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.

Keep in mind that I say this about transmedia with an understanding that it’s ridiculously difficult for independent producers with limited resources to start up a transmedia effort. It’s much easier for someone making a web series to just film it and put it out on some streaming source and hope for the best. Also much cheaper.

Did I mention much less successful, too?

With so many outlets fighting for a limited number of eyes, producers need to plan for more in-depth engagement with the viewers from the beginning. It is more work. It does take time and can be really frustrating. At the same time, if you work hard at it then you will start to see results.

Gennefer Snowfield is one of my favorites in the interwebs when it comes to finding great information about transmedia or branded entertainment. Following one of her links pointed me to this post on Culture Hacker by Robert Pratton. In a nutshell, he explains his plan for creating a cross media experience for the film Vauxhall Crossed in order to build an audience. He has a great analogy for growing a fan base that relies on digging for oil. He even has a great visual aid, which I am blatantly ripping off right now.

Digging for audiences, from Robert Pratten

This analogy works really well and explains the importance and power of really taking the time to connect with the audience. The example he continues with is great because it shows an understanding of the audience he’s trying to attract. In this case, the project is for a story about spies. So he created a storefront for a Chinese restaurant that doesn’t exist. It’s a cover for the agents but the site acts just like a restaurant. Early adopters who join in get secret access to another part of the store, just like… wait for it… spies!

He did a great job in thinking about the product and how to support it by playing up concepts that fans of that content would appreciate. He connected with the desired audience. This is a really important part of the puzzle that a lot of people miss.

It’s not enough to just tweet about your show or your story. You can’t get by with simply adding a lot of random friends on Facebook hoping that someone will pay attention. You have to engage with the audience you want to attract. And that’s the really hard part. It takes time and you really have to care. Once you get there, you really have struck oil. Or gold if you prefer something less messy… but less accurate as a metaphor. ‘Cuz it doesn’t really spread out like… let’s just stick with oil.

So in this case Pratton does a great job of getting people into world he’s creating. Once they’re invested in this world, they start to tell their friends. And then we have a shampoo commercial.

What about existing properties? Can existing properties with an established fan base benefit from a transmedia approach? Absolutely.

More and more TV shows are reaching out to new audiences

Just look at your local bookstore and see all of the novels written for Star Trek. Swing by a comic book store and check out how many comics there are of TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other TV properties. When you stop and think about it, these transmedia projects aren’t just great for the originating property. They’re great for the new industry and the new market that’s being introduced to the property.

Transmedia is a gateway for people to access stories they never knew existed and I’ll argue it’s good for the entertainment industry as a whole. But that’s a big heady concept and I’ve rambled enough in this post for now. So let’s talk about that next time.

One of the great things about comics is that there really is no limit. In film and TV, we can think of all sorts of amazing and imaginative stories. But even with all the great technology we have for video effects, that still costs a LOT of money to make happen on the screen. In a comic book, we have a visual medium where you’re limited only by what can be drawn on the page.

Well, we HAD one...

As a storyteller, that’s really liberating. We don’t have to have the conversations like “How are you going to get 200 cows in a gas station?” or “How are you going to pay for a 3 story-tall alien spaceship destroying main street?”  You just draw it. For the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comics, Joss Whedon has often talked about the freedom of getting to do anything in the comics. One reviewer on TV Squad (Keith McDuffee)  even proclaimed, “Thank God for a medium that lets creativity go completely wild without budget worries.”

Without budget worries. You hear/read that? That’s the part all us indie producers need to be listening to. If we can embrace the medium, then we can let our creativity go wild without worrying about the budget. We indie producers can make the most impressive, meaningful, and moving stories we can come up with to really capture the imaginations of our audiences. Hot diggity dog, I get to blow up a Main Street with a huge airship. Finally!

Take that Main Street!

But what ’bout mi film? I can still haz film?

Absolutely.

These media streams can work together to increase everyone’s chances for success. A great comic book release can fuel buzz about an upcoming film project related to the comics. If you can make a story in comics that really engages the readers and makes them want more, then they will want to see a quality film that takes them into that world. In fact, if there’s an existing non-film property out in the public (like a comic book), the chances for getting funding for a film version of it go up drastically. That was a pretty common theme at this last Austin Film Festival. Time after time we heard in panels, producers are more likely to take a risk on a property if there’s already a product out there.

Let’s take this one step farther and say there is a film version. You can expand that universe in comics to tell more stories about your world and your character that your fans can go to. So a good film can generate interest in comics. Comics can generate interest in film. They work together. Like ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding a da ding de dong.

Ra ma la ma ding dong a doop a de whatever

Yes, I made a Grease reference. Let’s move on.

