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5 things that worked and didn’t work on our very own web series
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During the lead-up to our 2016 festival, we decided Melbourne Webfest should make our own content. Why not? We’ve watched enough content, we know what we like, what works and what doesn’t sit right. Why don’t we make a web series?
Well, it was an interesting experience. The key word being experience, as we all learned a lot of new skills from this whole affair.
AV Director Alex and AV Coordinator Harrison learned so much, they want to talk about what helped make MWF Presents: 2046 a success and the challenges they faced making it.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
What Worked
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Crew
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Alex: Melbourne WebFest has always prided itself in assisting the best of La Trobe University’s Media and Communication interns in their learning by giving them the opportunity to get hands-on with festival projects. We couldn’t have asked for a better group of interns in the AV team this year. Although they all had different skills levels and experiences they all rose to one of the most challenging productions they have worked on within their developing careers. They grinded through long shoots and were the most tenacious group of students we’ve ever had at the festival.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Actors
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Alex: The actors we cast were just the best! At times, I couldn’t believe the commitment and support they had for the project, they were truly passionate about the story and their characters. Under the guidance of our great directors Phoebe Williams and Richard Khouri, they could pull off challenging performances in what seemed like an impossible time frame.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Soundtrack
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Alex: James Mackey and Trinski Liwanag from Skinny and Moose were kind enough to provide us with a fill soundtrack for MWFP: 2046 and they did a fantastic job helping our vision for the project come to life. When we put the soundtrack into the edit everything really started to come together. I worked hard with the boys to help them understand the vision we were trying to achieve, and they pulled it off. The extended soundtrack will be available online in the coming week.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Resourcefulness
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Harrison: In short, we had a budget of 3 days’ worth in lunch. Considering this we had to be smart with how we used our props and locations to portray our story. Due to our genre selection and themes (more on those later) we needed to consider what the semiotic displayed and consider whether or not that would break the atmosphere of our production. Honestly, I think we did a decent job with the resources we had to work with.
Alex: My hot tip: skateboards make better sliders than shopping carts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Pacing
[/heading][vc_column_text]Harrison: For a 30-minute series, it doesn’t feel like it. Due to good writing, brilliant acting and solid editing from our interns, the episodes have a nice flow to them. This is helped a fair bit by the Soundtrack which enhances the pacing of each episode even further.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”7030″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
What Didn’t Work
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Now that we’ve covered what worked well, we should probably cover some of our downfalls. While we’re still very happy with the end result, there were five things that caused some major challenges.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Locations
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Alex: I remember having a vision of Steinar’s office being in a grand building overlooking the city, but it ended up being the real Steinar’s office overlooking a patch of grass at La Trobe. I had a similar idea for Lily’s room, but with a limited time and budget, my vision was ultimately doomed to fail from the beginning. But it was a good learning experience that I have been able to reflect upon and use in productions since.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Time Frame
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Harrison: This was probably the main wall we hit, time. Due to the pressure of getting this done before the festival and our other commitments, we really didn’t have as much time as we needed to work on this project. During production, we only had 3 days of filming, which were really long days at that. Post production was similar, with Alex and I pulling several all-nighters on the final push to make sure everything was done in time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Working Within Limitations
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Harrison: To be brutally honest, I think we got a little too ambitious with this project. From the outset, science fiction is a hard genre to pull off, especially so with minimal budget. To add to this, we decided to develop a story involving espionage, dystopia and a robot learning to love. All of these are complex themes to cover individually, but to combine them all in the setting we plotted out was a huge undertaking.
Alex: Our budget was definitely our biggest limitation, but this is something that we intend to address for intern futures.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Fragmented Post Production
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Harrison: One big mistake I think we made that could have easily been avoided was the way we handled post production. Two interns would work on an episode each (being episode 1, 2 & 3) and an episode director would oversee the episode they directed. However, I don’t think there was nearly enough inter-episode communication.
Alex: Post production was designed to be focused on the interns learning. To me, it was important that the interns got as much experience from the experience as they could. This did make more work for Harrison and I in the end. Splitting up the editing team like that wasn’t the most streamlined way to do it. Regrettably, we never made a detailed style guide for the interns and directors so the styles of edits did have differences, which Harrison and I had to reign in.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]
Workload
[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Alex: This project has some super intense editing sessions fuelled by coffee, beer and pure determination! Audio took up a lot of that time as the recordings were all over the place. Due to this, in semester two we started to teach audio to festival interns as part of the course. We really challenged ourselves in this project, but it taught the whole team a lot about our work flows and communication. I believe the change from a journalistic style show to a drama/sci-fi was a bit of a jump for the team, and we didn’t consider the extra work that was needed before we got into it. I am still happy with what we achieved and learnt. I am also very proud of the determination of the interns and their growth during the project.
These are a few things we learned whilst making the series. Hopefully, you got some tips from us, and you won’t make the same mistakes we did. If you’ve got any comments or tips we’d love to hear about it!
Until next time, Alex & Harrison!
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][heading]Watch the full series of MWFP: 2046 now.[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
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