Friday, May 17, 2013
Web TV
1. Introduction
While I was working for Best Buy a year ago,
I started to notice a growing trend. Every day I seemed to get an influx of
customers asking of alternative ways of television. As a curious employee, I
would ask why they wanted alterative; what was a matter with what they had
already? The customers would usually reply with dissatisfaction with prices and
originality of television today. They also added that they spend the majority
of their time watching shows freely online. I personally found this intriguing and
started looking at how much time I actually spend on my computer versus
watching TV. I found that even when I had the TV on, I would eventually direct
my attention towards shows on YouTube. With this instance in my head, I was
eager to write this research paper to find out even more about the growing
transformation of a new mass medium. In this paper, I will elaborate on the
rise of web television throughout its own history. I will provide evidence of
revolutionary events and people who have changed the way we use the internet
today.
2. History
It feels somewhat trivial to discuss the
history of something whose history is very brief. In under a decade, web series
has gone from a rather amateur state to a very successful industry. According
to a survey found on scriptmagazine.com, not until eight years ago, there were
only a handful of Web sites that were devoted uploading web series and other
videos through the web. Out of the few that were uploading videos, “Icebox” and
“Atomfilms” were among the first. Unfortunately, due to the slow speed of
internet and the tedious internet accessing known as “dial up,” their audiences
were relatively small. Additionally, during this time, starting up a web series
was very difficult to get off the ground. Creating videos were expensive to make and
equally as expensive to stream. To make matter worse, there wasn’t any major
advertising companies that would help support these videos to make them
profitable. With lack of funding and not enough support, many of the early
websites would be deleted. However, according to the survey found on
scriptmagazine.com, small groups of film, art, music, and comedy enthusiast
found the advantages of uploading their videos to the internet in the early
months of 2005. The noble fact about this is that these groups were not in it
for the money. Many of these groups shared their skills merely to make a name
for themselves. Although they technically were not considered a web series, the
Lonely Island group was probably the earliest notable pioneers of using the
internet to become known to the world. Their comedy series led to many awards
accomplishments to its own crew. Interesting enough, most of the crew
(including the now famed comedian Andy Samberg) were hired by Saturday Night
Live to help fuel the show. Later, Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell (another
famed comedian from SNL) performed in short video called “Lazy Sunday,” which
was directly uploaded to fairly young site known as “YouTube.” This new site possibly has this video to
thank due the amount of popularity it drew to their new video uploading site
new site that made it easy to post and share online videos. The almost instant
rise in popularity of the young YouTube site allowed for many to discover their
own talents and way for them to share these talents to everyone. This truly was
a revolutionary mile stone for social media and the beginning of web television.
This also caused a slight dispute with major Hollywood businesses mainly
because they didn’t know what to make of YouTube. However, this did not stop
people from uploading home movies to personal video blogs known as “vlogs.”
In 2006, web videos at the time tried to
stick with the short and sweet method. Typically, anything that was too long
was considered not worth watching. Many small entertainment groups were looking
for their big break in online video but very few saw an immediately profitable
future. This was due to the lack of a consistent viewer audience. During the
rise of YouTube, many amateur videos became very popular and grew in the
numbers. At that this day and age, almost everyone has a form of camera, making
it easier for anyone to make videos. Most the videos were just regular funny
home videos, but a few videos would become “viral.” Video Bloggers became very
popular at this time as well. Not designed to be a very high budget production,
vlogs were simply meant to be a short video of someone sharing their point of
view or personal ideas. Vlogging and other amateur videos were essential to the
history of the web television because this was first established reoccurring
videos that viewers could watch. One of my favorite video blogs would have to
be the “AskANinja” series that became one of the best comedy parodies on the
video blog concept. The series has raked in millions of viewers and continues
to gather fame even among the hungry eyes of Hollywood.
While digging up some research over the
history of Web Television, I stumbled on to some information of an early
attempt to funded web series site. This first known funded website was known as
“Bud TV” which was launched by Budweiser back in 2007. Unfortunately, the site
fell short to deliver and was decommissioned shortly after. According to a
review found on “gigaom.com,” It stated that reason it failed was due to having
content that was only suitable for adults and required that the viewer prove he
or she was 18 or older. This was a step that alienated many viewers. Fortunately,
for other smaller website, this event allowed them to learn from Bud TV’s
mistakes. Additionally, according to the information found milkeninstitute.org,
around this time Hollywood was experiencing a writer’s strike, which in turn
allowed for many Traditional media companies and viewers to begin looking online
for their content.
