WEBISODE? Is webisode the right term for your webseries episodes? Or does it denigrate your work?

Reposting this because it has disappeared from my search blog box when I had to change my storygas URL...

(Original post HERE)

GREAT discussion on twitter over the term "WEBISODE" found via @richardhartley



From Eric Mortensen
Bio director of content development @ blip.tv. beginner thereminist. cookie thief.

Please stop using the word #webisode. Is that really the message you want to send? Wannabe TV episode? Don't denigrate your work.



Here's Eric Mortensen's side of the conversation... (most recent first)
(Apologies, but you have to read below in two halves, and backwards... How's that for handy. Some really interesting tweets in here though)...


@AnthonyDeLosa Perhaps we'll have this discussion in person someday.

@AnthonyDeLosa So, to bring us back a few steps..does #webisode mean interactive? Does it mean something broader than TV?

@AnthonyDeLosa The web is largely where it's watched for now.Absolutely.But things change fast and thinking only in terms of Web = mistake.

@AnthonyDeLosa There's still a lot of work to do. An INSANE amount of work. But if the next 5 move as quickly as the last 5? BLAMMO!

@AnthonyDeLosa We've been grappling with that for 5 years now. This industry has moved forward at an astonishing rate over that time.

@AnthonyDeLosa We've been delivering web series to Sony TVs for 3 years now. Roku,Tivo,AppleTV, too. Content comes from the web, not to it

@AnthonyDeLosa But "web series" isn't about where it's watched. It's where it comes from. Why would someone make something just for the web?

@AnthonyDeLosa I have issues with "web series" and "indie music", too. But I see the logic there. They serve a purpose for the time being.

@AnthonyDeLosa Web series tells you where content comes from. It's sorta like "indie music". Webisode suggests "not quite a real episode".

@AnthonyDeLosa But who is looking webisodes? Who is looking to be entertained, but *only* by "webisodes"? What viewer even uses that word?

@nicolespag I really don't understand the word's purpose. I wonder who was the first to use it.

Head over to @podictionary for more on the word "episode". http://podictionary.com/?p=170

"Episode" has been used in everything from Greek tragedies to Who Wants To Marry a Millioinaire. It's the right word for your show, too.

###



And on the other side of the chat... @anthonydelosa
Anthony DeLosa
Creator: Neighborhood Watch @TheHollywood Web Series

(most recent comments first)

@ericmortensen Thanks for an interesting discussion. One thing I can absolutely agree on, without a doubt there is a lot of work to do.

@ericmortensen experiences and worlds unique to the web not inferior versions of TV shows. I think there will always be a place for that.

@ericmortensen Whenever I look at web shows I ask "why does this exist on the web and not on TV?" I'm interested in creating interactive

@ericmortensen But does the average person view that way? How long before they do? Have to meet the capability of the average user.

@ericmortensen I think web series is where it's watched. If there is interaction and requires use of the keyboard that's where it needs 2 B

@ericmortensen I feel as an industry "WebTV" fails to let the average person know it exists and where to find it.

@ericmortensen Either you go to the audience or you hope the audience somehow finds you. Not just on the show level but on the ind. level.

@ericmortensen I always go back to hulu. They have the most known IP in the world but took to TV to tell people where to find it online.

@ericmortensen I think there will always be content made just 4 the web. That viewers aren't looking 4 is because they don't know about it.

@ericmortensen I can see where using web series and webisiode would be redundant. Fair enough.

@ericmortensen I have no love for the term but "web series episode"-"webisode", "tomatoe"-"tomatoh" IMO

@ericmortensen You could never just use episode by itself. You'd have to preface it with web series anyway which is the same as webisode.

@ericmortensen Where discovery is enemy#1 webisode is necessary. It makes it clear that it is an episode of something made for the web.

###

I hate the term 'webisode', but not as much as the term Web TV, which really does feel backward looking, and inaccurate (for failing to distinguish TV episodes merely uploaded from interactive storytelling)...

...but only because the word 'webisode' feels ugly and pretentious. But as Anthony says,

Where discovery is enemy#1 webisode is necessary. It makes it clear that it is an episode of something made for the web.

Someone out there must have a better term?
(we don't call TV programmes "films")
(for our friends in the US: we don't call TV programs "movies")

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Lost creator JJ Abrams on How To Write For Mystery Shows - #webseries

Reposting this because it has disappeared from my blog search in my great storygas URL loss of '11

Original post here

----

Huge thanks to http://www.twitter.com/toodlepip of Chinwag.com for putting me on to this.

