todays session

today in class I watched some webisodes online and talked about what features they have that makes them appeal to an audience. I watched 'chad vader' which was about a guy who was the floor manager of a grocery shop. the concept being that chad is related to darth vader in some way. the thing that makes it appealing is that is has an active audience. all of the jokes in the webisode are parodys of star wars so they are easily identified. each episode ending with something that would make you want to return as well. in the one we watched, chad got a date. i believe that that's the most crucial part of making a webisode popular. there needs to be something that makes the viewer come back and watch more. with cliff hangers or unfinished endings, it gains popularity.



I also watched a webisode called 'living with the infidels'. it's about 5 asian guys living in a flat in yorkshire who want to be terrorists so that they can claim there 72 virgins in heaven. this too follows the same structure as chad vader in the sense that it finishes with something that makes you want ton return. for example, with one of the episodes, the guys get invited to a party. the next episode is of the party. people will want to see what happens next to satisfy their needs.

another one I watched was called 'the guild' which was far more simple in terms of how it was filmed. the entire thing was filmed in a webcam like format. the concept of it being that there are a group of gamer friends who have their own guild online. again each episode had something that needed to be solved in one way or another. it even has it's own t'shirts and dvd's that you can buy online. this is a good way to market something.



this is another one that i found. it's based on the television series, scrubs. it doesnt quite follow the same structure as the ones we looked at in class but it has comedy invloved and has likeable characters as well. in this webisode below, it's about how these two people feel about eachother. but instead of just talking, they sing a song. it's really funny and that's what makes you want to watch more.