archived-videos LOL - short film / online series

R

ricforster

LOL online series - HD

LOL is an online drama series exploring the teenage world of sex, drugs and social networks.

I wrote and directed, as well as doing the post production stuff.

It was shot on a Sony HDC-1500, recording on XDCAM HD professional disc. This was my first experience using that format and I was pretty happy with the results. Footage seemed to hold up under grading and looks miles better than the HDV stuff I've shot before on Z1's.

3 x 3-4 min webisodes were shot over 2 days.

webisode1.jpg


I'm hoping to shoot some more webisodes early next year so would be really interested to hear what you guys think of it. Cheers.


Webisode one in HD (720p) on Vimeo

Webisode one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rxmDwYtuJh4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rxmDwYtuJh4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Webisode two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/arkBl7Tp4s0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/arkBl7Tp4s0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Webisode three:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fYW_hq8ndjI&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fYW_hq8ndjI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

More info on www.lolseries.com
 
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Just watched the first one, but it was pretty darn good.

The pacing was excellent. Will scribble more tomorrow.

Was expecting a comedy, with lol in the title. :P
 
Ha - yes Zensteve. Definately not a comedy, despite the title. 'LOL' was chosen as thesedays it's more or less just used to punctuate online discussion - people are rarely ever actually laughing out loud. If it was called ROTFLMAO on the other hand... :)

VladCantSleep - Really happy with the actors as I think they give fairly natural performances, but I know what you mean by needing more energy. There are a couple of moments that could have used more punch.

The plan is to shoot more eps early next year and catch up to that future that's currently 'six months later'. It's left quite open ended so far.

Some stills:

webisode2.jpg


webisode3.jpg
 
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Beautiful production. Love the camera work and style. The dialog is good, the acting is decent the sound is recorded well. I highly suggest keeping the series up or using some of the same actors to film different projects if that's more your fancy.

this is my critical opinion(ie. not worth as much as the compliments above): Obviously it's from a teenage girls point of view, which clearly means I'm not really going to respond to the content. I'm not sure, it seems true to life for the attitudes of a teenage girl but... teenage girls are often pretty emotionally unstable and self absorbed. So I'm not exactly sure how well audiences can connect to a person who is wholly absorbed in their own rather insignificant problems. I would like to see problems in the series be more focused on secondary characters, one problem after another for the main protagonist in something serialized gets old pretty quick, especially if that protagonist happens to be a young girl.
 
Hey thanks for your feedback Bradley.

Quite a lot of the audio was dubbed. We only had one mic so for scenes such as the classroom one where there's dialogue between characters stood at opposite sides of the room, I had to go back and re-record all that stuff. Seemed to synch up pretty well for the most part so I'm happy with that.

I'm currently writing the remaining webisodes #4 - 10. The format is going to change slightly and each individual 3/4 minute episode will focus around a different character, making it more of an ensemble piece. It'll slowly catch up to the 'future' and it'll be obvious what happened to Keely, why Cam is in hospital etc. Can't wait to finish it off...
 
Wow. Great series. Your actors are really good and the situations feel perfectly real. Technically it was done very well, too.
Hope to see more soon!
 
Im impressed, good writing and dialogue in each situation. For the msg you were trying to get accross, the actors did a good job in the roles they played. It seemed real. I have only seen the first one but good job
 
What I liked: This is produced decently, with some good art direction especially during the party scene. Your actors are fine, they are delivering some consistent performances. The flashfowards are giving it some hook, making me wonder what's going to happen.

What I didn't like: Keeley is a really passive character. My opinion so far is that this is a bunch of cliche things happening to a blonde teen. While Keeley is doing a fine acting job, I don't think she has enough draw on screen to be the protagonist (aka she aint photogenic). Random VO is lame. While the flashfowards are definitely hooking me, your present storyline is not. I am not asking, "What happens next," because of anything in the actual story. I have to disagree with Bradley, I don't think the dialogue is good. Maybe because the format is really short and you aren't letting your scenes breath. But some potentially interesting scenes come off as bland.

Mom - "You look like a tramp, you stink of alcohol!"
Keeley - "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You're pathetic, you don't know me at all."

I don't even think Keeley's line makes sense in her position. How is her mom pathetic? Maybe that was the point, that her yelling at the mom is a defensive mechanism and its not supposed to make sense. "Your pathetic," might be just an example of projection. But when watching it for the first time, this scene comes off as your average mom/daughter yelling match with predictable dialogue ("You don't even know me at all.") To me, this isn't compelling.

This brings me to my final question. Why are you making this series? Why are you writing a story about the trials of a teenage girl? To me, this dialogue does not come off as real, because I don't buy that these are real characters and not stereotypes. I'm betting that once you do start making webisodes based on the guy characters, it won't be as stereotypical because you actually know what it's like to be a teenaged dude.
 
