Tyranny Ep.5 “Wake Up Calls” | A Web Series on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

4 Swirlies

A great episode, completely without dialogue.

There’s a number of things to admire about this web series. They seem to have struck a nice balance between telling an ongoing, serialized storyline, and having episodes that feel like episodes. They don’t end each episode where I expect them too, instead choosing to make sure that there’s more than one scene, that they’re not just cutting out because this is the moment in the movie where they cut to something else - The makers of Tyranny actually cut to the something else, and end the episode when they’ve gotten to a point where what happens next is the next plot element to advance the story.

They also tend, at least so far, to make each episode unique. From the first two episodes that made me think this whole series was going to be constructed from montages, to this episode where there’s no dialogue and nothing’s really explained, each episode could kind of be a typical episode in its own series, if you follow what I’m saying. At the same time, the story feels like it is advancing, and the style chosen for each episode feels like the right choice to tell that part of the story.

It also feels longer than it is, in a good way. In the kind of way where you don’t feel time passing, but when the episode’s done you’re surprised to find out how short it was.

Am I 100% sure what this episode is about? Nope. Do I know where this story is going? Nope. And for many other series, this might be a problem. For this one, I’m intrigued and invested enough to keep watching and keep wondering.

You know, in the wake of Lost (or maybe its just the internet) there’s many webTV shows in which the audience is expected to puzzle out the meaning for themselves. But the vast majority of them are either way too opaque to be enjoyable, or so obvious seeming I don’t feel compelled to keep watching to see if I’m right. Sure, everyone has their own level of how much or how little information that want to be spoon fed in their entertainment, but for me Tyranny is just the right mix of “I think I know what’s going on but could be wrong” and the storytelling being so well done that I’m not really spending my time trying to solve a puzzle.

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The Cell Ep. 2 | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Psychological Thriller Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Next time, I burn them off.”

Despite some clunky dialogue and acting, this series rises to its challenges and manages to be better than the sum of its parts.

Part of it is the haunting, if slightly over repetitive music, and some of it is the menace conveyed by “The Woman” who has clearly been terrorized to the point that she has forgotten everything except life with “The Man.” Actually, I was liking it fine until the very last image - which was what really got to me. Just the simple shot at the end of The Woman pushing the clothes across to the other cell. A bold and effective shot, and probably the best part of the episode.

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The Cell Ep.1 l A Web Series on The Watch List

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@CELLwebseries

A man wakes up in a cell after a night on the town. It doesn’t take long for him to realize he’s not in jail and he’s not alone.

A psychological thriller from writer/director Mark Gardner.

3 Swirlies

“You have two lessons to lean right now.”

Nice start, good first episode. We don’t really get too far into things, but  it is just the one episode. This is just the set up. I feel like what will really decide things for me is episode 2.

This series seems to be setting itself up as a psychological thriller. That means it is all about character. Can the writer, actor and director create a compelling character that thrills us as we learn more about their dark personality?

You know, I think the hardest thing in making a web series is the acting. Everything else can be handled to at least a competent level be a passionate amateur. But being a good actor… I mean combining psychological nuance, a sense of life and history, charisma and presence, and even just saying all those lines… that’s something that must be nurtured.

It’s really hard. People devote their lifetime to it. I’m not saying other jobs on film sets aren’t equally as challenging or worthy of a lifetime of devotion. I’m saying the difference between a competent camera operator and an excellent camera operator may never be noticed in a  low budget web series production.  But actors… an actor you’ll notice no matter how big or small the budget. Or more likely not notice. Good actors can take the most benign of scenes and make it compelling with the choices they make about why they’re saying what they’re saying. Not so good actors don’t even realize there are choices to be made.

Will the creative team behind The Cell be able to create a strong, compelling character? Let’s keep watching and find out.

The Vetala Ep.7 “Tides of Change” | A Web Series on The Watch List

The Vetala Web Series - Season 1/ Starring Candace Chase, Paul Mendel, Marina Pasqua, Leslie Mildiner, James Tyce/ Written & Directed by Damon Vignale

http://www.TheVetala.com

1 Swirly

“Am I alive? Or am I dead?”

Wow, what a giant let down!

I know that many people don’t always agree with some of the things I have to say on The Watch List, but I’m shocked that The Vetala is as popular as it is, after watching this last episode. Essentially a coda where nothing happens but a half-hearted explanation of the mysteries at the heart of the web series - and revealing (or perhaps implying) that the whole first season was back story to a second season. This is the “I can help you master your powers” scene that we see in just about every Hollywood action movie.

I didn’t love every episode of this web series, but at least I thought they were going somewhere with it. I was along for the ride because I figured they were telling me a story about something, and quite honestly, I feel cheated by this last episode.

