Radiance Ep.11 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

“I’m going to say this slow. And I’m going to say this once.”

Wow. How much tension can you put in one minute and thirty nine seconds? Clearly a lot.

You can feel the panic spreading as they start to take drastic measures to protect themselves from something they don’t understand.

Radiance is one of those shows that breaks the rules and makes it work. It just goes to show you that everything anyone says to you about how things are supposed to be done is bullshit, even the stuff I say. It is all opinion, and what works for one show may not work for another show.

And then there’s the fact that just a great story - like Radiance - makes everything else null and void.

I saw a thread somewhere the other day where someone was struggling to figure out what sort of web series they wanted to make. Is there a formula? Something that works for the large audience of the internet? There was quite a bit of discussion, but here’s what I think - tell a story, and everything else springs from there. If you’re looking for a formula, or something else to tell you what story to tell, I think what you’re saying is that you’re making a web series for the wrong reasons. You’re making a web series to either make a bunch of money or get famous. Either way, you’ll probably be disappointed. Look at Radiance - a great little web series with a great story, and it is clear that the whole series has been seen by less than 350 people in a year of it being posted. (Part 17 only has 280 some views, at the time we’re going to press on this article.) That’s not great numbers, but it is about average for many, many web series as far as I can tell. And I would say even big web series fans haven’t heard of it. It certainly can’t have made much profit for those who made it. Would you call this show a failure?

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

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Radiance Ep.10 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

5 Swirlies

“You’re dying, we’re not dying!”

Another suspenseful episode of the creepy “what if” web series, Radiance.

As the body count rises, We are finally left with few enough characters that I can tell who is who while only watching a single minute a week.

You know, I was talking to someone recently about one minute long web series, and I mentioned this one as a great example of what you can do in short episodes. But then I remembered Prom Queen. Remember Prom Queen? It wasn’t a show that we covered, I think it was just before we first started The Watch List many moons and lifetimes ago. Prom Queen was Michael Eisner, of Disney fame. He started a giant company, Vuguru, and this was his attempt to make a big web series splash. A series told in one minute episodes.

I try not to be cruel or reductive when I write these reviews, but in so many words, Prom Queen sucked. It’s been a while since I have seen it, so I won’t get into it’s many shortcomings here, but essentially it didn’t tell stories in one minute intervals, it showed a minute of a scene, and then the next episode was another minute. It wasn’t engaging and it was annoying because everything had the same rhythm, every minute, exactly, the episode ended.

Radiance succeeds where Prom Queen failed, in my opinion, in having most of the episodes feel like they had some sort of narrative arc for them, and by letting each episode find its own length in order to break up the rhythm of the short episodes.

Prom Queen cost a lot to make, maybe even a million or more. Radiance, it would appear, was done for fun. Neither made a profit. But I hope that you would agree with me that Radiance is the better show, and a role model for those looking to make very short episodes.

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.9 | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

5 Swirlies

“Guys, I saw something.”

Oh no! After the discovery of yet another pair of bodies, the housemates get a clue about what they’re dealing with… and what might happen next.

A nice, tense little episode. The web series Radiance has very short episodes in a serialized format, and it is one of the few series that manages to keep the atmosphere tense in just about every one. There’s a total of 19 parts, which means we’re only at the halfway point.

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.8 | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

5 Swirlies

“I wanna die on a full stomach.”

Whoa. Suddenly, a lot happens in this minute and a half episode.

More mystery. More deaths. A new character. Probably if you have been following this show, you’ve been intrigued enough to finish watch the rest on your own. If this is your first time coming across this series, this isn’t a bad entry point.

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.7 | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Why do you all look guilty?”

As the realization sets in that they are in this for the long haul, it is time for someone to try to take charge.

It’s an interesting twist, just as I was thinking, ‘okay… now what?’ I find this little series, with its super-short episodes, incredibly interesting. Of course, in hindsight it is obvious that someone’s gonna step up and demand some sort of pecking order. Usually with them at the top. Maybe it is the short episodes, not giving me any time to predict what’s gonna happen, but this show manages to surprise me and entertain me.

I do feel like the end of this episode is a little soap opera-y, as in as soon as the story inches forward we move on. It’s not like there’s much in the of a story arc in 1 minute and 19 seconds. Some of the acting is a little stiff, and the natural lighting, and the handicam cinematography still feels a little too amateurish for me, but creator Jim Hansen has created an intelligent, claustrophobic thriller.

This series is a real diamond in the rough, and I do suggest that you’ll like it best if you go back and watch it from the start.

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.6 | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

“What about a government conspiracy type thing?”

The fall out from last episode, and the deaths in the basement. Now that they are past the initial crisis, the reality is starting to set in that there are no easy answers. Will the household survive?

