, i see where you're going
shot of vince is from keiths perspective. everythings colourful and morphing.
sonny: what are you two talking about?
pier: yea, what are you two talking about?
vince and keith are talking in gibberish and sonny and pier can't make out what their saying.
sonny: am i missing something here?
pier and sonny look confused at eachother and then continue looking at vince and keith. damien walks through the door
damien: alright guys
keith: aah, cheif. (rubs face paint on his face to look like a red indian. the face paint magically appears with no explanation of why its there) get this spirit out of me
the next shot is of damien but he looks like cheif from 'one flew over the kookoos nest'
fade out
the next scene is where everyone is forming a vitual around keith. keith is lying on the table in the middle of the class chanting something. damien transorms into cheif again. pier is sitting on a table with sonny lying on him.
pier: sonny, do you remember the other day, when, when we were locked in the classroom and i tried to get out the door. and you.
sonny: i smashed your head, i smashed your head
pier: you smashed my head
sonny and pier laugh histerically
next scene everyone is dancing round keith like it's an actual ritual. all the characters have changed their appearance slightly. clothes torn and swapping clothes etc.
after a while a teacher walks in the door looking worried
teacher: oh my god, are you alright, i can't believe you're still alive.
everyone stops dancing and everyone looks normal again though their appearance is the same. basically, they look a mess.
teacher: there's been a massive gas leak
everyone collapses due to the gas they've been breathing in.
fade out
pier: why are you always getting at me? your always around me. where is the pen? vince! (pause) your always, like getting at me. i just cant stand it, the one time..
sonny: (interrupts) well think of a desent plan then and i'll stop getting at you.
pier: i just cant think of a plan, like, what the hell. (looks at keith)
sonny: you are such a vegetarian
shot of keith looking really 'out of it'. sonny and pier stare at him unable to figure out whats up with him. vince goes to see if he's okay.
vince: what seems to be the matter keith?
keith: i have eaten a rare amasoneon coffee bean. (sticks head up while talking and then continues looking around the room)
vince: aah, i see where you're going
shot of vince is from keiths perspective. everythings colourful and morphing.
sonny: what are you two talking about?
pier: yea, what are you two talking about?
vince and keith are talking in gibberish and sonny and pier can't make out what their saying.
sonny: am i missing something here?
pier and sonny look confused at eachother and then continue looking at vince and keith. damien walks through the door
damien: alright guys
keith: aah, cheif. (rubs face paint on his face to look like a red indian. the face paint magically appears with no explanation of why its there) get this spirit out of me
the next shot is of damien but he looks like cheif from 'one flew over the kookoos nest'
fade out
the next scene is where everyone is forming a vitual around keith. keith is lying on the table in the middle of the class chanting something. damien transorms into cheif again. pier is sitting on a table with sonny lying on him.
pier: sonny, do you remember the other day, when, when we were locked in the classroom and i tried to get out the door. and you.
sonny: i smashed your head, i smashed your head
pier: you smashed my head
sonny and pier laugh histerically
next scene everyone is dancing round keith like it's an actual ritual. all the characters have changed their appearance slightly. clothes torn and swapping clothes etc.
after a while a teacher walks in the door looking worried
teacher: oh my god, are you alright, i can't believe you're still alive.
everyone stops dancing and everyone looks normal again though their appearance is the same. basically, they look a mess.
teacher: there's been a massive gas leak
everyone collapses due to the gas they've been breathing in.
fade out
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Episode Two Feedback - Negative
This is the more negative feedback for episode 2, some of which is constructive others being quite vindictive and bitter. This is due to the competition between our two groups.
This is the constructive Feedback:
The first negative feedback is the Trapped title too short. At the start of the episode after the opening credits it is silent, it was mentioned that it would be better if there was back ground sound or music. The sound quality was also still slightly poor.
There was a shot in which it was cut mid sentence and the close up of James face is also out of place. More variation in shots as most were Mid shots.
There was a lack of continuity in the change of rooms, this was due to a lack of free rooms in Long Road. The new character Chris was unexplained and Kieth, Haydens character looked like he was laughing in a shot, out of character, also Haydens shots didn't flow and Kieth is just annoying (even though this is in Negative feedback, I find this an accomplishment for the group, the actor (Hayden) and character choice, this is because the character description was - Annoying Caffiene Addict - so if the audience find Keith annoying then the character and actor was successful). We were also told that the acting is over confident, this again I don't fully understand as when acting you need to be confident or it wont look realistic, I can understand where they maybe coming from as in some places the acting doesn't need to be as exadurated as it is.
The episode was still too long even after cuts.
This is the constructive Feedback:
The first negative feedback is the Trapped title too short. At the start of the episode after the opening credits it is silent, it was mentioned that it would be better if there was back ground sound or music. The sound quality was also still slightly poor.
There was a shot in which it was cut mid sentence and the close up of James face is also out of place. More variation in shots as most were Mid shots.
There was a lack of continuity in the change of rooms, this was due to a lack of free rooms in Long Road. The new character Chris was unexplained and Kieth, Haydens character looked like he was laughing in a shot, out of character, also Haydens shots didn't flow and Kieth is just annoying (even though this is in Negative feedback, I find this an accomplishment for the group, the actor (Hayden) and character choice, this is because the character description was - Annoying Caffiene Addict - so if the audience find Keith annoying then the character and actor was successful). We were also told that the acting is over confident, this again I don't fully understand as when acting you need to be confident or it wont look realistic, I can understand where they maybe coming from as in some places the acting doesn't need to be as exadurated as it is.
The episode was still too long even after cuts.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Episode Two Feedback - Positive
In todays lesson I watched our Webisode with the rest of the class and both gave feed back on our show. This is the more positive feedback. Our new character, Chris, was a hit and gave a bit of diversity to the characters. My character Vince was also a hit, some one even said he was 'Awesome' this goes hand in hand with another comment in which my acting was praised, another character Pier was also said to be much better in this episode. The teacher in the last shot was said to add to the comedic effect. Acting overall was better than episode one with a spectacular fake punch. The script and story line was funnier, well written and due to it being shorter was much better, there was much more interaction between characters and no swearing, so no annoying bleeps, instead the abusive terms were much more witty. The location and setting also improved as we managed to get hold of a proper class room, with one comment on the colours on the class room wall was better. Camera work, cinematography and editing were all much better, cuts were varied slow and fast. Fades and transitions also improved. Finally one comment says Much better than episode 1.
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