Social Film and Web TVIs The Inside Experience social film, is it

an online episodic TV series?

Re-Cap of The Inside Experiance

Inside, was released as a number of episodes every few days.

Between days the audience could participate through social networks.

At the end all the episodes were put together and created a film.

What is web TV?

Web TV is an emerging genre of digital entertainment.

Delivered online through broadband, TV series, web television shows and mobile networks.

2-9minute episodes Produced in seasons. Interaction with audience via social

network sites like YouTube, MySpace and Bebo.

Some Examples

The Guild. – online web series about a group of gamers following their lives online and offline. Released 2007. 3-8 minute episodes. Now on its 5th season

Lonelygirl15 – 2006-2008. series of video blogs and action sequences. with a complex story involving "trait positive girls" who are sought by an evil organization called "The Order".

Kate Modern – spin off from lonleygirl15. 2 seasons. Brought out in 2007, ended in 2008. about a video blogger. Online interaction with viewers.

Freak – UK, released 2009, on MySpace, 13 week interactive process, 2 video episodes a week, interactive character profiles, about a teenage coming of age story.

Web TV‘address the particular possibilities of the web by creating communities of fans who spend time online interacting with one another and with the storyworld. These interactions might involve chatting with other fans, voting on casting or story outcomes, helping to write the script, discussing characters, or participating in spin-off Alternate Reality Games (ARG) that require the ‘hive mind’ of the participants to solve narrative based puzzles’ (Lister et al 2009, p.230)

‘The Web Drama is an excellent example of the way screen media enterprises are adapting to new online markets and in the process creating innovative culture. In particular they demonstrate the so called ‘Long Tail’ in action where new forms of advertising can produce sustainable revenue streams from much smaller audiences than would previously have been the case’ (Lister et al. 2009, p.230)

Audiences are seen as fans to be cultivated by sponsors through brand identification rather than hard sell advertising (Lister et al 2009, p.231)

So it could be argued that Inside is just Web TV and not social film.

It releases episodes over a certain time and allows participants to interact. Just like the rest.

It advertises aswell, having ads on the side. Being part of Toshiba and Intel, letting TV magazines and papers know.

But there is only one Inside Film. If another was to be released as a prequel or sequel it could be a Web TV series, as people would be interacting together again.

But as a ‘social film’ we need to understand this we need to find out what Film is.

What is film?

Film is Cinematography. It features characters played by famous actors and a story and develops itself through the plot engaging the audience through the use of a well crafted script and camera.

They normally last a significant amount of time from 90 minutes to 140 minutes.

Can have squeals and prequels. For example Lord of The Rings, is a series of 3 different stories.

Big money films and aim to produce a revenue through its sales in the cinema.

Inside and Film in context.

Inside definitely has cinematic qualities. It stars big stars like Emmy Rossum and It even has an award winning cinematographer taking part.

It has the professional camera shots unlike Web TVs shaky webcam hand cam interaction.

But its far too short to be a film. Its not even an hour long. Films do not release themselves as a series of episodes

unless need be, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or if one film is too big to be one film, for example the last Harry Potter film.

This is why it is debated that Inside is more Web TV than a social film, because it isn't film at all.

Is it both?

It is clear that The Inside Experience contains elements of both Web TV and film. So maybe it is neither. Perhaps its simply a new entertainment in an ‘ultimate’ form with everything in it.

The interaction, the advertising, the entertainment, an in-between of duration.

Is it something else? Event/Reality – The inside experience was released as a series of

episodes so that participants could interact socially together. When it was finished, nothing else happened. This therefore could be argued to be an event.

Much like TV shows like 24 and LOST, we are engaged with it for a certain amount of time and always expect to see the next episode. But once it is over then what happens? The experience just isn't the same. You can go back and enjoy it again, but you don’t get as excited in the waiting of the next episode.

Reality TV shows like The Apprentice allow audiences to interact socially. For example through Twitter. But once the show is finished the audience would no longer interact with each other. Much like The Inside Experience.

Some quotes and thoughts.

Turner, G (2006) Film As Social Practice. 4th edition USA and Canada pages 146-147

"in order to differentiate film from television, theorists as well as the industry have talked of film going on as an 'event'

For example going to the cinema and receiving the pleasures of seeing a film. We are experiencing,  

"The Film Experience" We are sat in the dark, in a group, in comfortable seats with out

attention focussed on the screen in front. Therefore social film cannot be defined as a film in any way as we

are not watching the film as a group, sitting on comfortable chairs, and focusing on the screen in front. Instead we are participating individually on our computers in an online social network, sitting at home or work or wherever you can gain access to a computer, and rather focusing on the interaction and what’s happening on the screen, rather than sitting in silence watching the screen.

Conclusion

The Inside Experience is Trans media as it is many things into one and unclear to define it.

It is Film, It is TV, It is advertising.