4 of the top 20 grossing movies in US history are based on comic book characters, according to www.the-numbers.com. In 2008, comic book sales alone totaled about $437 million. There’s a huge potential market out there for producers that are willing to take on transmedia storytelling. If it’s done right, not only can we all tell deeper, richer stories and dig deeper into our characters, we can do it at a minimal cost compared to what it would take to make a film version. Then we can take that momentum and push it into another stream like web or feature content. That feedback loop just generates more interest and more chances to tell your story the way you want.

It seems like a no-brainer to push for a transmedia experience in order to reach more people and to increase your funding. I know that we’re going to be looking into it.

What do you think? Barking up the wrong tree? On the right track? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it.

I knew there were comic book tie-ins to TV shows and movies. That was never anything new. What really got me interested was when I heard that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was coming to comic books. Not as a tie-in, but as a full-fledged continuation of the story produced by Joss Whedon with some of the original writers contributing scripts. As a die-hard fan of the franchise I was excited, albeit a little nervous.

Buffy Season 8

When I finally got the first issue, I was sold. Here was a real crossover into a new media stream that accurately reflected the things that were great about the TV show. I’m sure there are others but I haven’t really experienced them. What are some other examples that you know? Leave them in the comments so I can check that out. (And no, Angel:After the Fall, even with its apparent financial success, is not another example IMO.)

Since then I’ve dipped my feet in a couple of other comic franchises, with mixed results.  But through all of that, I’ve found some great stories in the comic book world. I’m not talking Iron Man and Batman or all the other huge tentpole franchises. Everyone knows about those characters and the recent movies have been spectacular. I’m talking about the other stories out there that no one outside of the comic world really knows about.

Runaways

My latest favorite that I’ve just started delving in to is Runaways from Marvel Comics. I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying this series so far. I’ve only gotten a little bit into it and I can’t wait to get a hold of the next compilation. In fact, I like it so much that I want to see it as a film. Well, actually as a series. But you know what I mean. Fortunately for me, word is that Brian K. Vaughn (who started the series) is writing a film adaptation that should hit the screens in 2011. Although I was kinda hoping that I could do the adaptation. *sigh*

So let’s see… we’ve talked about a successful crossover into comics for a great television series. We’ve got a relatively obscure comic book property getting a treatment for a feature film. And these are just a couple of the many examples for crossovers from one media type to another. (There’s even a one-shot Dr. Horrible comic book that just came out.) In another post I talked about ARGs on the internet. So what does all of this mean for us indie producers?

It means there’s a market and that means there’s a way for us to finance all our projects.

More on that next time.

Leave a comment and let’s start a conversation. I’m curious what you all think.

Today, I think I’ll be talking about Transmedia productions… specifically ARGs. If you go all the way to the end then I might just blow your mind with just how crazy the new “Dollhouse” ARG really is.Recently I think the majority of geekdom was distraught when FOX once again cancelled a Joss Whedon series. “Dollhouse” got the axe this week. Whether it got it too soon or not I think has yet to be figured out. While I personally enjoyed it, I know a lot of people we disappointed. But this discussion is probably best held off for another day. Because “Dollhouse” isn’t quite dead yet. In fact, it seems more lively than ever.

Right about the time the announcement was made about “Dollhouse” being cancelled, there was a website launched for the Rossum Corporation. In case you haven’t watched the show, they’re the ones running the Dollhouses.

A few people noticed that there were actually contact numbers on the website for people to call and e-mail. When you call it, you’ll get the usual voicemail that you’d expect from a company, especially one set up by a TV show. The fun happened later when some people got a call back from Rossum.

Those phone calls had a hidden meaning. With a little research, people were led to a site at www.ditchthetech.com. The site had a video urging people to stop Rossum and ditch the tech.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are way too many places to take you through everything now, but this led people to www.wipethefuture.com (you need to figure out the password), www.spectrin.com (another hidden area with passwords), @AlexfromPR and several other places scattered around the web. Each piece leads to another part of the bigger puzzle and I have to say it’s been really well done. Completely engaging and expanding on the “Dollhouse” universe in ways I don’t think anyone really imgained. Some people are even saying that it feels like a new show. Maybe Whedon’s next project?

This is all part of transmedia storytelling, where producers take several different types of media in order to further engage their audience and tell a richer story. That’s one of the great things about the internet; You can reach out to you fans and have them take part in the story, not just watch it. The Twitter account for @AlexfromPR is treated just like a real person who has a real blog.

She reacts just like a real person would if hundreds of people start asking her crazy questions about Rossum and Iceland and tattoos. You might freak out. So does Alex. And this kind of interactivity is what makes this an ARG.

An ARG is an “Alternate Reality Game” and I have to say I LOVE the concept. So much so that I think I just might steal it. We’ve already been developing some viral locations for the “CELL” mythology but I think we may even want to develop it even farther so that when we launch, people will have a chance to interact and learn more about the world.

