The first installment of Experimenting introduces viewers to the titular scientist, who possesses a white lab coat, an undergraduate degree from Harvard, and some sardonic comedy chops. Amram isn’t your typical science show host. The writer for series like Parks and Recreationand a wonderful twitter account authored Science… for Her!in 2014, a satirical textbook that looks at gender roles and stereotypes in the aforementioned typically male-dominated fields. So, it’s no surprise Amram forces a tongue-in-cheek sexiness into science in her own hosted program, with an emphasis on “looking good” and plenty of sass.
For example, Amram teaches the audience how to make a “biological” clock powered by a potato battery and hooking up the machine to a toy baby doll, riffing on the idea of women feeling the urge to procreate. Amram also asks her first guest star Dr. Beverley McKeon, an engineer and aeronautics professor at CalTech, if she has Miami in her native country of England.
In future episodes of her series, Amram will interview more female scientists (likely with the same oddball format and absurd questions she used with McKeon) while trying not to be distracted by what a release calls “womanly things.” Amram’s quirky series will also feature more experiments for viewers to try at home.
The Chernin Group and AT&T’s Otter Media venture owns a controlling stake in YouTube network Fullscreen, and now, another one of the venture’s big projects is taking shape. As reported by Variety, Otter Media has announced Ellation, an umbrella brand that will encompass several video on demand services.
Ellation’s network will ultimately include “between 30 and 50 separate niche online video channels appealing to highly engaged audiences willing to pay for premium content,” according to Variety’s sources. While the report doesn’t reveal the extent to which Fullscreen (which has sought to build its own subscription service in the past) will be involved in the venture, several of Otter Media’s holdings, including anime platform Crunchyroll and arts-and-crafts destination Creativebug, will be involved in Ellation.
A clear representation of what Ellation is supposed to be can be found within its name. “Ellation” is a play on “Aleutian,” the chain of Alaskan islands that appear separate above the ground but are linked by an underwater volcano system.
While this is the first time the venture’s name has come into play, Ellation has been in the works for a while. Last September, Otter Media hired Tom Pickett, YouTube’s former VP of Content, to work on a “subscription-based video on-demand service.” Indeed, Pickett is still at the head of Ellation’s development.
While Otter Media has been quiet about its new venture for a while, we expect more details soon. Keep an eye on Ellation’s website–which was launched within the past few days–if you want to stay in the loop.
YouTube has a shiny new video player for users to enjoy. Google’s online video site has confirmed via Twitter it has launched an updated look to its video player, complete with a simple transparent overlay.
The updated YouTube video player boasts a sleek look reminiscent of its mobile app, which makes sense considering the site now sees over 50% of visitors coming from mobile. The player’s see-through controls are laid overtop videos, and disappear after a few seconds if the user’s cursor isn’t sitting on the clip. The transparency allows more of the video to display on-screen, and the transparent look even sticks around in mobile and desktop embeds.
Our new player has brains & beauty: it works better on mobile embeds and transparent controls let your content shine! pic.twitter.com/MBwZcWD1XH
YouTube’s new update appears to be the official implementation of a design tested back in April 2015. At the time, Android Central reported on a web browser hack for Chrome users which allowed them to see the new YouTube player look by editing their browser’s cookies. That hack revealed the updated YouTube player had a button for closed captioning, but it looks like that option has been removed in the current iteration.
YouTube rolled out the new video player globally on August 3, 2015, so all users should now be able to see the updated look.
In the cheeky trailer-before-a-trailer, Reynolds, dressed as Deadpool, caustically takes a stab at the film trailer industry by starting off with the now cliche “In a world…” line. The dark-humor-toting comic book character then lists off the movie studio’s previous fail with the Deadpool character and Reynolds’ list of “accolades,” before explaining how the vigilante has an eHarmony date with destiny. Deadpool tells viewers to get ready to “blow out your collective sphincters,” because the real trailer for the upcoming Deadpool flick is going to launch tomorrow, August 4.
Another interesting aspect of 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool trailer trailer is the link the studio provided to the film’s official website. Normally, movie trailers link to a fancy, graphic-intensive interactive site where fans can learn more about the film, purchase advance tickets, and more. But, in typical Deadpool anti-hero fashion, 20th Century’s deadpoolwebsite.com redirects to what looks like Deadpool’s personal Pinterest page, complete with boards named “Bang. Bang.” (pictures of guns), “Who Wore It Better?” (pictures of fans in Deadpool cosplay), and “Chimichanga Time” (pictures of chimichangas).
