Several months ago, I filmed an 11-episode series on my GH2s and a Canon 5DII. We released the first episode of DIVERGENCE today. This is a high-end series, aiming for what you'd expect on an HBO or AMC series, but designed from the ground up for the Internet. I hope you'll check it out.
DIVERGENCE - Episode 01
Very nice @DouglasHorn i like the music to, and will follow the episodes.
The Fight Scene Was Spot On Really Liked the Shots and Editing and Pace. Loved the Guy Vanashing in the Mirrored Windows Most of the Film Looked Filmic but afew Wide Shots Looked alittle less Filmic and more video if you know what I mean but Over All Top work Really Enjoyed it and Will Be following the Episodes. Great narration perfect Voice for the type of Film.
Excellent work @DouglasHorn I hope it works out as successful as you want it to. It looks really good, and I'll be following it.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your project funded? And, what's your commercial model publishing online? What were your goals for the project? Sorry it that's a bit personal, I'm just interested :-)
These are good questions, I'd love to know that too... would be awesome if @DouglasHorn could answer these over here...
and btw. pretty kick-ass episode - I'll be following this series for sure!
@MarkV - Absolutely I'll answer. I owe so much to this place and all the amazing learnin's going on around here. I'll try to answer whatever I can.
And please keep watching--new eps each Monday. Mondays just got a whole lot better!
@mozes - Thank you! Our composer, Brandon Roberts orchestrated and wrote cues for Battlestar Galactica, V, Terminator: The Sarah Conners Chronicles and a bunch of other great series and movies. I'm very fortunate that I hired him to score a short film for me 10+ years ago and have been great friends and collaborators ever since.
@Craig_R - Thank you. There are more great fights coming up. (Check out the Trailer and First Look video on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/popularuprising ). Sure, there are always a few shots that don't quite live up to all your hopes, but overall it's about telling a story, right?
I'm glad you like the mirrored window shot. There are a number of VFX shots in the series, but overall, I'm a fan of creating some cool cinematography and practical effects. Sometimes the old-school shot is better than the fancy VFX. I don't have the budget to keep up with studios, but creativity is practically free.
@itimjim - Thank you. I hope it's successful too. We have a number of other series we're hoping to launch soon and of course DIVERGENCE can go several seasons as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for following!
This is a passion project for Dan and me that we hope to turn into an ongoing and successful endeavor. So at this point the project has been largely funded on the "favors and waivers" model. We've both worked in the business for years, so we had a track record and people were willing to work with us. We're hoping to be able to reward that belief soon.
Our commercial model is constantly evolving. There is no proven model at the moment, so we are using our best guesses to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. Even in the day since launching, new possibilities have come on the table. What we are not doing is waiting around for the perfect opportunity. We have a number of other great properties, so we see each series as a step in the chain towards what we hope to create. So waiting around is never in our best interest. In short, our model is, build an audience, keep them happy and engaged, and expect that opportunities will come to us.
My goals for this? Well there are many. But at some level, I believe my buddy Dan Southworth is the real deal--a talented actor who can actually do all that amazing action stuff you see on the screen. I think he's the next Chuck Norris and I'd love to get the world to agree.
Keep it up.
It'll be interesting to discuss with content authors some approaches to promote content in our community.
I am thinking about it, how to design it, scripts, etc.
@DouglasHorn Thanks man for answering our questions!
I think the most important thing, as you said, is to build the loyal audience first - make them regulary coming back again and again for a new [original] content (that was basically the plan for the famous freddieW YouTube channel, now he makes a 9 episode series and get 1000s of $$$ from views..) and eventually you can even make some money off those online views..
You can build the audience by presenting series like DIVERGENCE, but I think you can easily lost people without new regular content... What do you mean by "Opportunities will come to us." ? (You mean like getting YouTube partnership?)
I see your goal is not to make a butt-load of money right now from the online audience and I think you are doing a good job on presenting Dan Southworth - he is really talented actor and it´s good thing that you have him on this action-series!
@kavadni - Wow, if I can get people looking forward to Mondays, I'll have done the impossible! Thank you for watching and liking us on FB. You are now part of the Popular Uprising! For Dan and I this truly is all about the fans and creating the kinds of shows we'd like to watch.
@Vitaliy_Kiselev - Will do. I'm here so if there's anything I can do, let me know. I'm one of those guys out trying to shoot real projects on the GH2 and I truly value how you and the rest of the team here have unlocked the potential of this camera to create an amazing tool for filmmakers.
By the way, no one asked yet, but the GH2 footage in DIVERGENCE was shot using cbrandin 66. Looking forward to some of the newer hacks on future seasons and series.
@MarkV - Yes, building the audience is the key for us now. We hope that it just keeps building as we present the next 10 episodes of Season One. From there, we have additional seasons and at least 4 other series in this vein (but each unique) that we want to release. However, much of this is still breaking new ground on the Internet to see if people will watch a high end narrative in 6-10 minute weekly episodes--particularly in this genre. So we will discover what kind of audience we can reach and that will create the opportunities to get our other series and future seasons funded so that we can keep making them and releasing them in a timely manner.
DIVERGENCE - Episode 02 is now out.
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