This week’s lesson covers everyone’s favourite subject — social media.

If there is one take away from the lesson that is social media is not a silver bullet. It takes time, perseverance and an eye for opportunity to get the best ROI from this strategy.

For details on how-to set-up accounts with Facebook and Twitter, please refer to “How to Build an Audience for your Web Series“.

Right click to download Web Series Program: Lesson 4 slides here.

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I often talk about the benefits of participating in a Twitter chat. It is an excellent way to get to know other people in your industry or to do audience research.

But what exactly is a Twitter chat?

A Twitter chat is a guided conversation where users interested in a particular topic hop onto the service to chat. The chat is given a hashtag, which makes it easy for anyone to identify the chat and participate. It’s similar to a chat room in that it’s a topic-driven conversation happening in real time; it just happens to be housed on Twitter.

#webserieschat is the industry standard live Twitter chat for the web series industry. It takes place every Wednesday at 11 AM (PT) / 2 PM (ET) and continues on LinkedIn. Hosts are @slebisodes and @minglemediatv.

There are two way to participate in #webserieschat:

If you are using a desktop client such as TweetDeck or Seesmic, you can enter the hashtag #webserieschat as a search term and follow the conversation from there. Personally, I find this to be the slower option as there will inevitably be a time lag from the chat to your Twitter client. It is also more difficult to keep track of the conversation threads as well as manage your replies.

The second option is to sign into TweetChat with your Twitter account and then enter the hashtag #webserieschat. After you sign-in, you’ll be taken to an authentication page within your Twitter profile. Click “Allow” which opens a real-time chat room within your Twitter profile.

Follow the conversation from within the chat room. It can move quickly. To slow the process, you can use “smart pausing”. Just scroll down the page; it will not refresh, allowing you to view and reply to tweets in the stream. With TweetChat, each tweet automatically gets the hashtag added and the room auto-updates allowing you to focus less on the mechanics and more on the conversation.

When the chat is over, simply log out of TweetChat.

To view transcripts of past Web series chats, go to http://www.slebisodes.com/webserieschat-transcript/.

If you’re looking to do audience research or even start to build engagement for your project, you may want to check-out this running Google Doc that keeps track of the Twitter chat schedule. You can also find Twitter chats simply by monitoring the hashtags that come through your Twitter stream.

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This week: a touch of web design, a dash of usability and a cup full of SEO (otherwise known as search engine optimization).

Please refer to “How to Build an Audience for your Web Series“, for detailed explanations of search factors and for links to some of the tools mentioned in the slides.

Right click to download Web Series Program: Lesson 3 slides here.

Read more at GreenHAT Digital

In advance of tomorrow night’s class for web series creators at Centennial College, I’ve posted an infographic from Brafton that explores how content is key to search engine visibility.

They also have a related post which breaks down each area of the infographic.

This should tie together learnings from Lesson #2 on content strategy and this week’s lesson on search.

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Another original web series funded by the Independent Production Fund (IPF) is slated to launch next month.

Guidestones is an interactive thriller, which delves into the mystery of The Georgia Guidestones and the monument’s connection to the Illuminati and the New World Order.

The series was written and directed by Jay Ferguson and produced by iThentic and 3 o’clock.tv.

Described as “… a cross between The Da Vinci Code and The X-Files“, Guidestones is a fast-paced story of deception, duplicity and murder.

Sandy Rai (Supinder Wraich), an exchange student from India studying journalism in Canada, stumbles upon an unsolved murder while working on assignment with fellow student Trevor Shale (Dan Fox). She learns that the murdered man, a scientist named Harold Glenndenning (David Fox), may have had a connection to The Georgia Guidestones, a monument of unknown origin built in a farmer’s field and inscribed with directions for rebuilding civilization after the apocalypse. Following clues hidden within The Guidestones she discovers that Harold’s death was no random act, and is instead part of a cover-up hiding a global conspiracy of apocalyptic proportions.

Viewers can sign-up now to receive links to the episodes by email. Once the series launches, they’ll be able to follow those links to discover hidden clues in the video episodes and online.

All very mysterious but irresistible to anyone who is into interactive, ARG or transmedia play.

Read more at GreenHAT Digital

For the next five weeks, I’ll be teaching an introduction to marketing at Centennial College as part of their Continuing Education Web Series Program.

