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Gonna be a good year

Megan takes Sadie partying in the city! Who’s that sleazy guy??

OzGirl finally launches (watch it at ozgirl.tv) and yes, I am slightly nervous. I look forward to hearing the feedback from within the web video industry as well as the fan feedback.

We’ve delayed the release of the show several times, which means that the first episode was actually shot slightly more than 3 months ago. That’s a hell of a long time to be hanging around the same footage. I also remember editing it that day as I was extremely excited and keen to see how it turned out (the show is 100% improvised, with only an outline of each episode on hand).

So I think I must’ve seen episode 1 at minimum one hundred times. And I’m completely sick of it! I’ve lost all perspective on most of the footage… so I am extremely excited to launch the show finally.

As cheesy as it sounds, it’s good to know the show no longer just exists in my mind - and it is no longer mine - it’s the fans. I know a lot of people, particularly the fans on Bebo are looking forward to the show and have developed relationships with the characters already (we even have an Unofficial Fan Club!). So I hope the show is what you expected - do with it what you want. It is now open to be chopped, mashed, shared, streamed, embedded everywhere.

And so begins our intense schedule of bi-weekly episodes…

So I’ve decided to start blogging again. Blogging is a bit like going to the gym. You get all enthusiastic about it and start doing it for a week or two but then stop because you get tired. It requires discipline and strength to sit down and write articles and I’m almost positive I’m an undiagnosed case of ADD so I’ve never really gotten into it. I also finding blogging and writing about myself extremely tedious, boring and narcissistic and oh, who really gives a shit, right?

So with that in mind I have bought my-own-name.com (nicholascarlton.com - yes I shamelesly self-promote) and will begin regularly blogging about myself because I’m important, have something to say and you should listen (or read). No doubt you have already made my website your homepage, subscribed to my RSS and Twitterfeed. Or you’re at least reading my Facebook status and are appraised on my every move. So I’ll explain this move in slightly more than 120 characters - I’ve been toiling away for months working on my web series, OzGirl (http://ozgirl.tv). It’s been a hard, long and exciting ride thus far and after speaking to a lot of people and experimenting in this new industry of web video I’ve began to believe that perhaps I do have some thoughts and experiences that I should commit to paper (or server). If for nothing else than to give me a perspective on events. Maybe fellow filmmakers will get something out of it.

So in this blog I will talk about my experience developing OzGirl, filmmaking, new media and how it relates to filmmaking, the ever expanding business of web video, the commercial aspects of it and the role traditional media and filmmaking has and what it means to filmmakers like me.

I started work on OzGirl at the beginning of October, this is the fourth month that I have been working on it and I will begin this blog by summarising the events and developments of the show thus far:

• For various reasons I am unable to provide a budget for the show, however it was most definetly low budget.
• The show was written but not scripted, everything was improvised.
• 99% of the shoot was with a one person crew, I was the DOP, Sound Recordist and Director.
• 24 episodes were shot, each episode runs for approximately 4 minutes. So in essence we shot a 90 minute feature film.
• The show was shot in 19 days across October, November and December.
• Following the release of the trailer we received 17, 000 subscribers to our Bebo show page.
• We have begun to receive commercial offers and major production companies, distributors and advertisers have submitted their interest in our show.

Firstly I should mention that whilst I was the only permanent crew member on the show the show was most certainly a collaboration between myself, the excellent and amazing cast of Sophie, Shanrah and Richard, a certain Scottish giant, Lisa Bedwell, a Tasmanian, my Dad who has been handling a large portion of the business side, and of course a lot of my friends who have given their input.

But the show wasn’t made on a Hollywood budget. We didn’t have a make up artist or a 1st Ad, and 1st 1st Ad and a 2nd 1st Ad. We made the show with the resources we had available to us. Nothing more. We creatively wrote a story around what was immediately available. One of my all time heroes is Robert Rodriguez. Read “Rebel Without a Crew” and learn how he made his feature, “El Mariachi” on $7, 000. A lot of people think this is a joke, and yes the print that ended up in theatres receieved a million dollar grade and sound mix. But he still put together a $7, 000 film and received major Hollywood interest.

So what am I saying? I think my first blog on OzGirl should have one message: anything is possible. Be creative and keep fighting to achieve what you want to achieve. You don’t need a 50 person crew, or a 10 person crew, or a 5 person crew. You don’t need $50 million.

Hope you like it!

Hey everyone,

Here is the trailer for my web show “OzGirl”. This is the first of many more promotional videos and photos that will be published in the lead up to the launch of the show (which as of yet does not have a release date). We are considering a mid-December launch. Anyway… enjoy!

Production begins tomorrow on the internet series I’m currently working on entitled “OzGirl” which will tell the story of a country girl adjusting to live in the big city. We have just figured out the schedule to shoot 24 episodes over 11 days. Each episode will run between 2 - 3 minutes, so essentially we will be shooting a “mini-feature” in 11 days which is going to be insane. The cast is mostly in place, and we plan to shoot it mockumentary style with the actors visiting real locations and interacting with live people in character.

