Webshowcentral Mag - Issue10 by WebShowCentral / ViewfinderNZ

WebShowCentral No.10

indie web TV down under

(formerly Viewfinder mag)

SAVE THE DATE! NZ WEB FEST COMING SOON

INTERVIEWS »» BLADING NZ »» WHITE MAN BEHIND A DESK »» HAHANA »» REGGIE’S CASE FILES

REVIEWS »» THE ADVENTURES OF SUZY BOON

CREATORS’ »» PROMOTING YOUR SHOW TO MEDIA

FROM THE EDITOR FINGERS CROSSED, WINNING THE WORLD CUP – AND A NEW ZEALAND WEB FEST!

Welcome to another issue of Web Show Central.TV mag – published at a time when 103 web series creators are waiting with baited breath to find out if they’re one of five web series to be funded up to $100k by NZ On Air to make their web series. Best wishes to all the creators! We look forward to sharing the completed web series in our magazine and on Web Series Channel. This is also a time when New Zealand web series High Road Season Two, funded by NZ On Air, is leading the Web Series World Cup, due to its success at web fests around the world. Truly a noteworthy achievement, putting New Zealand on the map for web series production. Huge kudos to the High Road team. Since we launched Web Series Channel, a New Zealand Web Fest event has been on our ‘To Do’ list – and now it’s a happening thing (in association with SCREENZ). Save the date – Saturday 7th November for the first ever local Web Fest with a difference. It will be much, much more than screenings of web series and YouTubers (in fact this will be a small part of the day). The day will be entertaining and fun, and include informative and inspirational talks from web series creators, YouTubers, brands, agencies and funders. If you’re involved

with video content in any way – this is a must-attend event. To top off the day we’ll be celebrating our web series and YouTube champions. Tickets will be limited (and on sale soon). Email me if you’d like further info on Fiona@ WebShowCentral.TV. Enjoy this issue – it’s packed with loads of new and fabulous web series and YouTube Shows and valuable insights from creators. We also include a behind the scenes look at a web series from across the ditch – i can’t even – as we’ve (softly) launched our Australian version of the Web Series Channel (www.WebSeriesChannel.TV) in association with ScreenProTV.

Fiona FIONA POWELL Editor/Publisher, WebShowCentral.TV www.WebShowCentral.TV email: fiona@WebShowCentral.TV Ph: 021 1712 301

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WebShowCentral is the official

magazine of WebShowCentral.TV and WebSeriesChannel.co.nz. The home of indie web TV down under. WebShowCentral magazine (formerly Viewfinder magazine) is published four times a year by Ferb Media.

EDITOR/ PUBLISHER: Fiona Powell fiona@WebShowCentral.TV

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 10 (SPRING 2015)

4 WHAT TO WATCH There are loads of local new web series and short films to snuggle up with including; Reggie’s Case Files, Game Over, and The Outlook for Someday and Loading Docs short films.

6 REVIEW: THE ADVENTURES OF SUZY BOON This isn’t a new web series – but it seriously needs more attention. Four and a half stars – a must watch if you haven’t seen it already. Reviewed by Rene Le Bas.

8 WEB SHOW: BEHIND THE WHITE MAN BEHIND A DESK With creator Robbie Nicol: Tweeting John Campbell was a big deal – we spent an embarrassingly long amount of time drafting our replies to his tweets.

www.facebook.com/WebShowCentral

12 WEB SERIES: REGGIE’S CASE FILES

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS:

Writer Lex Scott: Learning what you can achieve on a micro budget has made me far more critical of people insisting you need lots of money to produce good work.

We welcome article submissions to WebShowCentral.TV. Email Fiona at fiona@WebShowCentral.TV ISSN 2423-0391 (Print) ISSN 2423-0405 (Online)

14 WEB SERIES: BLADING NEW ZEALAND – WITH A CAMERA Creator Matt Earle: The feedback from our crowdfunding gave us the confidence to go out on this epic journey.

18 WEB SERIES: JACK OF ALL TRADES With Producer Marko Klijn: Let us keep this simple – this is just plain fun!

WebShowCentral (formerly Viewfinder) is a magazine for creators and fans of web shows down under, and the official magazine of WebShowCentral.TV and WebSeriesChannel. The views expressed in WebShowCentral are not necessarily those of WebShowCentral and Ferb Media, nor does the advertisement of any product or service in this magazine imply endorsement of it by WebShowCentral or Ferb Media. © Copyright WebShowCentral. All material appearing in WebShowCentral magazine is copyright and may not be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher.

19 SHORT FILM: SOMEDAY CHALLENGE Entries are open for the film challenge that takes young New Zealand filmmakers to international audiences.

22 WEB SERIES (AUSTRALIA): I CAN’T EVEN. With creators Hayley and Alyce Adams: Web series should be recognised as their own separate format, not shorter episodes of TV.

26 WEB SHOW: HAHANA With Director/Producer/Editor Vicki Makutu: Directing and producing for me was all new, so I was learning a new skill while I was actually in the thick of production.

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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DISCOVER

BE ENTERTAINED

WATCH (for free)

WEB SERIES CREATED BY KIWIS

www.WebSeriesChannel.co.nz

AUCKLAND SATURDAY, 7TH NOVEMBER, 2015 A fun, inspirational and informative day of; »» Screenings »» Speakers »» Workshops »» And celebrations

A must-attend event for web series and video content creators, YouTubers and fans, and those interested in the business, technology and marketing of digital content.

#nzwf2015

www.nzWebFest.com Limited tickets available soon. Support the first web fest in New Zealand! Enquiries to: Fiona@WebShowCentral.TV

Brought to you by NZ Web Series Channel & Web Show Central.TV magazine and SCREENZ webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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WHAT TO WATCH ON

WebSeriesChannel.co.nz

(FOR FREE)

REGGIE’S CASE FILES Reggie’s Case Files is a webseries which follows a mildly psychotic private investigator who thinks he’s in a classic noir thriller. We follow him on his cases, ranging from domestic drama to in-depth character profiling, as he verbally narrates his life and belittles the people he encounters. The show explores classic noir tropes such as femme fatales, corrupt officials, and mysterious missing persons cases. »» Watch here: http://webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/reggies-case-files/

GAME OVER (8 EPISODES) Game Over is an eight part webseries following the lives of four odd ball girls who bond together from their shared hate of computer games. In a quest to stop their addicted boyfriends from gaming their lives away, the four girls start up a secret club. What follows is a comedic and trivial journey into four very different lives. It is silly, unpredictable, sad and a little bit wacky. »» http://webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/game/

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webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

WHAT TO WATCH ON

WebShowCentral.TV

THE OUTLOOK FOR SOMEDAY SHORT FILMS The Outlook for Someday is New Zealand’s sustainability film project for young people. Each year there are 20 winning short films in the film challenge, which asks young up to the age of 24 to make short sustainability-related films of any genre, filmed with any camera and any length up to five minutes. »»

Watch the films and find out more here: http://webshowcentral.tv/outlook-for-someday/

LOADING DOCS 2015 Loading Docs is a unique initiative that produces short (three-minute) documentaries that captivate and inspire audiences locally and internationally, while developing and promoting New Zealand filmmaking talent. In 2015 ten new short documentaries all with an overarching theme of ‘connect’ were chosen for the initiative. Filmmakers took part in professional development workshops and received support from Loading Docs producers as they developed their projects, undertook a crowd funding exercise on Boosted, produced and then launched their short docos to the world. »»

Watch the films here: http://webshowcentral.tv/short-films/ webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(review: web series)

Review:

BY RENÉ LE BAS

The Adventures of Suzy Boon isn’t a new web series. It was released almost a year and a half ago. Before watching the series for review, I was completely unaware of it. Having watched all six episodes of Suzy Boon’s first season, I can definitely say this series deserves more attention. Suzy Boon (Kura Forrester), the series’ titular main character, is a half-Maori, half-Chinese woman who works as an immigration officer at Auckland airport. Although she’s well into her adult years, she still lives with her aging father (Charles Chan) and struggles with relationships and finding her place 

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

in the world. Although she loves her job, she’s only working as an immigration officer on a trial basis, and her trial period is coming to an end. She must compete with her colleagues Mitch and Paul (Thomas Sainsbury, Scott Cotter) for the two permanent positions that are available.