The course outline is based on the guide that I wrote for the Independent Production Fund (IPF), “How to Build an Audience for your Web Series“, but also reflects recent changes to content, search and social media marketing.

In Lesson One, we covered a number of basis concepts, including:

• Definitions
• Original, reality and transmedia web series
• Business models
• Production issues
• Distribution
• Marketing (then and now)
• Digital marketing
• Goals, project qualities, audience and resources
• The marketing plan

The slides that accompanied the presentation can be downloaded here. Right-click and save the PDF version.

Read more at GreenHAT Digital

Stash Media has announced its “Best of 2011” Collection: 42 of the year’s top projects in eight categories viewable online now at http://www.stashmedia.tv/stash-best-of-2011.

Curated by the editors of Stash, the “Best of 2011” includes behind-the-scenes materials, production notes, links, toolkit details and full credits for each project.

“The depth and diversity of talent that makes up the international animation, motion graphics and VFX industry is staggering,” says STASH editor Stephen Price. “Choosing 42 films out of the 360 we published this year was a grueling task.”

Highlights from the Stash Best of 2011 Collection (in alphabetical order)

AXE/LYNX “EVEN ANGELS WILL FALL”
Agency: BBH London
Director: Rupert Sanders
Production: MJZ
VFX: The Mill

ASSASSIN’S CREED: REVELATIONS
Game developer: Ubisoft
Director: István Zorkóczy
Animation: Digic Pictures

“BUTTERFLIES”
Director: Sandro Miller
Production: Sandro Film
Animation/VFX: Gentleman Scholar
Starring: John Malkovich

CANAL+ “THE BEAR”
Agency: BETC
Director: Matthijs Van Heijnningen
Production: 75
VFX: Mikros Image

COCA COLA “SEIGE”
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Portland
Director: FX & MAT
Production: Nexus Productions
Animation: Framestore

FRANCE 24 “THE BIRDS”
Agency: Marcel Paris
Director: Philippe Grammaticopoulos
Animation: Mr Hyde

INTEL”THE CHASE”
Agency: Venables Bell + Partners
Director: Smith & Foulkes
Production: Nexus Productions
Animation/VFX: Nexus Productions

JACK DANIEL’S “TENNESSEE HONEY”
Agency: Arnold Worldwide
Director: Pete Candeland
Animation: Passion Pictures NYC

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA “SIMPLE MATH”
Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Production: Pretty Bird US
VFX: The Daniels

METHOD “WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER”
Agency: Droga5
Director: Three Legged Legs
Production: Green Dot Films
Animation: Three Legged Legs

“PYTHAGASAURUS”
Director: Peter Peake
Production: Aardman Animations
Animation: Aardman Animations

“SHAPESHIFTER”
Director: Alex Weil
Production: Charlex
Animation/VFX: Charlex
VO: Gabriel Byrne

SNICKERS “FOCUS GROUP”
Agency: BBDO
Director: Jim Jenkins
Production: O Positive
VFX: Framestore

TWININGS “GETS YOU BACK TO YOU”
Agency: AMV BBDO
Director: PSYOP
Production: Smuggler
Animation: PSYOP

To view all 42 projects, visit http://www.stashmedia.tv/stash-best-of-2011

Categories:
TV and cinema spots, music videos, online films, broadcast/title design, infographics, game trailers/cinematics, location-based films, short films.

About:
Stash Media Inc. is the largest online library of animation, motion design and VFX on the planet. An essential creative resource for animators, broadcast designers, motion graphic and VFX artists, STASH feeds the information habits of design junkies and creative professionals alike with free daily updates and a monthly subscription that includes production notes, credits, toolkits and links. Stash Media also publishes the website, Style Frames: The Art of the Pitch, and will be presenting an event of the same name May 2012 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Downloads:
“Best of 2011” artwork (JPEG, 1.7 MB ZIP)

Links:
Stash Media — http://stashmedia.tv
Stash Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/stashmag
Stash Twitter — http://twitter.com/stash_magazine
Stash YouTube — http://www.youtube.com/user/StashDVDMagazine

Tags:
#stashmagazine #animation #mograph #motiongraphics #vfx

Read more at GreenHAT Digital

Fun, fangs and fights await fans of the tween TV series My Babysitter’s a Vampire! with the launch of Humans VS Vampires, an action-packed 3D online game.

