Anyone here made a web series?
 

I'm in the process of producing a web series or webisodes and wondered if anyone has produced an independent narrative web series as well, something like LonelyGirl15 or Quarterlife.

How did you decide episode length? How many episodes to produce? Timeliness of releasing new episodes? Did you incorporate Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, etc, etc?

How was the expierence for you?

Hey Edward.
I'm in the process of doing one of these myself, only story driven. Sort of a crime/action/thriller series. We're going to be distributing it over YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook as well. The scripts have clocked in at about 5-6 pages each, so we're looking at about 5-7 minutes per episode. We're shooting one a month and will release them with that timeframe. Right now, we're looking at 5-6 total episodes, depending on how the hit count goes.

The project started as 1 episode but quickly grew when people were excited about the material.

Cool to hear Heath. Ours is a narrative as well. I suppose Lonleygirl15 attempted to be a "real" web blog that turned itself into a ficitional web series.

We're going with a micro-series approach. 10 or so episodes that very from 1-4 minutes in length. Basically shooting for the attention span of a commercial and SNL skit watcher. Are you planning to do anything with podcasting/itunes downloads?

Here's the trailer in case anyone's curious.

YouTube - TheConversion's Channel

Pretty interesting concept you have there. I can't wait to see the first episode. When are you shooting? What is the projecting release date for it?

I'm not sure about podcasting or iTunes downloads. I'm not really sure how that works, so I'll have to look into it. Right now, we're just planning on the YouTube route, but once we get closer to releasing, we're going to figure out the best route. We were going to start shooting this weekend, but it just happened to be raining for the first time in forever, so we're having to wait a week.

I started a web series, but is nowhere near the scope of the most popular ones on the net. But, it is helping me in getting recognition for excelling editing (as I am going into post-secondary looking for a good course that teaches digital film and video).

My series is a homage to the Flight of the Conchords: Jack's Angry Dance

The story is that a person at a company I hoped to work for, Insomniac Games, hired a video editor and I was hoping that the position would be empty until I got there. The first half is entirely based on Bret's Angry Dance from the final episode of Season 1, in the second half, there is a lipdub of a song, but I think it's how everything is stitched together that made it work. It is a similar style in the sequel.

The pilot and the sequel is here:

Jack's Angry Dance on Vimeo
Jack's Angry Dance 2 on Vimeo

Reaction was mostly positive within the closed community, The pilot was actually virally spread to 120 employees of that company I hoped to work for. Locally, I've been gaining popularity for those who actually saw my work.

Oh, and this would be the first post I make about it on DVinfo.

Hey Jack.
That's awesome that you're using it to get your foot into some doors. That's what me and my partner are doing with ours. It's just a matter of getting as many people watching it, and then some of the right people, as you can. :)

Good job!

A month seems a little long for 6-minute episodes, you might have difficulty capturing an audience with such a short running time over such a long time. Did you consider (budget allowing) shooting all 6 episodes ahead of time and releasing them every week or two?


J.

Thank you for the suggestion. We had actually thought of doing this and spacing them out about 2 weeks each. We're shooting part 1 first, and then the rest back to back. Right now, we're hoping to schedule them 1 to 2 weeks apart to keep everyone's attention that's interested.

I took my feature film and cut it up into webisodes and launched it on MySpace in late 2007. Got some hits, but nothing like YouTube (which is small when compared to others, but the numbers are big for me).

YouTube - mpsdigital's Channel

heath