Indie Spotlight: “Son of Somerset Files” Mixes Vlogs With UFOs

We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now.  Read previous installments here. 

Ever since The Lizzie Bennet Diaries took off, we’ve seen a plethora of series combine YouTube vlogs with in-character social media accounts. Many of those imitators also borrow Lizzie Bennet‘s focus on classical lit, but there are a few interesting series applying the transmedia vlog format to an original story. The latest one to catch our eye is Son of Somerset Files, which explores a UFO mystery in the rural South.

Son of Somerset Files is created by Elizabeth Hagale and stars Rhiana Howell as Chloe, a UFO enthusiast. When Chloe receives a strange gift from her departed grandfather, she begins unraveling an otherworldly mystery and encounters unusual occurrences in her own life. Thus far, 17 episodes have been released, with nine more still to come. At the same time, Chloe shares additional updates on her Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram accounts.

A comparable series that comes to mind is Haunting of Sunshine Girl, which also applies a vlog format to a mysterious story. But Son of Somerset

also deserves to be judged on its own, because it expertly embraces its low-budget trappings in a compelling way. The series has been funded entirely online, and Hagale and her team have done an efficient job. They shot the series using a mostly-local cast and crew in Hagale’s native Alabama. As a result, Son of Somerset has a very distinctive twang to it, which you won’t find among the dozens of series shot in New York and Los Angeles. Even though there are now plenty of transmedia vlog series, Some of Somerset is a real breath of fresh air.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Status. This slickly shot Italian show won a web series competition at the Milan Film Festival.
• Copy. At a small college in Wisconsin, a young reporter uncovers a big scandal.
• The Life Coach. A life coach with no filter attempts to give sage advice to her patients.
• Does This Baby Make Me Look Fat?. The main character of this web series (which just began its second season) really wants to get pregnant.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.