Recently, I read a blog post asking if online video is dead. There was back and forth about how online video content creators weren’t seeing any money for their creations, whether or not they would, or if it was already too late for that based on traditional media pushing more and more “professional” studio content into the online space.

A quick note/legend before I move forward any further on how I’m going to define things for this post:

-New Media = Online video, ongoing original content produced by those who aren’t considered professional, i.e. have deals with major studios (this knocks the Ask a Ninja folks out of the running, based on their current deal to direct a remake of … Attack of the Killer Tomatoes … sigh. Really?). I include any original content produced by amateurs and hell, even by “prosumers” in the New Media category.

-Traditional Media = Movies, TV, commercials, or web videos that were movies, tv, or commercials. This is content produced with studio support. I’m F***ing Matt Damon isn’t new media, it just got popular via the online space. Tragically, I have to include The Lonely Island guys (SNL Digital Shorts) in here too, because Lorne Michaels is funding all of their fun stuff now.

So, is New Media already dead? Well, it depends on who you are and your expectations. It’s either dead, or we’re just getting started, in my opinion. If you recognize that the online space is a new haven for content, and that as we move forward, more and more original quality entertainment will be produced strictly for the online space - then yes, we have a pulse. It’s growing inside the cocoon of the internet. If you think that as a creator, you can simply jump in and start monetizing your content, that you’re going to become a celebrity or a “rock star” and be fabulously wealthy or even be able to make a living off of your New Media - close the casket. It’s dead. The first window has passed, because the online world moves astoundingly quickly, there wasn’t much money to be made, and you missed it.

Now, that’s a bit of a blanket statement. But the important take away from that is that as a content creator, you have to manage your expectations and shift your thinking in a very extreme way. I see a lot of creators approach the New Media space like they would Traditional Media - the only difference is that they do this AFTER they’ve produced their content. Which isn’t really all that different than your typical indie filmmaker nowadays. But there are a lot of creators that talk a great game about how different the New Media space is from Traditional Media, and then once they get a little popularity behind them, they hire an agent, try to make studio deals, etc. etc. The very first thing they do is apply Traditional Media thinking to their New Media product and nothing comes of it. They make that deal, and they’re directing…an Attack of the Killer Tomatoes remake. If that’s the pinnacle so far of what New Media creators can accomplish (or the cover of Wired, or a tiny spot on CSI) then I’m not entirely sure I’m sad about New Media being dead.

What I really feel though, is that New Media is only just starting. Yes, the space is already flooded with content - yes, it’s incredibly hard just to get an audience for your work - yes, you’re most likely not going to make money for it. Again, this is just like the Traditional Media space. This is where the quality of the work separates the big audiences from the small audiences. But we’re also starting to see folks being smart about it and making it work for them. People who are thinking differently about how to distribute content, how to monetize content, and how to build audiences that will support you and your content long after Hollywood would have spit you out, had they even given you a shot at all.

You want to keep New Media alive? Walk the walk and figure out how to succeed and tell your story in a way that you don’t need investors, or studios, or the Traditional Media trappings. Or, just figure out a different distribution pathway that works for you and your definition of success. Be smarter than Traditional Media, celebrate and embrace the differences. It’s a whole new world for creators. Make your own success.

Matthew

It’s rare that I post personal thoughts and feelings on this blog, but with everything that has happened at Tech, and seeing how it has affected all of our friends and family and even us, I find myself falling to the idea of using our blog as a personal forum.

I’ve been trying to figure out why what happened at Tech has affected me deeply, more than I thought it would. When I saw the above drawing today, it finally clicked into place. As you may or may not know, g14 started at James Madison University, where I went to school. One of the things that I really loved about JMU was the sense of community and that it really did seem like a big family. One of my favorite things about Madison was that we were always very laid back, I don’t remember us really having rivalries the way some schools in the same state do. In fact, because Madison was always really just a jump away from Tech, Radford, and UVA, it felt like that sense of family and community extended to include those schools too. We always just all seemed to be cool with each other, at most just busting each other’s chops like friends do.

And to me, that’s why it hits so hard. Because even though it’s Tech that was hurt, it’s the whole family that’s grieving. I know that if this had happened at UVA or JMU, Tech would be there to grieve with us and give their support. I don’t know why, but it’s always felt to me that VA schools, especially the ones down in that area, stick together close. And even if that notion is just in my head, it’s something that I’m proud to know and be a part of.

Matthew

Okay, so there’s a new video up today called How to Watch Internet TV. Check it out, it’s not too shabby for a video I almost ruined by being a total douche not being able to fall asleep the night before. Sometimes I think insomnia strikes when you just have too much stuff going on because your body is exhausting you to the point where it has to shut down and turn everything off. Yes, tangent.

The interesting thing about the Internet TV video is that we got the idea to do it from a contest that Network2.tv is running. Network2 is a content site, where you can watch all sorts of nifty user videos and arrange them into channels. They were holding a contest where producers (that’s us) were tasked to create videos on How to Watch Internet TV. Or, How DO YOU Watch Internet TV, depending on which contest blurb you’re reading on their site.

