Austin, Texas – 16/6/2010 – Beth Chamberlin joins the season 2 cast of Austin-based series CELL:  The Web Series. Beth is well known for her role on Guiding Light, the longest running broadcast show in television history, and she comes to CELL fresh off a 2010 Daytime Emmy nomination for her work in the final year of the show. She played Beth Raines on the long running soap opera from 1989 to 2010. However, Beth is not new to web series as she is also co-star and story consultant on the hilarious show Steamboat. She is also a certified kettle bell trainer and has two workout DVDs, The Kettle Bell Way Vol. 1 and Kettle Bell Way Vol. 2 Empire State, available from Beacon Fitness.

CELL: The Web Series is nearing the explosive conclusion to its freshman season with its finale going live on July 21, 2010. The series stars Jourdan Gibson, Kevin McCarthy and Danny Cameron. It is written and directed by Mark Gardner with a score by composer/conductor Brian Satterwhite.

When asked about the new addition to his already stellar cast Mark Gardner had this to say, “We’re very excited to have Beth join the cast of CELL: The Web Series. CELL has worked hard to deliver excellent character based drama and an actor of Beth’s caliber will help us push to the next level in creating high-quality independent drama. We hope with the inclusion of Beth Chamberlin in CELL that we can not only increase interest in what we’re doing but also increase exposure and interest in independent drama all over the web to a new group of fans.”

CELL has accumulated much critical acclaim in its first season and has recently surpassed 260,000 views on Koldcast TV. Lovable Varmint Productions is currently seeking additional funding and sponsors for season two.

CELL: The Web Series is proud to welcome Beth Chamberlin to the cast. Welcome to the Family, Beth and Stay Tuned!

Lovable Varmint Productions is a small band of independent writers, actors and producers taking their futures into their own hands. Our mission is to tell high-quality, engaging, original stories, with a focus on serialization, for distribution on the Internet and other new media streams. We intend to push the boundaries of new media production by advancing evolutionary models for monetization, production, and distribution of original web content.

For sponsorship, funding and press inquiries please contact Mark Gardner.

I just wanted to pass on this nifty little series of videos comparing a few of the best DSLRs and Film cameras. The Zacuto Great Camera Shootout 2010 is underway with their second video out now. It’s a great example showing the operational differences of each camera as evaluated by major DPs and film industry veterans. I’d highly suggest checking it out if you’re considering buying a DSLR within the next year.

When I first walked in the hall where he was talking he had just started showing a music video that he made with his Canon 5dmkII. I’ll show you the video below but before you watch it, remember a few important details.

• It was shot in native 24p
• The only person on the crew was Philip Bloom
• He only used one lens (50mm F1.2L)
• They shot at night on 6th Street in Austin
• They didn’t use any additional lighting

Click here to view the embedded video.

I don’t know about you but I think that’s pretty impressive. Yes, Philip Bloom is a ridiculously talented filmmaker. But let’s just accept that for now. Look at the quality of the picture. The low-light sensitivity. The depth of field. The list could go on.

Here’s another one to take a gander at.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another great thing that he brought up was how easy it was to shoot with the camera. Its low-profile compared to pro sumer camcorders like the HVX-170 and others make filming so much easier. In some places where you might get chased away with a video camera, you can film to your heart’s content with the innocuous body of the DSLR.

Standard lenses, chip sizes that are almost as big as 35mm film, support of multiple frame rates, the ability to work in a digital workflow… well let’s just say I want one. Yesterday. And no, I’m not getting sponsored by Canon. But if they’d like to talk, I’m available.

But wait… that’s all on a 5d. Didn’t I say something about the 7d? I sure did. The 7d is another in the line that Canon has out and very similar with some subtle differences. It has a slightly smaller sensor, which makes it virtually identical to the 5d. It also has lenses designed specifically for the 7d. Not to mention support for more frame rates. (I believe a firm ware update to the 5d has increased the frame rate options for the 5d.) Best of all…  the 7d runs for about $1700.