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The way Forrester inhabits the role makes her New Zealand’s answer to Alan Partridge - yes, the show really is that good!

Although this is an intriguing inciting incident and seemingly injects stakes into the series, The Adventures of Suzy Boon never takes these plot contrivances too seriously. The series has an almost lackadaisical approach to its season-long narrative. It’s a foregone conclusion that Suzy isn’t going to keep her job, which allows her ineptitude with her colleagues and boss (played superbly by Yvette Parsons) to become a running gag. The series’ biggest asset is its star, Kura Forrester. Forrester’s comedic timing and vibrant optimism bring a warm heart to Suzy that could potentially be lacking if another performer played her. Suzy is an intentionally oblivious character that is obnoxious to most of the people she interacts with. She’s in the same vein as a David Brent or a first season of “Parks and Rec” Leslie Knope in this respect. The way Forrester inhabits the role though makes her New Zealand’s answer to Alan Partridge. Yes, the show really is that good. And it is great to see a local series hit that target. Forrester elevates all of the material she is given. We root for Suzy, even as she’s bumbling into one social faux pas after another. Forrester does a great job of talking to herself on camera and the creators take every opportunity they can to make Suzy’s interior monologue’s exterior. There are several scenes where Suzy is scrolling through online dating profiles and talking to the profiles. Often, a character talking to themselves can come across as tropey or hacky. But in Forrester’s hands, it is some of the funniest material I’ve seen in a web series. Another strong aspect of the series is how well it uses the short form web medium. The theme song and score for the series are pitch perfect and each episode at roughly five minutes a piece are at a perfect running length. The greatest technical achievement of The Adventures of Suzy Boon is its visual storytelling. There’s a moment in the first episode where Suzy is in the break room listening in on her co-workers discussing plans to all go to a lumba class (like zumba, but with lullabies) and excluding her (intentionally or not) from their plans. Suzy is in the foreground of the shot and her reactions are both hilarious and heartbreaking. My only criticism against the series is that it relies too often on tried and true sitcommy premises at times. Two of the first season’s six episodes feature storylines involving nightmarish online dating scenarios. The focus of another episode is on a trendy new diet that Suzy tries. These premises have been done to death in a number of recent web series and have been staples of broadcast sitcoms for a while. The ‘trendy new diet’ episode does have some laugh-out-loud visual gags, but for the most part Suzy Boon doesn’t offer refreshing new twists on

these stale premises. This is a shame because of how strong the other aspects of the show are. Again, Kura Forrester’s game performance elevates all of her material, and these tried and true premises almost go by unnoticed. There are a few jokes throughout that would only work for a New Zealand audience. For example, Suzy’s boss Linleigh absolutely butchering Te Reo and Suzy describing herself as “half-Chinese and half-Maori – like Bic and Bo.” But overall, I see this series having a global appeal. The series is confidently directed by Cristobal Araus Lobos and shot in a cinema verite/pseudo mockumentary style by Roko Antonio Babich and Pepe de Hoyos Ramos. While the main immigration sets look nothing like a major international airport to a laughable degree, this only adds to the series’ charm. The creators have confidently embraced the advantages and limitations of making a web series. The part that drew me in the most to The Adventures of Suzy Boon was its titular character – Suzy Boon. Where many web series run the risk of trying to make their characters too cool, Suzy Boon embraces her outsider status with selfdeprecation and plenty of oblivious social embarrassment humour. The creators of the series know who Suzy is and love her. And this makes the audience love her too even if she’s not so lovable in the eyes of people she shares the screen with. Watch The Adventures of Suzy Boon: www.webserieschannel. co.nz/webseries/the-adventures-of-suzy-boon/

OVERALL RATING: STORY: CHARACTERS: PRODUCTION VALUE: René Le Bas René is a kiwi-born, Americanraised screenwriter, tutor, reviewer, blogger, and script consultant. He earned his Master’s in Creative Writing through Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters and currently runs a feature screenplay-writing workshop through the Emerging Artist’s Trust. For more information on his workshops and consulting services, contact him at nzscreenwriting@gmail.com

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(interview: YouTube)

BEHIND THE WHITE MAN BEHIND A DESK Robbie Nicol is the ‘white man behind a desk’, delivering a show on YouTube and Facebook in the style of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, providing New Zealand with its own unique commentary on the social and political climate.

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webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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I think there’s a vacuum of content that’s intelligent, Aotearoa-focused, and interesting for young people.

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The show is hitting a chord with audiences – raking up around 10k views on YouTube alone for each of the shows on the Auckland housing market, climate change and money and the media. The show is written and performed by Robbie, and filmed and uploaded with the help of Elsie and Sally Bollinger of the Candle Wasters. We talked to Robbie about his fabulous hit online show.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND YOUR ACTING CAREER? I’m a born and bred Wellingtonian, ex-Onslow student, and University of Auckland alum. I did a bunch of theatre with Sarah Delahunty’s First Gear Productions in Wellington and worked with the wonderful Bedlam Theatre Company in Edinburgh. I’ve done Shakespeare, contemporary theatre, musicals, and combinations of the three - but secretly I’ve always wanted to tell jokes behind a desk.

AND TELL US ABOUT THE CONNECTION WITH THE CANDLE WASTERS? (YOU’RE IN THEIR VLOG SERIES LOVELY LITTLE LOSERS – AND SOME OF THE CANDLE WASTERS ARE WORKING ON WMBAD?) Yep, that’s the one! I met Sally Bollinger through the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company, and then I met Elsie Bollinger when we all did the 48 Hour Film Festival. Unfortunately, when the Candle Wasters created Nothing Much To Do (which everyone should watch!) I was in Edinburgh, so I couldn’t be a part of it. But then they did Lovely Little Losers and I got to meet the rest of the Wasters, Claris Jacobs and Minnie Grace. I’m completely in love with my LLL character, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about him. It’s all very hush, hush. But yes! After all that, I asked Sally and Elsie if they’d help me do a Daily Show type thing, and they very kindly said yes.

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Our advice to any aspiring YouTubers who want to get in the media; talk about the media.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE THE WMBAD VIDEOS? AND THE FORMAT OF SITTING IN FRONT OF A DESK AND TALKING TO THE CAMERA? I’ve been a fan of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart since I was a tween. Even as a kid, I remember we had a medieval dress-up day at primary school and I was determined to be the court jester. And that’s exactly what Jon Stewart is - he’s the court jester. There’s just something really thrilling to me about that role, and we’re lucky enough to live in a society where you’re allowed to play it. You can make stupid jokes about powerful people, and nobody stops you. I think that’s fantastic. As for the format; it just seems to be the cleanest way to tell jokes quickly. The graphics help explain the topic and the set is inexpensive (in our case, very inexpensive). We might play with the format in the future as we start to find our own voice, but for now this just seems the simplest way to do what we wanna do.

