New Web Series: The Dancing Bunnies

A

aurantaurant

Well-known member
I did this new Web Series called The Dancing Bunnies. The first of 14 episodes are scheduled to premiere in May 2009 but I'm bored and I want to show the first episode. And then maybe i'll post the 2nd and 3rd...

http://exposureroom.com/bunnies

password is: bunnies

HVX200, M2, Friends, Food, and lights.

I'm also posting the scripts for the next 13 episodes. I figured if anyone is interested this would be a great place to get some usable ideas. Looking for ideas from ANYBODY. Critiques welcome, suggestions welcome, kudos welcome. Anything and everything is welcome. One thing I ask is that if you don't like something, offer me a solution. Thanks!!! I'm shooting these myself so any suggestions on script formating are welcome, but I'd rather have your story ideas. I know I have some formatting quirks...

EPISODE VIDEO
VerEp1 Password: bunnies

EPISODE SCRIPTS
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7

Here are the back and front of our promotional DVD's FOR THE FIRST EPISODE that we passed out at various festivals.
BackOneSheet.jpg
FrontOneSheetFests.jpg
 
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OHMYGAWD! All I can say is WOW!

Light, acting, camera, editing - everything is perfect.

...well, I hate hand held camera - even when it´s motivated, but that´s a personal thing.

Everything else is stellar in my book.

I wish my films would look half as good.

Frank
 
Very nice, aura. That must be the camera you had in the jpeg you posted that you shot with. The images were really very film like. I'm amazed.

I was expecting bunnies :-) but other than that, very impressive. I'd be very curious how you intend to market the web series.

Looking forward to more.
 
My expectations were elsewhere given the title, but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless! Well done!
 
great job, outstanding production values. Looked Hollywood, first rate acting and some good writing. I think the DVD "watch me" things is chilling and original and think you can build the scene around that element. Also, around the 4 minute mark, I started getting restless. I think you could begin the scene at the 5 minute mark and not miss a beat. What's the motto? Enter late, leave early?

Tell shaved head actor he's great but might consider dental bleeching.

Overall very good, best I've seen at DVX so far.

Tell us the detailsl, what camera? how'd you pull this off?

OUt of my league, that's for sure.
 
Thanks for the compliments fellas. Dancing Bunnies isn't the real title of course, I just did that because there's a couple people who'd get PO'ed if they knew I posted it. And it's playing in a few festivals and it's submitted to a bunch more and they frown on it being online. But screw it.

FILMMAN: HVX200 with the M2. I'm on a zoom lens. Right on the end of it. Mostly used the natural light coming through the windows with some small lights to highlight pieces of the background. LAV Mics on both actors feeding straight into the camera. The settings on the hvx are close to stock. The new Redrock adapter (rumor) that's coming out in a few weeks will give me even more room to work in less light.

We only had one day to shoot everything because the location was so expensive... so we rehearsed the scene for about a month and a half and set up at the diner... and I just let the actors roll through the scene about 20 times, I rarely stopped them because we had practiced it so much. I moved the camera a few times and this is what we got.

The other 13 episodes are different because I'm using more actors and some moderately known actors... I wont have very much rehearsal time with them. We've been shooting around LA.

Enter Late, Leave early... yes Brian you're completely right. I agree with you. This was the version we sent to the festivals so we left it long... to give it more of an artistic weight. When it's put together with the other 13 we'll probably cut out a little. I will say that the following episodes are round 6 to 8 minutes and they are a lot tighter. They move quickly. But also we're really doing something different with this as far as content on the web goes... there isn't a lot out there like this... the tone I mean. You'll mostly see comedy or relationship drama type stuff... there's a few sci-fi and horror ones out there. So it's going against the grain of what the "experts" say is good online content. It's also interesting to note that most of the webseries production companies are going down the tubes.

Episode 3 is 7 minutes long with not one line of dialogue in it. And there were a couple production companies that thought we were crazy when we told them that. That's why were doing it all on our own. Cause we're dumb. AND even though it's about a hitman it isn't focused on his job so much as it is on his life. Just the everyday crap that he's dealing with. Peppered in with maybe a big job he's working on. Sounds lame, but I'm hoping to make it interesting.