Here’s a sample from a 7d.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So for an indie filmmaker that needs speed and flexibility but also wants to maintain a high level of quality, it seems like it would be hard to go wrong with a 7d.

Now I just need to figure out a way to make it happen. Quickly. Who needs a Scarlet after all?

One of the first projects we’ll be working on is obviously a second season of CELL. The feedback we’ve already gotten has been great, and you guys haven’t even gotten to the meat of the show yet. So we’re starting the process of fleshing out what our second season will be. Then we just have to figure out how to pay for it. I’m hopeful we can make that happen and then keep the story rolling for all of you.

Breaking the story with Carpool Productions

Another project is called Carpool Productions. We’ve been working on it for a few months now and it’s starting to pick up speed. It’s a mix of a documentary and episodic series with a bunch of brilliant kids. Some of our documentary footage is already in the can and we’re working hard to get the story going. We’ll have a website up soon with more information and we’ll keep you posted on where we are as we get more information together. I can’t wait for this one to come out. It should be a LOT of fun for everyone.

We’re also really early in a show called Ashes of Adair. This one has me really excited. It will be heavy on the action and we’re aiming for something visually stunning. What’s really fun for me is we’re looking for this one to go through a cross-media storyline. That means it won’t just exist in the web-series format. The sky’s the limit but think comics and ARGs just to name a couple of options. This is new and exciting territory and the potential for it is huge. We’ve got a rough story for the first season already and I think it could be spectacular.

Early titles for Ashes of Adair website

So we’re working hard to keep the content churning out while maintaining a high quality for everything. Of course a big part of this will be finding money for them all, but we’re hoping we can get there as well. The great thing about new media streams is there are a lot of options for monetization, and we’ll be exploring as many as humanly possible to make these shows happen.

It’s an exciting time and I’m hoping you’ll all stick with us as we start up these projects. None of it can happen without the support of all the fans out there that care about what we’re doing here.

Over the next few days I’ll be talking more about SXSW and what I learned. To all of the supporters of Lovable Varmint, CELL:The Web Series, and all the other projects in the pipeline, I’ve learned that I owe you all more. I’ll be talking more about what we have in store and also just general ideas about what’s going on in the general world of new media streams and digital media.

So look for more blogs, talks about media in general, some live-streaming vlogs, and who knows what else. It really means that I’m going to work harder to talk to you all some more and let you know what I think. Where we’ll end up, who knows. But I will say that we’ll end up somewhere great and I hope you all take the ride with me.

Click here to view the embedded video.

SXSW is starting up Friday. The Interactive and Film Festivals are going on from March 12 – 16. I’ll be there for the whole thing and sending in updates through the blog and twitter. If you’re not following Twitter, give us a look at @ut_markle or @CELLwebseries.

If you’re going to be at the festival drop me a line. I’d love to meet a lot of you.

We’re also going to start a little more with the conversation about what we want to do with LVP and the shows that we’re producing. Stick with us because we really think you’ll like what we’ve got going on. Until then, take a look at episode 3.

Episode 2 of CELL is rolling out in a few hours (9 pm CST) and we just got it finished. Talk about under the wire. The schedule has been crazy tough to meet and kudos to Debbie Balbo, our Sound Designer, for putting in the hard work to get the sound mix finished in time for each episode. Our post-production team in general has been amazing and continues to impress. Each episode seems to improve in some way on the one before it.

Make sure you take some time to watch CELL and then check out our forums to talk about what’s going on.

And most importantly… thanks for all the support that you’ve all shown. It’s been great and we hope it keeps growing.

We’re actually working on several new projects and we hope to be talking about them all within the next couple of weeks. So keep watching CELL and keep trying to figure out what’s going on… because we’re going to do it to you again soon.

Keep your eyes open… and take a gander at this…

Click here to view the embedded video.

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CELL: The Web Series, Episode One is live! Check it out here: http://cellthewebseries.com/

Let us know what you think! Please create topics in the forum for Episode One if you’d like to share your thoughts or ask questions.

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