5 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je4KUvqVBXs

“Con: Amy often hides certain articles of clothing that she doesn’t want me to wear. Like my scarf.”

I’m loving this new season of the web series Bob and Andrew.

The first season was mostly episodic, and this season has much more of a serialized story. Which makes it a little less sitcomy, but not any less funny.

This episode is pretty much perfect - and it is all Bob and Andrew. They both come to a deep realization about their relationships… after much eating of sandwiches and playing of RockBand.

There’s some brilliantly funny dialogue here, but the “breaks” are the funniest parts as the guys desperately devise ways to make the decision process more bearable. There’s only two more episodes - a two-parter - and then season two is done. Dare I start hoping for a season three?

From YouTube Description:

Bob and Andrew process their relationship problems in a marathon strategy session that includes RockBand, sandwiches, dogs and long speeches delivered while looking out the window.

Follow us on Twitter: @bobandandrew

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Bob and Andrew S02E06 “The Decision” | A Web Series on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0PSMChPzc

“What if we’re the only ones left?”

These episodes of the horror survival web series Radiance are so short and so good that I find myself with the same thing to say; I’m always surprised by how much tension, story and surprise they pack in in less than two minutes.

This episode has two scenes. In the first, the small band of survivors have a moral dilemma to make, one of the most fundamental decisions a human can make in a survival situation. Should we kill someone else we think is sick or dying to save ourselves?

In the second were lulled into a false sense of calm, before an almost single frame shocker that makes us wonder: is this where it turns to a zombie story?

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

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Radiance Ep.12 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kopIPvezraA

“She loves the spotlight. It’s like food. She lives on it.”

This is the end of the three part episodic mini-trilogy, Midnight, Hunter’s Moon.

Mood wise, this is strange episode of the always emotional engaging Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden. It has more of a literary slice of life to it, rather than a wild party “Weekend at Bernie’s” vibe, which is kinda what I was half expecting. Not to have a dead guy they had to pretend that was alive, but that it was going to a ‘shit hits the fan’ episode. It feel more like a denouement, like the wrap up and cool down after the moment of highest tension.

I am constantly blown away by how simple but still confident and effective this show is. The simple shot in the bathroom, framed both in the mirror and er… not in the mirror, perfectly captured the moment. Of course, a lot of the credit has to go to the actors.

The one misstep, for me, was the scenes with Hunter and her boyfriend. I don’t get Hunter, I’m not sure how we’ve supposed to feel about her. We’ve seen her be mean to Beth many times, but now we get this scene where we’re supposed to identify with her missing her boyfriend? Or her boyfriend missing her? We’ve never really been given a reason to forgive her for her treatment of Beth, but she has this screen time that doesn’t really tell us much new about her as a character. It comes off flat to me.

And to be entirely honest, I’m not sure why the three parter is called Hunter’s Moon.

Still, what really sells this series is the fierce, almost way-too-close, friendship between Sarah and Kris. Kris all but forces Sarah out of her funk about Jake and Maggie. Does that mean that Sarah will go back to Jake? We’ll have to wait and see.

Oh, and the music? Amazing.

From YouTube Description:

And then it really HITS THE FAN. Jake seeks Sarah — he’s all puppy-dog eyes & wants to TALK because he LIKES her. Gulp. And Adrian (secretly) hunts the much younger Rox. So where will Sarah end up, in this Maggie-Jake-Sarah love triangle? And what about Beth and the Beth-Adrian-Rox situation? Who ends up coupled? And who just ends up alone? Something tells me… THIS is one of those nights where all questions gets answered.

—

“Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden” (OJBG) is a fiercely local and independent web series set in Washington, D.C. about the lives of a group of teenagers growing up and getting down in the 90′s.

Visit us at http://OJinBG.com/ to check out our episodes, blog, news updates, character bios, and more!

Follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/OJBishopsGarden/

Find us on Facebook:
http://facebook.com/OJBishopsGarden

“The bad things we do. The things we get caught for-and how they are never the same.”

French Subtitles by: http://www.univers-l.com/

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Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden S01E08 “Midnight, Hunter’s Moon, Pt. 3″ | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

If you can’t see the episode, click here to watch!

“I heard you crying again last night.”

NOTE: How to watch with subtitles.

English subtitles
To watch Out With Dad with subtitles:
1. You must press play first, then the ‘CC’ button will appear.
2. Click ‘CC’, and choose your language.
Note: you may need to click ‘Full Screen’ to reveal all the language selections.