So... the plan for this is to just release these 14 episodes on various video sites. A couple small promotions. And those 14 episodes lead into a feature that's already been written. It's a weird alternative marketing strategy. Sort of setting up the main character online in hopes that I can build an audience for the feature. Like a book kind of, only the book is free. There is a marketing strategy in place to make money on the 14 episodes but I can't really go into too much detail on what we're doing. But you'll see what the deal is in May when we release the first 3 episodes all at once. And then a new episode each week for 10 weeks. Stopping for 3 weeks before the finale and then releasing that.

There's a gap between the 14th episode and the feature so there's also an option to keep going with the series online or as a TV show. The 14 episodes can also be smashed together to make a 110 minute feature. So lots of options if we can pull it off.

It could be huge or it could really suck.

If anyone is interested I'm going to post all the scripts online. Feedback and ideas are welcome from anyone. Good ideas are good ideas. You can even tell me they're garbage, but tell me why so I can fix it. I think it will be interesting to steal some ideas from some of the DVXusers as well as see how the finished product is compared to the scripts.
 
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How do people monetize a web series? Pay per view doesn't seem viable considering I just downloaded the season opener of "Sarah Connor Chronicles" for $2.99. Auran, you mentioned other webisodes are failing all over the place, what's going on? Is publicity the only benefit of web based drama?
 
Brian, I'm not an expert on this stuff it's just my opinion based on what I've seen and heard. I'm sure people will disagree.

Webseries aren't making money because they're being slapped together like Mcdonald's Cheeseburgers. You can't just throw money at an idea and hope some 20 something is gonna deliver the goods. Ideas are air. And some people smoke a lot of weed.

There are a few BIG companies that invested in offshoot WebSeries companies to try and develop online content. With the idea that they could foster that content into network shows or movie deals, etc. So what they did was throw a bunch of shows out there that are not very good. Some are decent. There's a series called GAY TOWN that's pretty funny. There's a couple of bigger budgeted series like Squeegies and Trenches.... the latter having not been released yet... so that may change the whole game if it's successful. Buuuut... I'm not sure if it will ever be released because Disney won't be able to make their money back. And if they never market it, they save money. If they never release it, they won't have to deal with the headache of residuals. Can you say write off? How would you like your project to end up like that?

So how do you make money? Presale advertising? Google Adsense? Digital downloads? DVD's? And how do you even define success for a web series?

All important questions, but i think the most important question is, "Is the content worthy of my time and money?" What I mean is, would I buy this series at BestBuy if it was available to me? Would I watch this stuff if it was on HBO or TNT? Would I dowload it on Itunes? And if the answer is yes, then you've got something. But right now there's just a lot of crappy stuff online to sort through. I'm not saying my stuff is any better, but I'm taking my time to make sure the story is there first and then move forward. If people aren't digging the scripts then there's no point in shooting it.

The market is saturated with blah. And the money has been spent with no return. So naturally the mother companies are going, "Wait a second, this is a waste." So the webseries companies are being shut down.

I think from a marketing stand point, if you're going to showcase a main character for an upcoming movie, or do some kind of low budget prequel to get people excited... I don't think that's been entirely explored yet.

So wouldn't it be interesting to come into this saying... this is isn't about making money... We're doing this to get better at making movies... to tell a good story. What if you came at it from that angle? I think your chances of creating something worthy of people's time are better.

And Brian... It's not out of your league... I'm sure if you had some money to burn you could do the same thing.
 
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Aura:
I think from a marketing stand point, if you're going to showcase a main character for an upcoming movie, or do some kind of low budget prequel to get people excited... I don't think that's been entirely explored yet.
Click to expand...

This makes sense.

It looks like to me that better than 90% of feature films shot on digital (or film for that matter) aren't being picked up by distributors, so what's the alternative? I think this is the best alternative: shooting high quality web series ... until they find an audience or that become a marketing tool for a feature film later....

This is the first time I've seen the HVX 200 used in a way I consider practical. This project of yours, Aura, is a good one. I think you're on the right track, even though it's untested; it makes sense to pursue this new venue.

