Tag: webseries

This year LR attended Gen Con 2013, the best four days in gaming! And we played our balls off.

On top of that, we got to see the many familiar faces of folk we’ve run into before like Anne and Chris Lukeman of Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions. Last time we spoke with them they were traveling around the country with their short film, Once Upon a Time in the 1970s, which they have now adapted into a web series. It screened at Gen Con this year (which Candice got to see, but Nick was sadly busy working at the con) and so naturally we grabbed them for a few words on how the reception has been. Also, we discuss how the process of taking a pitch project for a feature film and turning it into a web series has been for them.

Check out the trailer for the new series right below.

Shows you should be watching, as chosen by Anne and Chris Lukeman

1. JourneyQuest
2. Aidan 5
3. Booth at the End (which apparently is now available in Canada, but only a few episodes as they are “released” by City TV)

We would like to formally introduce you Mr. Soch (Music Producer/Audio Engineer/Sound Designer) who is Limited Release’s very own wizard. He keeps us sounding amazing, which is great since Candice and myself are technologically challenged in the audio department.

Continuing our Masters of the Web series of bonusodes, we wanted to get a pro’s perspective on what it takes to capture clean location sound and the steps to perfecting it in post-production. And we could think of no better choice than Soch; he’s worked on many different kinds of productions in the last several years, including feature films (Four Aces), web series (Mind’s Eye the Series) and a plethora of short films produced by Synndicus (formerly Synn Studios Inc.). Not to mention he’s helped us produce Limited Release since day 1.

Often times on set the audio department gets overlooked or ignored and there are a lot of web series that get released with not-so-great audio. Most of the time “audio” plays little brother to “visual”, even though many filmmakers stress its important role in drawing the audience into the story.

We speak with the expert on what it takes for a web series to get great audio, what to look for when hiring an audio technician for your production and a few tips to help save your audio in post-production.

Bach with a Vengeance!

That is what the perfect title for this bonusode would be if we had the balls to deliver that kind of humour.

Returning to the internet-waves, we called in the big guns in the form of music composers Adrian Ellis (Out with Dad) and Rob Gokee (Night of the Zombie King, SOLO the series) to talk about scoring web series and what to do when a director asks for “something that sounds awesome like Hans Zimmer” for lo-no budget.

It was great having both of them on LR to talk about this because we’ve seen a TON of series that stand out with the right score. There are many aspects of production that “make-or-break” it, and score is not one to be overlooked. We talked about how to argue for original score over purchasing stock tracks, how to communicate story through music and why Minnesota sucks so bad…poor Minnesota.

What killer score have you heard in web series lately? We mentioned our favourites, now it’s your turn.

You can be my co-pilot any day!

Every series starts the same way: with a pilot. Whether it be simply the first test scene you shoot, a trailer to show proof-of-concept, or a full on episode.

We’ve got our eyes on a few web series we’d like to share with you. Watch for them as they develop.

With Pretty In Geek having finished its release of all 8 episodes, show creator Elize Morgan has definitely not slowed down. She keeps her plate full at all times! The pilot episode for a series called The Society first popped up a few years ago and is now resurfacing in the next round of IPF applications. Young adolescents in a world of espionage and mystery.

End of the World, a strange combination of first-person gameplay and zombie horror, just released a trailer showing some behind-the-scenes interviews of the crew explaining their take on the genre. With the trailer release comes promise that more announcements will soon follow. Here’s to interesting web series genre experiments! With Joanna Jang involved (producer/filmmaker extraordinaire, founded Override Productions, director of the award-winning Hostage), you know it’s going to be exciting to watch. If you haven’t heard of Joanna, just look at everything that she’s up to right now.

We recently reviewed Out of Time in Episode the Forty-Fourth, and now their Kickstarter campaign appears to be coming to a close (6 days remaining with just over $1,000 of their $40,000 goal raised) so we may not see the series happen anytime soon. But who knows! In the meantime, you can see a 5-minute preview and other glimpses of the show they hope to create on the Out of Time channel. And if you want to show your support for this ballsy, time-travelling series then head over to their Kickstarter channel and look at the perks they’re offering…at least for the next week. Then who knows where it will be.

Finally, one of our favourite and most-talked-about folk on LR has been up to something…something goooood. Robb Padgett (recently scored The Inn, which we also happened to review last episode) is an actor/director/composer/ninja/Jedi Warrior. He does it all. Now he’s directed/written the quirky-looking, rom-com short Forcing Fate. For now you can watch the trailer but if you want to see the film you can attend the First Glance Film Festival ’13 (sounds like a military zone, don’t it?) where it will be premiering.

EDIT: And a last minute entry to this category, some of our Clutch friends have been developing another project in secret. The pilot for Asset has just been released in time for IPF season. Appears to be the story of an unlikely spy recruited by the government to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of international criminal organizations (kind of like the next “XXX 3: This Time With Jack Black”). Matthew Carvery and Jeff Sinasac from Clutch are recognizable. Yet I do have to admit that for those official government boardroom scenes in web series and low-budget films, they do tend to be rife with tired clichéd performances. Kind of like little children putting on their parents clothing and pretending they’re adults. Having said that, this has to be one of the rare times when I actually believed Jeff Sinasac and his co-stars in the boardroom were government officials. You be the judge.

That’s it for now. Check back later and will help you with your web series fix.

