STBD Season Five: Halloween Special Revealed!

For the second year in a row, we've rallied the troops to create a rocking Halloween Special just in the nick of time! Despite the epic-length shoots, bad directions and several buckets of blood later, we think the finished episode turned out quite well!

The Making of the Season Five Halloween Special involved:

- 17 scripted pages

- 1 significantly improvised scene

- 2 hours of raw footage

- 7 shoots over 5 days

- 16+ hours of editing

Fun Facts, Scene by Scene:

* Initially, cast members Rick Hertzig (Glenn), Courtney Jenkins (Tabitha), Trent Wolfred (Pryce) and Ann Turiano (Caroline) worked with creator Justin Kownacki to develop ideas for a vampire-themed episode. When we couldn't agree on one specific script, each contributor wrote 1 or 2 outlines, the best portions of which were combined into one script -- primarily based upon Courtney's outline.

* The original script ran 17 pages and included a lot of screen time for Tim (played by Ryan Ben). But when Ryan's availability dried up due to a stage play he'd been cast in, the script was rewritten on the fly to excuse his absence.

* The episode opens with Dierdre (Lacey Fleming) taking photos in a graveyard. We'd been given directions to an "old cemetery" in Bellevue -- but, when we followed them, we wound up on the private property of a convent. There was a graveyard there, but it was chock full of (deceased) nuns. Feeling this was a bad location for a vampire spoof, we drove on and found the graveyard you see in the episode.

* The "meat" Dierdre eats in the kitchen is actually wheat bread soaked with fake blood.

* The two angles of Caroline stumbling upon Dierdre in the kitchen -- Caroline's and Dierdre's -- were filmed 9 hours apart; Dierdre was not present during Caroline's angle.

* When Caroline wakes up in bed, she's fallen asleep reading a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins -- a work that seeks to disprove the existence of God.

* Liz was mauled by Caroline in record time -- actress Jennifer Koegler had tickets to see a stage production of "12 Angry Men" 20 minutes after that shot was filmed.

* The makeup for all 4 vamps was created by Ann Turiano. (Yep, Caroline herself.) That makeup also had to be recreated for 3 separate days of filming.

* When Glenn enters Affogato, he's greeted telepathically by 3 of the 4 vamps -- but not Dierdre (listen closely -- we never recorded her audio).

* If you look closely, you can see Tabitha and Liz looming in the window behind Glenn as the men plot their defense in the courtyard.

* The "go on three" exchange between Rich (Erik Schark), Leo (Will Guffey) and Glenn was completely improvised, several times over. The best portions were included in the finished sequence.

* Rick Hertzig (Glenn) spent the better part of a day whittling the handles of a hammer and a plunger into stakes -- on his own time.

* Liz's "burning" reaction to the holy water? Baking soda, food coloring and vinegar.

* Leo stabs Tabitha with the utility knife usually kept in the trusty STBD camera bag (which he also uses to whittle stakes in the men's room). Makeup artists Jim Schmeichel and Ashley Leshen took great care to keep the tool intact for future use, but it was errantly left in the camera bag and confiscated during a routine security check at the JFK airport in New York City the following weekend. Oops.

* Leo clubs Caroline with a hammer, but he makes impact with a dummy's head wearing a wig. Unfortunately, actor Will Guffey missed the mark on the dummy's head and failed to trigger the blood packet attached underneath.

* Leo then stabs Dierdre in the back with the same hammer -- which, in closeup, is actually a piece of cardboard with Dierdre's fishnet shirt stretched across it and a blood packet rigged underneath.

* Liz's scarred arm, the aftermath of the holy water burns, was a latex application created from scratch in the back room of Affogato and applied over 30 minutes.

* When Dierdre bites Glenn, she doesn't actually have vampire fangs. That's because she wouldn't have been able to get a grip on the blood tube running up Glenn's neck. Unfortunately, the tube was attached a little too securely, and actress Lacey Fleming couldn't dislodge it with her teeth. This created an FX misfire, which led to the same shot being filmed two nights in a row. Footage from each take was used.

* When Leo stakes Dierdre with the Mathis 4 Mayor sign, he's actually shoving the stake-tipped end of the sign post through another cardboard / mesh / blood packet contraption rigged by the makeup artists. (And the staking was actually performed by Rick Hertzig, as Will Guffey had already left the set.)

* For the wide shot, in which the audience sees the sign run through Dierdre from front and back, Lacey Fleming was fitted with a waist-only harness that supported the severed ends of a second, "prop" version of the sign. That harness prevented Lacey's full range of motion, requiring Rick Hertzig to help her to the ground even as Glenn himself was dying off-camera.

* The finished episode was edited over the course of 7 days, including several "bursts" conducted in the hallway at PodCamp Boston 2 (and in the car en route).

* The music for this episode was graciously donated by local Pittsburgh artist Paralyzed Circuitry and nearby label High Noon Records -- the latter of whom came through with great tracks via email just as editing was wrapping up. Perfect timing!