It's been up since January 2008, - but this isn't a news site, just a collection of useful cool stuff for web series writers, producers, and fans.

J.J. Abrams traces his love for the unseen mystery –- a passion that’s evident in his films and TV shows, including Cloverfield, Lost, Alias and the new Star Trek -- back to its magical beginnings.

From TED.com:-

So the amazing thing was, we were able to do this thing. And part of that was the amazing availability of technology, knowing we could do anything. I mean, we could never have done that. We might have been able to write it; we wouldn't have been able to depict it like we did. And so part of the amazing thing for me is in the creative process, technology is, like, mind-blowingly inspiring to me. I realize that that blank page is a magic box. You know? It needs to be filled with something fantastic.

MORE HERE:-
http://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box.html

AUDIO AS MP3 TO DESKTOP:-
http://www.ted.com/talks/download/audio/125/talk/205

HERE'S ONE FINAL INSPIRING EXTRACT:-

The most incredible sort of mystery, I think, is now the question of what comes next. Because it is now democratized. So now, the creation of media is -- it's everywhere. The stuff that I was lucky and begging for to get when I was a kid is now ubiquitous.

And so, there's an amazing sense of opportunity out there. And when I think of the filmmakers who exist out there now who would have been silenced, you know -- who have been silenced in the past -- it's a very exciting thing.

I used to say in classes and, you know, lectures and stuff, that -- to someone who wants to write, "Go! Write! Do your thing." It's free, you know, you don't need permission to go write. But now I can say, "Go make your movie!"

There's nothing stopping you from going out there and getting the technology. You can lease, rent, buy stuff off the shelf that is either as good, or just as good, as the stuff that's being used by the, you know, quote unquote "legit people."

No community is best served when only the elite have control. And I feel like this is an amazing opportunity to see what else is out there.

And here's one of the videos J.J. Abrams plays in his presentation: car chased by a plane on the road.





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Webseries Storytelling - The Ludic Marker (Letting your fans know its a web series?)

Via the awesomeWebSeries Today
Great blog post on this very specific aspect of online storytelling, written by Tom Liljeholm

The uncanny valley of Transmedia Storytelling

The ludic marker was a way to inform participants that they were taking part of something fictional. There were three main ways to create a ludic marker;

•The popup disclaimer, leaving websites themselves intact and ‘unharmed’ by the not-so-seamless conducts.

•The constant marker, putting a symbol, logo or other common denominator on all pages and content, making sure that when participants understood that they were in fact playing a game, they would not have to doubt weather or not new content was a part of the experience or not.

•The spectacular setting, where the story was simply so unbelievable that it had to be obvious that it was not real.

I have seen a growing trend of making transmedia experiences ‘seamless’. A lot of people seem to think that immersion can only be achieved when people actually think that a story is real. I am here to tell you why you are wrong and why that is bad.

MORE HERE:- http://tea4twoentertainment.tumblr.com/post/6520633671/the-uncanny-valley-of-transmedia-storytelling

Tom Liljeholm on TWITTER @tomliljeholm

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Augmented Reality - AR at the Sheffield Childrens Media Conference 2011 #tcmc

AUGMENTED REALITY
Combining live video feeds (eg webcam) with computer code to generate the AR.

Got some great links to examples of Augmented Reality at the Sheffield Children's Media Conference 2011 #tcmc...

AUGMENTED PLANET BLOG
http://www.augmentedplanet.com


@scottboxx on Augmented Reality: "Dont bother doing an AR app without including a save, send or share option"- Here are some links he put us on to:



Zooburst - 3D books you hold and turn
(StoryGas blogpost here)
http://www.zooburst.com



GI Joe Dojo - video yourself fighting
www.gijoedojo.com




Word Lens - LIVE text translation through your cameraphone
www.questvisual.com

Introducing Word Lens




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comedysale​.com - Is this a UK based web comedy series? #webseries

While we're all wondering how to monetise web content... have a look at how Sanderson Jones is web-contenting his monetised live event.

Maybe we could technically look at this as a form of web series?

It's a blur between the brand and the content - the idea is the content.

FROM www.comedysale.com

Hello I’m Sanderson Jones, and this is the first step in my mission to personally sell all the tickets to a massive gig in October. The idea started at the Edinburgh Fringe festival last year, when I sold tickets to my own stand up show on the street. Having once been a door-to-door salesman in the South of France (considerably less like a porn film than you’d think), chatting to festival goers enjoying themselves in the sun was a cinch and, even better, was playing to a crowd of folk I’d met before.