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Hi MacV - thanks for your comments, you make some really interesting points.

I'd agree Keely is pretty passive through the first webisode. It's only when she makes the decision to go to Dawber's house and sleep with him in webisode 2 does she start taking control of her life. I'd argue that's part of the character's journey - she's sick of the pressure from her mate and her mum and ultimately makes a bad choice because of it.

Yep, the scenes are short and I agree it'd be nice to see a little bit more of the characters just being teenagers so we can see into that world and get more of a sense of who they are. Unfortunately the format and production constraints forced me to be as conservative as possible with dialogue.

It's really interesting to me that you picked out the Keely/Helen argument scene as having predictable dialogue. The scene was actually entirely improvised on set. My plan going into it was to completely mute the dialogue and have music over the whole thing - intercutting between the argument and Helen walking down the corridor, so it wouldn't matter what exactly the characters were saying, so long as their expressions were suitable. I thought there was a nice sense of emotion coming through in the performances so left it in. I take on board your point though that the interchange as a whole is somewhat predictable - angry mum and defensive daughter.

To answer your last question - I'm making the series because I think it's an interesting journey for the characters, based on experiences I had in school. Obviously not as a teenage girl myself, but I witnessed friends going from honest and introverted to bold and two-faced. And vice versa.

I'd like to make LOL a bit more raw and less-sugar coated in the next webisodes. More edgy and explicit, in terms of the plot and dialogue. Teen stories that you don't usually see on TV - really make a virtue of releasing online. I hope to workshop the new scripts with the cast so we can make it feel a bit more fresh and real.

Keen to hear any more thoughts you've got on it - really useful getting detailed feedback like this.
 
ricforster said:
I'd agree Keely is pretty passive through the first webisode. It's only when she makes the decision to go to Dawber's house and sleep with him in webisode 2 does she start taking control of her life. I'd argue that's part of the character's journey - she's sick of the pressure from her mate and her mum and ultimately makes a bad choice because of it.
Click to expand...

This was one of the plot points that bothered me. How does her mom, who yells at her for drinking and ex-communicates her best friend, motivate Keeley to sleep with her best friend's boy? That doesn't seem like a logical next step, especially because she has a crush on a different boy, Cam. It seems more like a set-up for her friend to fight her in the next episode, rather than a rational decision by the character. If her goal is independence, sleeping with her best friend's boyfriend is irrelevant to this goal. It is a bad decision, but it is also an unmotivated one.

As for the improv scene... yeah that makes sense. lol, for some reason, people are in love with the idea of actors improving. All I ever hear in interviews with actors is, "So how much fun did you have on set? How many of your lines are improv?" Good writing is the foundation of a good scene, actor's cannot make up for a lack of writing on the spot. I understand the circumstances and the performances are earnest. I'm just using the scene as an example of why improv doesn't work as well as good writing and good direction.

My final suggestion is: give us a reason to like Keely. Make her charming, or witty, or a good Samaritan, or imaginative. You have a good start by making her the underdog of the party. Let us watch her try to go after Cam, and fumble it up adorably. Right now, all I'm seeing is a shitty daughter, a shitty friend, and honestly, a shitty person. She doesn't understand herself or why she does anything and she does stupid shit and then lies about it ("He took advantage of me!" yeah, right sister.) This is an accurate portrait of your average teenager... but I really don't want to watch an average teenager because they are just plain annoying with their soap opera antics and permanent bad mood. Juno was also about a teenaged girl going through a rough time in her life, but she was also immensely likable. A little too likable; I thought she was way too witty for her age and too quirky for quirkiness' sake. But you get the point.

And finally, yeah make it edgy man, that would be a lot of fun to watch. Lets get some real fucked up shit happening, not just the oh you slept with my boy kind of a thing. You DO have an opportunity to make something original, because not only is it online, it's completely yours. Take some chances, it'll be fun to watch. You have the technical ability to pull it off, just do something interesting with your characters and story.

What if Keely tries to take down her mom? That would be awesome. Something tells me Keely wants to get her mom back. Dude, Keely should get her mom drunk then let one of her horny guy friends take advantage of her. That would be sick haha. And afterwards Keely would say to her, "Lol."
 
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Good Job

Good job with the writing and the shooting, teenage dramas are difficult to appeal to adults but this one is appealing, very interesting. I love the camera work.
 
Have just shot the six latest episodes of my web drama series "LOL" on the Red One.

Some video grabs:

webisode4.jpg


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A004_C046_0301T4_00374-1000.jpg


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Episode 4 is up on the website:
http://www.lolseries.com
and Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/4050236

This was my first time shooting on the Red but I think the quality is great and a definate step up. We used Zeiss SLR lenses.

Trying to keep momentum and shoot episodes regularly.

Let me know what you guys think!
 
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