Are you a web series creator who is trying to land a hot distribution deal with a curvy budget, but you lack the PUA stylings to successfully seduce that special studio? And were you not able to grab a ticket to the December Tubefilter Hollywood Web TV Meetup before the event sold out? Well, we have just the live stream for you.

Tune in right here, right now, because we’re answering all your questions and broadcasting our ‘Going Pro’ panel live from Bubsy’s East!

Many producers dream of scoring a studio deal. It must be nice, right? When someone else is taking care of all financing, marketing, and distribution, can’t you finally just focus on creating something awesome? But what is it really like when a studio gets involved? And how do you get a studio interested with your production in the first place?

Find out from these creators and studio heads just what it takes to go pro. Learn what it’s like directing, producing and starring in a studio-backed web series, and hear what the Hollywood suits are looking for in their next online video project.

Going Pro Panel:

• Eric Berger , Senior Vice President of Digital Networks at Sony Pictures Television
• Mark Gantt, Executive Producer, Writer, and Star of Sony Crackle’s The Bannen Way
• Jesse Warren, Executive Producer, Writer, and Director of Sony Crackle’s The Bannen Way
• Chris McCaleb, Partner, Big Fantastic (Prom Queen, Sorority Forever)
• Ryan Wise, Partner, Big Fantastic (Prom Queen, Sorority Forever)
• Larry Tanz, President, Vuguru
• Moderator: Marc Hustvedt, Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter News

Watch LIVE now at stickam.com/tubefilter Want to ask the panel a question? Head to the chat room on Stickam or tweet us @tubefilter with the hashtgag #tubefilter. And one more special thanks to our good friends at Stickam for making the live stream possible.

Filed under: Articles, Crackle, Educational, Hollywood Web Video Meetup, Industry, Live Streaming, Vuguru/Tornante by Joshua Cohen
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Astronaut Dave Scott, transmitted this message after landing on the moon as commander of the Apollo 15 crew: “Houston, as I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown…I sort of realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature. Man must explore.”  Pretty awesome statement from one of the few people to have actually walked on the moon’s surface. Too bad he didn’t have a pair Pampa boots on up there when he said it.

Luckily, the vbs.tv crew finds themselves in no such predicament as they bring us their “Exploration” web series / Palladium Boots commercial. The series is part ad campaign for Palladium Boots and part travel adventure that, in typical VBS style, explores the “hidden, underground and forgotten corners of the world’s leading metropolises.” The shoe company, owned by K-Swiss, is trying to brand itself as the maker of “hipster” boots for cool kids. Never having been a hipster or a cool kid, one could easily imagine my skepticism upon exploring this series. But you know what? It actually kind of works.

In The Ruins of New York, we follow newly minted urban explorer, Brooklyn-based designer and all-round “curious fellow” (their term not mine – you guys will have to decide which side of curious he lands on for yourselves) Shawn Joswick. Herein he explores some pretty spectacular areas of New York that have long since been forgotten by the city’s less adventurous residents.

Centralia, PA is hosted by New York city artist Daniel Jackson. Centralia, while not exactly a world leading metropolis, is a pretty amazing and mostly unheard of place. As of 2007 it hosted a vibrant and mind numbing population of 9 and on hearing the nature and history of the town you’ll quickly scratch your head wondering how it could possibly be such a high number.

In 1962 a fire broke out in the coal mine directly under Centralia and that same fire has been burning steadily ever since. One author wrote, “This was a world where no human could live, hotter than the planet Mercury, its atmosphere as poisonous as Saturn’s. At the heart of the fire, temperatures easily exceeded 1,000 degrees. Lethal clouds of carbon monoxide and other gases swirled through the rock chambers.” Make sure you’ve got your boots on for this one.

Missile Silo Homes is by far my favorite. Veronica Velazquez, who wears her boots so well, lets us come along as she explores several of the 72 decommissioned and abandoned missile silos that are scattered throughout the U.S. countryside. These things are huge, these things are awesome, and these things are for sale. How sweet would it be to live in one of these? Answer: pretty sweet. Along the way we meet Ed, missile silo real estate agent, drum circle enthusiast and 2012 doomsdayer. His converted silo home is incredible, but I have this sinking feeling that Ed’s cheese might be slipping off the cracker just a bit. He spends a lot of his time channeling the spirits of peace into this massive hole of yesteryear destruction.