Doing gigs where I’d personally begged/persuaded the vast majority of the audience to come, crossed some weird boundary of intimacy (not weird like that). Clearly mystical juju takes place when the balance of power is altered, like a million souls crying out at once. As the festival continued a few thoughts coalesced into this idea (creativity in action!): if I could sell that many tickets to 25 shows, wouldn’t it be even more ridiculous to sell all the tickets to one big show?

Yes. Yes it would.

MORE HERE:- www.comedysale.com

ComedySale.Com: An Introduction



This is me explaining ComedySale.Com. It's part-website, part-mission as I try to personally sell all 500 tickets to a one off stand up show (performed by me) at the Union Chapel. I have to personally sell all the tickets: no internet sales, no venue sales, no phone sales.

Sanderson Jones on TWITTER @comedysale

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MUVIZU - Free 3D animation program for non artists/animators

Came across this at the Sheffield Children's Media Conference 2011 #tcmc...



FREE download software that allows anyone(!) to make their own 3D CG cartoon.

http://www.muvizu.com

Can't animate? Won't animate? No problem
- Make animated clips in minutes, or maybe hours, but definitely not months
- Post directly to YouTube from within the app
- Make characters lip-sync to your dialogue tracks

We set out to create software, free for non-commercial use, that would allow anyone with decent hardware to create 3D animated videos. They wouldn't need expensive software and they wouldn't have to spend a few years in college learning animation - and then take further courses in modelling and rigging.

Direct, don't animate
Upload dialogue and direct your actors' performances. Just tell them: "Give me anger", "Give me joy", "Give me fear". With Muvizu 3D, you're in the chair.

Muvizu 3D has thousands of blocks and props to scale and customise. Upload your images and video to incorporate into the scene.

Muvizu Trailer




Tutorial 02: Muvizu basics




Tutorial 06: Creating characters




GHOST HOUSE (made with Muvizu)

Ghost House Ep1: The Phantom Premise (Muvizu/Unreal Engine 3 Machinima)




Ghost House EP 7: Red Ring of Death




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On how to write a hit song... how does it apply to writing a hit web series?

Saw this article by Helienne Lindvall in the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/jul/14/how-to-write-a-hit-song

This might be wrong, but a few key sentences leapt out.

"Most people don't realise that, even for successful writers, the good-v-great ratio is low: Guy Chambers (songwriter behind Robbie Williams's best-loved anthems) has written more than 1,000 songs in the last 15 years..."

So that's 1000 songs in 15 years.

= 66 songs per year.

= 5.5 songs per month.

= about 4-6 minutes of polished material per week.


The music writing process is different, but not light years away from writing screenplay.

So maybe we should go a little easier on ourselves about the quantities we generate each week?

"...most writers would agree it's necessary to write non-hits to get to the nuggets. As with athletes, it's important to exercise the writing muscle."

You might also like this set of Ira Glass videos I linked to way back when.


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THE PRO SHOW - UK Comedy Web Series #webseries

Meet the characters in this, the first instalment of what Gandhi called "The Greatest Show on Earth." Find out how through sheer tenacity, Charlie and Geoff (Sabian) both find their way into Beth and Ollie's flat. Meet the people you are about to spend the rest of your life watching.

THE PRO SHOW HOME SITE HERE


The Pro Show Episode 1: Part 1




The Pro Show Episode 1: Part 2




The Pro Show Episode 2
In the second Episode, Geoff (Sabian) takes Ollie and Beth's date night as an opportunity to seduce a Christian woman by whining and dining her. In the meantime Charlie struggles to talk sense into his annoying friend Eugiene. Together they try to salvage Eugiene's failing Master League.




The Pro Show Episode 3
The penultimate episode sees things get darker, nuttier, bigger, better and uncutter. Things take a turn for the worse in the house. Be prepared to take the good with the evil.




THE PRO SHOW YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE

THE PRO SHOW on FACEBOOK



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Sheffield Childrens Media Conference 2011 #tcmc - Great links for Apps

Here are some useful links that came up at the Sheffield Children's Media Conference 2011 #tcmc...

CHILDREN'S APPS - INNOVATION SHOWCASE: A Tale of Three Apps
3 examples of small companies doing it for themselves, and getting their apps/content out there directly rather than via broadcaster. Or being commissioned by the broadcaster to build the app.



Charles Kriel on Twitter
A Bear Ate All The Brussels Sprouts, Handmade Mother Goose, Pigment's Play Pen



NOSYCROW on twitter

Nosy Crow: The 3-D Three Little Pigs iPad app






TAG GAMES
Doctor Who App

Doctor Who - The Mazes of Time





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