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4 Important Things You Must Know About Before Shooting a Web Series

This article was published by Jeremy Campbell who's Founder and President of the video production collaboration and freelancing site Spidvid.

Shooting a web series is a lot like playing a carnival game. It seems easy enough on it’s face, but once you actually try it you realize there is way more going on behind the scenes than you first realized.

Awhile ago I spoke to a web series creator (Richard Boehmcke of Twentease), and learned a few things I want to share here, coming from his perspective in his words.

There are four things you must know about before writing a script for, or shooting a web series:

1. Write to Shoot - I wrote and shot my first episode within a short time span, but then I had many months to write the next 7 episodes before we shot any of them. While this was great for saving time, it also allowed my imagination to run wild. I was focused more on the story and the arc of the characters, than the actual implementation of the project. I wrote scenes that took place in a museum, on a bus, in a nightclub, and in a taxi without ever considering how hard they might be to shoot. In the end we had to rewrite most of the scenes because it just wasn't practical to shoot in a dozen different locations. Make sure the scene in the script is a place you can shoot in with minimal effort.

2. If You Have No Sound You Have No Web Series - The first episode we shot we paid very little attention to the microphone. Now, it’s one of the most important elements of our setup. People will forgive low film quality before they will forgive poor sound. We are used to watching things that are moderately entertaining in low resolution. However if you can't understand what the actors are saying, nobody is going to pretend they are watching a silent film. Make sure you get your sound right the first time. Double-check the sound IMMEDIATELY after you shoot the scene. Finding out you didn't get it right while still on set is way better than figuring that out during the editing process.

3. Trying To Do It All Is Suicide - I love being a writer/director, but it's dangerous. Even if you are the best writer/director/producer/actor/whatever, it is impossible to be the best at all of them at the same time. Doing two (or three or four) things at once means that something has to suffer. Often, you don't realize what has suffered until it's time to edit. And then you see you missed correcting an actor's mistake because you were too busy trying to get the perfect lighting for the shot. Find talented people to fill the other roles. It will allow you to make a much better product.

4. 720 is Better Than 1080 - The reason? Time. When it comes down to it, yes 1080 is a better quality than 720, but the amount of extra time it takes to move the files, render them during editing, and export a final product are often more trouble than it is worth. Plus most people don't have the patience or the bandwidth to wait for something to load up in 1080. If you are doing a scripted web series, it's OK to have it exist in 720. Nobody is expecting products done on a shoestring budget to look like cinematic masterpieces. It just needs to look good enough to get you to the next step.

It's easy to think that we are capable of anything, and that we want to make the biggest, best, most HD web series ever. But that is often impractical. It is far more beneficial is to break it down into smaller chunks. First, evaluate your end goal. Next, take a look at your resources. Then, figure out how your resources can help you reach that end goal. Finally, go make something incredibly awesome and impossible to ignore.

Do you have another tip that you would like to share? If so, feel free to below with a comment! 

Promoting Your Web Series Through OVGuide

OVGuide can be a great way to promote both new and existing web series. This site offers a unique opportunity to grow video views on the video player of your choice (i.e. YouTube, Vimeo, UnleashVideo, etc.) which helps increase awareness on those destination sites as well as some potential revenue for future episodes.

Video creators are able to automatically get the web video player of their choice embedded on OVGuide pages. i.e. Wainy Days. There is also a description and other related links for the cast, genres, and more. All of this information can be controlled by the series creator through the site’s data source Freebase.com.

The TV browse tool allows users to filter through videos/movies by genres from comedy to horror, which allows web series to be categorized effectively. The browse tool allows viewers who are unlikely to stumble upon a particular series to discover them in a natural way.

In addition to driving increased video impressions, this site also offers a unique opportunity for viewers to discover new web series. The site has also developed a unique web series browsing tool, where their 13 million unique monthly viewers can filter shows any way they want.

The next time you want to promote your web series, or search for new ones that are relevant for you to watch, head on over to OVGuide as they have some great things going on!

- Article published by: Jeremy Campbell, Founder and President of Spidvid. 

5 More Reasons To Create a Web Series

More and more traditional and newbie filmmakers are jumping into the web series production world, faster than ever before. You may already know why creating a web series is a good idea, but below I list some reasons that you possibly haven’t considered on why creating a web series is definitely a solid idea!

1. You can do a lot with very little – Creating a web series is extremely low cost compared to creating a TV series. With more options than ever before for financing and funding a web series, Kickstarter and other donation sites are becoming (some) filmmakers best friends. Sure, raising hundreds or thousands of dollars is never an easy assignment, but if you have a compelling story to tell and can emotionally connect with funding individuals with money to burn, then crowdfunding may work especially well for your project. If you can’t raise the ideal funding you’re looking for from the outside world, then consider hustling for a few bucks from your friends, family, and out of your own pocket to send things into motion. Be scrappy and creative because entertaining videos can be created for little or no money at all, and have the potential to reach millions of viewers across the world.

2. Cross Promotion – Individuals in the web series space are very open to cross promotional ideas if it means growing their audience. If you create a web series look for other shows in your genre and reach out to the creators/producers to strike up some top level marketing conversations. Don’t go overboard though otherwise your viewers will feel used and abused. Try to come off as offering them value for discovering new entertaining content that may interest them to watch and share. Be authentic, and listen.

3. No gatekeepers –  It seems pretty fun and exciting to think about creating a TV series doesn’t it?! The truth is it’s a tough business to get into, the chances of your show getting picked up are pretty much zero percent, and if it does get picked up the chances of it staying “on air” after just one season are slim to none and slim just left the station. With a web series you have lots of freedom, so put together a tight script, and start building your team with members who can visually execute your story and fulfill your vision. If you need to build a team, then consider posting your project on Spidvid.

4. No rules – You don’t need to worry about securing FCC approvals, or bureaucratic stumbling blocks. As long as you don’t break video sharing website’s terms of agreements, then you’re fine. You may want to read up on them real quick before you film anything to make sure your content will fit within their relatively loose restrictions. There may come a day when more red flags are raised forcing you to tone things down a bit, but that time isn’t happening anytime soon so get creative and push the envelop.

5. You may actually succeed – Let’s be honest here; not many web series see big time success. The ones that do have hundreds of thousands or millions of regular viewers, and manage to secure deals with top consumer brands to bake their products directly into the content. Branded entertainment is a fast growing market, so be sure that your content is “brand safe” and that you can easily accommodate a product in your story without disrupting it.

Have a 6th reason to add on why to create a web series? The comments are all yours below!

- Article published by Jeremy Campbell.