This is one of the Toronto web series Out With Dad’s mini-episodes. It’s about two and a half minutes, and instead of being a full on story – instead it is a bit of a slice of life glimpse into Vanessa’s struggles. Not everyone has a supportive parent like Rose – and it was hard for Rose.

This whole episode is two shots, almost all the dialogue in one. It lets the actors really carry the moment. What I like about this set up is how the family is already dealing with one child who isn’t speaking to them because of how he wants to live his life – he married a Muslim woman – which places extra strain and stakes on Vanessa not to put her family through that all over again.

While some of the dialogue spoken by Vanessa’s parents is quite on the nose, the real emotional anchor for this scene is Vanessa’s brother, Jacob. I got the sense that Vanessa is, more than anything, trying to protect Jacob, which leaves her torn. If she is true to who she is, she’ll make Jacob’s life worse. It is a struggle that many of us go through, I think. I think in everyone’s lives, there comes a time when they are forced to choose between their happiness and the values and choices of their family.

While Lindsey Middleton does all the heavy lifting – dialogue wise – and does a great job, Jacob Ahearn has, in some ways, the harder part. He has to listen and emote in character. Actors sometimes tend to focus on the dialogue, what they are saying, but a good actor knows what to do when the other guy is talking. Anyway, both performers do a remarkable job in an intense scene.

Man, these actors do a lot of crying, don’t they?

Lindsey Middleton as Vanessa
Jacob Ahearn as Jacob

From Out With Dad website:

A difficult time for the LeMay family. Vanessa and her younger brother, Jacob, sit upon the steps as they listen in on their parents fighting. Jacob fears he might loose another sibling to something he doesn’t understand, and Vanessa realizes what is truly important to her.

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Out With Dad S02E04 ”With Jacob and Vanessa” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

Casual 3.2: Uncertainty from Altermotion Pictures on Vimeo.

“It’s not like we’re back together or anything.”

Casual season three hits its stride.

This is an awesome episode about how it can feel to be in that uncertain stage where you’re not together but you’re not really apart. There’s some great, true to life moments, and some strong acting, particularly from Brian Thomas Smith. This episode takes place, largely, at various outdoors places around L.A., which is fun. We don’t have food trucks here in Canada, and so to see them all parked together in a food truck lot is cool.

But there’s a draw back to this season – after the hook up, the break up, the reunion… there’s not much in the way of romantic tension. At least, not in the beginning. Midway and at the end are two big moments when the ambiguity of their relationship causes trouble and confusion.

Now, maybe this is just me – after a break up, I have a policy of a clean break. No contact, no post break up sex. Granted I’ve had very little in the way of big relationship break ups. But I kinda can’t get over the idea that all of these problems would go away if they were both up front with each other. Well… they’re not me. They are extremely well crafted and performed characters that aren’t doing things the way I would. And I can totally get into that… but it still leaves us with the basic dramatic problem that the characters goals aren’t really made that important to the audience. There’s not much in the way of stakes for us as a viewer, cause whether they get back together or say goodbye; we’re seen it already. Creator Jay Diaz has kinda backed himself into a corner. I’m eager to see how he gets out of it – I’m sure in three episodes I’ll be crying as the final credits roll.

Great episode, great series.

From Vimeo Description:

Casual Episode 3.2: Uncertainty from the Final Season
Starring Lauren Marini & Brian Thomas Smith
casualseries.com
facebook.com/​casualseries

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Casual S03E02 “Uncertainty” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

4 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP_W02kARo8

“The only thing I’ve ever been taught about the world is that it is against me. And that it is covered by 14% water. And nobody can prove that dragons aren’t real.”

A stellar episode of the web series Bob and Andrew. The guys double date with their respective current significant others - Amy and Spencer. Much gin is consumed.

There’s a bunch of stuff I like about this episode. First of all, it makes an almost perfect balance between the wackiness of Andrew’s banter and the reality of the scene. Often I feel like Andrew’s comment are cartoony and kind of out of context of the reality - but it is forgivable because they’re so funny. Other times, less often, Andrew’s dialogue fits in the scene and is less wacky. Here, he’s at his wacky best and it feels well integrated to the scene. I like (in a ‘I’m glad it’s not me’ kinda way) how the evening quickly devolves into Bob and Andrew hanging out while their “others” bond with the guys watching from afar. I guess neither of their relationships are headed for “happily ever after.”

