NOTICE
ANOTHER SCREEN
by Bart Vandever
YOUTUBE.COM AND TRADITIONAL TELEVISION NETWORKS
Leading the charge in online video is YouTube.com, which has, according to Alexa.com, climbed to the seventh most popular site on the Web. Currently, more than 100 million videos are available, while 65,000 more are uploaded each day.
YouTube allows anyone with Internet access to, without charge, search for and play historical, music and independent videos. In June 2006, NBC took note of the site's success. The network began a partnership with YouTube whereby an official NBC channel will be set up on the site, broadcasting clips of the popular sitcom The Office among others.
MTV has also capitalized on the web video phenomenon by signing 22-year-old Aziz Asaris's comedy troupe for a show to premiere in 2007. Asaris grew much of his audience online, via blogging sites, and his Shutterbugs comedy series on YouTube.
Budding filmmakers grow an audience on the Web
In the past,the most successful online filmmakers knew one way to tap into the bored human mind. Using their pixilated web cameras, they captured footage of their friends drinking gallons of milk, applying black magic marker to the faces of passed-out
friends or even break dancing in the nude.
Since then, YouTube, GoogleVideo and similar sites have exploded in popularity. Aspiring filmmakers have stepped up to the challenge of delivering quality goods to the wider audience these sites provide. They bring with them the age-old dreams of fame, money and respect.
Nolan T. Jones, Pittsburg senior, is one such filmmaker. In Jones's animated show, Zook
PHOTO/BART VANDEVE
Mayhem, talking frogs, raccoons, koala bears and other animals offer witty commentary on popular culture, keggers and dorm life. The show recalls the cult cartoons on the late-night television block, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. "Zook is about the culture of college, but moreover, it's a story about fighting apathy," Jones says.
The show has virtually no budget. Time is the biggest cost. Dutton, the lead animator of Zook, says it takes 10 hours to create one minute of animation. From there, it takes less than an hour to upload a video onto
The creation of a Zook episode starts with the writing of dialogue. From there, Richard Zayas, Smithville junior, and Riley Dutton, Arma junior, step in to refine the script. A microphone captures the actors' dialogue, and then the animation process begins.
Nolan T. Jones, Pittsburgh senior, works on his animated show Zook Mayhem. Above, in a screen shot from the show, Zook, left, talks to another character.
the Web and make it available to the public. "People download stuff for instant gratification, so dammit, we have to deliver,"
Jones says. Zook's first episode premieres across the Web later this month.
Jones' online enterprises, such as his Web site and movie trailers, have yet to turn a profit, but to Jones, Internet video is merely a jumping off point. "The key to making money with this will come from merchandising and other products like DVDs and toys."
WATCH THE SHOWS
www.YouTube.com
about talking animals. Foulmouthed animals... We'll see."
video.google.com
Joining Jones in the online quest for fame are Matt Sloan
www.zookmayhem.com
Shutterbugs Episode 1
http://www.youtube.com/
watch2>TK58BiwMqs
Chad Vader Episode 1
http://youtube.com/
watch?v=3CIW838wNIM
This is all part of Jones' 10-year plan, he says. Besides Zook, the plan includes the creation of a feature-length film trilogy based on the idea of converting animé franchises into live action. "For now I'm a 21-year-old college student who is making a cartoon
Zook Mayhem Short
http://youtube.com
watch?v=ipYdYCfWLeL
and Aaron Yonda. The duo began their online endeavors after their comedy series Chad Vader was rejected by the New York television networks. From there, they took things into their own hands, posting the video on YouTube and attracting a large crowd of avid followers by tapping into the Star Wars geek demographic.
The comedy chronicles the younger brother of Darth Vader, Chad, as the flustered and powerless day manager of a grocery store. He battles with the night time manager for better shifts, becomes infatuated with the check-out girl and struggles
with the ongoing eccentricity of the customers.
Despite the cult following, the filmmakers have made little money. Sloan, 33, still works at a bookstore in his hometown of Madison, Wis. After years of touring at Star Wars Conventions and film festivals, the online series is finally attracting attention from mainstream media. "We hope within the next few years the Internet will be as big as television," Sloan says. Besides attracting 2.5 million views, Sloan and Yonda premiered the show's fourth episode on ABC's Good Morning America on Oct.11.
Video sites are a great way for aspiring filmmakers to hone their craft and work outside of the foreboding studio system, says Shawn Roney, KU film graduate teaching assistant."The YouTube filmmakers have the same DIY spirit of the punk rockers from the 1970s.You don't have to be a virtuoso to make great stuff.You don't need a $1 million advance. Anyone can make movies,and that's really exciting."
11. 02.2006 JAYPLAY <09