Deadpool hits theaters on February 12, 2016. We’d tell you to visit the film’s official site to learn more information and buy tickets, but instead you can just check out Deadpool’s Pinterest board for his favorite Golden Girl.
A new addition to the Vice network has arrived, and I’m not talking about The Onion’s parody of it. The young, bold media company has launched Broadly, a channel aimed at female viewers.
Broadly, which was first announced in February 2015, acts a female-fronted complement to the rest of Vice’s news coverage, which often features a male-skewing angle. Tracie Egan Morrissey, a former Jezebel writer Vice hired to be Broadly’s editor-in-chief, describes her new home as “a feminist channel.” As she writes in her editor’s note:
“That’s not to say that we won’t be objective in our storytelling–in fact, we’re dedicated to it. (We talk to everyone from Ann Coulter to the president of the National Abortion Federation to the black riot grrrls that history forgot.) But there are just some things that are patently true, like the fact that women should have the same economic, social, and political rights that men do.”
Broadly’s website contains a melange of videos, articles, and features, with topics ranging from pop culture to sex to social justice. For viewers who only want to receive a stream of videos, Broadly is also on YouTube, where its channel trailer has been hosted. In true Vice fashion, Broadly videos will take correspondents to all corners of the globe. They’ll uncover Spanish “sex supermarkets,” meet the sexed-up female followers of a Turkish zealot, and attend a phallus festival (yes, really) in Japan.
Broadly joins a growing suite of Vice channels, including the self-explanatory Vice Sports hub, foodie paradise Munchies, and music-focused Noisey. On all those channels, Vice has produced unconventional news stories that feature a common rule-breaking vibe. Expect more of the same on Broadly.
Mashable is embracing a more mobile-friendly video format. The digital media website has published its first-ever vertical video, so viewers on mobile devices don’t have to turn their phones sideways to see the full-size clip.
Created by an in-house team and helmed by Mashable’s director of editorial video Mike Schmidt, the publication’s first vertical video was created to accompany an article by food reporter Sarah Spigelman Richter. Richter interviewed world-renowned chef and creator of the cronut (a portmanteau that = croissant + donut) Dominique Ansel, who offers an exclusive, after-hours, eight-course dessert tasting. Mashable’s editorial vertical video shows how Ansel personalizes each dessert item according to the patron’s first word, first kiss, and first heartbreak.
According to Mary Meeker’s 2015 Internet Trends report, vertical video now accounts for 29% of the total time spent on screens by consumers. Mashable’s move to include vertical video reflects this increased interest and viewing of videos on smaller screens; a Mashable rep said over 50% of the brand’s monthly views now come directly from mobile.
“Phones are the dominant device for content consumption with the young, digital generation, and with our new vertical video player, we’re bringing video to our community in an aspect ratio that’s native and natural for mobile,” said Darren Tome, Mashable’s VP of Product Management, to AdWeek.
Green recognizes that Facebook has become a major player in the online video world, but he believes the social media giant has attained that growth in a dishonest way. In a blog post he authored on Medium, Green accuses Facebook of cheating, lying, and stealing its way to online video relevance.
Green’s post comes at an interesting moment in Facebook-YouTube relations. Recently, a report in The Next Web revealed an interesting message shared with users who attempted to upload YouTube videos to Facebook. “Consider uploading your video directly to Facebook,” the message reads. “People are more likely to view native videos and you’ll be able to track your success in Page Insights.”
While I was unable to recreate this message myself, it leads into Green’s first point: Facebook is promoting its own video player at YouTube’s expense. “As a creator, it seems like an abuse of their power,” he comments.
That covers the “cheating” part of the equation, but Green’s next two arguments are far more damning. He believes Facebook is lying by stretching the concept of a video view. Facebook counts a view as a view when a site user surpasses three seconds of watch time. YouTube, on the other hand, requires a user to watch for 30 seconds before counting his participation as a view.
This distinction is significant, and not just because YouTube is holding its viewers to a much higher standard. Facebook’s three-second threshold just happens to favor its own videos, which play automatically as site users scroll through their news feeds. Green shares some statistics showing how only 21% of his Facebook viewers watch past the 30-second mark, since many of them never intended to start watching a video in the first place. For his YouTube viewers, that mark is 86%.
“This might seem a little like this is a victimless crime, but it fundamentally devalues the #1 metric of online video,” Green writes. “The view is the thing that everyone talks about and it’s the thing creators sell to advertisers in order to make a living. Applying that word to something far less valuable is going to be extremely disruptive to creators.”
Green’s comments echo those of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who was asked about Facebook at a recent event. “We want our users to engage. We want them to not be channel surfing,” she said. “We want them to say, ‘I saw a video, I cared about that video, I commented on that video, and I continued watching it.’”
