For the last year or so, amid the angsty teenagers talking into their webcams and the skateboarding dogs, you could find professionally made Web series scattered around if you knew where to look, and when. But this month and next, there’s a critical mass approaching: Hollywood is bringing out what you might call the first “new season” of spiffy, corporate-backed Web series designed to be watched on your computer.
There’s now a clear line between amateur “user-generated content” and the new wave. On one side, you have the YouTube revolution in all its rough-edged glory. On the other are slick, premium productions coming from Web teams at Warner Bros., Sony and HBO, and from hopped-up bands of writers and directors who were motivated by the writers’ strike to land corporate sponsorship and create their own shows. Many can boast celebrity names on camera, behind the scenes or both.
"That was the question we posed last week to British Web producers, following Jane Tranter’s announcement that the BBC had earmarked £1.3m for online drama.
The initial reactions were sceptical. From Tim Wright at XPT, creator of the BAFTA award-winning Online Caroline: "So how many original online dramas can you make for £1.3m? one? thirteen? twenty-six? ;-) "
And in the comments, Garret Keogh, Director of Content, digital department of RDF Media: "I was thinking the same as Tim. You don't get a lot of drama for £1.3 million. Even in the digital space." Futurescape invited some other producers to share their opinions of what’s feasible...
Sofia's Diary is a drama that is shown online through the social networking site Bebo, which is the same site that hosts KateModern.
A version of Sofia's Diary originally came out in 2003 in Portugal. This means it actually predates the first video of lonelygirl15 which came out in 2006. Sofia is played by 21-year-old Rachel Hyde-Harvey.
EPISODE 1 HERE:- "Sofia is a 17 year old girl, who now lives with her dad, step-mother and step-brother (also known as 'Devil Child'). The story begins when Sofia finds her (now ex) boyfriend kissing her step-sister Trisha. As revenge, she plays a trick on her ex, but it backfired and somehow she managed to set the whole chemistry lab on fire. Doing this got her suspended. Her mum then found some ecstasy tablets in her bedroom, so she decided to send her away to London, to live with her dad, his wife and their baby. Her best friend, Sean, recently died from a random gunshot."
*****STORYGAS INTERACTIVE RATING***** SOFIA'S DIARY Can you embed? not presented as an option Can you comment? YES on bebo Also on youtube? not found Forums? not found Blog? YES on bebo ************************************* .
"Clark and Michael is a CBS Internet television series created by and starring Clark Duke and Michael Cera. The series takes the form of a mockumentary following Duke and Cera's ambitions to write and sell a pilot for a television series. Influences on the show include comedy group Stella, Arrested Development, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross' Mr. Show, British mockumentary The Office, comedian Larry David, The Larry Sanders Show and the Adult Swim block of Cartoon Network.
Duke and Cera play fictionalized versions of themselves, Cera describing the characters as "more idiotic and more deluded". The series is a low-budget affair, filmed on handheld cameras by friends of the duo. The cameras are acknowledged by Clark, Michael and others, who will sometimes address them or those operating them; in one scene, an upset Michael shouts a cameraman out of the bathroom, after which Clark angrily points out to the crew that their contract states "no bathroom stuff". Boom mics are often visible, and the crew have also intervened in fights between Clark and Michael."
*****STORYGAS INTERACTIVE RATING!***** CLARK & MICHAEL
Can you embed? YES - from youtube
Can you comment? YES - but seems to have stopped
Also on youtube? YES - but buried on CBS channel
Forums? not found
Blog? YES but seems to have stopped
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...web drama, online comedy, online narrative, interactive drama, internet television series, multi-platform storytelling, webseries, web series, web tv, webisodes, transmedia, multiplatform or interactive narrative... whatever you call it, we're watching.
The links below help sort what you're looking for.
HAVE A LOOK THROUGH THE COMPLETE LISTS OF WEB SERIES BELOW!
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