AND WHAT WAS YOUR PURPOSE FOR THE VIDEOS? A CALL FOR CHANGE? I don’t entirely know what the purpose is. I don’t think we’re changing the world. I mean, I don’t think we’re hurting we’re probably making things better rather than worse - but this definitely isn’t the most helpful thing we could be doing. It’s cool to think we might be getting young people to engage with New Zealand politics, but we’re just having fun. Sometimes we make ourselves laugh and sometimes we feel like we’re being a little bit subversive, and there’s definitely a buzz you get from that.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE AND PRODUCE EACH EPISODE? (YOU DO ONE TAKE?) I wish we only did one take, but I generally stuff it up at least a couple of times. And it takes a while to write the script. It’s just me doing the research and the writing and I’m working in my spare time. But once it’s written, Elsie and Sally come round and we do a rehearsal, and then we film it in a morning - and spend about a day or two editing it and putting together the graphics and then we throw it out there. Then we just hope it’s good enough for people to want to share it, and so far people have been extremely supportive.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE EQUIPMENT YOU’RE USING? AND WHERE YOU’RE FILMING? We record sound on a Zoom 4, the camera is a Canon 5D Mark 3, and the lighting is a single softbox and natural light. We have the Zoom set up on a tripod just out of shot.  webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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It’s cool to think we might be getting young people to engage with New Zealand politics, but we’re just having fun.

Tweeting John Campbell was also a big deal for us. I’m still excited about that. We spent an embarrassingly long amount of time drafting our replies to his tweets.

The entire thing is filmed in my messy bedroom and the antique microphone is for aesthetic purposes only - but it’s from the General Store on Aro Street and we think it’s lovely.

WHAT ACTION DO YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCES TO TAKE AFTER WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS? We hope that they take the immediate action of laughing. Then we hope they Google the issue and find a journalist to explain it to them properly.

WHAT’S THE FUTURE FOR YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR PARTNERS AND SPONSORS? AND YOU’RE ALSO UPLOADING VIDEOS DIRECTLY TO FACEBOOK WHICH HAS NO MONETISATION YET? We’re not partnered with anyone at the moment and we don’t have any plans to be partnered with anyone in the near future. We would happily take on sponsors, so long as they don’t do anything stupid or evil. We’re not committed to YouTube, and we’d be happy to explore other platforms in the future. At the moment, we’re not making any money from YouTube, so we’re happy to upload our videos to Facebook where they get more exposure.

HAVE YOU PROMOTED THE SERIES – OR IS IT GROWING ORGANICALLY (WITH FANS LIKE RUSSELL BROWN)? We haven’t spent a dime on promotion yet, and we’ve been very lucky with the organic growth of our brand. Russell Brown has been a real champion of our work, so we’re seriously indebted to him. Once someone with a strong following like that starts promoting your stuff, it’s hard not to get a few views. 

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

WHY DO YOU THINK THE SERIES HAS BEEN AN INSTANT HIT? YOU’VE STRUCK A CHORD WITH AUDIENCES, ESPECIALLY IN MEDIA CIRCLES? After we did our ‘Money and the Media’ video we realised that if you want the media to talk about you, all you have to do is talk about the media. It doesn’t matter if you’re aggressively criticising their entire finance model; they’re just thrilled to get to talk about themselves. So that would be our advice to any aspiring YouTubers who want to get into the media: talk about the media. As for why non-media types have taken to us so quickly - I think there’s a vacuum of content that’s intelligent, Aotearoafocused, and interesting for young people. And while I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer - we are young and I do say New Zealand a lot. So, two out of three is pretty good.

WHAT’S THE FUTURE OVERALL FOR YOU AND THE SERIES? WILL YOU RUN OUT OF TOPICS TO COVER? The future is a complete unknown. We’ve been approached by a few people about collaborative projects, and we’re very excited about those. The ultimate dream is to get paid to come up with creative ways to make fun of powerful people. For the moment, we just want to get out a full series of episodes we’re proud of, and then we’ll take stock of what we want to do next. I don’t think we’re going to run out of topics any time soon. People are always forgetting that politics is the way we change laws to make people happier - as long as people keep forgetting that, we’ll have plenty of material to work with.

Watch White Man Behind a Desk at www.webshowcentral.tv/watch/white-man-behind-a-desk/ www.facebook.com/WhiteManBehindADesk www.twitter.com/manwithdesk www.youtube.com/channel/UCo46IpsBPqg8k6Ih0qYzlMA

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(interview: web series)

REGGIE’S CASE FILES Reggie’s Case Files is a new seven episode webseries, released semi-weekly on YouTube, and is produced by the team at Pirate vs Cowboy Productions.

The webseries follows Reggie, a mildly psychotic private investigator who thinks he’s in a classic noir thriller, on his cases, ranging from domestic drama to in-depth character profiling, as he verbally narrates his life and belittles the people he encounters. Writer Lex Scott says Pirate vs Cowboy Productions came about when he met Jesse Gonzales (Cinematographer) and Jonathan Harris (Director). “They had been working together for some time and I had been looking for a crew to produce a show I’d been working on for a few years,” says Lex. “I’d been trying to sell a script through the traditional channels and become disillusioned with the studio system. So I told them I wanted to start my own production company, where anyone could come in to pitch an idea and see it get made, regardless of any past experience.” The Reggie character in the web series came about as a side character in a graphic novel Lex was working on almost 10 years ago. “He was the antagonist to a hitman who never spoke a word. As I kept working on it that project fell apart but I had come to enjoy Reggie too much to let him go. Through the years he’s gone through many different formats, but web series

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Creators use web series as a stepping stone to traditional media - we want to show them that it can, and should, be taken seriously as a viable new medium in its own right.

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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is his final form.” PvC decided to produce web series “because we believe it’s the future of media and it offers opportunities that no other medium does”, says Lex. “Lots of fledgling production companies and crews are working in web series as a stepping stone or proving ground so that they can break into the more traditional media. We want to break people of that view and show them that it can, and should, be taken seriously as a viable new medium.” The series was funded out of the teams own pockets. “In some ways it worked to our advantage, forcing us to adapt and improvise creatively to achieve what we wanted, instead of relying on a budget to fix the problems we encountered,” says Lex. Reggie’s Case Files took about 18 months to complete. “Though the timeline from conception to release is very difficult to gauge because I’ve been working on it in various forms for so many years,” says Lex. “From forming PvC to shooting though was about six months, then editing and post production was delayed a little because we were also doing post production on the first series we shot.” The success of the show is also due to the talents of its cast, including Jordan L Rivers and Mahalia Sinclair Parker. “We found our actors through auditions and occasionally direct requests to actors we’d worked with before or acquaintances we could ask favours of. Full credit to Jonathan for that, without his network of associates the quality of our actors would have been much lower.” Lex says their biggest learning curve was budgeting. “We initially wanted quite a bit of money to cover just equipment and locations, but having failed with our crowdfunding we were forced to get creative and improvise. Learning what you can do without and what you can achieve on a micro budget of less than $200 has made me far more critical of people insisting you need lots of money to produce good work.”