News, news and more news! In fact we spend as much time talking news as we do talking series. Of course the news is that Netflix’s original series House of Cards was released. Considering how much we talked about it, we could really just say we reviewed it. But this really exemplifies what’s going on in this industry… Is House of Cards a webseries? Or is it a television show released online? Is that the same thing?

After having only watched one episode for Nick and three episodes for Candice, we have certainly watched enough to give it a bit of a review since the 55 minute running time of the pilot episode is as long as entire seasons of shows we’ve reviewed, if not longer.

Feel free to check out what some people are saying about the show’s distribution:

Writer and Producer Elize Morgan

Media blog Antenna

Film and TV blog /Film

Let us know if you’ve watched the show, how you’ve watched it and what you’d call it.

And from one big budget show to another, we move on to reviewing Bryan Singer’s well funded experiment in online story-telling, H+ The Digital Series. This one is one of YouTube’s official channels and is in partnership with Warner Digital Distribution. The fact that such big names are putting their money behind narrative, scripted series, available only online is a step in the right direction for all web creators, right? Or is it just another example of big bad Hollywood coming in and taking all the money, all the views and all the awards and leaving nothing for the little guys?

That’s not for us to decide, we are only here to tell you whether it’s worth your time to watch it. And on that, we are divided. The series is maybe too long, or maybe the episodes are too short, or maybe Candice has a really short attention span.

Either way, this series won Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects at the 2013 IAWTV awards along with Best Direction and Best Sci-Fi Series at the 3rd Annual Streamy Awards so you know it’s at least gonna look and sound good.

We get into a pretty meaty discussion about this show, Guidestones and House of Cards and the episode structure. We’d love to hear what you think about it. Is length of the episode still a guideline for webseries or should the short format be thrown out the window?

And, can you believe it, we cover one more thing in this jam packed episode… Steve Silverman’s new webseries The Inn has started. Watch the pilot episode and get hooked. It’s not Pretty the Series, that’s for sure!

Which is more rewarding: watching golf or softcore pornography? While you’re thinking about your answer, let me type some more about this week’s episode.

In the Rough is about Will Ryan’s quest to reinvent himself as a professional golfer after he walks in on his lovely girlfriend and best friend giving new meaning to the term “hole-in-one”. Now whether the story actually follows that or focuses more on showing golf being played is anybody’s opinion, and it sure is mine. Even from the opening title that plays before each episode you can get a sense of the slow-paced storytelling that this series has. And that’s not a bad thing, in fact it could be a good change of pace from the series out there that try to move too quickly and gloss over developing the story as a result. That being said, it does have a lot of golf in it. So make sure that’s your thing before clicking play.

Aside from my opinions on the game that it is based on, it does have some solid production value (albeit a subtle characteristic of the show). While it isn’t pulling off any crazy shots or visual effects of any kind, things like shot composition and camera-work are managed well. Those with the right eye can tell by watching that the crew is experienced and have handled the show well. Kind of like a painting that painters will recognize as expert from the brushstrokes while less-knowledgeable folk will overlook it.

The full first season of 10 episodes of In the Rough is out right now from Lifeforce Entertainment.

Speaking of people reinventing themselves into something else they’ve dreamed of, Pretty Darn Funny is about a bunch of moms (kind of) who come together to form an improv troupe and set out to reclaim comedy from the crass and crude. With a short season of only 6 episodes, they at least have some extra content to look at as well. Once you’re done watching through to the end, check out the group’s music video Jane Austen is My Homegirl. You just clicked on it without watching the episodes first, didn’t you? Well, that’s okay. It won’t spoil any of the show for you and is kind of catchy.

Oh, and if you have a keen eye while watching the episodes you might notice ads sneakily placed about for another webseries, The Book of Jer3miah. Check out the trailer for it and keep an eye here ’cause who knows, we might be reviewing it next episode.

As for the question that I posed to you above, golf or softcore? Swinging clubs or the obstructed view of swinging dicks? Holes in one or implied one in holes? Let’s hear some answers in the comments below.

You ever seen a Sergio Leone western standoff where the good guy and the bad guy are about to dual each other? The street is quiet. Locals shut their windows and clear out. A tumbleweed goes bouncing past. I’m not entirely sure what this might have to do with this particular bonusode with Jill Golick from Ruby Skye P.I., but maybe you can figure it out.

Does everybody here remember Jill Golick, creator of the webseries Ruby Skye P.I.? Or the review we gave the series in Episode, the Eighth?

For those who missed out, I (Nick) didn’t show a lot of love for Ruby. And perhaps my opinion came across a little bit more hateful than I wanted it to (okay, it definitely did) so I’m glad I got the opportunity to clear the air and chat with Jill in person about my thoughts on her show. Luckily for me, Jill is a very understanding person and our conversation was a pleasant and peaceful one.

Ruby Skye P.I. is a webseries that follows Ruby, a young detective-in-the-making, who actively seeks out mysteries to solve in her neighbourhood. It’s very Nancy Drew-ish for a younger generation and is very similar to something you’d expect to see on YTV, in regard to both content and production value. It’s shot well, edited well and packaged well. And Candice enjoys it immensely. But for Nick…not his cup o’ tea.

Jill and I talked not only about my personal opinions of the first season of the series but also what’s coming up for the second season of Ruby et al. As Jill puts it, this new season will “blow the first season…out of the water”. They’ve upped everything in the production, including the gear and the budget.

Watch all twelve episodes of the 1st season of Ruby Skye P.I. right now and keep looking for upcoming season 2 episodes expected to be released around October 2012.