I also think that for us Indie producers, this kind of media effort could really pay off.

There are a lot of ways that indie producers can take advantage of the unique position web distribution gives us. I’ve always been a huge proponent of building a community around your brand. These ARGs are just another level of engagement we can take with our viewers. If we can get the support of a community talking about our show, imagine how strong we could be with a community that’s a PART of the show and interacting with it. That level of engagement is where we have an advantage over traditional media. If we can use that to show that our viewers care about our content, then they’ll be more likely to help us finance more in the future.It may be too late for “Dollhouse,” but it’s not too late for us.

And now how can I blow your mind about the “Dollhouse” ARG? Here we go…

The website www.spectrin.com isn’t a new site. It’s been around since 2004. You can find archived versions of the site at www.archive.org, which works just to create archives of web pages over time.  So when they talk in the ARG about getting into our “timeline,” it starts to take on a new sense of depth. Did they plan this story out 5 years ago? Way before “Dollhouse” was even a twinkle in Eliza’s eye? Have they been secretly planning this for years? How deep does this go? Where is this rabbithole taking us? I for one can’t wait to find out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We also have another poster for CELL made by our still photographer Dale Kennemer.

I can’t even begin to list the amount of great stuff going on behind the scenes for CELL, partially because I can’t. But rest assured good things are in the works for CELL. Loren and Chris are working like mad to get rough cuts of the episodes done. They just got Episode 2 finished and I should have eyes on that soon.  Our sound mixer Debbie is working like mad to get sound set for the shoot and she’s also taken on sound design. I don’t think she’ll ever sleep.

The rest of the stuff about CELL I can’t really talk about yet. But as soon as I can I’ll make sure to let you all know.

And on an unrelated note, we’ve started the development process for more shows with the Lovable Varmint brand. Things are going so well that we’re going to keep pushing ahead and keep making new content to bring to you. Our goal is to push the boundaries of indie web productions so that we can compete with the big money out there. If you like what we’re doing, keep visiting and keep supporting us. With your help we can bring you more great content.

Thanks for everything you’ve been doing and keep an eye out for more video goodness.

We’re also working on the first cut of Episode One! That’s right, Episode One is almost out of editing. Don’t get too excited. We still have to get Sound Design, Score and Visual Effects done on it. And you still won’t get to see it until January.Chris and Loren are working hard on putting all of this together and rushing it through so that we can use it. Why the rush? Well because we’re going out to look for funding for the series. Our initial feedback from everyone that’s been a part of this has been amazing. So much so that we’re speeding up our plans and we’re going to actively seek funding for a continuation of the series.

So that’s where we are. We wrapped photography two weeks ago and we’re already looking for funding for Season 2. Early? Cart before the horse? We don’t think so.

At the Austin Film Festival I was able to talk for a few minutes with Damon Lindelof and Roberto Orci. Considering how much we’ve all said “CELL” is like “LOST ” and “Fringe,” that was a great time. When I told some producers there about what we had done and how much we had they was very encouraging. I was told repeatedly about how so many studios are looking for good web content and even content producers for their existing properties. I was urged to go out and shop it to production companies and let them know that we’re out here.

One good point.

I was also talking with an executive from Fortis Films and she said something that I wasn’t really expecting. “You’re in the power position.” Well that’s new. Her point is valid though. We have 13 episodes of a series in the can with a series bible and outline for events in Season 2. We have content and companies are always looking for content. This is a property that doesn’t have high development time or costs. It’s also something that can easily be expanded into a larger format if needed. In fact, we have enough footage to easily cut Season One into a 2-hour pilot, in case anyone wanted to do that.

Another good point.

I was also able to show the footage around to several attendees and our cast was at the Festival talking up “CELL.” Without fail, everyone was interested and impressed with what we had.

Three points.

So all this means is that we’re going to push ahead and work hard to get sponsorship for a second season or even sell Season One to an interested party. We all believe in the story behind “CELL” and we’re ready to let everyone else join in as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’re also going to start posting more production pictures. We’ve been putting up plenty of the crew but not much of the story pictures so we can keep you all guessing. We’ll leak a few more as we move the process along… but NO SPOILERS. We gotta be careful about that you know. We don’t want to ruin it for anybody.

Our Facebook group is also making good progress. After only a couple of weeks up we’re almost to our goal of 1000 fans. Thanks to all of you guys for your support.

The forum on this page is still coming as is the first draft of the poster. We’ve had a few people working on it and they’re looking great. We’ll have some out for the Festival so keep your eyes open for them.

So much going on and so little time to tell you all about it. We’ll have our first episode rough cut done soon and then our pitching for second season begins. Can’t wait to being Season 2 to life.

But while I’m writing we’ll definitely have a lot of post-production to do. We’ll keep you updated as we go.