Financed by producer/creator Marcus Blakely and the four members of Big Fantastic, Sam Has 7 Friends follows the storyline of Sam, her friends, and their friends as they go about their lives and deaths. It was made known that Sam would die on December 15, 2006 from the first episode of the first season and intrigue (and more death) has followed the characters ever since.

The four writer/directors each took the reigns of four different storylines revolving around Sam: her best friend Dani (Chris Hampel), her boyfriend Patrick (Chris McCaleb), her ex-boyfriend Willie (Ryan Wise), and her acting career (Douglas Cheney).

If the creators of Lonelygirl15 had started out with an actual production budget, they probably would have made something like Sam Has 7 Friends, which feels less like an online independent serial and more like Melrose Place, in a good way. It has different production squads, original music, cinematography, professional lighting, a large ensemble cast of good actors, and a good storyline. That’s already a miraculous combination for an online dramatic series born in 2006. On top of that, it featured new episodes daily while it was in production. While the first season has a murder mystery as its hook, it’s the drama behind the series that will keep you watching.

Take the first season as an example.  Viewers knew that Sam would be killed. But new episodes every weekday for four months had us watching the show’s many characters to figure out who was going to do it and why. Would it have to do with Vera, who’s sleeping with Sam’s boyfriend? Would it be related to Scott, a neighbor who became increasingly obsessed with Sam, or his jealous girlfriend Holly? Is there something darker behind her agent Roman’s arrogant veneer? As online serials go, this is a platform that works.

My honest suggestion is to watch the episode where Sam is killed off and then start the series. It’s shocking but ruins no surprises and gives nothing of the storylines away, but it will definitely whet your appetite for more. If that viewing technique seems to unconventional, just watch from the beginning. Either way, it’s worthwhile. 

Studio/Network: Independently produced, but later purchased by Vuguru
Production Company: Big Fantastic
Principal Crew: Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb, Ryan Wise, Douglas Cheney
Principal Cast: Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb, Ryan Wise, Douglas Cheney
Launch Date: August 28, 2006
Status: The first season ended on December 15, 2006, but after Vuguru purchased the rights to the series, all episodes were taken down from the show’s website and the various video sharing sites where the series was distributed.  A second season was planned but has not gone into production.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Zach Jones
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Maria Sansone – an ESPN contributor and former MTVU VJ who’s been a TV reporter since she was 11 – and The 9 team debuted their first episode on July 10, 2006. Produced by Yahoo! TV and sponsored by Pepsi, the site feels a little like a rich man’s Rocketboom, or at least a Rocketboom that spends more than $20/day. Early each weekday morning, the Manhattan-based team gathers clips and still photos from what they consider to be the top 9 internet sites and stories for that day and post their results in the form of 4-5 minute episodes hosted by Maria. In case they missed anything, they encourage viewers to submit sites to the “Pepsi 10^th,” and then they showcase worthy submissions in their next episodes. The 9 caters to the 9-to-5 set by keeping the content “work-friendly” (read: un-offensive to the co-worker just peeking over your shoulder) and by posting in time for your morning sign-in at roughly 9AM.

You can’t expect a Yahoo! site to avoid pimping their own (at least 2 of the 9 each day link back to a Yahoo! related site), but they still manage to get a good array of interesting links in the mix. And since they don’t limit their offerings to video or vlog sites, they tend to showcase information that other directory sites tend to avoid – everything from the horrors of growing up (#5) and how to deal with them (#3) to things cute (#1) and cuddly (#1). When a website gets a mention on The 9, it is considered a “story” – Maria introduces it, shows clips or images, then wraps it up. It’s also more interactive than other websites of its ilk – viewers (referred to as “viewsers” or “9ers”) are asked to vote in a daily poll on their favorite content. The links to the featured sites are listed along the right side of the screen, in order, and individual episodes can be e-mailed to friends.

