--- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Steve Watkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I watched the trailer and yeah it looked like a TV show, and not my sort of thing, I wont be > watching it. > > Cheers > > Steve Elbows
I just watched parts 1 and 2 of "Quarterlife" on MySpace. Interestingly enough, the show is WAY better than the trailer.... IF you can get into that type of scripted, formulaic show in the firs place. The trailer implied that it was much more Lonelygirl15ish, but Quarterlife completely crushes those types of productions, IMO. Of course, they should, for the amount of money they're spending to make it, but there's a lot of writing, cutaways, relevant b-roll, narration. I'll have to watch it on their site to see if they post an HD version so I can see if the video looks any better than how compressed it is on MySpace, but overall, it's well done and well edited and should do very well with people that are used to MySpace-quality productions. The format of that kind of show isn't to my liking at this point in time. It might have been before I got so involved with videoblogging. There's just something about scripted dialogue, specifically created to develop characters that just bores me. :) It's like when the guy tells the girl that didn't know she was being videotaped that he saw her on the internet, you know (even if it wasn't in the trailer as the most dramatic element) that she's going to go home and confront the girl who A) filmed her, and then B) called her an alcoholic and an easy ho for all the world to see. That being the case, that chick should have been HOPPING MAD coming in the door... The girl that did it should have been really embarrassed and defensive... There should have been some kind of resolution, like the blogger agreeing not to film her roommates anymore..... NONE of that happened. The offended chick came in the door, complained for a few seconds, then went to her room like a grounded kid. There wasn't really any payoff for her finding out that she was put on the net in a poor light. It was more of a gimmick to make the public aware that her roommates were aware that she was blogging about them. Also, the guys are looking at videos on the computer, then they cut to a scene where you can't see the monitor and then a couple of seconds later (according to the edit), one guy says "this is really weird", with NO SOUND coming from the computer, then it cuts back to the screen and you hear the blogging roommate talking on the video she had posted to Quarterlife. Of course that's going to be feasible to people that don't actually use the net, a television cross-over audience, but the timing was off, and their reactions were off. It was like they found it amusing instead of realizing all of a sudden that stuff that they do in private is being posted to the net. They *also* never confronted the blogger about what she was doing. They just sat in the background making faces when the girl came in crying about her acting class watching her life on the net. Part of what's missing for me is honest reactions. Of course that's tough to do with a script. At this point, I'm too used to watching Jonny Goldstein <http://jonnygoldstein.com> or Phil Campbell <http://me.dm/> on their Operator11 shows. For some reason, I can watch Jonny chat for 45 minutes or Phil talk about his tech ideas for an hour with no problem... Yet I found myself struggling through 8 minutes at a time of scripted "follow these characters through their 'adventures'" type of programming. It has to do with the fack that Jonny and Phil are live. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what the topics are going to be or whether they're going to go on a tangent. You can text in comments and change the course of the conversation yourself. You can get on your webcam and join in the show if you have something relevant to contribute. When someone on camera reads something said about them in the text chat, you SEE them react to it, genuinely. You get to learn about the people broadcasting instead of finding out how well they can perform a script. Anyway... I know these are totally different kinds of shows. Apparently, "Quarterlife" is sponsored by Toyota, so they're doing product placement like basing part of the plot on a car dealership and the commercial that a couple of the characters are going to make a commercial for that dealership. Of course, the characters drive Toyota also. I'm a big fan of product placement instead of interruptive commercials. I think "Quarterlife" is going to be the show 'to watch' as far as seeing how it does monetarily and whether it makes a difference in the space. They spent the money. They got the writing, the acting, the filming, the editing, the sponsor. They have even more visibility because of the WGA strike. They're on MySpace, which already has an audience that's used to attempts at serial programming. Also, MySpace has an extensive advertising network to make their users aware that "Quarterlife" exists and is currently airing. They're planning to use and pay for user submissions that they receive and like. If this takes off, there's going to be a lot more attention paid to the space, which should open up lots of new opportunities. -- Bill Cammack http://CammackMediaGroup.com > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Bill Cammack" <BillCammack@> wrote: > > > > There's this online series called "Quarterlife" that's starting > > tomorrow on MySpace and the next day on http://quarterlife.com . This > > could be of interest to those of us discussing monetization of the space. > > > > > http://blog.fastcompany.com/experts/bcammack/2007/11/networkquality_series_develo > pe.html > > > > or > > > > http://tinyurl.com/397fbc > > > > -- > > Bill Cammack > > http://CammackMediaGroup.com > > >