Developed by Secret Location, Humans VS Vampires pits the show’s human characters against their blood-sucking counterparts in an arcade-style duel that ends with the winning side deciding the Season 1 finale.

The game launches in advance of the Canadian premiere of My Babysitter’s a Vampire!, January 5, 2012, on TELETOON. Season 1 has already aired on Disney Channel (US, UK & Ireland, Germany).

Humans VS Vampires is a modern, fast and fun spin on the classic arcade games Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Players decide whether they want to be one of the good guys (humans) or if theyʼd rather join the dark side (vampires).

In the best two out of three rounds between one human and one vampire character, players rack up points for their collective team. The team with the most points determines which of two endings will air when the season concludes.

The game uses stereoscopic 3D technology and features photorealistic game avatars, modeled from videos of the actual TV series actors. Players can switch from 3D back to 2D instantly, as they battle it out against fantastical backgrounds painted to look like settings from the show.

Each avatar has nearly 30 battle moves controlled using the computer keyboard, including three special moves unique to each character. Multiplayer functionality is included and players can send invite codes to their friend by IM, text, or email to play live remotely.

Since its soft launch in October, Humans VS Vampires has reached 1.5 million page views with over 1 million points scored. Humans are currently leading the challenge by 24,000 points.

My Babysitter’s a Vampire! is a special effects enhanced live-action adventure comedy for tweens. It follows the heroics of three geeky, sci-fi loving best friends and their smoking hot vampire babysitter as they defend their town against an avalanche of scary supernatural phenomena.

Downloads:
Humans VS Vampires screen grabs (JPEG, 2MB Zip)

Links:
Website & game: http://www.mybabysittersavampire.com
Official Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/248513655196077/
Trailer: http://youtu.be/efqZfvphqkU

Read more at GreenHAT Digital

The Independent Production Fund (IPF) has committed to funding web series until 2014. The announcement was made yesterday.

The web series funding program will now become the focus of IPF funding support for the next three years.

The next deadline  for applications to the Web Series Program is March 1, 2012.

In 2010, the IPF launched a pilot program to support linear drama series created for new platforms. As a result, web series production took off in Canada.

In the past two years, 330 proposals were submitted to the IPF for web series funding. Twenty-six of these were approved for funding and can be seen on web portals around the world.

The IPF, along with several provincial funding partners, invests over $1.5 M a year in web series. They have been created for every demographic from pre-schoolers to adults representing nearly 2,000 minutes of drama in addition to associated interactive activities and social media.

Among those projects funded in the past two year by the IPF are GreenHAT Digital client productions: BunnyBop!, Guidestones, In the Rough and Ruby Skye, P.I.

Read more at GreenHAT Digital

Broadway meets YouTube with an added dash of interactivity in Prison Dancer, an original musical web series produced with the financial participation of Independent Production Fund Web Series Program.

The series was inspired by the viral Youtube phenomenon “The Dancing Inmates of Cebu”, and features a cast of Youtube stars and Filipino musical talent.

The series tells the story of Matt (Matt Wells) an Internet pop-culture journalist who researches the origins of the dancing Filipino inmates who became video streaming sensations. Through interviews, security cam footage, and good old-fashioned investigative journalism, he pieces together the story behind the viral phenomenon.

Prison Dancer was created/written by Romeo Candido (Ang Pamana: The Inheritance, Lolo’s Child, Rolling Longaniza) and Carmen De Jesus (Ang Pamana: The Inheritance). Candido will also direct and composed all the original music. The web is produced by Ana Serrano (Late Fragment).

The nine person cast features Catherine Ricafort (Mamma Mia, The Sing-Off), Jeigh Madjus (Alter Boyz, La Cage Aux Folles, Glee Audition on YouTube), Mikey Bustos (Canadian Idol, creator of the viral YouTube sensation “Filipino Accent Tutorial”), Matt Wells (Host, Muchmore, Where You At Baby), Nicco Lorenzo (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Ang Pamana: The Inheritance), Norman Alconcel (MuchMusic VJ Search), Pierre Bayuga (Rent), Joseph Sevillo (Beauty and the Beast, Shall We Dance), and Ron Josol (Video on Trial, Comedy Now!).

Each episode of Prison Dancer features a special musical number that the audience can join in on.The audience will also have the chance to start “conversations” with the series’ characters, notably the main character, Lola.

Read more at GreenHAT Digital