The 9 generally puts up some pretty decent content. I particularly enjoy the links to interactive sites, like JacksonPollock.org, but Mr. Belding doing karaoke (#7 here) is both a fantastic and disturbing find. And although the site focuses its content on the nine-to-five working public, it seems that younger viewers are tuning in as well. The poll for the episode from July 10^th shows that only 2% of the viewers enjoyed the story about the website MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com, implying that many of them might not even know who he is.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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The very English David Firth, an unusual animator specializing in darker surrealist imagery, began at a young age with projects ranging from misunderstood disfigured superheroes to slimy humanoid creatures. Salad Fingers, his most notable creature-feature, was featured at Newgrounds in 2004 and has gained considerable popularity since, spawning several parodies and causing higher visibility for Firth. Voicing all of his own characters, Firth brings an undeniably inner-city English feeling to all of his work.

Welcome to the world of Salad Fingers, the eerily animated, deftly voiced flash series about a slimy green androgyne who has a rather intimate relationship with rough surfaces (and of course, salad for fingers).  Everything here is just shy of being graphically inappropriate, from his near-orgasmic reaction to spoons and faucets to his fascination with blood and death.  It leaves a somewhat unsettling feeling in the viewer, which is most probably desired. 

This sorry little creature’s accent is so quaint and Cockney, he almost becomes charming (but not quite). His travels bring him into contact with a progressively more disturbing band of oddballs and freaks, including a menacing armless man and a smitten young boy with severe head/eye problems.  This, not to mention the poor child trapped in his oven!   Although the themes and storylines aren’t for the faint of heart, the technique here is near flawless; the artfully done subtitles and the moody soundtrack (featuring pieces credited to Aphex Twin and Brian Eno) add considerable value to the series.

Billed as “Animation, absurdity and comedy from the UK by David Firth”, Fat-Pie is the animator’s homepage and gathered collection of work; a quirky site that delivers on all three accounts. Salad Fingers is only one of many series found here, offering humor that ranges from sickly (check out Christmas) to sweet (sort of – check out this catchy music video).

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Dan Heching
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Executive Producer Noah Bonnett first moved out to LA during the Survivor-induced reality TV craze, and worked as an assistant to the Senior VP of Reality and Non-Scripted Programming at Sony Pictures Television. After working on a variety of television game shows – mainly with production company Endemol on shows like Deal or No Deal – Noah decided to hit the web with 88 Slide, a one-minute game show for the masses. Noah works with a small crew of 4 or 5 producers, editors, art directors, and writers while Rachel Rhodes, the attractive and outgoing host, and Blaine Rucker, the site’s announcer, are the main faces of the program.  88 Slide operates with various sponsors that provide prizes to randomly selected winners who correctly answer the daily trivia question. While the show has been in hibernation since November 20, 2006 – apparently retooling for a bigger, better version – check out the archives to see shows dating all the way back to the site’s launch on February 6, 2006.

Each weekday, Rachel asks viewers a simple multiple choice trivia question in the one-minute video. The themes vary and the locations, props, and costumes often match the topics broached – everything from National Pi Day and Gay Rugby to mashups with Ty Paddington of ShowbizNewsyNews. The format is the same each time: Rachel gives some facts, asks a question, displays the possible choices, reveals the prize, answers the question from the previous day and then Blaine announces the winner. The prizes range from the not bad – a $10 gift certificate to iTunes or Nintendo Game Boy Advance – to the pretty good – a 19” LCD monitor or a year’s subscription to Netflix. Often, the better prizes are outed in advance on the blog, but the question isn’t any more difficult on days when this happens. Viewers have until 12 midnight EST to e-mail or text 88Slide with their answer, and winners are randomly selected from a drawing of correct entries. Also, on the weekends 88Slide releases a clip reel with outtakes and bloopers from the previous week.