Shooting something set in a bar or night club can be tough, production wise. Pulling off a location like that on a ultra-low or no budget shoot is all but impossible. You can’t really shoot in an actual nightclub - it’s way too dark and noisy. But trying to recreate the look and feel of a night club in full swing is really tricky - it often ends up feeling…flat. Bob and Andrew try to blend the two, and it just doesn’t really match up. Pulling off a location like that on a ultra-low or no budget shoot is all but impossible. In contrast, check out the bar scenes in Casual to see it done flawlessly.

But back to the things I like, it is fun that dialogue is contained to three specific conversations through the night. And there’s tons of very smart, funny dialogue. Gin!

From YouTube Description:

Bob, Andrew, Spencer and Amy go on a double date to a night club. Bob realizes his true feelings for Spencer while Amy is actually kind of nice to Andrew… in a wierd, sadomasochistic kind of way.

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Bob and Andrew S02E05 “The Realization ” | A Web Series on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubs5LKpciA0

“I’m going to say this slow. And I’m going to say this once.”

Wow. How much tension can you put in one minute and thirty nine seconds? Clearly a lot.

You can feel the panic spreading as they start to take drastic measures to protect themselves from something they don’t understand.

Radiance is one of those shows that breaks the rules and makes it work. It just goes to show you that everything anyone says to you about how things are supposed to be done is bullshit, even the stuff I say. It is all opinion, and what works for one show may not work for another show.

And then there’s the fact that just a great story - like Radiance - makes everything else null and void.

I saw a thread somewhere the other day where someone was struggling to figure out what sort of web series they wanted to make. Is there a formula? Something that works for the large audience of the internet? There was quite a bit of discussion, but here’s what I think - tell a story, and everything else springs from there. If you’re looking for a formula, or something else to tell you what story to tell, I think what you’re saying is that you’re making a web series for the wrong reasons. You’re making a web series to either make a bunch of money or get famous. Either way, you’ll probably be disappointed. Look at Radiance - a great little web series with a great story, and it is clear that the whole series has been seen by less than 350 people in a year of it being posted. (Part 17 only has 280 some views, at the time we’re going to press on this article.) That’s not great numbers, but it is about average for many, many web series as far as I can tell. And I would say even big web series fans haven’t heard of it. It certainly can’t have made much profit for those who made it. Would you call this show a failure?

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

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Radiance Ep.11 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2Hs-kBOP0

“These are the hands of Morgan Freeman”

Awesomeness.

This is part two of a three parter from the ‘growing up is hard’ webseries Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden.

There’s a lot of fun stuff going on - maybe favorite bits is the girls tittering over cute boys, and the simmering, quiet jealousy of Beth, played by Sarah Spencer. I think it is amazing because the whole storyline rests almost exclusively on the actor’s ability to emote. It can be risky, as a writer and director, to rely on your actor to communicate something that will make or break a moment. You’ll notice that pretty much all TV and movies have the characters telling us what’s going on at all times. Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden has some great acting and some not so great acting, but Beth’s role in the drama is to give longing glances out of the corner of her eye. A strong, subtle performance.

Then there’s the bizarre freestyle chant of “These are the hands of Morgan Freeman.” Is that a thing? Is that a reference to something? Or is it just something that Otessa Ghadar cameup with for this scene? It is kind of brilliant and deeply confusing at the same time. The delight the party goers have in joining in makes me think that there’s something going on here that I don’t know about. But then, much of the series gives me a voyeuristic sense, it is so believable and so specific.

My only complaint is that the YouTube description promises craziness, and except for the Morgan Freeman stuff, there’s not much craziness. I could have used more craziness. The episode is more about relationships - and while it works very well on that level I was hoping for a little more in the way of antics.

From YouTube Description:

Watch the craziness unfold as Beth and her friends tag along at Hunter’s house party. Hunter’s party has it all- indie bands, hot musicians, booze, and the objects of much teen girl idolatry: Adrian and Jake…? That’s right — JAKE shows up and things get super rocky for Sarah, who’s already had a pretty rough summer what with the Sarah-Jake-Maggie love triangle from hell. And poor Beth isn’t faring too well on her side of the Beth-Adrian-Rox love triangle either. Oh yea, and “The Hands Of Morgan Freeman” make an appearance too!

—

“Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden” (OJBG) is a fiercely local and independent web series set in Washington, D.C. about the lives of a group of teenagers growing up and getting down in the 90′s.

Visit us at http://OJinBG.com/ to check out our episodes, blog, news updates, character bios, and more!

Follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/OJBishopsGarden/

Find us on Facebook:
http://facebook.com/OJBishopsGarden

“The bad things we do. The things we get caught for-and how they are never the same.”