I’m still debating whether a December or January launch will be more beneficial. We plan to wrap on November 19th, and obviously there is a lot of marketing and campaigning to be done. I have no idea how the series will fair in its 3 month run of 2 episodes a week. Will we make money out of it? Most definitely not, but it should be an interesting experiment in seeing how big (or small) a viewership we are able to capture.

One of the other challenges has been in designing the story. Whilst 2 videos are released a week, a lot of the story takes place “off-screen” on blogs and through the character’s postings on Facebook and MySpace, and we are attempting to incorporate an interactive aspect to the show.

I’ve decided to steer clear of the (now) cliched, cute-girl-video-blogging series that is easy to do and has been done well before (LonelyGirl15, RedEarth88). I intend to shoot this in a similar style to “The Office” and other mockumentaries out there. Another notable exception to this series is that you’ll find no murder mysteries or death. This is 100%, good old-fashioned melodrama at its best.

I shall be posting pictures and trailers, and all the usual stuff soon.

The emergence of professional produced, internet-designed shows such as Pink the Series which has received 2.8 million views and Spinning Jenny, signify the need for filmmakers to step up and recognize the internet as a medium for professional content not just amateur video. Internet video will no longer be seen as a stepping stone for television “mainstream” success, but rather the holy grail itself. It is going to be young filmmakers with an intricate understanding of the social web, web 2.0 that are going to make it big.

As a filmmaker myself, I can understand the challenge of letting go of everything you have been taught and to embrace a new style of storytelling. Passive entertainment is gone. It’s history. Seriously. Audiences want to be able to interact with characters and influence stories. Does this mean that cinema will disappear one day? Probably not anytime soon - but it is important to think of this as the next evolution in storytelling. As filmmakers, we are still in the storytelling business - but the medium has simply changed. Just as stories were once told by word of mouth, then by playwrights, then by radio, and then by film. Embrace Web 2.0, the Social Web.

If your video content is not integrated with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube - it isn’t truly web video. Consider “Quarter Life” produced by NBC and created by Edward Zwick, the show was pre-filmed in its entirety and simply “aired” on the internet. That is not social. That’s still television networks ramming down your throat what they think you want to see. As people’s lives get more and more public, they expect a level of interactivity from their entertainment.

People are going to be turning to the internet for their entertainment, and advertisers are going to want in. When creating a show, consider how you might integrate product placement. Know your market and think like an advertiser. If you get between 100, 000 to 2 million viewers an episode, companies are going to be knocking on your door giving you money.

1. The credit crunch.
With the world economy in the state that it is, advertisers will be seeking cheaper and more accountable mediums to reach their target audience. Advertisers want a higher rate of return and the internet is going to be like the second coming of Christ. Consider that a 30-second Super Bowl spot costs $3 million, who in their right mind is going to fork out that kind of cash today? Recent developments by large corporations in their attempts to create commercials “disguised” as viral videos, such as Nike’s Ronaldinho video have proven successful generating over 25 million views. With the return of the next slate of TV shows, NBC’s popular “Heroes” garnered slightly less than 6 million viewers (down 5 million compared to last season - more on that later). When compared to the budget of a typical television show costs between $800k and $2 million, the cost of producing an internet video seems like peanuts - averaging only $20k a video. And the internet’s reach is so much wider.

2. Shift in viewership and quality
With ratings going down, piracy going up, and the stock market taking a dive - television networks are basically screwed. Most people no longer want to watch pre-programmed television - whilst “Heroes” received terrible ratings in its latest season it still remains the most popular downloaded series. We are seeing websites such as Hulu.com really take over, and this is signifying mainstream acceptance that the internet is becoming the new home for video content. In previous years, the most popular internet videos were “viral videos” with cats playing on pianos, and dogs talking - and this is changing - audiences now expect to see professional content with relatively high production values (ie. CollegeHumour’s Sarah Palin trailer). If you are a filmmaker with professionally created, internet-designed content and have an audience - expect a knock on your door soon.

3. A level playing field
Where previously independent filmmakers struggled to get distribution, the internet has created a level playing field. Steven Spielberg has no higher chance of finding an audience on YouTube than you do. The biggest hurdle once facing filmmakers has been completely dissolved because the internet is ubiquitous. Release a video on the internet, and hundreds of thousands of people will instantly be notified via YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Obviously there are no costs involved, no prints to pay for, no cinemas to fill, no quotas. Web filmmakers need no longer worry themselves with distribution woes, and can now focus on content creation. Anyone can get their content out there.

Remember that as a web filmmaker you are in the advertising industry - create a regular web show that receives a substantial amount of viewers and you have created a platform for advertisers to directly speak to their target market.