Rachel is an adorable host, but the site doesn’t succeed on that alone. The editing and videography are top-notch and the writing is succinct and fresh. Although Rachel and Blaine are both highly competent, they do occasionally screw up, and this footage is gathered at the end of each week and posted on Saturdays in the weekly Outtakes and Bloopers. Rachel will also sometimes offer up her hosting responsibilities to others, as she did when Messy Stench – the result of a craigslist search for “interesting” people – hosted the show in her apartment. The videos are short and sweet, and considering the quality of the prizes, you really have nothing to lose by checking out 88 Slide each day.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson, known as pioneers within the video blogging community, launched Ryan is Hungry in May 2006 to showcase the stories of individuals and organizations that are making a concerted effort to “go green!” The couple are popular for their web-based projects and constant campaign to connect people to the world of video blogging. They are involved with several other vlogging endeavours including NODE101, an international network of videoblog classrooms, which they co-founded. Additionally, Hodson is one of the creators of FreeVlog.org, an online tutorial site designed to encourage the public to jump on the webcast bangwagon. She has also co-authored “Secrets of Videoblogging.” Dedman, a former journalist at CNN and educator at MNN, has co-authored the book ” Videoblogging” and actively takes part in the Yahoo! Videobloggers Group, which he moderates. Both were broadcast professionals before making the switch to web-based television programming in 2004. Ryan is Hungry combines their two passions – videoblogging and the environment. The site found an immediate following and Dedman and Hodson licensed the content to PodTech Network in December 2006 in an effort to expand online distribution.

Rather than take cues from the mainstream news industry – which tends to focus on stories that involve Brad Pitt’s interest in green starchitecture, or Orlando Bloom’s environmentally friendly London home – Ryan is Hungry focuses on individuals making simple changes with earth consciousness in mind.  Like the better parts of Amanada Across America, videos generally consist of 3 to 10 minute profiles of everyday environmentalists and entrepreneurs who have made it their mandate to be kinder to the earth. Conservation initiatives are explored all across the country, but because the creators are based in San Francisco the large majority of interviews take place in and around the Bay Area. Hang-out in urban permaculturist, Kevin Bayuk’s San Francisco backyard where he grows his own food, raises ducks, and captures rainwater. Or grab some green tips from James Burgett, founder of Alameda County Computer Resource Center, a company that turns junk computers and equipment into new usable resources. And if you’ve ever wondered why sunny Las Vegas is not powered by solar energy, Bob Boehm from The University of Nevada’s Center for Energy Research will explain it to you.

The site highlights the breadth and diversity of environmental movements and initiatives that alone can blow your mind.  But add in the generally great video quality and the two affable and informed hosts, and Ryan is Hungry can’t help but make you want to plant something.

It’s hard to pick just one, but the May 29, 2007 episode featuring Keith Thompson, aka “Skeeter,” who lives in the New Mexico wilderness on a completely self-sustained plot of land is a fascinating look into an unorthodox, Thoreauian lifestyle and provides some insight into just why a man would decide to skip-out on civilization as we know it.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Anusha Alikhan
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In 2001, 64mm set up shop as a digital editing and film production company based in Denver. Since then, the small Colorado company turned its professional talents towards its employees’ interests and in 2005 began the skater phenomenon that is 64mm VidCast, which claims to be “the first and best skateboarding videocast on the net.”

Founder Chris Wireman shares clips of boards in action and skater lifestyle montages with his substantial following. At the vlog’s height of popularity, 64mm was one of iTunes’ top downloaded video podcasts.

Skateboarding is the topic of the sites’ most active section, the main video blog.  Each video lasts from two to four minutes and features minimally edited, low budget recordings of skaters doing what they do best. Admittedly, for the passive viewer the content can get redundant, but you’ll be interested in the vids if you’re interested in skating.

The other video blog, WireCast, is more personal to Chris Wireman’s interests, showing similarly low budget, barely edited clips of the skater producer’s lifestyle, ranging from concerts he’s seen to travel stories to remixed archived video art. The videos here are less prolific in number than the 64mm vlog and range anywhere from 30 seconds to four minutes.

64mm also has a couple of separate photo sections, a links page devoted to connecting the online skating world, and a pretty funny beer review board.

There’s plenty of content here for skaters, but for the non-enthusiasts the standouts are the videos that focus on the skater lifestyle.

One of the vlog’s first videos is a parody of “How to ID a Skateboarder.” The site’s other notable feature is Chris Wireman’s beer page, which reviews beers with descriptions like “tastes like bubblegum but Howie likes it” and “light pilsner, pregnant women beer.”

