Ah, technology...

So, as some may have noticed, DOJ Ep 3 did not premiere on Wednesday this week, but instead on Friday.  And though I have not been inundated with emails and texts (actually received 2 total) regarding the whereabouts of Ep 3, I feel it necessary to explain the tardiness.

In a word, Vimeo.

Our launch plan for the show is to premiere a new episode every Wednesday this summer at noon.  For some reason, it took Vimeo literally 2 days to process and convert our video.

I have never experienced this problem with the handful of other video hosting sites I've used in the past and am deeply disappointed with having had to endure it with Vimeo.

I dig what Vimeo is about, which is why they were selected as the host site for this show.  However, I'm growing increasingly more skeptical about them, considering they are one of the few video sites that suggest you sign up for premium service to avoid waiting in line for processing and conversion.  

If this decrease in service is a marketing ploy aimed at increasing site revenues, wouldn't it be better to simply condense and only offer the paid service, rather than providing half-assed, slow processing and conversion for the masses?

At some point, web video and most popular apps will have to evolve and monetize.  Its the only way to survive in a free market.  But it should be one way or the other.  Either you eat the costs and provide something free to the public, relying upon ad dollars for revenue.  Or, you charge everyone.  Providing sub-par service as a means of prompting people to pay will just send users packing and heading off to alternative sites.  Sites that provide quality service and are free.

Trial and Lots of Error

Web video is not a new medium, but it is new enough to not yet be refined.  There is no template or formula that is a standard as of yet (maybe there never will be).  While in the process of editing Season 1 of DOJ (and re-editing and screening and re-editing again and again...and trimming and paring...) I've learned a couple of things about elements that may work and elements that definitely do not.

Here are a couple of things I've learned thus far>>>

~Keep it short, punchy, and moving.

After screening an episode of DOJ featuring a fairly long conversation scene (not "My Dinner with Andre'" long ((a favorite of mine)) but long, nonetheless)  recently to big laughs and a few kind words, on the big screen, I screened it on the smallest screen for a select group.  The reactions were markedly different. 

While the dialogue worked when the characters loomed over the audience and the speakers boomed, it felt a touch long when the viewers loomed over my laptop and the speakers chirped.

I must admit that when I began producing web based video content, applying lessons learned working on films and in TV seemed the natural route.

This was presumptive at best and dead wrong at worst.

Not to say that story or production quality should be sacrificed, but running lean is clutch.

When a video is contending with whatever else may be bouncing, blinking or bleeping on one's browser or desktop, that video better be damn interesting and fast enough to allow the user to return to work duties or Perez Hilton before they lose interest. 

There is most definitely a learned psychological pigeonholing of web video.  People hear "webisode" and they think "This here cat running around a toilet bowl better make me chortle in less than two minutes or back to FaceBook-stalking my ex-girlfriend I go." 

When someone straps in to watch a sitcom on Hulu or a film on their machine, however, they are in for the long haul.  Until the semantics change, it seems like original web based video content will have to run lean.

Indio Bravo Screening of DOJ Episode 2

My friend Janice held a send-off screening of her short film "Sabongero (Cockfighter)" on Monday to celebrate her trip to Cannes and invited us to screen an episode from DOJ as part of the program. 

Before I talk about how Gene fared, I want to take a moment to thank Janice and everyone affiliated with the Indio Bravo Film Festival for giving us the opportunity.  I also want to encourage anyone who might be reading this here blog to check out "Sabongero." It is an excellent film.  I'd also like to encourage all New Yorkers to check out the Indio Bravo Film Festival being held June 11-14 at the MoMA (http://www.indiobravo.org/).  

Friend pimping is complete.

And so, we screened Episode 2 of Season 1 of "Days of Joy!" at KGB Bar (the original screening location was rendered obsolete by a busted bulb in the projector...and I just happened to know KGB had the facilities and equipment we needed).  The screening went very well and DOJ received very positive feedback from several people.  The fact that a seven minute webisode was able to hold its own screening with short films was heartening to say the least. But, I'll let you, kind reader, be the judge.  

"Days of Joy! with Gene Moonfeather" the production blog

All the kids are doing it and being that I am part lemming decided "what the hay?" I'll whip up a lil production blog for the masses (all five of you).

This is the production blog for the web series I have been working on for the past 7 months called "Days of Joy! with Gene Moonfeather."  

Here's our logline: A yoga teacher with a repressed rage issue

Here's our website: www.GeneMoonfeather.com

Here's our budget: ***see Chris' Visa bills and collection notices

We are actually two thirds through shooting season one of the show and all things considered, it has been a great experience.  At times grueling, but a true learning experience and, I think, something special.

"Why a web series?" you may ask.  Well, everybody and their grandma is picking up the old Super Eight and recording squirrels humping cats, looping it and calling it a series.  So, I figured, why not make my own series?  Being that I know more actors than cats and squirrels, I resorted to a narrative driven, comedic model.

Truth be told, I think we are at a crossroads with new media and despite the confluence of crap on YouTube, Blip, Veoh, etc, there is some good stuff and talented people putting that stuff together.   Unfortunately, rising above the din ain't the easiest thing to do and we all want to rise above that gosh darn din.   Hopefully, there will be some standard of excellence applied to web video at some point, and viewers won't have to sift and search.  I mean, the porn channels do it.  At least, that's what my, uh, cousin told me.   

More to come...details about on set exploits....show release dates...screenings...how to win the bendable Gene Moonfeather action figure, with interchangeable headbands, etc.  Until then.

~C$