French Subtitles by: http://www.univers-l.com/

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

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Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden S01E07 “Midnight, Hunter’s Moon, Pt. 2″ | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

NOTE: This video probably won’t play on non-flash devices. Click here if you don’t see a video above.

“There is no profit in peace, only in war.”

The web series Tyranny has moved from YouTube to Koldcast. And I know Koldcast is trying to do their thing and pay the bills, just like everyone else… but I don’t like thier site or their player. There, I said it. Sorry guys. But that’s just me. I like how they are supporting web series, but I find their technology clumsy and hard to use. And, like other ad serving platforms, I hate that I have to watch the ad over in order to rewatch the video to pick up on some detail or other.

Okay, on with the show.

This episode of Tyranny had me confused. I mean, holy crap does it look great. Creator/director/star John Beck Hoffman really pushes the visual envelope, and while having the one visual effect for 11 minutes is a little… intense, there’s creative and artistic reasons for it. And there’s some other things going on with the editing that I really love. As always, the production is incredible.

Now, I’m going to try to talk about the story without giving way too much in terms of spoilers. I was so lost at the start that I double checked to see if I had skipped an episode. Yes, when we get to the end it is all explained, but I think that you have to be careful going into an episode in which your audience (at least I was) spending much of the time trying to connect the dots from the previous episode to this one, instead of just soaking in the story. This is a serialized show, with an evolving narrative, so I found myself trying to fit together what had come before and what was going on now. It made it very difficult to enjoy the story, at it meant that a large chunk of the second half of the episode was Daniel explaining things. This was a sort of bridge episode, keeping the audience up to date, but in the end not at all, really. More of a political/conspiracy theory rant.

I still liked the episode. I mean… seriously – did they really go to Egypt to shoot it? Cause it really freakin’ looks like they did. Besides how well put together this series is, and as I mentioned last time, Tyranny really sets the standards for what it doable in a web series format. This isn’t an urban apartment or guys in steampunk costumes running through the woods. This is going to Egypt (or doing a truly excellent job of making it look like we went to Egypt) street protest scenes, explosions, fight scenes, street chases… I know most of that stuff was in the last couple of episodes, but still. The scope of this series is kinda shocking. Sure, there’s other series, like Broken Toy, that have lots of action and fighting and special effects, but they still feel small in scope – even a little claustrophobic.

From YouTube Description:

Picking up right where we left off on episode 15 – Just as Daniel was catching up with the stranger that was following him, he gets knocked on the head and is left laying at the bottom of a staircase, unconscious. Now he awakens to find himself blindfolded, interrogated and tortured by a foreign man with a oddly familiar voice.

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Tyranny Ep.16 “The Great Collapse” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

4 Swirlies

Casual 3.1: A Rise/Fall from Altermotion Pictures on Vimeo.

“I can’t be the girl you want me to be.”

Welcome to season three, and what I understand to be the last series. But, I’ve been wrong many times in the past about web series release schedules.

Casual is one of the strongest ongoing dramatic web series that I know of. And I’m excited to see how they bring it in for a final landing. But I gotta say, while this episode is really strongly produced, I kinda feel like it is buckling under it’s own sprawling, time line defying narrative weight.

The first third or so of the episode is the gang of friends going to a Dodgers game. Which is one of the things I admire about this show – they almost always manage to pull off locations and settings that would drown a lesser series. In this case, I’m assuming that they actually shot during a game, or maybe they did some dialogue shooting at some other time. It really looks and feels like it is taking place during a game. And the dialogue is always crisp and clear, even in wider shots that would be difficult to record clean audio. This show is made by pros who know what they are doing.

Most of the rest of the show is flashbacks – a couple of new scenes that we haven’t seen before but then almost a clip show of highlights from the past two seasons. Even the new scenes felt like retreads, as they were largely filling in the blanks of things that came between moments we have exploded in depth. I mean, they’re still poignant and the acting is strong, but it still feels like a recap to get new viewers up to speed.

I loved them when they were together, they were so charming, and when they were broken up it still impacted me because they so clearly both wanted to be together, but this episode, where it seems they have more or less slid back into a casual relationship… I’m not feeling the chemistry as much.

I’m super excited to join the ride in season three, but I was slightly disappointed with its start.

From Vimeo Description:

Casual: A Rise/Fall
The premiere episode from the Final Season! Starring Lauren Marini & Brian Thomas Smith
casualseries.com
facebook.com/​casualseries

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Casual S03E01 “A Rise/Fall” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List