Radiance Ep.12 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Science Fiction Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

“What if we’re the only ones left?”

These episodes of the horror survival web series Radiance are so short and so good that I find myself with the same thing to say; I’m always surprised by how much tension, story and surprise they pack in in less than two minutes.

This episode has two scenes. In the first, the small band of survivors have a moral dilemma to make, one of the most fundamental decisions a human can make in a survival situation. Should we kill someone else we think is sick or dying to save ourselves?

In the second were lulled into a false sense of calm, before an almost single frame shocker that makes us wonder: is this where it turns to a zombie story?

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

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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

Casual S02E02 “Reflection” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Romance Drama Web Series

5 Swirlies

Casual 2.2: Reflection from Altermotion Pictures on Vimeo.

“I just might break yours.”

Happy Fourth of July to all our American friends!

I feel like with every episode, Casual just keeps getting better and better. The confidence and subtleties of the writing and acting amaze me.

This season does tend to take huge risks with its timeline, as did the first season but in a different way. The first half of this episode confused me, as much as I was enjoying it. I wasn’t sure what I was watching, even though I suspected the truth. I’m not sure if it would have been better with a little more hand holding, or if it made it better because, as a viewer, it increased the tension by making me wonder. Did anyone else find this? Or am I over-thinking it?

As always, I’m stunned by the lighting, camera and sound. I sometimes hear people talk about a webseries “look,” which means no lighting, no colour timing, little in the way of art direction – and it’s okay because that’s how webseries look. Like putting effort into it is somehow not webseries. Those people should be forced to sit down and watch this series. In fact, anyone setting out to make film or TV or whatever should watch this. It should be required viewing in film schools. Which is not to say it is flashy, or calls attention to itself. Completely the opposite. It allows the story to be what it is, and allows the little moments to come through.

I can’t wait to see what happens next – and find out why The Guy and The Girl didn’t end up happily ever after.

From Vimeo Description:

Casual Episode 2.2: Reflection
Starring Lauren Marini & Brian Thomas Smith
Featuring: Janna Vanheertum, Jessica Rich, Jamie Stout, Michael Hobert, Derek “D-Bone” Reckley and Jonathan Mariande
casualseries.com
facebook.com/​casualseries

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Co-Op of the Damned: Ep.2

CO-OP OF THE DAMNED: A horror/comedy web series about roommates from hell. http://coopofthedamned.com. Written and directed by Ned Ehrbar. New episodes every Monday in October. Comment! Rate! Subscribe! Share! Tell your friends!

Episode 2: You know the rules. If you get it on, you’re going down. But what happens when one guy just can’t seal the deal?

4 Swirlies

Horror comedy indeed.

This episode of the tragically overlooked web series “Co-op of the Damned” takes on the cliche of the psycho killer who kills people who have sex – but what’s a psycho killer to do if his intended victim isn’t getting any?

That’s right, he takes matters into his own hands.

Disturbingly hilarious. Not quite as funny as the first one, but still awesome.