Now, I’m not really into contests. I’m not sure if I ever have been. Maybe. g14’s been pretty lucky in entering things so far, we have a pretty good track record. But I’m not really big on entering into contests because I learned from way back that it doesn’t really matter how good or bad you are (to a degree), what matters is the mindset, perception, and taste of the people who are judging you. Now a lot of people might call this sour grapes, and that’s fair, I’m sure that’s part of it too. At the same time, I’m just not a fan of jumping into competitions, because the production world as a whole is competitive by nature. Why bring that sort of stress into the thing that’s supposed to be fun?

However, I certainly don’t have a problem entering things into a contest if it means that we’re going to get a nifty new short film out of it. “Lonely” was created for a contest, and then we never entered it because we missed the deadline spending so much time on post. But that’s cool, because it wasn’t ever about entering the contest, it was about creating this kick ass short flick.

So, in case you were wondering, that’s why g14 doesn’t enter more competitions. Well…that, and entry fees for most of those things are just silly expensive. Seriously. They’re insane.

What about you all? Are you competitive? No? If you were in our position, would you enter into more stuff?

Matthew

There’s been a lot of chatter over on the last blog entry. So, I hope to set the record straight once and for all about a few things:

There is no Matt and Dave’s Adventure in Africa. There is also no Dave and Matt’s Adventure in Africa. Doesn’t exist. Dave and I have never been there, no matter how many times fledgling porn producers have asked us to go.

All of this talk of “documentary” and “Ace” and “Joey” are all just figments of people’s collective imagination.

There is no ‘other first feature’. I’m also assuming that there is no Charles Bukowski. I have no idea what that means. In fact, I may just delete this whole post.

Corinne, you do have the final copy of SIP, as that was the only part that we were able to edit. The rest of it is lost to time.

And we’ll start doing documentary’s about imaginary “movies” when we start having enough fans to consistently pull 50+ comments on the videos each week. Or when we’re showcased on Rocketboom or something of the like. Tom, Tony, NotJim (people who I’m pretty sure we don’t know), and hell even Ellen (who we don’t really know anymore), are a good start. But we’ve got a long way to go Dave and imaginary Joey. Start getting the name out there more.

This, of course, doesn’t apply to the documentary that we will be shooting about Gavin - greatest actor of our time. Gavin has his own legion of fans, both here and overseas from what I hear. In fact, the only reason Gavin doesn’t have his own website is that any ISP would crumble from the sheer volume of traffic it would recieve every day. There is only one man who could play Tak Jansen. There is only one man who scares Chuck Norris. There is only one man who can woo all the ladies as ‘The Generous Lover’. And that man is Gavin Mead.

Now, the Great Unicorn War of ‘02? That is completely true. Much blood was shed, and many stories from that grisly conflict still haunt us.

Perhaps…

someday…

we’ll tell those stories…

Matthew

So, because of the Sexiest Entry Yet video, and Lonely, we’ve had a lot of new visitors to the site. Which is the bomb in Phantoms. Seriously. Bomb. Phantoms. What this means though, is that people start to ask questions. You know, questions about other work. It gets to the point where there would be just too many bodies to hide.

So, I guess you have to start answering those questions. We’ve had a couple of people ask about the ever popular Office Rivalry. That’s right, it’s g14’s first real HD shoot. Well, because we did those films before we started doing the blog, some of them (I’m looking at you, Office Rivalry) never made it online. I have no idea where the master tape for Office Rivalry is now, and I could swear that the project was deleted long ago. Jeff assures me that’s not the case though, so it sounds like you’re going to see this long lost gem soon!

As for Strangers in Paradise, well…I have a real love/hate relationship with SIP the book. Not many of you may know that SIP was the first real g14 project. It was the project before Kel and Jeff really came on board (it was before we even knew Jeff). Really, SIP was the testing ground where Dave and I proved to ourselves that we could really make movies and have fun doing it. Now, will SIP ever go up online? Probably not, because the cast and the crew have the tapes of the “finished” product and they’ve seen it. And they’re really the only ones who need to see it. Now, the re-shoots that we did when Jeff was on board may make it up someday, but I’d have to really be bored to put them up.

That’s not to say that there weren’t great preformances, because Corinne Dame and Kaite Lawson did put in really great work as our two leads. And Dave, of course, was stellar. But SIP was, and has always been a test project, and technically not our best work.

Lastly, outtakes and bloopers. There will probably be an outtake episode at some point. Because really, there’s a lot of funny stuff that comes out of these shoots. Especially when Charles Ochs is involved. There are plenty of a cappella songs like the one from the 48 Hour film that have never been heard, and plenty of random footage never seen. But we wanted to make sure that we were putting out new, solid stuff for people every week, and not coping out early with an outtake show. So, someday you’ll see it. The Outtake Connection. The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Wow. Punchy. All right, back to script writing for me!

Matthew