And in Oil of LA, we explore the oilfields of Los Angeles, California. “Twenty billion barrels of oil sit beneath Los Angeles. Hidden in plain sight, thousands of wells pump day and night all over the city covered by hollow office buildings, camouflaged next to high schools, and concealed behind shopping malls.” Who knew?!

Ok, so there are lots of gratuitous and somewhat cheesy money shots of the Palladium boots in action here, but hey, its an ad campaign. This isn’t as in-depth or edgy as many of the other gonzo journalist travel logs that VBS has done in the past, but the content is still unique and engaging. I think VBS and Palladium Boots have struck a nice balance between interesting and informative documentary and ad campaign. Put your hip boots on and walk the uneven terrain over to vbs.tv now to see for yourself, you wannabe urban explorer, cool kid, you.

Filed under: Articles, Documentary, Reviews, VBS.TV, Web Series by Jake Weaver
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Has it been a year already? Submissions for the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards opened today, honoring the best web television of 2009 in thirty-five different categories. Winners are determined in a hybrid of public submissions from the online community and peer voting by the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV). Eligible shows up for consideration must have been released online at least three episodes during the 2009 calendar year.

Many of last year’s Streamy winners and nominees continued to thrive in 2009 with shows like The Guild, Dorm Life, EPIC FU and Tiki Bar TV all reaching new heights of viewership. But one thing is for certain, last year’s multi-Streamy-winning Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog won’t be back to compete this time around. (Unless they sneak out that long-rumored sequel in the next two weeks!)

What’s new this year?

12 new award categories have been added, based on community feedback from last year and the ever evolving landscape of web television. The new categories added include Best New Web Series, for new shows that premiered online in 2009, Best Foreign Web Series, for shows created in countries outside the U.S. and Best Branded Entertainment Web Series, covering shows that originated from a brand or ad agency. The new categories should allow for clearer distinctions between the thousands of eligible web series.

Get Certified

Also new this year are certified submissions, which allow for content owners to directly submit proper crediting for their shows, certifying that the proper people are submitted in each Streamy Award category. The general public and fans will still be sending in their favorite shows and talent for consideration, though by certifying a show, creators can make sure the right people are credited and considered by the voters.

The 2nd Annual Streamy Awards will be held Sunday April 11, 2010 in Los Angeles and streamed live online to viewers around the world. To keep track of up-to-the-minute updates on The Streamy Awards be sure to follow the official Streamys blog and @streamyawards on Twitter.

Photo credit: The Bui Brothers

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, The Streamy Awards by Marc Hustvedt
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Babelgum announced today it has secured exclusive rights to distribute season 1 of Old Friends, which is now up in its entirety, and that production is wrapping up on season 2 which will be released on the site in January 11. We’ve been following the work of New York comedy standouts Nick Ross and Tim Curcio for a while now, even before their popular comedy series hit the web earlier this year.  Ross had starred in 2008’s Park Bench series, which stood out for its sharp witted simplicity—”two lusty yet oblivious dudes whiling away the summer on a Central Park bench,” according to our reviewer.

The 7-episode first season of Old Friends, tells the story of Tim and Nick, two 28 year-olds who are reunited after not seeing each other since high school. There’s a classic comedic tension setup, with a little love tangle going on. Tim is now married to his high school sweetheart, Andrea (Amy Flanagan), who happened to lose her virginity to Nick back in high school. And now Nick is, as luck would have it, dating Andrea’s best friend, Katie (Natalie Knepp). You know, child’s play.

We asked the pair about how much art imitates life, so to speak. “While Tim is married in real life and Nick is single, neither one of us are quite like our characters. Nick has shorter hair now, and Tim is not a total whine-o,” they said.

Despite developing a solid following on YouTube and College Humor, the show has been taken down as part of the deal. Babelgum has licensed popular web series before, though not always getting exclusive rights to what amounts to second-run syndication of the debut season. The Guild’s first season, for example, can be found on Babelgum, though it still remains up on YouTube and MSN. Other series like The Crew and Hurtling Through Space At An Alarming Rate were exclusive to the site.

Crossroad Films produces Old Friends along with Ross and Curcio’s Metropolitan Bait and Tackle production company that includes the show’s director Matt Cady. The concept sprouted from a scene in one of Ross and Curcio’s live sketch comedy shows at UCB Theater in New York. “[The pilot] was the first scene and only scene that we filmed from that show,” said Ross. “It was so much fun making, that we decided to write and film 6 more.”