Learning what you can achieve on a micro budget has made me far more critical of people insisting you need lots of money to produce good work.

The equipment used to make the show was the usual. “The camera and tripod we have is quite good, but we didn’t have any sound technicians or gear so we ended up doing all of that in post,” says Lex. “I think all told we had about 20 people involved in the series, including actors.” Lex says there won’t be a season two of Reggie, and it won’t be sold or adapted into any other format. “I want people to appreciate it for what it is, and hopefully see that web series can be just as good a place as movies or TV to go to for entertainment.” The show might be entered in some web festivals, depending upon audience reaction. For now the team is promoting the series through their Facebook page, and generally just telling everyone about their channel. “There’s already quite a bit on there, and we’re getting better every week!” Lex believes audiences who enjoy a touch of absurdity in their shows, or anyone who likes film noir or black and white will enjoy Reggie. “One of the most praised aspects of the show so far has been the sheer visual beauty of it, full credit for which has to go to our cinematographer Jesse.” What’s next for Pirate vs Cowboy? “Well this past January we filmed a brand new show paying homage to old 1950’s scifi serials that will be coming out a little while after Reggie. It’s

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absurd and over the top, and ridiculously fun. Hopefully our fans will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.” Lex says what he enjoys most about creating web series is the immediacy of it all. “Anywhere where you’ll find a show online, right there in the same space you’ll also find the community that sprung up around it. Every time we post a video our fans immediately have the ability to talk to and interact with us, and each other. Our favourite web series (and in our opinion the very best example of what they can and should be) is Rom.com by Cracked Studios. Everyone who wants to make any kind of scripted web video should watch that show.” Lastly, Lex wants to mention sharing and commenting. “It might not seem like much but we honestly love to talk with our viewers, or even just to listen to what they might have to say. We don’t have many comments on our videos so far but we would love to see more. Also it’s the best way for us to improve! Help us make the best videos, that you want to watch and share with all of your friends.” Watch Reggie’s Case Files at www.webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/reggies-case-files/ www.facebook.com/piratevscowboyproductions www.youtube.com/channel/UCCSmmsTYPA_GyezJs7hhKqQ webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(interview: web series)

BLADING NEW ZEALAND

– WITH A CAMERA

Last year Matt Earle and Josh Hall spent 60 days rollerblading the length of New Zealand, capturing the country in a unique way, for the travel documentary series Blade NZ - New Zealand, 8 wheels at a time. A goal of Blade NZ was to meet and spend time with unique and interesting people, delivering audiences an in-depth look into a side of New Zealand they have never seen before. Throughout the journey, Matt and Josh help a local possum hunter, couch surf with an eccentric transsexual, harvest mussels with fishermen, volunteer at a conservation farm, stay in a hippy commune, and meet many more off-the-wall, yet real New Zealanders. Each episode has its own story, revolving around themes of survival on the road, their interactions with each other and the people they meet along the way. Josh has a background in tourism and marketing and Matt works as a freelance video editor, currently working at Warner Brothers NZ. Together they run a small business on the side 

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

called Jumbo Media creating online videos for businesses and brands as well as working on their own passion projects in their spare time. The Blade NZ series was originally dreamed up four years ago while the pair were travelling together and last year they started a crowdfunding campaign to test their idea. “Obviously crowdfunding is great to get money to fund your passion project, but I think more importantly it’s a way to test ideas out and to see what the general response is. When we got great feedback for our crowdfunding campaign it gave us the confidence that we needed to go out on this epic journey,” says Matt. The successful PledgeMe campaign raised over four

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Web series are an exciting format and it’s great to see so many New Zealand filmmakers getting out there and doing it.

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The feedback from our crowd funding gave us the confidence to go out on this epic journey.

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thousand dollars to cover travel costs and extra hard drives. “We tried to camp most of the way, and aimed to stay at the cheap DoC campsites dotted throughout the country, but sometimes there were times when we would have to fork out for a backpackers dorm room, and also the odd tourism activity,” says Matt. “We also drank a lot of flat whites.” The duo have about 1.5 TB of footage; about 75 hours worth. “We have been lucky enough to get Vicki Makutu who has taken on the role of Post Production Advisor for us. Vicki has successfully produced the web-series Hahana, which was funded through Te Mangai Poho’s Innovative Fund and has since been approved for a second series and most recently been approved to become a TV series for Maori Television. She is awesome and will be a great asset, providing us with on call advice throughout the editing and distribution process,” says Matt. “Asides from Vicki, it is just Josh and myself in postproduction. As this is a passion project we currently do not have the resources to hire more help at this stage.” The creators applied for NZ on Air web series funding this year to cover post production and distribution for this season. “We are not asking for too much, as we have already shot everything, but with some funding we would be able to take this project to the next level,” says Matt. “We heard it was super competitive, but hopefully we have an advantage since we have already shot everything. We strongly believe that we have something that many New Zealanders would enjoy and benefit from, and we hope that NZ on Air can see that too. “We have watched back all of the footage but not yet begun editing, as it is a mammoth job. We have a pretty solid idea of the way the episodes will take shape, and we’re pretty stoked with how much entertaining footage we have throughout the

whole country. While we were shooting we always had the story in mind, and we would adapt the story lines as events unfolded on the road. Because we want each episode to be self-contained, we were consciously trying to think of a beginning, middle and end for each episode.” An easily accessible, lightweight kit was important as the pair already had a lot of gear to carry while they were on the road. “We shot everything on two Canon 7D’s with a few different lenses (a few which unfortunately broke along the way). We plugged a Rode Video Mic Pro on the top but also captured sound using lapel mics and a Zoom H4N for interviews. We had a lightweight Manfrotto tripod which was great as well as another small tripod similar to a gorilla pod. We also had a small steady cam and a GoPro,” says Matt. “As we were shooting run and gun style we often didn’t have time to use the steady cam. We decided at the start of the trip that people, story and comedy were more important to us than getting beautiful shots. We wanted to capture New Zealand as we found it along our journey, showcasing the people and the places alongside the struggles of our trip. We believe that this sort of footage is entertaining and something that we would watch. We also tried to cover our bases and shoot beautiful scenery that accompanied our journey, and it wasn’t difficult to get nice shots throughout New Zealand.”  webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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The show will be released on a weekly schedule. “At this stage it looks like we have around 17 episodes and we will release two per week over a two month period. This means we can concentrate our marketing efforts over a shorter period of time and (hopefully) means that people won’t get sick of us! “We will primarily promote our web series through social media as this is where our audience lives, and we feel that short, humorous and engaging episodes are the ideal sort of content for social media. “As well as this, because our web series covers the whole of New Zealand, we will promote our series to a broader range of people who live in the locations that we feature in our episodes. For example we will promote the episode of us passing through Christchurch to Christchurch people.” With the release of a trailer for the show Matt and Josh have already appeared on TV3’s Newsworthy and the show was featured on The Crowd Goes Wild. “Within one day of releasing the trailer we were getting calls and emails from various media,

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While we were shooting we always had the story in mind; we were consciously trying to think of a beginning, middle and end for each episode.