In 2008, one of the most successful web
series was created. “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog” became a huge favorite
amongst all other web series at the time. The series was created by the
director of the famed shows Firefly and Buffy the Vampire slayer, the none
other, Joss Whedon. The show was produced with a small budget; however, the
show did manage to star Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion as the main
antagonist. Additionally, the lack of budget increased the uniqueness of the
story and enhanced its popularity. The
success of this web series gave web television in general better credibility that
it needed. According to the time line on Hulu’s website, to follow the rise of
popularity, major corporations, such as Fox and ABC, started to upload older
episode of their TV show on a new website known as Hulu. It has since become a
very popular website where viewers can watch past TV shows and original Web series
alike. Shortly after, many other networks also followed suit on bringing their
shows to a growing web audience. Interestingly enough, big name shows like The
Office, Battlestar Galactica, and 30 Rock also started to have episodes that
were only aired on the web itself. Although these episodes usually only starred
a smaller cast, they would grow to be some of the fan favorites and inspire
many other industries to follow this design.
While looking through history of web
television, I see an even bigger bloom in growth in the 2009. This is due the
speed of the internet becoming much faster and can accessible almost everywhere.
The high light of that year is that large group of industry experts created the
International Academy of Web Television which would showcase the top voted web
shows or “Streamys.” Just being released a year before, the Dr. Horrible Sing-
Along-Blog won most of the categories. Its success at that award show helped
keep the medium extremely relevant.
Throughout the year of 2010 till today in
almost 2013, the world has seen more growth, more production of web television.
Big name brands started to take their approach towards the successfulness of
web television. Products such as Google TV or Apple TV hit the market as a
means for people to not only access their regular TV network but also access
the web at the same time. Gaming consoles have also taken their success with
online gaming to allow their consoles also access the World Wide Web. Gaming consoles
such as the Xbox360 and Playstation not only provide internet access, but they
have also become a medium themselves, in which web television has become their
voice.
With all of these transitions towards the web,
television may become a threaten medium in the future. However, the TV industry
is still makes 70 billion dollars a year which the online industry just hit one
billion dollars last year. Still making a huge profit, traditional media will
be around much longer and may learn from the growing success of web television.
This adaptation may actually be starting already with shows like Children’s
Hospital or the Annoying Orange show that were once created as a web series and
has moved on the main stream television. To quote Aymar Christian, who wrote on
the success of Youtube, stated that “for the past few years the Web has been
described as the “Wild West” of media, but as business models have evolved, it
seems like there’s a little more structure to the world.” With Aymar’s faith in
innovations, I hope this means that we will see many more revolutions in
technology and mass communications in the future.
3. Production and Distribution
As you have read, most of the web shows
produced, even the ones directed by big names in the film industry, were very
cheap. This allowed for millions to try their hand in creating their own shows
and post them for the world to see. With all this talent be broadcasted on the
web, many major industries and directors looking for new talent, do not have
far to go. Many famous names today got their start though web shows,
including Andy Samberg and Justin Bieber. Web shows have been distributed
directly from the producers' websites or online video sites such as AtomFilms and
YouTube.
AtomFilms was or still is an internet based
entertainment network showcasing original short movies, animations, and web
series by amateur creators. The group was created in 1998 and went on to become
one of the first go to websites for web shows. Their success did go unnoticed;
in 2006, AtomFilms was bought out by MTV and continued on to become part of
Comedy Central today.
Created by three former PayPal employees in
2005, YouTube has gone a long way since its beginnings. Like AtomFilms, YouTube
displays a wide variety of independent videos. This included “Hollywood” movie
clips, television show clips, music videos, and again, a wide variety of
amateur created videos such as video blogging, short original videos, and
educational videos.
Most of the content on YouTube has been
uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, the BBC,
Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as
part of the YouTube partnership program. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was
bought by Google for $1.65 billion, and now operates as a subsidiary of Google.
Hulu is now a famous website which streams
video of day old TV shows, movies, webisodes and other footage from many other
networks. Learning from past web television websites, Hulu has a fully
intergrated AD supported system that allows a steady funding. Hulu has also
become a main source for those who have canceled their television service and
use Hulu as a means to keep up with their shows.