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Comedy, Featured, News, Production Companies, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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In October, Vuguru announced it inked a multi-million dollar deal with Canadian media behemoth, Rogers Media. The partnership gave Vuguru – a three-year-old web television company founded by Michael Eisner – two things. One, a distribution partner with 51 radio stations, two television networks, a Major League Baseball team, and a multitude of other print publications and broadcast outlets, ranging from a Canadian edition of Hello magazine to Canada’s only nationally televised shopping service. And two, an influx of cash with which to triple production and create a reported 10 to 15 new web series in 2010.

Today, Vuguru named Larry Tanz president. The entertainment industry executive and digital media entrepreneur will have the responsibility of soundly spending Rogers’ “significant capital investment” on “high-quality, scripted, story-driven productions.” If his resume is any indication, he’ll perform very well in his new role. Before Vuguru, Tanz was CEO and President of LivePlanet (the entertainment company founded by Ben Afleck and Matt Damon that created, most memorably, Project Greenlight) and Co-Founder and President of digital studio, Agility.

Given Agility’s recent successes, including deals with MSN and Paramount Digital, it may seem like odd timing for a principal to leave the company. But, as Tanz told me over the phone, that’s exactly part of the reason he took the new position at Vuguru. He feels Agility is on solid footing and well-positioned to move forward.

The other part of the reason Tanz took the position is that working for Michael Eisner is very appealing:

“Well, there were two very big appeals. One of them is definitely getting to work for Michael and learn from him. You see somebody like that, who’s been doing this for decades and done it across movies, television, cable, and home video, and it’s validating. He’s very passionate about this. He believes that story-driven content will find a home online, just as it has found a home on every emerging platform throughout history. It’s exciting to see somebody like Michael placing his bet.

And then Rogers is a huge player in Canada. By being able to launch on all those platforms and also have a significant amount of capital, it gives you the ability to do a lot.”

Tanz went onto say how “a lot” includes financing projects that will be appealing to brands, but won’t make Vuguru beholden to them. The cash offers a certain amount of creative flexibility that not many other online studios enjoy.

In one of his frist orders of business, Tanz will be rolling out the Vuguru library (which includes web series like Prom Queen, The All-For-Nots, and Foreign Body) on Rogers On Demand networks. In the coming months, he’ll oversee the productions and distribution of Prom Queen: The Homecoming; Pretty Tough “an adaptation of a successful young adult novel from accomplished television writer and producer Liz Tigelaar;” and The Booth at the End, a “physcological thriller” starring Xander Berkely and directed by Jessica Landaw.

Tanz will be speaking tomorrow at Going Pro: Seducing the Studios – the December Tubefilter Hollywood Web Television Meetup. A few tickets are still available. The panel portion of the event will also be live streamed here on Tubefilter News tomorrow night beginning at 7:45 PM.

Filed under: Agility Studios, Articles, Featured, Industry, News, Vuguru/Tornante, Web Series by Joshua Cohen
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Web series fans, take note. The International Academy of Web Television, the independent, non-profit organization that serves as the voting body for the Streamy Awards, officially announced its Board of Directors today along with its first Chairman, Michael Wayne, co-founder and CEO of DECA (Digital Entertainment Corporation of America).

“Just as the Academies of Motion Picture and Television Arts and Sciences had humble beginnings, so do we,” said Wayne in the IAWTV press release today. “While our industry may be in its early stages, it is growing at an exponential rate … 2010 promises to be a phenomenal year for the International Academy of Web Television with the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards and the continued expansion of our membership.” Before DECA, Wayne served as the Vice President of Strategic Alliances for Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Pictures Television.

The board is an impressive collection of talent from the web television world, bringing together their experience in areas such as content creation, finance and distribution. First up is Blip.tv co-founder Dina Kaplan, who will serve as the board’s Vice Chair. Besides the experience with distribution through Blip.tv that Kaplan brings to the table, she also brings a journalistic perspective having won several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Mo Koyfman, Principal at Spark Capital, a venture capital firm whose notable Web TV investments include Next New Networks, EQAL, Boxee, and Veoh, will also sit on the board. Before Spark Capital, Koyfman was the COO of Connected Ventures, parent company of popular web video sites Vimeo and CollegeHumor.com.

Also joining the board is John McCarus, someone who has intricate knowledge of branded entertainment as VP Director of Brand Content at DIGITAS, whose clients have included high profile companies like Disney, General Motors and KRAFT.

