Length Matters, Part 2
Last month, there was some debate about the length of STBD episodes.
They tend to be 10 minutes long, every week. Our fans tend to ask for LONGER episodes.
I'm wondering if they shouldn't be SHORTER.
We tried 5 minute episodes throughout Season Two and Season Three. It didn't feel long enough to tell a rewarding story then. (That's why a lot of folks are asking us to go even LONGER.)
But if you look around the web, NO POPULAR SERIES is longer than 5 minutes per episode. That's actually the long end of the spectrum; most shows clock in around 3 minutes or so.
Granted, most shows are trying to tell a joke. We're trying to tell an ongoing, evolving story.
But they're getting 100,000 viewers an episode. We're not.
Does STBD need to go SHORTER to increase likelihood of adoption?
Labels: audience, length, logistics, somethingtobedesired, stbd, story structure, video production, web series, web video
posted by STBD @ 6:54 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
If you can't get your episodes shorter than 10 minutes, cut them in two and release twice weekly. The only difference is you need to build in two endings instead of one.
I'm actually insanely torn on this one, Justin et al.
From one side, I look at my time constraints. I subscribe to 140+ audio podcasts, 200+ news feeds and blogs, and 17 video shows. Because of this, my time, especially my "glued" time where I have to have eyes and ears on something, is very thinly spread. If I get sent a youtube link, I close it if it's more than 3 minutes, and if someone's recommending a video show, I better REALLY respect their opinion if they're going to pass me a series that's 5 minutes or more. My time is scarce, and the shorter, the better.
That said, I am dutifully passing you your 'exception' card. While on the web, you're considered in the same field as countless others, I would much rather file you into the "Television" category. As I've told Justin, I watch on my HTPC, right alongside Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy, Friends and Simpsons.
My fear with a 5 minute show, or a 2 minute show, is that I'd loose my storyline. Unless they happened frequently (Daily? Mon-Wed-Fri?) I think I'd feel like I was loosing out.
So I for one, am a fan of longer. 10? 15? 30? 1hr? STBD: The Movie?
That said, any format, any length, will be downloaded, watched, and enjoyed. Just use that exemption card with care. ;)
Ahh big deal, 100,000 views per episode and they are not making any money.
Do YOU really want to be like ALL those OTHER shows? Or, do YOU want to set another trend.
The weekly format which you have is great by me - I looked forward to Tuesday mornings to watch the latest episode.
What Do YOU Want?
(BTW, Watching "Heroes" online? They are 10 to 20 minutes in length - guess how many viewers each episode gets.)
The main issue is not the length - good content is viewed for more then 5 minutes. If you have a good storyline you will have viewers watching the show even if it is 50 minutes. However, in order to keep production costs low, you should probably keep it up to 10 minutes.
I would not go to shorter episodes, especially at this late stage. Now that your characters are established, your fans actually want to hear MORE of their stories.
I'm watching Prom Queen TV, which has daily two-minute episodes, and it is very frustrating. The short episodes were fine in the beginning when the characters and relationships were being introduced, but now they aren't long enough to move the plot forward in a satisfactory manner. I've read that some viewers think the episodes are actually trailers for a longer show.
This is a tough call to make. If you look at what the SciFi channel did between seasons of "Battlestar Galactica," then the shorter episodes work well. They were running at about three minutes.
They were very well crafted episodes, and were a huge hit. They told a complete story and were damn entertaining. So it can be done, but I like the length of STBC as they are now. I'm quite new to the series and still have a little catching up to do, but I found them quite accessible as a new viewer. But I do find it tough to watch longer episodes of any webseries because of time constraints.
And I would not necessarily care about number of viewers. There is a lot of crap on the web that gets astronomical hits, but isn't worth watching if you are looking for quality entertainment. Are they pulling of four seasons of weekly released entertainment? Or are they one shots? This is quality.
My personal opinion if it has been working, let it ride, but if you'd like to try something new, test it out.
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