On the plus side, we do get to spend some time with the creature, up til now only seen obliquely. It’s cool, even if it doesn’t rise above the level of a video game character and so looks decidedly unreal in the middle of a live action parking lot. And the series, as a whole, has strong production value and some good acting.

Completely unrelated to the fact that I didn’t enjoy it, I don’t think there’s going to be a second season. This series is two years old now, and there’s been essentially no news on their blog expect the awards they won around this time last year.

The Vetala: Ep. 5 “Premonition”

The Vetala Web Series – Season 1/ Starring Candace Chase, Paul Mendel, Marina Pasqua, Leslie Mildiner, James Tyce/ Written & Directed by Damon Vignale http://www.TheVetala.com

4 swirlies

“The story’s dead Alex.”

This episode was short, sweet, and packed full of tension (in fact, the whole series seems to run on it).  Without spoiling anything, it accomplishes one goal: to raise the stakes in a big (if not unexpected) way.

The most interesting element to come out of this episode is the introduction of a supernatural power to our female protagonist, Lily: the premonition.  Which comes in real handy when a secret organization is trying to kill you (in Lily’s case—again)!

I admit that I’m a sucker for serialized drama, and thrillers are hard to resist.  But add a supernatural element, and that definitely keeps me coming back, wanting to know more.

So while this episode was short on story, mostly re-emphasizing what we learned in Episode 4, it marked a turning point for Lily, and it had us wondering: What’s going to happen next?  What’s Lily’s next move?  Are her premonitions a gift… or a curse?

Another rule of storytelling: never be boring.  And this series hasn’t been so far.

The Vatala Ep. 3 “Reality Check”

The Vetala Web Series – Season 1/ Starring Candace Chase, Paul Mendel, Marina Pasqua, Leslie Mildiner, James Tyce/ Written & Directed by Damon Vignale http://www.TheVetala.com

4 Swirlies

“I got another call tonight. Someone wants to meet.”

Really slick. Really well produced. Everything about it is pro – the acting, lighting, sound, everything. I wanted to come back to this series, not only because I’m getting around to series that I started posting and then sorta let slide, but this series has been winning awards and getting a lot of buzz.

You know, the first episode of this series was amazing. But since I feel a little let down. This episode was better than the second – it still gets 4 swirlies – but I feel like there’s not much going on in each episode. It is heavily serialized, which is enough to drag some people in, but for me I want some story for each episode. When you’ve only got 3 minutes, you really have to make it count.

I think this episode is bridging later stories. I see there’s 7 episodes on YouTube, so are we closing in on the halfway point? Hopefully it’ll pick up soon, and the arc of all seven, taken together will be worth it.

8.13 – Ep. 1 “The Interrogation”

4 Swirlies

“Where were you at 8:13 PM? Start at the beginning.”

Regular readers will know thatI’m a little wary of first episodes that are short on character or story, but these guys manage to pull it off.

The writers, Melissa Kay and Mando Franco, manage to jam a lot of story hooks into 2 minutes (Like, there’s a guy named Mars? What happened at 8:13 PM?) and the episode is nicely produced with very little distracting us from the brutal interrogation. I also give them props for keeping it nice and short.

I felt, however, that there wasn’t much going on that we hadn’t seen before in many brutal interrogation scenes – that it was largely a vehicle for some exposition. I would have liked to see a little more character details in therewith the hints and foreshadowing of plot points to come.

But still well worth checking out. I’ll be very pleased if this develops into a thriller drama that gets me excited to keep following.

From YouTube
Johnny Dixon (Beau Ryan) is captured and interrogated by an unknown organization during the peak of the zombie uprising. Johnny will then reveal his whereabouts from the beginning of the outbreak, 8:13 pm.

Website: http://813series.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/813series
Twitter: http://twitter.com/zom813s
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/eightthirteen
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/813series

The Vetala Ep. 1 – The Sydicate

The Vetala Web Series – Season 1/ Starring Candace Chase, Paul Mendel, Marina Pasqua, Leslie Mildiner, James Tyce/ Written & Directed by Damon Vignale http://www.TheVetala.com

4 Swirlies

This opens nice and suspenseful. A guy packing a crate with guns. A student tacking down a story. Her boyfriend looking for her. Something’s gotta happen… right?

And then it does.

While this first installment doesn’t give us much insight into what’s going on, it does give us one thrill ride of a five minute episode – honestly I was a little surprised it was so long, it felt much shorter.

The only reason it missed five Swirlies is the acting is little stilted, and it was essentially all set up. Also the series seems to be about supernatural stuff, at least according to their Youtube tags, and there’s not even a hint of that in this episode. But those are trivial complaints, perhaps, and I’m quite excited to see where this series is going.

The closing tag (thankfully, there’s not 2 minutes of end credits pumping up the length) reads, “No longer a myth.” Count me intrigued.

Does the title make anyone else think of cheese? No? So it’s just me, then.