Then there’s content-creation and who better to sit on the board than The Guild creator-star Felicia Day who has created one of the most successful web series to date. George Ruiz, Head of New Media at talent agency ICM, will serve as the board’s secretary. The board will also include Tubefilter co-founders Brady Brim-DeForest, Marc Hustvedt, Drew Baldwin, Josh Cohen and Jamison Tilsner. My two cents: Many on the board have been acting in an unofficial capacity for some time, so members should already have a good feel for where the Academy will go during the board’s initial one-year term.

Filed under: Articles, Deca, Industry, International Academy of Web Television, News by Jacob Nahin
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Here’s a classic romantic comedy trope. A supremely nice guy wants to get with a supremely icy girl. Your role as an audience member is to hope the guy achieves his goal. If you enjoy these love stories, Wage Slaves might just be for you. Otherwise, the web series is a tough sell.

Wage Slaves is a workplace comedy set in a Portland coffee shop, featuring crazy coworkers, crazy customers, and Mitch, the one sane guy stuck in the middle. Mitch is played by Morgan Lee, a good actor who displays a low-key charm and solid sense of comedic timing. Unfortunately, his character suffers from a lack of flaws that makes him barely recognizably as human. He’s an embodiment of the “nice-guys-finish-last” stereotype. You can almost hear the author’s voice telling you, “Look, he’s unlucky in love, but it’s so totally not his fault!  Sympathize!”

Conversely, Mitch’s love interest (Stacy, played gamely by Lara Korbin) is given line after line of shrill insensitivity. She bluntly proclaims her hookup with the smitten Mitch to be  “a huge mistake,” telling him about her other amorous encounters to make him jealous, and generally embodying another stereotype – the damaged ice queen.
Fictional relationships like these feel like a one-dimensional fantasy. The character we are encouraged to root for can do no wrong, and all of the flaws and negative traits are piled on the one being pursued, effectively making her an enemy to be conquered….with love!

The acting is by far the series’ strongest suit. The production values suffer from a basic lack of professionalism. Handheld cameras are utilized for no apparent reason – it’s not stylish or intimate, it’s just slightly distracting. Locations and sets aren’t dressed up enough to be convincing, and there’s a tremendous amount of air between scenes, between individual cuts, and even between lines of dialogue. This tightens up a bit as the series progresses, but the average episode length is still over 15 minutes. That’s an eternity in internet-time that only the most exceptional web-series could hope to justify.

A lot of effort has clearly been put into Wage Slaves (in true indie style, creator Chris A. Bolton writes, directors, produces, and edits the show), especially considering the sheer amount of scenes and locations featured throughout its six-episode first season. But the series is ultimately not funny enough to work as the workplace sitcom it wants to be, nor is it emotionally honest enough to work as a mumblecore drama, which it sometimes resembles.

At heart, Wage Slaves seems to be a story about people with small lives and crushed hopes, which can definitely be hilarious if one is willing to go for the throat and eviscerate the characters.  Aside from one good running gag about a suicide pact, Wage Slaves tries to apply light sitcom humor to 20/30-something ennui, and the result doesn’t want to make you laugh or cry.

Filed under: Articles, Web Series by Ana Hurka-Robles
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Thomas Haden Church, former Wings regular and breakout star of 2004 film Sideways, is going after the one meidum he hasn’t dabbled in yet—the internet. The 49 year-old Oscar-nominated actor has signed on to star in FEARnet’s new original web series Zombie Roadkill which is set for a Spring 2010 release on the site and through its video on demand network. Henry Gayden wrote the script for the six episode horror-comedy which David Green will direct.

It’s the fourth project made for FEARnet from Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, which had crafted 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails and 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust, and Devil’s Trade for the network. Aaron Lam from Ghost House will produce the series. Also announced joining the cast is teen David Dorfman known as the little boy from The Ring flicks.

Zombie Roadkill centers around a group of college kids as they are driving on an unfamiliar road. Everything seems fit for a road trip to the lake but, when the group accidentally runs over an unsuspecting squirrel, they quickly realize there will be a price to pay. The cursed road brings the zombie squirrel back to life to haunt the kids. After the kids crash and everyone is injured except the younger brother, he is forced to set out on a journey to defeat the ancient curse and save his brother and friends before it is too late.