The “stealing” section of Green’s post refers to stolen videos, which make up a disturbingly big part of Facebook’s video push. As Green tells it, 725 of the top 1000 Facebook videos during Q1 2015 were re-uploads “freebooted” from their original owners. He cites Fullscreen boss George Strompolos, who in June 2015 went on a Twitter rant in which he called out Facebook for promoting unauthorized reuploads.
Green calls the “stealing” portion of his argument “the bit that really pisses me off,” and he makes a valid point. Without a system like YouTube’s Content ID in place, Facebook is implicitly sending out an open invitation to users who want to profit off the viral content of others. It’s not the most unethical move imaginable, but when Facebook is trying to paint itself as a legitimate online video platform, this point–along with the other two Green brings up–make it tough to take the social giant as seriously as its executives clearly want us to.
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.
Looking to keep your viewers engaged? You gotta go fast. That’s the strategy employed by Under InspeKtion, a web series that moves forward at a breakneck pace.
The main character of Under InspeKtion is K, a put-upon accountant portrayed by series writer and director Aleesio Franko. In the first episode, K finds himself under arrest, and his detainers refuse to tell him the nature of his crimes. Subsequent episodes pile on additional layers of intrigue and add to K’s misfortune.
In a press release, Franko claims Franz Kafka’s The Trial as his inspiration. K’s struggles with bureaucracy are certainly a main theme, but Under InspeKtion is more than just a Kafkaesque tale. Its fast-paced script, which dishes out lines with the speed of a particularly chatty vlogger, is quite witty, and several characters–especially an alluring vixen played by Emily Hooper–have a noir feel to them. In short, there’s a lot going on here, and Under InspeKtion’s unyielding rhythm will make sure you stick around to see it all.
New episodes will arrive every other Wednesday.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
Hollywood Hitmen. A pair of charismatic partners look to make their way as contract killers.
Made to Order. The secrets of the food delivery industry are used to create humorous situations.
Smoke and Mirrors. Work and relationships intertwine in this series, which just began its second season.
Luke & Evie. A pair of strangers have a series of bizarre encounters.
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.
Dish Network’s Sling TV is one of the first services that offers cord-cutters and cord-nevers an inexpensive, over-the-top alternative to cable. It’s proven to be a somewhat successful package, and has reportedly attracted more than 250,000 subscribers in less than six months on the market. Not everyone, though, is happy with Sling TV. As reported by Variety, NBC is blocking Sling’s TV ads, with stations in New York, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C. refusing to air them.
The Sling TV ads are called “TakeBackTV,” and they depict cable companies as snotty teens who bully subscribers. The teens are dressed to look like employees of NBC’s parent company, Comcast, which has a reputation as one of the most-despised companies in America.
By shutting down Dish’s Sling TV ads, Comcast continues to fight back against companies that are looking to break up the old cable model. In 2014, it throttled Netflix by limiting the amount of bandwidth made available to the streaming service. As a result, Netflix was forced to pay Comcast in order to ensure smooth, high-quality streaming for its subscribers.
Dish, as you might expect, has not responded kindly to Comcast’s tactics. “Comcast has a demonstrated history of shutting down ideas it doesn’t like or understand, predictably to its benefit and at the expense of consumers,” said Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch in a blog post. “This is why we aggressively fought Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable. Our argument? That this massive conglomerate would use its incredible market power in broadband to thwart live Internet video services like Sling TV.”
While Comcast doesn’t seem happy with Sling TV, it is devising its own digital TV service. Xfinity Stream, which will be available to Comcast’s Internet subscribers for an additional $15 per month, will feature channels like HBO and could launch in select cities as soon as the end of the summer.
Hulu has released a sneak peak of its upcoming original series Difficult People. The streaming video platform launched the official trailer for the series, which hails from executive producer Amy Poehler.
Difficult People stars Billy Eichner (of Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street fame) and Julie Klausner (Ugly Americans) as two best friends living in New York City whose contemptuous attitudes towards other people often gets them into trouble. The series’ official trailer reveals snippets of these moments within the upcoming series, including Klausner refusing to take a picture for a tourist because she doesn’t want to get swine flu and Eichner sarcastically answering an elderly couple he’s serving at a restaurant.
For people who wish to take a deeper dive into the world of YouTube, there are now several podcasts hosted by the site’s homegrown stars. Grace Helbig, Shane Dawson, and (most recently) What’s Trending all run their own audio series, but if you ask me, no podcast better gets to the heart of the YouTube community than Ear Biscuits.
Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal(aka Rhett & Link)’s weekly audio dish, which features online video content creators as its guest stars, routinely offers high-quality conversation and fascinating personal insights from an entertainment duo that has one helluva pedigree. McLaughlin and Neal have been in the online video game since way back in 2006 and have since amassed roughly two billion views and 11 million subscribers across two YouTube channels, orchestrated, starred in, and distributed innumerable pieces ofhigh-quality branded entertainment, had a stint on television by way of IFC, and made quite possibly the best Christmas video of all time.
In short, these guys know what they’re talking about, and we recommend Ear Biscuits highly. For those reasons, we’ve decided to bring it to you. We’ve partnered with Rhett & Link’s Mythical Entertainment to share new episodes of Ear Biscuits as they arrive each Friday through the end of the season. We hope you find these conversations to be entertaining complements to our coverage of the online video industry.
As it turns out, the first episode of Ear Biscuits we’re sharing doesn’t have any guests. Instead, it features Rhett & Link on stage at VidCon, in front of an audience of their fans, who they call “Mythical Beasts.” Over an hour, the two YouTube stars answer questions from their viewers; along the way, they meander across a number of different topics that follow their videomaking partnership from its humble origins in North Carolina to its current star status.
Rhett & Link’s Q&A session begins on the day they met, in the first grade. They became fast friends with their own dreams; while McLaughlin aspired to be an architect, Neal set his sights on the world of meteorology after receiving inspiration from a local weatherman named Bob DeBardelaben. Based on these goals, Neal suggests that he has come closer to reaching his childhood profession of choice. “I’m living my dream,” he jokes, “sometime I’m in front of a green screen, and there could be weather on it.”
As they grew up, Rhett & Link began to work closely together, and their collaborative relationship was the subject of one of the more interesting questions they fielded at VidCon: How, a fan asked, do you put up with each other all the time? As McLaughlin answers, “conflict is guaranteed, communication is key…in any relationship, there’s going to be conflict. We’re constantly bouncing ideas off of one another and working on things and trying to fine-tune something…we approach things very differently, which is a strength, but it’s also a source of conflict.” This dedication to open communication is a key part of one of YouTube’s top bromances. It’s also a specific strength for Ear Biscuits, which relies heavily on the honesty of its hosts and guests.
While their friendship has held fast, their videomaking process has evolved. As they explain, YouTube’s 2012 algorithm change, which supported longer videos with high watch time, affected the popularity of Good Mythical Morning, Rhett & Link’s morning talk show. GMM is now the centerpiece of Rhett & Link’s online video presence, but they aren’t about to let the music videos and sketches on their original channel become a thing of the past. to their plan to balance their talk show with additional sketches on their main channel. Ask they look “to create story-based content [like series and feature films] online,” they will release “more sketch comedy on the main channel.” “The main channel is not dead,” said McLaughlin. “It will continue to become more active.”
The episode is a must-listen for their fans, and an interesting hour for anyone who is curious about the internal chemistry of one of YouTube’s foremost duos. Check it out below, and be sure to check back each Friday oniTunes& SoundCloud for regular updates from Ear Biscuits.
TwitchCon 2015 is shaping up to be an exciting event. The first-ever convention put on by Amazon’s live streaming site Twitch has announced its main interactive areas, dubbed “zones,” including a massive local area network (LAN) setup and a live broadcasting arena.
Sponsored by brands including Intel RealSense Technology, ArenaNet, and Wargaming, TwitchCon’s zones all promise to deliver attendees a rich gaming experience. The Intel Gaming Lab area, for example, will boast 144 LAN-connected gaming computers so attendees can compete against each other (and popular Twitch broadcasters) in games like League of Legends, Minecraft, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
Additionally, TwitchCon attendees can check out the Broadcast Zone, hosted by Razer. This area will boast live streaming equipment and capabilities so attendees who are also Twitch broadcasters can stream directly from the convention floor. Twitch will announce a full broadcast schedule for the Broadcast Zone in the next few weeks.
Other zones at TwitchCon 2015 will include the Education Zone, which is dedicated to products and services broadcasting gamers need to set up a professional streaming channel. The Charity Zone, hosted by Tiltify, will show attendees how they can use broadcasting to benefit non-profits. Finally, the Indie Zone will highlight up-and-coming game studios and titles.
“TwitchCon 2015 will harness the energy of thousands of the most passionate, engaged members of the Twitch community,” said Amy Brady, Twitch’s Director of Global Events, in a release. “Even if Twitch is new to you, there are lots of opportunities to learn how to get involved, loads of great games to enjoy and positive people to meet.”