4. Known
Examples
Red vs. Blue is probably the first web series
and first video I ever watched on YouTube itself. Red Vs. Blue is a comedic
parody series based on the Halo video game franchise, created by Rooster Teeth
Productions. Red vs. Blue was created by using voice-over and prerecorded gameplay
videos of on the Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360. The series followed the machinima
techniques of other videos seen by using synchronizing video footage from a game
to pre-recorded dialogue and other audio.
Series did so well that seasonal DVDs were
released due such a high demand for them. Initially the series intended to be very
short; the project quickly and unexpectedly achieved significant popularity
following its Internet release on April 1, 2003. Praised for its originality,
the series has won four awards at film festivals held by the Academy of
Machinima Arts & Sciences. It has also won the award from "Best
Animated Web Series" from the International Academy of Web Television. The
series was credited with bringing new popularity to the YouTube channel “machinima,”
helping it to gain more mainstream exposure, and influencing more people create
their own videos that matched this art form.
Ask-A-Ninja is a comedy series that parody’s
the form of vlogging or podcasts by featuring a “ninja” who answers questions
about being a ninja. Each episode usually lasts four to seven minutes, and
always ending with the Ninja’s signature sign off by saying "I look
forward to killing you soon!" due to the popularity of the series, various
television shows have featured the ninja himself as a guest star. Shows like
the Mythbusters featured the Ninja in episode where the team is trying to
debunk old myths about ninjas. Additionally, in 2007, Forbes.com listed the
Ninja as one of the top "Fictional Celebrities" on the web. According
to an interview, Ask A Ninja was originally supposed to be an animated show
about two Ninjas living in Orange County. Ironically enough, the show
eventually did produce some episodes that were completely animated. As a final
note, in an interview with Forbes.com, the creators stated that they would like
to see a great interface with new media and traditional media. Co-creator Douglas Sarine also stated that “Our
goal is to give not up on Hollywood, but help Hollywood transition to new ways
of distributing and new ways of generating content from the internet to feature
films.” This quote is essentially the answer to my thesis of my research paper.
Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager is a comedic web
series created by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan which parodies Star Wars. The
show's central character is Chad Vader, the day-shift manager at the fictional
supermarket Empire Market, who doesn’t fit in well with the staff. Initially
produced to be a show for a local station in New York, the project was canceled
after only two episodes were released. However, the creators decided to
continue the story and upload it to YouTube. The show has received several
awards, including an Official Star Wars Fan Film Award, which Is a high honor
for a Star Wars fan.
Matt
and Aaron have been Keynote Speakers at a number of events including Comic Con,
The Writer's Guild, Dragon Con, Fan Expo Toronto, and more. I personally have
sat in on one of their panels at Dragon Con, where I have learned several
points of how they got started. Additionally, I learned how this series opened
several doors for the creators due to its success. One of the most notable
doors to open is the position offered to Aaron Yonda by LucasArts. With an
upcoming video game being produced, LucasArts needed a voice for the famed
Darth Vader. Generally, most fans would have thought that LucasArts would have
chosen the original but expensive voice actor, James Earl Jones. However, they
decided to go with Aaron Yonda because of how strikingly similar his voice was
to the character. Furthermore, Aaron has now played this character for
LucasFilm on several different projects, and is probably every fans dream come
true.
“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” is a live action
video web series that is set in the universe of the Halo franchise and is also
ground breaking history for web television. The series was created for the
promotion of the new upcoming game, Halo 4. This has been Microsoft's largest investment
in any live-action promotion they have ever done in the past, with almost $10
million spent on creating the series. YouTube’s channel, Machinima Prime and Halo Waypoint would had a
new episode each Friday leading up to Halo 4’s release on November 6, 2012.
Aside
from the marketing stand point, it was stated in Halowaypoint.com that “the
goal of the webseries is to introduce the franchise to people unfamiliar with
the games.” 343 Industries franchise business management director, Matt
McCloskey, stated to Variety.com that they wanted “to make Halo accessible for
people who haven't played the games. We wanted to do something unique from a
narrative standpoint that's big in scale."
5. The
Voice of Gaming
Halo ranks among the most successful game
franchises in history, and Forward Unto Dawn among the most expensive web
series to date. Not even a month has gone by and each episode tops some of the
most videos on YouTube. Both the Halo franchise and this new web series stands
as a monument to YouTube’s present and future as a next-generation television
network.