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

“

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not only in New Zealand but also from overseas! It mainly happened organically but we were also proactive in getting it out there. For example I emailed my local paper, they ran a story which ended up getting on Stuff and it snowballed from there. With Facebook it’s incredibly easy to just message companies via their FB page and that’s what we did also. I think that because of New Zealand’s small size PR for a project like this can happen very easily. It almost becomes a race; once your story is on one form of media there will always be other people watching who want to snap you up quickly. “I also promoted the trailer on various travel video Facebook groups which lead to us being approached by a huge travel media company with a reach of over 12 million unique visitors per month who is keen to host our web series. This is fantastic, but our primary aim is New Zealand audiences, so we are stoked to also have agreements with several New Zealand platforms who are going to host our series. “The feedback from our trailer has been great, and we’re very excited. The hard work is only just beginning though, and we are committed to making the series as good as we possibly can.” While the pair wait for the outcome of their NZ on Air funding application they are still in negotiation with other platforms on hosting the series. “We will definitely look at submitting the series to some web fests, but our main priority is to get this seen by as many New Zealanders as possible. “We are super keen to do more travel, and that is definitely on the cards.” Matt says they’ve learned a huge amount making the show.

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We have a couple of hours worth of dancing in blades in different locations, which is great promo material that we can use.

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“The best advice I could give to anyone is just go out and do it. Web series are such a fresh concept, there are no rules and no set format. Don’t over stress about production values, if you have a good story and access to the equipment then go for it. Instead of planning a huge TV series start small. You need to get started though, if you never start you will never know what could happen. “Also I would say that you should know your audience. We didn’t know for certain, but doing crowdfunding was the perfect way for us to test the waters, and doing something different like rollerblading is a great way to differentiate yourself from everything else out there. Think different! “We have learnt that web series need to be simple. Because of the length there is no need to have complex story lines in an

episode. You can still have a story arc which stretches over the season but keep each episode simple. “The cool thing on a project like ours, not everything can fit in an episode so there is so much extra content which is perfect for sharing online. For example, whenever we couldn’t think of anything to film we would just dance while wearing the blades. Now we have a couple of hours worth of dancing in different locations throughout New Zealand. This provides great promo material that we can use. “The main challenges in making the series were filming in rough conditions, having little access to power to charge our equipment as well as carrying everything and then trying to rollerblade. Filming and travelling is very difficult and you get no time off, but we did it because we love doing it, and hopefully we can continue to do it. “On our next trip we are hoping to lose the blades. Maybe use something a bit more simple like a Segway.” Matt watches a lot of web series and keeps a close eye on what is happening in New Zealand as well as around the world. “We watched all of the previously NZ on Air funded series and looked at how they were made and how they had been marketed, and the reason why they were successful. There weren’t many travel series in New Zealand but we watched The Great Kiwi Roadie, Stoked For Saturday’s videos, Road Trip and most recently The Kombi Diaries. I thought High Road was awesome as well. “The main web series we follow are international web series and popular YouTubers who make travel videos, like Jacksgap, Vagabrothers, and Karl Watson. There’s a great web series called Hasta Alaska of a guy road tripping his VW from Chile to Alaska. We also got a lot of inspiration from TV shows such as An Idiot Abroad, The Long Way Round and Departures.” www.facebook.com/bladenewzealand www.webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/blade-nz/

www.NZCameraHire.co.nz for all your production needs Ph: 0274 - 747 542, 09 - 815 3273 eMail: rental@nzcamerahire.co.nz webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(interview: web series)

JACK OF ALL TRADES

Jack of All Trades is a wacky one minute animated series centred on Jack, a regular guy with an extraordinary imagination – he’s the child in all of us. Each episode has Jack using his creativity to complete his job in a funny way.

HOW WHERE DID THE IDEA/INSPIRATION COME FOR THE CHARACTER JACK? AND THE SERIES?

All the love goes into the character animation to deliver the slap-stick like action.

Romain Borrel (Director) can’t help himself and comes up with all sorts of random quirky ideas - and can we please get this made asap? The simple idea of Jack being this character, who makes any odd job really cool, is something that appeals to everyone. It’s Cirkus’ ambition to reach out to a worldwide audience and create many episodes - initially in-house, then more through crowdfunding, and then WHO KNOWS? The ambition is there to create something BIG.

rendering and compositing is reasonably straight forward with this cut out look. We use Maya, Photoshop and After Effects.

THE CARPENTER EPISODE WAS USED AS PART OF A CANNES LIONS WORKSHOP?

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JOAT?

We used the carpenter as a showcase to “build your own episodes” to highlight how easy and fun animation can be. For Jack, only the main characters are 3D - the environment and secondary characters are 2D - put on 3D planes. All the love goes into the character animation to deliver the slap-stick like action - this gets its inspiration from the good old 20’s and 30’s Laurel & Hardy, Chaplin and Buster Keaton shenanigans. Of course this wonderful work does help us position Cirkus as a high end production company in the commercial industry which is a nice by-product from a marketing perspective.

CAN YOU GIVE US ANY DETAILS ABOUT THE PRODUCTION PROCESS?

Romain boards each episode then makes a 2D animatic. We then look at creating a new 3D side kick character and illustrate backgrounds - then 3D animation character passes 

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Jack of All Trades (JOAT) is highly visual and has already been chosen as a Vimeo staff pick. The series is created by Cirkus, a well-established and award winning animation house, whose artists use a diverse range of techniques to create the most exciting and entertaining images. We asked Producer Marko Klijn about JOAT.

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CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE TEAM BEHIND JOAT? Romain is helped out by a string of talented up and coming young New Zealand animators - some passes have been and will be done by animators oversees - Cirkus being Cirkus - it does not really matter where you are.

Following on from all the hard work done so far we would like to Kickstart this to be able to produce more and pay people more for the fantastic work done - then we will go to market with the intention to set up a New Zealand JOAT production no production in India or Bangladesh please.

WHAT HAVE YOU ENJOYED MOST ABOUT CREATING JOAT? Let us keep this simple - this is just plain fun! The challenging part is to keep this “going on goingly” - but we’ll get there! More about Jack of All Trades - A Cirkus Act www.jackofalltrades.tv www.facebook.com/misterjackofalltrade www.webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/jack-of-all-trades/

Tōmairangi Harvey has won the Best Young Filmmaker Award at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival

FILM CHALLENGE TAKES YOUNG NEW ZEALANDERS TO THE WORLD Entries are open at www.theoutlookforsomeday.net for the film challenge that takes young New Zealand filmmakers to international audiences.

The Someday Challenge asks young New Zealanders aged up to 24 to make short sustainability-related films of any genre, filmed with any camera and any length up to five minutes. Twenty winning films will be selected by judges from media, education, government and business. The filmmaker or team behind each winning film will receive their prizes at The Someday Awards ceremony at Auckland’s Aotea Centre in December. The prize package for each winning film includes a commitment that the film will be entered into at least one international film festival in 2016.

The entry deadline for the film challenge is 11 September.