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Zach Jones
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Launched in January of 2006, Rumor Girls stars sibling vloggers Karla (who used to moonlight with another vlog, Mary and Karla) and Karen as they share the random tidbits of their lives in Portland, Maine, for your viewing pleasure. Karen owns Gilbert Creative Design, an advertising firm in Portland, while her sister Karla works as a cosmetologist. Securing a local cult following, the show is taped by the low-budget podcast production specialists at Franklin McMahon Studio. The sisters contribute roughly one weekly video episode of Rumor Girls and raunchier audio episodes called Rumor Girls Uncut and Rumor Girls Show Girls. The difference between the prime video show and the audio serials is similar to The Oprah Show and Oprah after the Show. Don’t get excited, though. No one gets any cars. The sibling duo have also created a sister video podcast called Rumor Girls Diaries, which, unlike Rumor Girls, is recorded with only a webcam, no director, and more alcohol consumption.

Karla and Karen are two fun-loving thirty-somethings who want to share that fun with the world. In one escapade, they celebrated Jay-Z’s condemnation of Cristal by drinking Colt 45 from martini glasses on lawn chairs in a parking lot in Maine, while they devote another episode, more typical of the show’s style, to a grab bag of updates including Marie Claire’s then-new podcast, Portland’s overpriced standardized trash bags, wine-tasting vending machines, and American soldiers who post on the sisters’ MySpace page. Episodes, filmed on a single camera with a single shot, run anywhere from six minutes to a half hour and are regularly updated each week. Although popular with the locals and nominated for the Podcast Awards’ comedy honors, it’s basically an excuse for two sisters to catch up on each other’s lives and blog all at the same time. Their other, more personal video podcast, Rumor Girls Diaries, is a straightforward vlog that’s unscripted, undirected, and shot with a webcam, available both on the main Rumor Girls site, which provides updates on all of their audio and video podcasts, and on its own site.

One of their more entertaining bits was spun from a visit to their favorite hometown martini bar in Rumor Girls Episode #22, where they harassed the bartender into creating their own special cocktail, the X-Rated Rumor Martini, named after their radio show. It came with edible glitter. It’s impossible to summarize Rumor Girls any better than that.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Zach Jones
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Back in the day, if you were a struggling comedian, there wasn’t always a whole lot you could do to get your material out to the masses aside from pounding the comedy club scene. Now, with Rooftop Comedy, any comedian who’s performed in front of a live audience has the potential to reach a much bigger venue.

Founded in February 2006 by “one comic, a few Internet geeks, and former broadcasters,” Rooftop Comedy takes free video submissions from comedians, categorizes them into easily accessible channels, and allows site members to rate, share, and comment on their favorites. The result is an interactive media experience, with thousands of clips performed (often) by up-and-coming comics from around the country and, eventually, the world.

As a site for comics by comics, Rooftop Comedy is refreshingly egalitarian in its quest for the best humor out there: “If you think your funniest material includes dressing up in a chicken suit, liberally dropping the F-bomb, and berating a live audience, OK, let’s see it. New, edgy, absurd, whatever, as long as it’s funny.”

Of course, the flip side to this free-for-all attitude is that not everything will wind up being funny. Though some duds do make their way in (thankfully most clips are less than a minute), there is enough breadth in the site’s videos to ensure at least a couple of good laughs – and more than a few gems. In “Period fart,” Steve Brewer describes what every newlywed couple must eventually get used to after the honeymoon is over. And leave it to Peter Grosz to find racial tension in the most unexpected of places: the public bathroom.

These clips and many more are all under the spiffy channel guide, which categorizes a whole host of ripe-for-humor topics like bathroom jokes, politics, sex and relationships, and religion. In addition to stand-up routines, the site also features film shorts, podcasts, picks from their monthly contests, and most delightful of all, songs and sketch comedy.

In “Dad and Peter,” sketch comedy troupe Party Central USA depicts what happens when parents stop sugarcoating conversations with their kids. I shudder to think what this dad would say when it’s time to give “the talk.” Another great clip is the “Hiter Rap,” by the Whitest Kids U Know, the funniest musical parody about the dictator since The Producers’ “Springtime for Hitler.”

