evan bregman

I came across evan bregman's blog this evening and I found his perspective to very interesting... refreshing... almost enlightening...

evan bregman.com: "Lets make new media better before it gets old."

Monday, May 18, 2009>>>

The next step for web series aesthetics: Creating worlds, not just stories

http://www.evanbregman.com/?p=200

After a long, incubated gestation period during which audiences have been relatively meager, web series are beginning to come into their own, aesthetically speaking. We have genres and aesthetic styles unique to the medium - the vlog (Gemini Division, LG15), the mini series (Dr. Horrible), the gamer show (The Guild), the fanfic show (My Roommate the Cylon), fantasy (Sorority Forever), the how-to (You Suck at Photoshop, TikiBarTV), the unscripted comedy/drama (The Shatner Project), and the list goes on. We have starlets (Day, Rose, Southern) and stars (Parikh, the other Rose).

Now, it’s time to think bigger. Time to take these new aesthetics and styles and apply them to more ambitious projects with more complicated, robust narratives. I’m talking about graduating from linear, episodic narrative and going toward an interactive medium’s inevitable end point. We need to start building worlds, not just stories.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009>>>

What NBC’s ratings woes can teach us about TV and web series aesthetics

http://www.evanbregman.com/?p=244

It’s not news that NBC’s ratings are in the toilet, and the vast majority of critics will argue that it’s a result of the network developing and airing shows that have narrow audience appeal. Shows like Kings, 30 Rock, and the recently-premiered The Listener might be hailed by critics and appreciated by TV nerds like myself, but they don’t appeal to an audience large enough for broadcast television standards.

That’s the traditional way of thinking. But a closer look at the numbers in the age of Hulu and the DVR suggests something a bit different. People don’t watch NBC when the shows air, but NBC shows like The Office are some of the most-viewed premium shows on the web, and they’re DVRd more than most other shows too. What that says is people are watching - in fact they’re watching very closely, making appointments to make sure they have the time to sit down and catch every little Liz Lemon quip and small piece of elaborate production design in the Kings kingdom.

I’m suggesting that higher ratings are not about how narrow or broad the narrative content is. It’s more about the way that content is presented....

Keep talking buddy... I'm listening