Another short, punchy episode in this webseries about surviving a mysterious event. This is one of what I think of as a bridge episode, moving the plot forward after a big event, but itself largely expository.

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.5 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

“It’s a good plan, being down here.”

All of these episodes are super short, this one is less than two minutes. I actually had more or less written this episode off until I got to the chilling ending.

I may be blowing it for you by talking about it, but I totally did not see the ending coming until the one guy was calling down about breakfast. It freaked me out.

This series continues to surprise - every time I think it has lost its mojo, it hits me with a sucker punch. Am I the only one enjoying this show?

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.4 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Fill up the sink! Now!”

A super short episode showing various people’s reactions to the crisis.

The more I watch this show, the more impressed I am with its nuances and complexity. It is not what I thought it was when I started watching. This episode deals with one person who has a hard time coping with what seems to be a dire situation. And everything, the acting, the camera, the editing, the sound, all work together to put the audience into the headspace of that character at that time. And it is weird because the look of the show screams ‘a bunch of friends had a camcorder and just started film one day’, goofing around. But clearly, writer and director Jim Hansen (not Henson, but Hansen) had a plan, because you can’t co-ordinate this many people to tell this story without a clear plan and a strong hand on the tiller.

I had a conversation the other day with friend of this blog and web series type person Elize Morgan, about what is and isn’t fan fiction. To me, fan fiction is less the desire to tell a story, but the desire to insert yourself into someone’s world, to dwell in that space. It’s selfish, while non-fan fiction is more about sharing a story or a point of view on the world, to the world.

Whether you agree with me or not (and I’m certainly used to people disagreeing with me) what I’m really getting at is this; some web series are essentially just people who want to dwell in that space of being movie makers. They have been sold on the glamourous thing that is making a movie, and want to make a movie - and what story they are telling and why are kinda secondary. (I blame Hollywood’s ingenious marketing, but that’s another rant.)

To be honest, at first - as much as I enjoyed it - that’s what I thought this web series was, a bunch of people got together with the idea that it’d be fun to be movie makers… now what? But this episode makes me doubt that. For all of the low budget atheistic of the show, I am beginning to feel like Mr. Hansen put some thought into what story he was going to tell and why.

Sure, they’re not braking any new ground by telling us that some people freeze up in a crisis, but they did an awesome job of portraying that moment to us.

I find this series so fascinating - often it’s not so hard to ‘read’ a web series (or at least to make assumptions about it); they spent money on this part but not that part, they had a big crew or just a director/camera person, they wrote it as a movie but shot it as a web series, this main actor is a pro but this supporting actor is doing it for the first time, it’s a showcase piece, it’s a vanity project… whatever. But I’m having a hard time figuring out Radiance. What I do know is that I’m glad I stumbled on it.

There are 19 episodes to go. I’ll be trying to post up two episodes every month, so that means we’ll be talking about this series for seven months! But looking ahead, this is actually one of the longest ones!

From YouTube Description:

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Radiance

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Radiance Ep.3 | A Web Series on the Watch List

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.

More info from YouTube after the review…

4 Swirlies

“This isn’t an earthquake!”

Weirder and weirder.

Short, tantalizing snippets of an unknown event, along with very human reactions. This episode doesn’t have the same funny moments as the first two in this web series, but it is intriguing. And that last image is surprising and impressive for a series that looks pretty handmade.

Another web series that only gets better as it goes along. To think I almost gave up on it early into the first episode, where all I thought it was going to be was a hand-held amateur mess. I’m glad I didn’t give up, and the production quality seems to be improving.

More info…
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

Radiance Ep.2 | A Web Series on The Watch List

Ten friends in Los Angeles experience an unusual event together- and try to survive.
Starring:
Brian Gattas
Jade Gordon
Tom Lenk
Chad Lindsey
Alisa Mcronald
Sam Pancake
Jack Plotnick
Christos Prevezanos
Chris Shea
Doug Stockstill
and
Rachel Stolte

Written and directed by Jim Hansen

4 Swirlies

“Alicia…”
“It’s Alisa.”
“That’s not important.”

Waddyaknow - a YouTube comedy disaster web series featuring gay and lesbians.

I wasn’t too sure of what to make of the first episode, but I knew that I was kinda digging it. Well, this second episode cements that.

With a pitch perfect mix of character based comedy and the firmly established WTF what just happened genre of YouTube web series, Radiance delivers a fun, very short episode without seeming to try too hard. And while the camera work and available lighting makes everything look gray and hazy, the sharp timing and performances of the cast make me want to hang out with them - like I’m missing out by not being part of the disaster.

And there’s 19 episodes in the web series, so there’s plenty more fun to go!