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Pearl Chen
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The 54 Hour Movie Project is not so much a competition as it is a way to encourage creativity among people interested in making videos by restricting its participants to a particular idea. On the first Friday of every month, a sentence is released by the 54 Hour Movie Project at 6PM, and the deadline for submitting videos is 12 midnight that Sunday.

The project was created by new media enthusiast Luke Ferdinand (who also hosts the blog Luke and his Dad and the podcast Digital Citizen), in the summer of 2005, with the release of the first sentence in May of that year.

In order to participate in the 54 Hour Movie project, one must form a video making team, and register on the site. Some past contributors include Reverend Barnacle Stackhouse, Veterans of Tooth Decay, and Peter Frampton’s Crypt of Delights.

Then all it takes is a sentence, anything from, “Don’t worry – we’re all in this alone,”, to “They started an online gambling web site,” or “She looked fearfully round, her face burning like sunset, and, seeing nobody, stooped to pick up the flaccid lumps.” Whether it’s Life in Oblivion from TRSG Productions, or ‘Round the World in 365 from Human Noodle Soup (both responses to the February 2006 sentence, “So I must ask you, is ‘indefinite limbo’ redundant?”), the quality of these videos can vary from the well produced to what looks like something filmed on a small digital camera, but nothing generally runs longer than five minutes.  It isn’t necessary for every team to respond to every sentence; in fact some months only receive a few video responses. For instance, the sentence, “The crab is enemy to the oyster” elicited three responses that featured a candlelit room and a creepy old man, a guy playing acoustic guitar wearing various costumes, and a wheelchair.

This eclectic range of style is testament to the theory effectiveness of theory behind the 54 Hour Movie Project: that creativity can flourish in incredible new ways when one is given even a small idea off of which to work. What is most interesting about this project, however, is the fact that no team is vying to beat the other teams or obtain some kind of winning prize. They participate in the project simply to develop their craft of filmmaking, have fun, and give one another feedback.

Have you seen those commercials for that bizarre medicated stick known as Head On? Apply Directly To The Forehead! Apply Directly To The Forehead! Apply Directly To The Forehead! Imagine being trapped in that world forever, and check out team Goblim Showers’ interpretation of “Some things have to be believed to be seen.”

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Kate Dundon
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Art director John Romeo began a video production company in his spare time that lends its services to weddings, theatre productions, and corporate events in Richmond, VA. Inspired by his grandfather’s films, John started his show in February 2006 as a platform to produce and screen short films, which have a difficult time finding an outlet. His grandfather, Paul Kimaid, was a member of a group of early cinephiles in 1950’s Buffalo, NY, who created home movies to share with each other for their own entertainment. John’s films are different in quality and content from their work, but the website’s idea is the same as his grandfather’s club: self-creation, sharing, and entertainment.

Listed blog-style on the main page, John’s videos and the user-submitted pieces follow a simple format: John introduces the piece, cuts to a featurette (always less than 5 minutes long), gives a few minutes of directorial comments (usually regarding unused footage or the use of special effects), then concludes and rolls the credits, which are often followed by a funny outtake from the film. There’s also the occasional Romeo Theater extra, including a beautifully shot film taken in John’s backyard of a mother bird feeding its two babies, simple and unembellished. But for the most part, his films are sleek and heavily edited, lacking all the trappings of amateur filmmaking. John’s wife BethAnn stars in an episode involving a conversation about the size of their office’s free candy bars. In another, John takes us back in time to 1997, when he shot a very low-budget film in the laundry room of his dormitory called “Kung Fu Laundry”.