Just like FEARnet’s latest series Fear Clinic, which reportedly has been doing quite well this fall, Roadkill will be visual effects heavy. Quantum FX, known for their work on Watchmen and Where The Wild Things Are, are being brought on to handle creature effects.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Comedy, Horror, News, Production Companies, Studios, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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“It was to be the greatest experiment ever attempted…to restore the Egyptian people, power and culture from long ago, but something went terribly wrong. Now female Egyptian clones roam the Earth, the clones lust for control and power threatens to destroy the rest of humanity…but the First One, has set out on her own, to correct a wrong…”

Explaining itself as “an immersible science-fiction web-series” in a press release, Journey is attempting some interesting experiments in indie web series production and distribution. First of all, each episode clocks in at a whopping half hour and is only available by purchase for $1.99 on the show’s website. Second, besides a Facebook fan page and a Facebook fan group page, they have done little in terms of traditional PR for the show.

The creator of Journey, Fred Copeland, speaks energetically about the project. Having conceived of the idea over 20 years ago, you can tell this is a project close to his heart and he will often launch into details of the plot with an intricacy that comes from knowing your material inside and out. His plans for Journey extend far into the future: he hopes to continue the series for at least 5 years. But first things first, Russ Cooty (The Resolve) will be picking up the directing reigns for the show after July of next year.

Copeland’s goals in the web series world extend far beyond the show itself. “Journey is a stepping stone for us”, assures Copeland. His ultimate goal is to build a studio ranch where people can go to shoot productions and work on their projects for little to no cost. He explains that his desire to help stems from knowing what it’s like to be the underdog. He also explained that he learned everything he did by doing and wants to pass that on. Copeland has an architect on board to and projects that it could take 3 – 10 years. “That’s my masterplan,” Copeland stated with a laugh.

The problem with doing a show with clones as a concept is that you have multiple characters being played by the same actress. In the case of Journey, that concept gets taken even farther with multiple clones each with several incarnations. Karina Colon, Angelica Montesano and Mabriel Serrano headline the group of remarkably similar looking actors. It takes a bit of extra time to process what is going on and who is who. Some of the sound levels are a bit off as well, with the soundtrack being a bit overpowering at times. Which is a shame because the music crafted for the show itself is quite good at capturing the overall mood and tone of the series.

Despite its small flaws, the show is obviously being created out of a place of passion. And in the end, Copeland is satisfied with how the show is progressing, despite its relative slowness compared to the oftentimes “views at all cost” mentality of the internet. “Normally the industry average for e-commerce on a social network alone is a quarter of 1 percent,” explained Copeland. “Our current average is 1 percent with a video that has been released for less than a week (at the time of our interview). And that is with zero advertising dollars.”

According to Copeland, filming for the first three episodes of Journey is complete. Episodes two and three have a planned release of January 1st and 2nd. The episode four script is written and he’s beginning work on five, he tells us, echoing a sentiment often hear in web series world. “If we had money, we could go a whole lot faster,” he concluded.

Filed under: Articles, News, Production Companies, Sci-Fi, Web Series, YouTube by Jenni Powell
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With less than a month until Sony’s much-anticipated action romp The Bannen Way premieres on Crackle.com, there are two dates you need to remember here: December 15, 2009 and Jan 6, 2010. The latter is of course the official online premiere, and the former is the first time the web community in LA will get to see what all the hype is about as we screen scenes from the series at the Hollywood Web TV Meetup.

Today we have an exclusive behind-the-scenes video (above) from Crackle with Bannen director, and co-creator, Jesse Warren. He talks about pulling off his imposing vision of stunts and action sequences and working with stars like Michael Ironside, Robert Forster, Vanessa Marcil, and of course his co-creator Mark Gantt who stars as Neal Bannen. Warren quips that the series is “like a guy’s wet dream,” full of cars, gambling, girls and assassins (who are also girls).

The Bannen Way is a slick, sexy, action-packed series about Neal Bannen, a charming con-man with a police chief for a father, a mob boss for an uncle, and a weakness for fine women, who wants to turn his life around and leave the criminal lifestyle for the straight and narrow. But after gambling away the funds he had earmarked to pay off his final debt Bannen must accept one more job working for his uncle, Mr. B and retrieve a mysterious black box.

To complete the job, Bannen solicits the help of his college-aged, techy sidekick, Zeke, and Madison, a beautiful and street-savvy thief.

There are still a precious few tickets left to the Going PRO: Seducing the Studios at the December Hollywood Web Television Meetup—the last one of the decade!—so be sure to RSVP right now. We’ll be screening never before seen scenes from The Bannen Way and Prom Queen: The Homecoming. But you have to be there, in person, to see them. They are so hot that the studios won’t let them even be shown online as part of the live stream. So be there!

