As different media platforms become more and more integrated, new entertainment networks are starting to emerge.
The internet has been a catalyst for change in the broadcasting world, with sites like YouTube influencing the ways people access and engage with video productions.
In turn, the rise of web series has led to different formats and formulas for shows and given more people a chance to get their work seen. Some of the most successful web series have even partnered with bigger companies.
The short series quarterlife, for example, saw major film producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick partner with MySpace back when it was one of the most popular social media networks online.
Former Buffy actor Felicia Day, on the other hand, had a runaway success with her web series The Guild, which landed a distribution deal with Microsoft early on and became one of the most successful web series in the history of the medium.
Closer to home, filmmakers Dario Russo and David Ashby’s initial success with a web series – Italian Spiderman – helped them land a television contract with SBS One to produce the action comedy series Danger 5.
Netflix has further shaken up the film and television industry with its online-focused platform, producing some of the most successful series in the past few years, including House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
Netflix, along with the examples above and many others, have gradually been chipping away at the conservative views investors typically take with new media.
While ad space for entertainment based online used to have a much lower price tag than traditional film or television platforms, now pretty much anything goes. And content creators are taking advantage of these changes to share a wider range of stories across every medium.
Picking Up New Platforms for Productions
The successes outlined above and the popularity of multiplatform entertainment and multimedia devices have led to the development of even more innovative entertainment projects.
This year has already seen the release of the world’s first short form comedy series made specifically for tablets – Hunter n Hornet. The newly released video series and iPhone and iPad app follows the adventures of Sade and Cade as they try to become the ultimate pick up artists.
The Australian production is the brainchild of Sonny Vrebac, the founder of iFodder Content Creators and lead actor in Hunter n Hornet, and also has support from Screen Australia in the form of a Multi-Platform grant.
With three years of development behind him, Vrebac jokes that the idea of creating a show specific to mobile devices came from “wanting to make things as difficult for myself as possible”.
“I had bought my first iPhone and I had the whacky idea of Hunter n Hornet already but at the time felt that just making it a web series and putting it up on a platform like YouTube to compete with all those great cat videos wasn’t going to cut it,” he explains.
“I thought making it into an app would deepen the user experience because of the ability to customise the experience much more, as well as being able to monetise an app in many more ways than what most online platforms allow.”
As well as being a world first for tablet entertainment, it is also one of the most accessible series available on any medium, with each “appisode” available via the iTunes app, uploaded to the series’ YouTube page and shared on social media.
Vrebac says it is an exciting time for content developers and creatives, particularly when it comes to audience or user engagement. In the case of Hunter n Hornet, there are gaming elements to the app, with a “PU (Pick Up) Cube” and direct interation between characters and the audience through “totes-off-the-chart pick up advice”.
Vrebac says these elements “[allow] our users to experience an entertainment property in a unique way”.
“From a sustainability and business standpoint, some musicians and increasingly comedians have also found a lot of financial rewards by building and controlling their interactions with their fans and communities and being able to make a living from it,” he adds.
Savvy celebrities and entrepreneurs alike have long been making use of multi-media platforms to increase brand awareness, customer engagement and loyalty. Some people even manage to make a business out of their projects, like YouTube star and HotForWords host Marina Orlova.
There is also a growing emphasis on getting customer support teams on Twitter, celebrity endorsements through selfies and Facebook page posts or competitions that encourage open discussions between companies and customers or audience members.
This kind of engagement has also led to the development of new business and funding models, with organisations like Pozible now helping people launch productions and other projects that they are truly passionate about. The most successful of these are typically those that have strong engagement and connections with people on social media.
Vrebac says the entire entertainment industry is changing as a result of all these different broadcasting platforms and relationships with creators and customers.
“It’s really the wild wild west out there, untried and untested to a large degree and as the rules are being written it’s terribly exciting of all the possibilities at hand.”
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