So far, five winning films from last year’s Someday Challenge have received nominations in international film festivals and the short film Te Ao o te Tuturuatu made by 11-year-old Tōmairangi Harvey of Christchurch has won the Best Young Filmmaker Award at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival. The film is a five minute animated story of the endangered Tuturuatu (Shore Plover/Dotterel) and its habitat and survival in New Zealand. Tomairangi is the youngest filmmaker ever to have a film selected in the 25 year history of the festival, which is the most prestigious of its kind in the Asia Pacific region. This year it selected 48 films to screen in competition out of 1853 entries from 112 countries. As well as writing, directing and animating her film entirely

by herself when she was eleven, Tomairangi also narrated it in te reo Maori. “The sympathy, deep feeling and love that 11 year old Maori girl Tomairangi Harvey feels for the shore dotterel overflows from her animated film and was clearly conveyed to us,” said the festival judges. “I like the idea of showing people through film, the world, the truth,” said Tomairangi. “Te reo Maori is a way for me to show people through my own eyes. “Being nominated for the festival didn’t seem real. Then winning an award was scary and exciting. It was scary being in a strange place and having to get up in front of everyone but exciting to get lots of people saying how much they liked what I did.” Tomairangi travelled to Japan for the festival with her mother and David Jacobs, who is director of The Outlook for Someday. »» Watch the short film: www.theoutlookforsomeday.net/films/2014/009/ »» Enter The Outlook for Someday short film competition: www.theoutlookforsomeday.net »» The Outlook for Someday news and films: www.webshowcentral.tv/outlook-for-someday/ Web Show Central.TV is a proud supporter of The Outlook for Someday Film Challenge. webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(creators’ corner)

PROMOTING YOUR WEB SHOW TO MEDIA It’s time to tell the world about your web series or your YouTube channel – and getting the media on board is one way to exponentially increase your reach. One interview on a mainstream media channel can sky rocket followers, subscribers and views (and pledgers for a crowdfunding campaign!) Here are five tips to help your media outreach.

DON’T PLAY HARD TO GET

Journalists, bloggers and writers are busy people - they won’t spend time trying to find out what your email address is so they can contact you – they’ll move on to another story. They also shouldn’t have to message you on social media or post on 

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

your Facebook Page asking for your contact details. And they won’t fill in an email ‘contact form.’ Make it easy for media to contact you by including your contact details on your Facebook Page (in the About section), your YouTube channel and your website; where ever you can. Be accessible and approachable. Include links to all your channels on each channel. For example – on your YouTube channel include links to your social media and website, and on your website include links to your social media and YouTube channel.

HAVE A WEBSITE

There are website creation tools like weebly, wix and wordpress that allow you to create free, (or low cost) websites. Think of your website as your online business card – having just a YouTube channel and Facebook Page doesn’t cut it. A website is ‘one stop shop’, a central hub to include lots of information and links – so your audience and the media don’t have to go searching all over the web to ‘piece your story together’. A website allows you to include lots of valuable information in one place; your Press Kit, archive of press releases, photos, links to your social media and YouTube channel, ‘About’ and background info, and you can embed your trailer and episodes. Your website is more likely to show up in Google searches as well if people are trying to find your web show. (Have you googled your web series or YouTube channel name to find out what is pulled up in a search?) Adding google analytics to your website also helps you to find out where your audience is coming from and how they’re finding you. For example, if your traffic is being sent from a particular source or referrer – like a blog site – it might be worth reaching out and leveraging on this in some way.

CREATE A PRESS KIT

A Press (or Media) Kit is essentially all the information about your web series or YouTube show in one document or place. If someone asks for your media kit, then you can email (or Dropbox) your kit or direct them to your website. Again, media people are working to deadlines – make their job easy for them by showing yourself in the best light. A Media Kit should include; »» A range of High Res images (that can be used in print publications) including promo and poster images, episode stills, behind the scenes photos, and photos of cast and crew. Caption the photos and be sure to note if a photo credit is required. »» Background Information; How and why did the web show come about? Share the journey. »» Synopsis »» Cast and Crew bios »» Links to any trailers, teasers and episodes »» Links to all your online channels; web site and social media »» Links to articles that have already been published or your crowdfunding campaign »» Full contact information (very important!). Imagine the person reading your media kit has never heard of you, or your show before; does your Press Kit give them a full picture of who you are and what your web show is about? If you are published on any media, be sure to share it about on your social media. Once one source has picked up your story the rest are quick to follow – it’s a race to scoop the story!

SEND OUT PRESS RELEASES

Grab the reins and create some buzz around your project by telling media about your show with a Press Release. First of all you need an ‘angle’ – an interesting story for readers. Put yourself in the shoes of an Editor – would your story be of interest to their readers? (And advertisers!). Have you won an award? (Don’t assume Award event organisers will be promoting you directly to media.) Are you tackling an unusual topic in a different way? A Press Release is a word document (or PDF where text can be copied) emailed as a pitch to media. In some cases your press release may be included in full, without any additions or changes in a publication, website or blog, or it could prompt the recipient to follow up for more information or request an interview. A Press Release should include the following (and google search for examples); »» The fact it is a press release, and a date of release »» Contact details (very important!), in case media want to follow up for more information or request an interview. »» An attention grabbing headline »» Add in some quotable quotes »» Ensure you write clearly and concisely, and state who you are and what the release is about; don’t baffle the journalist with ambiguity. »» At the end include background information about you and the show– while not part of the release news, it helps to give the recipient context. »» Consider adding in tailor-made Tweets or Facebook posts with links to your show info, that media can copy and paste straight into their social media (in case they don’t have the time to write a full story). Send your Press Release to media outlets who share your audience. It could be your local community paper or website; an entertainment or arts and culture site or blog, or web show specific sites (national or international). Add your Press Release to highly trafficked local news sites like Scoop and Voxy where any legible press release is published – so that it can be picked up by other mainstream media and other audiences. The Big Idea website is also a good place to post arts-type content.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

Social media is perfect for word of mouth sharing and getting noticed by media. Many journalists and bloggers have Twitter accounts – so follow them and notice what they’re saying. Fiona Powell is Editor/Publisher of Web Show Central.TV. She has edited magazines for many years and is passionate about getting more local web series noticed by mainstream media. Email: fiona@WebShowCentral.TV webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(interview: web series Australia)

PHOTO: Zarina Heron (L-R: Tiana Hogben, Louise Cox)

I CAN’T EVEN. i can’t even. is the debut web series from twin sisters and Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) graduates Hayley and Alyce Adams that follows two selfproclaimed pop culture nerds, Em and Lex living vicariously through their favourite cult fandoms.

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WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR I CAN’T EVEN?

Alyce: We knew for a while that we wanted to make our own web series, but it wasn’t until we went to the OVAs (Open Channel’s Online Video Awards) and saw Chris & Josh, another great Melbourne based web series, that we realised it was something that we could achieve. Their videos were short, normally in one location, and used two actors. Seeing their successful format made us want to try it ourselves. From there, it was choosing our subject matter, which wasn’t hard. Any excuse to be on Tumblr as a way to ‘research’ the show is a pretty solid subject.

WAS THE SERIES SELF-FUNDED?

Alyce: Yes indeed. We wanted to do the episodes at our own

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If you’re a writer like me, and therefore genetically lazy, find yourself a producer.

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Starring Louise Cox and Tiana Hogben as Em and Lex respectively, i can’t even explores the dynamics of two best friends who could not be more different; with their clashing personalities often leading to unconventional situations featuring an array of their obsessions from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games. We asked Hayley and Alyce about the web series.

PHOTO: Zarina Heron

expense, so we had complete authority and responsibility for them. Being answerable to people when we were still starting out and moulding the idea would’ve been too complicated. We wanted to prove ourselves and the concept first.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE TIMELINES; FROM CONCEPTION, TO SCRIPTING, TO SHOOTING, EDITING AND UPLOADING ONLINE?

