Cell: The Web Series
http://cellthewebseries.com/episodes/episode-three/
"Cell: The Web Series" has a nice layout overall. In fact, they have contests at the top of the page which may be particularly helpful for our own web series' success. I think with such short episodes, that title sequences are a bit contrived, and almost get in the way of the viewer's experience when advertisements are thrown on top of that. Breaking it up so much is somewhat irritating, be it, time consuming.
I'm going to focus on the DON'T's first. This series' first issue is the overplay of the music, which brings down the quality since it's kind of an amateur music composition. The narrative is ambiguously vague which isn't promoting a direction, but rather presumptuousness that doesn't live up to its potential threshold. The characters are unenthused and meaningless; it's essentially a rather dry series. I'm not sure how the emotional drive is supposed to pull me in, but it more or less puts me to sleep. If anything, there's a lesson to be learned: be careful with your music composer and also realizing that silence is perfectly okay in any series, and especially with something that's intending to be suspenseful. A proper play of silence and music is vital. At the end of the day, this web series comes off contrived rather than organic.
With that being said, what are they doing right? The cinematography appears to be intentional. With what appears to be a low budget production, they are appropriate with their shots and editing; the story itself is bland and the directing and actors is pretty mediocre, but I think with what is available, the cinematographer and editor are putting in enough effort to keep me watching for a handful of episodes. However, it is fairly dark in its video composition which makes it hard to read. The shots that are more lighted are flattering, but I wish instead of putting so much effort that this is based around a "Cell" that the production itself could have come up with more creative ways to light the set.
2.) As a writer, in this past month, I had a lot of stress on me and a great team to work with, but I definitely pushed myself to think in more concise terms and also how to combine sequences that are alike rather than have them dispersed. I definitely thought in more logical terms and was able to have a pretty strict eye to cutting out nonsense, although I created some nonsense of my own. I found that having strong organizational skills to keep old drafts stashed away came in handy when realizing what may have been lost from draft to draft that was passed around, and also what type of central tone needed to be carried out overall. Sometimes it was scary to not know what was going to happen in passing it to various writers who all have different perceptions, and so it comes with some bartering and reasoning as to what actually works and what may have been added in that's -- unsound.
After having the script's last draft out of my fingers, I felt a sense of relief. I was impressed that we were able to cut out so much fluff and really make it a lot more dense with depth in the 10 pages we magically brought it to... unless someone tampered with the draft last minute and added back pages in a frenzied haste upon submitting it.
The difficulty in collaboration is figuring out how to properly navigate through the piece while consistently building the team up instead of going down the wrong path where people gnash at their teeth; fortunately, this group is mature enough that we can criticize each other and find out how we're being sensible. I've definitely been in groups where the individual selfs got out of control and squabbles were born, which sometimes is understandable and even necessary for the growth of the group, but I think what I'm getting at here is that proper communication and encouragement toward each other helps to create a safe working environment and that's something I think creative individuals among collaboration need to consistently hear. It makes it a lot easier to throw out ideas if you can trust each other; it's pretty scary when you're consistently wondering if someone's going to burn your house down (hyperbole intended). I'm fortunate to have worked in the group I have this semester and that each of us are able to throw in a different lens and catch each other while also building each other up.
3.) How critical is the element of the storytelling process to your development as a writer?
Storytelling itself is critical to me as a writer. I decided to spend more time in English so that I could understand storytelling to a finer degree and also command it for the best of purposes. It shouldn't be a surprise that Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan both went for English degrees in college, and I'm sure this is a noticeable trend throughout Hollywood and beyond. The "storytelling process" can be defined in a number of ways here. If we're talking about the steps of the hero's journey, it would seem this is golden knowledge to help establish structure and be able to build from that other more complex structures to carry narrative. Storytelling process, as in, what processes you use to tell stories is another ballgame. Depending on how I need to discover tone and theme, storytelling process is of the most essence. Certain music, lighting, and rooms can help trigger what is needed in order to create thoughts which add depth to story. Without proper nurturing of thoughts, I don't think writing will come out as masterfully as need be: and that's what I think for both of my interpretations of "storytelling process."
4.) How critical are theme and message to our webseries and how well do you believe your work-in-progress is succeeding in underling these elements?
Theme and message are inherent in storytelling. It's what helps give overall meaning, and for me, it's always what I look for in a story. Once I know that framework, all the pieces make sense and have a real direction. I don't necessarily think you have to know all themes jumping into the piece, being intentional of course helps, but I imagine that through story world building and really understanding how one's narrative is pieced together, that unintentional themes can be and will be born. Themes are critical in writing. Without them, in all honesty, a story will lack depth. Also, there may be some correlation with having stronger themes that help build stronger stories. I would expect the themes of Shakespeare to outweigh the themes of a Soap Opera; Shakespeare has tested time, most soap operas will not be known within a handful of centuries, decades, and so forth. Pulling on theme will help make the web series overall stronger. I believe with the work I've done in class, the themes are apparent. Inevitability and regret are made apparent in the pilot; they may not be fully explained but the questions in them are raised. Rucker instantaneously faces regret after the first time travel mission due to his sickness while Samay's regret is hinted at with the Bhopal disaster letter. The guitar shop burning down hints at inevitability especially since the guitar in the present is scorched by the events of time -- fire becomes a symbol throughout. For instance, Samay's usage of his lighter applies a rather emotional fire sequence and the hot ironing work of the Blacksmith at the end with the iron dagger again portrays fire / heat / and the like.
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