I'm taking a similar path with my felliniesque projects.
 
WOW!... Loved it. I'll buy it, not because I'm an owner of a HVX200 and a Red Rock M2, because it contains STORY! I can't wait to see the future episodes.

Do you remember what Zoom Lens you used exactly?
 
Excellent work. One of the best things I've seen on DVXuser. While it looks great it's the writing, the acting and the directing that stand out.
 
NC17, it's a Tokina 80-200 f/2.8. The camera is pretty far back and I'm sitting right on the end of the lens.

The outside stuff was different lenses, but it was the standard 35, 50, 24mm lenses. Nothing really expensive.

Steven, thanks man.
 
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Here are the back and front of our promotional DVD's that we passed out at various festivals.
As some of you know, when you play at a festival only a couple hundred people see your movie if you play once. So we decided to walk around the festival handing out FREE DVD's of the entire first episode (which was our submission to the festival). We also put out about 50 DVD's at the promotions table where people put their postcards of their movies. People seemed to like our DVD's better :)

It's worked out great for meeting people at the festivals... just walking up to someone who looks important and saying, "Would you like a free DVD?" They look at you funny for a moment but when they get it in their hands and look at it, they usually ask a few questions. A hand shake, a see ya later, and then at the Awards Gala and after parties.... you're old friends. AND more people get to see the movie. We had the DVD's professionally pressed and packaged into slimLine cases. We printed 2000 and it only came to $1 per DVD.

BackOneSheet.jpg
FrontOneSheet.jpg
 
aurantaurant said:
NC17, it's a Tokina 80-200 f/2.8. The camera is pretty far back and I'm sitting right on the end of the lens.

The outside stuff was different lenses, but it was the standard 35, 50, 24mm lenses. Nothing really expensive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for reply. I just can't seem to get the head room out of my Redrock with my HVX200. I have got to look into the settings I'm using.

Thanks again,
 
Looked great, very well acted. The adapter just looked terrific outside.

One technical note on an otherwise gorgeous shoot. Inside, the reverse on your protagonist (James) was soft and the light didn't match the better shot of Verlaine. Also, your practical source (the sun through the window) should have been stronger on James - more of the blinds are open on his side than on Verlaine's.

A tiny detail really on a very strong piece. I loved the camerawork throughout and the location is insane!

e
 
NC17, What do you mean head room?

Erik, Dude it killed me during post to have to look at the reverse and go, "This S&%$# isn't matching". I really tried to hide it but it was difficult. But you're right and it really bothers me, but it was a good lesson for me to learn. It was softer on James because i had to open the lens all the way. Oh it still bothers me.

I had actually planned to shoot on the outer side of the booth, in the aisle, but when I did that I was losing some of the ambient traffic of people moving around in the back. So there was this small enclave by the window where we got our first shot... the VERLAINE shot and when we went to go get the reverse... that enclave wasn't on the other side (my fault) so we had to move the booth away from the window to get the same angle. So we lost that light a little bit. Open up the lens more.... softer image... WAH WAH.

We were shooting so fast that we had very little time to check and throw more light up there...that and as the lighting guys were still setting up I just started shooting. We only had 12 hours to shoot everything. Good observation. Thanks for reigniting the pain. :)
 
This is indeed one of the most professional pieces I've seen. I was definitely going to ask what you shot this on, but man it looks incredible. This is almost 12 minutes of dialogue and it never gets boring. That's good acting.

-Nate
 
This isn't the first film I've seen where people talk and it's intriguing enough to hold your interest and make you want to see more. Bad acting would've killed this scene. The cutting was excellent and the dialogue was on point. The twist was great because it took you a second to realize what was actually going on.

-Nate
 
Thanks again Nate.

Here's the set we used.

http://www.4-aces.com/sets.html

It's in Palmdale, CA (45 mins from Burbank) and if you call and ask for a quote on the location the guy will tell you 5k a day. But he can be talked down to $1300 to $1500 and a two day rate is even better. Just don't shoot on a really hot day because LA county will require a water truck and fire-marshal-dude on set because the location has no running water.

There's a gas station and a hotel there as well.
 
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