One of the first films John published on the site was an edit of “Short Pants,” an old film shot by his grandfather. He dug up the footage, which contains a soundtrack even though sound and film had not been yet been combined on the technology his grandfather had used, gave it a digital transfer, synced the audio with the video, added transitions, and edited down some content, all to create something better than the original. John spends most of the video explaining the technology involved and culture of the period when the brief piece was created, providing some interesting commentary alongside the film.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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It’s not too sensational to argue that the timeline of vlogging can be delineated by words like “pre-Rocketboom” and “post-Rocketboom.” With superior quality content and wholly unexpected popularity, Rocketboom is credited as the first podcast news show that succeeded in bringing major media attention to vlogs, both inside and outside the blogosphere. Even the most simple, plainspoken vlogs continue to be vlogroll mainstays years after being featured on the show. The site began on October 26, 2004 as a partnership between Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon, which ended two years later in an explosive public break-up, resulting in Congdon’s subsequent replacement by Joanne Colan on July 12, 2006. Congdon has since gone on to host acclaimed vlog projects like Amanda Across America and her own show produced by ABC News. Since day one, Rocketboom’s mission has been to bring news and quirky internet features online each weekday morning, emphasizing international arts, technology, citizen journalism, and, of course, vlogs.

Field correspondents from all over the globe help keep the show abreast of regional trends, despite being rooted in Rocketboom’s New York headquarters where Colan presents the show’s daily news, field reports, and special features. Of course, there are in-depth interviews with politicians and vlog celebrities like the creators of PodcastReady, but the show skitters across topics from Warholian window displays to random Valentine’s Day matchmaking without missing a beat. Sometimes, the news even comes straight to their vlog, like the episode in which John Edwards announced he would run for president in 2008, hauling Rocketboom even further into popular consciousness. Both Congdon and Colan share a presenter’s style that’s natural, reflective, and joke-ready, but Congdon was more of a lovable goofball than Colan, who exudes a professionalism that teeters between lighthearted and reserved. The site has all the hallmarks of a superior news vlog: follow-up links, complete archives, and a search engine that scans episodic transcripts which pinpoint pieces of dialogue to the exact second they were spoken on the show. And since 25 percent of the show’s topics come from viewer input, comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Being featured on the show has also proven to be one of the most effective ways to get your podcast noticed. The Nata Village blog, which gives updates on the African village overrun by AIDS, received so much attention after being discussed that they quickly raised over $2,000 in just a few days.

With hundreds of episodes and counting in the archives, it’s hard to pick favorites. It’s especially difficult to do here since the show is as entertaining on a slow news day, like the one about ninjas, as it is on a day filled with footage from Tibet and coverage of the announcement ceremony that demoted Pluto from planet to satellite. So go out and explore the archives. If you’re a tech fan, check out the interview with Dave Winer, the developer of RSS. If you’re interested in progressive art, check out the episode featuring mechanical sculptor Steve Gerberich and Tyler Riggs’ video game music inspired by Miles Davis. It’s got everything.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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Hosted by frontwoman Share Ross and directed by Bam of Bam 13 Films, LA-based band Bubble launched their episodic web show Rock n Roll TV in November 2005, calling it “Internet Pirate TV” (though, since most of the featured acts appreciate the attention, it’s hard to call it theft). The show brings regional, independent music to an eager online audience.

Rock N Roll TV makes a point of introducing new, old, and getting-there rock n’ roll bands to the show’s online community. And true to the rock spirit, episodes are posted whenever the creators feel like it. There are street interviews, concert footage, field trips to festivals, how-to videos, and even clips from favorite vlogs. The video is all uncensored and should be viewed at your discretion. The creators hate pop stars so much that they created the Star Flush, in which they flush a picture of a star down the toilet in a riotous act of apathy.

But Rock n Roll TV’s repertoire doesn’t stop at music – they have a love for all things fringe. A trip to the Bazarre Bizarre, the punk rock craft fair in Los Angeles, showcases some shocking artists and clothing designers that serve the artist community. They pay homage to British comedian and songwriter Eric Idle by making a video for his newly released “FCC Song”. They even find time to translate a Japanese video explaining how to “correctly” fold a t-shirt (this same method was featured on Martha Stewart’s talk show, but I won’t tell them if you won’t).

On a trip to Hollywood’s King Kong, the RnRTV crew caught Burning Tree, an old rock act that returned to the stage after a 17-year hiatus. The website accurately describes the group by comparing it to Cream, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, and the Eagles, Burning Tree is a classic rock sound that’s awesome to see successfully working after so many years, to say nothing of Share Ross’ excited interview with the group after its performance.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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