Hayley: The idea was conceived around September of 2014 when Alyce started writing the sketches for fun. Alyce was about half way through her Master of Screenwriting and I was similarly completing my Master of Producing at the Victorian College of the Arts. We’ve always wanted to work together, so we started putting things together in our spare time.  webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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There are so many amazingly talented people coming out of film schools, so it wasn’t really a struggle to find crew.

Alyce managed to get quite a few ideas on paper pretty fast so that we could start considering casting. We already knew that Louise would be playing Em but went through auditions and call-backs to find Tiana to play Lex. That process allowed Alyce to refine the scripts very quickly, as we worked with the director of the pilot, Tim Gibson. The pilot is the episode that became “Peeta Bread” and if you watch it now you probably wouldn’t believe how many drafts and bad puns were made to get to the shooting script! We filmed the pilot in early December, but then Alyce and I went to LA for three months for internships, meaning that we took a break in production and just focused on developing the scripts. Once we got back, we were able to get everything rolling and the next five were shot over about three months. We had a bit of a rotating crew, so it meant that some episodes were being edited while others were still to be shot. Everything was done on weekends to accommodate everyone’s working schedule, so it was a pretty tight production window. We wrapped all of filming in early July and then raced to finish the edits for the first week of August!

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT CASTING – AND RECRUITING CREW?

Hayley: Cast wise, we only had to find the two leads. As explained, Em was already cast and Lex was just a general casting call. Crew-wise, we relied a lot on friends and recommendations. There are so many amazingly talented people coming out of film schools, so it wasn’t really a struggle to find crew. Our only criteria with anyone involved was that they had to love some part of the concept and see it as an opportunity to expand their skill set. It could be the fact that they would get the chance to direct or shoot scripted comedy, that they wanted more experience editing sound and composing; that they could choreograph and do special effects for a lightsaber battle or quite simply that they were hard-core fans. We found that people were pretty happy to get on board! All up we had about 30 people work on different elements of the six episodes.

WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR I CAN’T EVEN – WHAT’S NEXT?

Alyce: Another web series, festivals, six seasons and a movie – we want it all! At the moment we are submitting to festivals, so fingers crossed. The potential for a second season is all everyone and our mums keep talking about. We are definitely open to the idea; it just depends on the audience response. We leave that in the digital hands of the Internet gods.

HOW ARE YOU PROMOTING THE SHOW AND FINDING AN AUDIENCE?

Hayley: We have an amazing publicist, Wendy Trieu, and she is doing heaps of send outs and getting the word out to fan websites. We’ve also had a bit of luck with a few Tumblr GIF sets! Which was honestly the only reason we made this series.

DID YOU RESEARCH AND LEARN FROM WHAT OTHER WEB SERIES WERE DOING?

Alyce: Oh yes. A lot. Some may say too much. Some producers may say the writer used ‘research’ as an excuse to spend hours on hours on YouTube. This she adamantly denies; it was all for the craft. We watched all of Geek & Sundry’s web series because they had the same audience we were hoping for, and also because they’re awesome. Seriously, go check out Space Janitors. Web series like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, although a looser connection to our own show and could be classed as ‘unnecessary research’ by some, was definitely enjoyed.

I NOTE YOU LIKE FEMALE DRIVEN COMEDY AND FEMALE FOCUSED MEDIA; WHAT ARE YOUR FAV WEB SERIES?

Hayley: We shot some episodes on a Canon 5D and some on Black Magic – it just depended on the DOP and availability. We had a sound recordist and our DOP doubled as a gaffer most of the time. Our various editors used whatever programs they felt comfortable with – Premiere or Final Cut. Everything was pretty malleable and depended on the crew for each episode.

Alyce: We are big fans of literary inspired web series, which is a movement started off by The Lizzie Bennet Diaries where they take classics of books and modernise them as web series. Favourites would be Kiwi made Nothing Much to Do, and Australian Call Me Katie and Words from Wilde. Non-literary wise, The Katering Show has been the best thing we’ve watched online this year. What’s great about them is that they are predominantly created by and star women in the main roles. Perhaps because web series are a new medium, they are able to break out of the more masculine tradition of film and TV.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE CREATING I CAN’T EVEN?

WOULD YOU CHANGE ANYTHING IN HINDSIGHT ON THE WEB SERIES?

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT EQUIPMENT?

Alyce: The biggest challenge production wise was finding our cardboard cut out of Edward Cullen. What a nightmare. If you’ve watched the episode, you would know that this prop was 

key to the plot. We looked everywhere, but the minimum 100 pound shipping fee from Amazon UK was a cost too far. We were as desperate to find Edward as Bella was in New Moon. However, Hayley being the miracle worker she is, was able to find a printing place in our state that made custom cardboard cutouts. So yes, that was just a long-winded story to tell you that we own a one of a kind Edward Cullen cardboard cut out. It’s not our proudest possession, but it is our most expensive.

webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

Alyce: Change? Do different? You don’t mess with perfection. We can say that, because we have a completely unbiased opinion.

by Zarina Heron (L-R: Tiana Hogben, Louise Cox)

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Web series should be recognised as their own separate format, not shorter episodes of TV.

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I suppose if we had a lightsaber to our heads, a small thing we could have done differently was not set an entire episode at a massive and very crowded pop culture convention centre. Talk about stressful. No lighting, terrible sound situation, and a short supply of time to film it all. However, we’re very happy with how it turned out and is now one of our favourite episodes, so actually we change our minds. We wouldn’t do anything differently.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE TO ASPIRING WEB SERIES CREATORS?

Alyce: If you’re a writer like me, and therefore genetically lazy, find yourself a producer. Producers are the ones who get shit done and will turn your pile of words into actually enjoyable visual images. Fortunately for i can’t even., Hayley and I are twin sisters and make a nice producer/writer team. If you had the disadvantage of being a single embryo, then there are a ton of

creator/film networking groups online that are a great way of meeting other enthusiasts. Every year it gets easier to create your content; you just have to go for it. And have a producer. Don’t forget that bit. It’s really important. Know who your target audience is.

I LIKED YOUR COMMENT ON YOUR TUMBLR: “WEB SERIES SHOULD BE RECOGNISED AS THEIR OWN SEPARATE FORMAT.”

Alyce: I think at the moment, many people view web series as shorter episodes of TV or as a way to get their show repackaged for TV. However, I think that is a narrow viewpoint and a disservice to the medium. In my opinion, the best and most successful web series are the ones that actually use the format to experiment and do something different. That’s the whole point of the medium. It’s something that wouldn’t work on film or TV. As more money and recognition is given to web series, I think that will either give it its own distinct place, or cause it to merge even more with TV. No one can know yet, but it’s kind of exciting to be at the front of this new medium. Watch i can’t even. www.webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/i-cant-even/ www.facebook.com/icantevenseries www.twitter.com/icantevenseries www.youtube.com/channel/UCO6F8cZYGpYoOct3Xe0Mpng webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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(interview: web series)

HAHANA

Hahana is a nine episode, fast paced magazine type web series for rangatahi.

ď &#x2022;ď &#x2022;

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Hahana Presenters: Ashley, Sonny & Hemi.