Filed under: Action, Articles, Crackle, Crackle (Sony Pictures Television), Featured, News, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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Friday edition of Quick Clicks – web series and web video bit from around the internet today…

Tiki Bar TV is back from hiatus and out with a new episode today (above)  featuring The Guild’s Sandeep Parikh (aka Zaboo) as “The Commodore.” And just in time for the holidays (but not in time for out Holiday Gift Guide) the consummate merchandisers are out with a new line of t-shirts, many of which look like “Tiki Bart V.” [Tiki Bar TV]

Compulsions concluded its eight episode first season today with the release of Episode 8 “Promise Kept” today on Dailymotion. The dark thriller cruised past 118,000 views so far during its exclusive run on the video site, averaging around 14k per episode. Creator Bernie Su and the cast and crew were live last night on A Fangirl’s Guide with host Cricket Lee. [Compulsions]

SyFy Network may have ripped off the web series ClipCritics from creator Chad Sahley with its new series Outer Space Astronauts. The whole thing reminds Nalts, and us, of The Fine Brothers and the case of the eyebrow-raising coincidence that was LOST Untangled.   [Will Video For Food]

London-based CAKE Entertainment has entered into a co-production deal for 52-episode short-form 3-D interactive adventure web series, If I Was…., created by young animator Junior Jesman, who was discovered by CAKE on Dailymotion. [WorldScreen.com]

Channel Frederator launched a new adult-comedy animated series (above), Cartoon Hangover, this week, billing itself as “the show that provides only the filthiest and dirtiest cartoons the internets has to offer!” [Channel Frederator]

FEARnet’s original series Fear News is back with a new episode featuring evil clowns and bondage… and Fear Clinic star Danielle Harris. I’m intrigued. “After much discussion,” wrote co-creator Jack Conway, “cajoling, threatening, and outright trickery, I got Matt to agree to face his fears in the most hands-on way possible.  This week, boys and girls, Matt Mercer IS Spencer the Clown and I can guarantee the world of Fear News and The Last Girl will never be the same.” [FEARnet]

(Disclosure: Dailymotion is an advertiser on Tubefilter News.)

Filed under: Articles, Channels, News, Production Companies, Sci-Fi Channel, Tiki Bar TV, Web Series, YouTube by Marc Hustvedt
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Life in the 35th century doesn’t have to be dystopic. Well, then again, perhaps some amount of dystopia is inevitable. The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D., a new IFC animated web series from Dash Shaw (no relation and based on his upcoming graphic novel) comes with its share of alienation and androids. Yet our view into Shaw’s future world is pleasantly intimate, and even subject to hints of romance.

The artful animation is the key. Mixing hand-painted cells with occasional light touches of CG, Unclothed Man conjures and then assimilates references ranging from Charles Burns’ comics, to Bill Plympton’s hand-drawn animation, to the painterly aesthetic of the late video artist Jeremy Blake.

On the story side, our protagonist Rebel X-6 is part of an anti-android organization that goes undercover to inhabit roles typically given to droids. His assignment, of all things, is to be a drawing class model. People still draw in the 35th century? Well, yes and no. The students/drawers use devices that give them the ability to draw with their eyes. The lines are produced by paths the eyes take through the scope of an appropriately futuristic drafting tool (which all is sort of similar to a device we currently have in the 21st century). Rebel X-6 fools the art teacher, who assumes he’s a model droid when he’s in fact a human subterfuge.

Presuming all the crazy, technological advancements that have transpired from 2009 to the time of the Unclothed Man, it’s wild to see the art of drawing practiced so boldly and unapologetically. It’s a whimsical, if delusional conceit.

One of the most memorable moments of the four-episode series features a dream/fantasy sequence in which RX-6 visits the home of a stork-like young woman of a drawing student. “I collect old things,” she says, as the camera pans the room from left to right to reveal a quaint barrage that includes a metal fan, a sofa, a flat-screen monitor, and a large painting of a face, among many others works of art. (After viewing the publicity video, one suspects this scene was created by Shaw’s co-animator, Jane Samborski, who describes herself as introspective). Shaw seems content to take on a animating the future without sacrificing his love of the art form. Thee self-referentiality of the drawing-within-a-drawing feels almost like a coup.

Scored beautifully by James Lucido, Unclothed Man delivers just the right amounts of story, whimsy, art, and heft for four two-minute entries. It offers actual nutritive cultural substance, as opposed to so much web filler one often gets. And you’ll want to go back and watch them a few more times. There’s a lot of variety behind the series’ simple elegance.

Filed under: Articles, IFC, Web Series by Michael Shaw
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