As you have read throughout this research
paper, you have noticed YouTube’s slow progression to a full-fledged network.
YouTube has come a long way from a place for pirated media content to its
present day version as an alternative to television source for people. Unlike
TV, YouTube could claim to be helping the little guy. YouTube has been a place
for original content. Over the years, initiatives like the Lonely Island and
Red vs. Blue gave a steady stream of cheap marketable videos. More and more
critics are starting notice the amount of profit that site is gaining which is shifting
the balance of power in favor of large distribution networks and corporate
producers. This can be seen through the Dr. Horrible Sing-Along-Blog and just
recently with Halo: Forward Unto Dawn. Even if you have never played Halo or
heard of it, Forward Unto Dawn is entertaining and puts the SyFy channels original
movies to shame. From the cinematography, editing, and acting, the production
was more than ready to be a mainstream television show. One might ask how the YouTube
Channel; Machinima could have taken on this massive project. Quite simply, it already
has a massive marketable audience, which film and television studios find
difficult to target. Gaming is a mass medium, and growing stronger, yet no real
television network exists for them. G4 television comes close to mind, as it
offers reviews on new games and other video game content. However, they have
yet to obtain such scripted dramas as Halo: Forward Unto Dawn. It makes sense, then, that some of YouTube’s
best original dramas come from Machinima’s Prime channel. The network is
skilled at convincing brands to spend millions to reach an audience
increasingly dissatisfied with television. As proof of their threat to
traditional television, the week after Forward Unto Dawn concluded, Battlestar
Galactica‘s antcipated prequel, Blood and Chrome, premiered on Machinima Prime.
Furthermore, Machinima has also proven itself as a hot spot for investors.
YouTube chose Machinima as its largest direct investment; a $35 million dollar
investment to be exact.
Amusingly, the word “machinima” is actually a
combonation of the two words “machine” and “cinema” and is defined as “the
process of creating real-time animation by manipulating a videogame’s engine
and assets.” With all these investmentments, Machinima has created a company
that takes gaming to a new level of entertainment. According to Machinima.com,
the company has accumulated the work of about 4,000 directors to date. In an
interview with digitaltveurope.net, the CEO of Machinima, Allen Debevoise
stated that Machinima is also co-developing original series with traditional
content providers including Lionsgate. “We’ve developed a platform that can
really deliver an audience.” Ultimately, we will see Machinima rise as one of
the first channels that truly represents the growing mass medium of gaming. I
do not doubt that we won’t see more web series of the same caliber as Halo:
Forward Unto Dawn in future.
6.
Conclusion
In my conclusion, you can easily see as time
goes on, technology will advance which will change the way we receive our
information and entertainment. I have elaborated on the rise of web television
throughout its own history. Additionally, I have provided evidence of
revolutionary events and people who have changed the way we use the internet
today. So what does this mean for the future of traditional television? Will it
become obsolete and change like the newspaper did when the radio was invented
and in-turn the radio when the television came around? I would like to think as
the Ninja, that this does not mean the end, that this means a new beginning for
new ways of generating content from the internet to feature films and
television shows.
6. Work
Cited
·
Albrecht, C. (2009, 02 19). R.i.p. bud.tv.
Retrieved from http://gigaom.com/video/rip-budtv/
·
Christian, A. (2012, 11 11). Youtube’s fading
‘halo’. Retrieved from http://tvisual.org/2012/11/11/youtubes-fading-halo/
·
Hall, E. (2010, 08 03). Short film or web
series: Which is best for the emerging filmmaker?. Retrieved from
http://voices.yahoo.com/short-film-web-series-which-best-emerging-6518662.html?cat=40
·
GUSTAFSON. (2010, 08 12). A brief history of
the web series. Retrieved from http://www.scriptmag.com/news/a-brief-history-of-the-web-series.
·
Informa Telecoms and Media. (2012, 03 30).
Machinima to launch prime, prepares for first youtube ‘upfront’. Retrieved from
http://www.digitaltveurope.net/22678/machinima-to-launch-prime-prepares-for-first-youtube-upfront/
·
Klowden, K. (2008, 06). Writers’ strike of
2007–2008 the economic impact of digital distribution. Retrieved from
http://www.milkeninstitute.org/pdf/writers_strike.pdf
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