THE INSPIRATION

I noticed years ago (even as far back as high school when reading the girlie magazines) that young Maori (rangatahi) weren’t really being represented in mainstream media, and if they were, most of the time it had a negative connotation to it. I always thought this was unfair especially because rangatahi were excelling in so many areas and doing just as well if not better than most young people in New Zealand. I wanted to create something that not only represented rangatahi in a positive light but celebrated them and their achievements on a platform with a bigger audience reach which in turn would excite and inspire other rangatahi to do the same. I first decided to create an online magazine (about five years ago) with the same purpose, to motivate, inspire and celebrate rangatahi. I produced a proposal and approached sponsors and funders but with no luck. Then my good friend Benedict Reid (who I’d met working at Maori television 10 years ago and who now works as Assistant Head of TV for NZ On Air) suggested that this would be a fantastic concept for a web series, especially because rangatahi and young people in general were gravitating towards online content and because my passion and background is video and editing. I thought it was an awesome idea.

FUNDING

I had no experience at all with producing anything from corporate funders at this level so my confidence level in being

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Once an episode went online I would spend at least three hours Facebooking, emailing and sharing that episode.

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Vicki Makutu is the Producer / Director and Editor of the show and she shares the show’s journey from writing funding proposals to production to distribution.

able to pull this off was low. But after a few kicks up the arse from Benedict, who had way more confidence in me than I did, I went with it and put my all into propping for funding. Benedict had noticed that Te Mangai Paho had a new Innovation Fund and suggested I go for it. The fund was dedicated to innovative digital ideas and Hahana seemed to tick all the boxes. With three weeks before the deadline, my partner at the time Hayden Turoa (who became the EP for Hahana) and I stayed up all hours trying to explain on paper what Hahana was all about and why we should get the funding. It was a full week of writing and re-wording and writing and re-wording. I sent my proposal to everyone I knew for feedback and to make sure that they understood what we were trying to achieve. Then it took a few days to make the proposal look pretty. We ended up receiving $40k to fund our first series from this innovative fund. Then, based on the success of the first series, we received another $80k to do a second web series which we are in production for now. Then Maori Television also got interested in Hahana which resulted in securing $400k from Te Mangai Paho to turn Hahana into a TV show.  webshowcentral magazine | webshowcentral.tv

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THE CHALLENGES & HIGHLIGHTS

What worked in our favour I think, was that we didn’t apply for as much funds as other applications did. $40k to produce a webseries is low. But, my experience and background were not going to be enough to secure the big bucks, so the first series was about proving to the industry that the Hahana team could pull off an awesome webseries and could build an audience and achieve what we set out to achieve.

PRODUCTION & RELEASE

We were funded in August 2014 and started researching and pre-production in September. Shooting started in October and from October to February we were producing episodes but not releasing them. In March 2015 we released our first episode. Our first episode had 5k views in its first hour. Within 24 hours it had reached 12k views and with some really positive feedback from rangatahi. Our second episode reached 10k views in its first hour and over 30k views within 24 hours and over 50k views in a week. Since then every episode has consistently averaged at around 15k views. Our reach and views exceeded our expectations but drove us to keep producing.

THE TEAM

Our core team for our first series included Hayden Turoa, who was our Te Reo advisor and executive producer; Louise Makutu who was our production coordinator organising shoots and the nitty gritty details of things; Shannon Leef, who works for Jgeeks, edited some specialised pieces and also did most of the camera with myself. Katarina White, another good friend, who has worked on rangatahi shows for MTS was the producing advisor, and was very hands on for the first half of the production when we needed the most guidance. Benedict was my mentor for the webseries and was always there when I stressed out or needed a telling off for spending too much. His experience in all aspects of production was a huge asset and I will always be grateful for his guidance and belief in me. We also had our wonderful presenters Ashley and Sonny who helped out behind the scenes when they could. For me, being able to pick up a camera and shoot, edit and direct a story is so valuable and I will always be grateful that my Grandad had taught me the tricks of the trade as a teen. I did a year at South Seas Film and TV School, then Maori TV started the year after and I got a job as a videotape operator for a year, then moved to video news editing for about five years, then went to Prime News to edit for three years and freelanced for both stations for the next few years (after having kiddies). The series was shot on a mixture of 5d, 70d and Sony A7 cameras. All were DSLR. Shannon uses Sony Vegas to edit, I use Edius to edit, mainly because that’s the editing system Maori Television uses. We used a h6zoom boom mic and lapel for audio. 

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The biggest challenge making the web series was paying people what they deserved! I just couldn’t do it on this budget, so being able to do a lot of the technical things myself helped a lot. This was a challenge but I always had in the back of my mind that if we were to get another series, the same crew would be working on it. Another challenge was time. Directing and producing for me was all new; I was learning a new skill while I was actually in the thick of production, so it took me longer than probably most directors and producers to organise an episode. I needed to think of the concept, then put that concept in words, then I needed to write a script if that was needed, then story board. Then I needed to actually organise the shoot and direct on the shoot. It was all fine, but come January I really needed to start moving quicker to have the episodes ready by March. Once I got in the flow of it all, it became a lot easier. However in saying that, a highlight for me was actually being able to learn on the job. I truly believe that I learnt more in six months producing Hahana than I could’ve in three years doing a Film and TV degree. Another highlight for me was having rangatahi on most of the shoots helping out in some way and they got to experience filming on set, and being part of the show. Another highlight was seeing the series go online and how well it was received by rangatahi. We made the show for them, and it was awesome to see the feedback and statistics for each episode.

THE AUDIENCE & DISTRIBUTION

Because our audience are rangatahi, we needed to find out what they wanted to watch and what their online habits were. My sister worked in the Youth Space in Levin (where we are based) so I spent a most of my spare time just hanging at the youth space, observing and talking to rangatahi. We found that rangatahi mostly wanted to watch a) themselves b) celebrities and c) funny stuff so we knew that if we could nail all three in each episode then it should go down well with youth. We did a survey (which is part of our social media episode) where we found that most rangatahi were using Facebook as opposed to Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat, so we launched our series on Facebook and use YouTube as an archive or secondary platform. I approached a lot of people who I thought would be interested in having Hahana play on their social media pages or on their websites and I asked rangatahi I knew, to please share the show on their personal pages. Once an episode went online I would spend at least three hours Facebooking, emailing and sharing that episode. I reckon the key to distribution is knowing your audience.

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Rangatahi mostly wanted to watch a) themselves b) celebrities and c) funny stuff so we wanted to nail all three in each episode.

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Directing and producing for me was all new, so I was learning a new skill while I was actually in the thick of production.

Find out what their online habits are and hone in on those. For example, if we did an episode on league, we would make sure we had made contact with all the local league clubs.

WRITING PROPOSALS – SOME TIPS

I know how hard it is to get a foot in the door in this industry and creating proposals is (well for me anyway) harder than actually producing the series. Experienced producers can nail a proposal start to finish in a couple of days, but newbies like me need time to make a really good proposal - so make sure you start as early as possible. If you can, shout someone who has successfully received funding out to lunch and rack their brains for tips and their knowledge. Write proposals in your own words, you don’t have to sound all fancy necessarily, so don’t spend loads of time using a thesaurus to try and sound clever. Simple and clear seems to work.

Put statistics in your proposal - show that you’ve done some research and know what you’re talking about. Show proof of how good you are with links to things you’ve already produced. And always spend a good chunk of time making it look pretty. Funders must go through hundreds of proposals, so make yours stand out and look interesting enough for them to read twice. Self-confidence and self-belief is really important in this industry. If you don’t believe in yourself, it totally shows (trust me) so why would funders believe in you? Watch Hahana: www.facebook.com/Hahanatv www.webserieschannel.co.nz/webseries/hahana/ For the full-length article visit WebShowCentral.TV

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