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

STBD's "How to Make a Web Series" Session from PodCamp

At PodCamp Pittsburgh 2, STBD creator Justin Kownacki hosted a session on how to create a sustainable web series.

Alterna-tv's Tony Letizia was in attendance, and he wrote up a lengthy recap of that session here.

“All social media, whether it’s journalism, whether it is a family blog, whatever it is, everything that’s been successful has been successful because you’re telling a story,” [Kownacki] remarked. (More)

STBD 5-3: Revealed!

This week's episode of STBD lays the groundwork for Rich Mathis's run for mayor -- as well as explaining Todd's recent bout with homelessness.

It's also only 5 minutes long, which signals a slight shift in STBD thinking -- shorter, more tightly-packed episodes (that are a bit easier to produce, week after week). Tell us what you think!

The Making of "Mathis 4 Mayor" involved:

- 1 hour of raw footage

- 1 shoot (since the Todd sequence was a holdover from last week's episode)

- 12+ hours of editing

Fun Facts, Scene by Scene:

* Believe it or not, this ENTIRE episode was improvised by the cast (with minimal direction and suggestion from yours truly).

The only elements that were even semi-scripted (meaning, the actors were given specific prompts to include) were the reasons for Todd's descent into homelessness and the general structure of the Mathis campaign meeting. EVERYTHING else came from the cast.

* Funny thing about editing so much improvised footage: it takes forever. That's because the camera is almost never in the right place, nor do the various "takes" always match up.

But the most exciting (and difficult) thing about carving this episode down from so much improv was deciding what the story actually IS. Depending on what dialogue was kept, and used in what order, the meaning of certain sequences could be completely reversed.

Example: when Rich initially lures Liz and Caroline into the boardroom by way of brownies, they quickly find themselves embroiled in Rich's impotent political scheming. But, as filmed, Liz and Caroline actually walked out of the room, and Rich had to track them down later in the day, apologize, and make them wildly impossible promises, just so they'd return and take him seriously.

Realizing that entire sequence slowed the pace of this now-taut episode, I needed to cut it -- but I had nothing to cut TO. We never filmed anything that suggested the girls actually STAY in the room (or sit down).

So, when sifting through dialogue, I located the sequence where Liz says "Rich, we have work to do," and I went hunting for something Rich could use as a filibuster to keep them occupied. Instead, I found the clip where he starts raving about his passion for "a parklet on every corner - YES" and I realized, "when edited in THIS order, it makes it sound like he's deluded himself into believing Liz is actually on his side..."

After that, it made perfect sense for Rich to keep rambling, and for the girls to stick around out of morbid curiosity.

* Many, MANY lines were cut from Rich's brainstorming session. Suffice it to say, there are only so many people we could offend (and so many bad ideas we could pitch) in a 3 minute sequence...

(My personal favorite line that didn't make the cut comes when Rich mentions "kissing babies," and Liz reminds him, "They have laws about that now." To which Rich turns to the whiteboard and writes, "Change the child touching laws...")

* Despite its brevity, the episode was still posted later than we would have liked... because we had to make a Mathis4Mayor wiki, a MySpace page and t-shirts. (We take our politics VERY seriouslly...)

* We have no idea what a sugarshoe is, either...

STBD 5-2: Revealed!

This week's episode of STBD included some brand new locations, a cameo appearance and the return of a missing cast member. (Not bad for 8 and a half minutes!)

The Making of "Leo's Lucky Day" involved:

- 4 versions of a script

- 1.5 hours of raw footage

- 5 shoots in 4 days

- 18+ hours of editing

Fun Facts, Scene by Scene:

* STBD creator Justin Kownacki and actor Will Guffey (aka Leo Straub) were interviewed by Andy Quayle and Kaylynn for the Techburgh podcast last week. Immediately afterward, they returned the favor by appearing on STBD as Leo's number one fan and uninterested bus stop denizen, respectively.

* The bus stop that opens the episode is in Squirrel Hill, but the stop Leo is waiting at is in Bellevue...

* When Dierdre mentions she's still in school, Caroline's shock and surprise really mirrors that of the entire STBD creative team; we'd completely forgotten Dierdre was still in school all these years, until Lacey Fleming (Dierdre) mentioned it in a story meeting...

* The new Vanity Press meeting room and break room are located inside The Art Institute of Pittsburgh... because the original Vanity Press location has been long gone (to us, anyway).

* Gloria's pills? Actually Vitamin C tablets...

* Rich's admonition for Gloria to "Apologize!" to his manhood? Improvised.

* Todd living homeless behind Affogato? Invented, literally, the day of filming when Matt Pavlosky (Todd) mentioned he was available.

Rewrites and the 10 Minute Rule

I'll be editing a rough cut of our next episode today. I say "rough" because not every scene has been filmed yet, so any estimation of time is an educated guess at this point.

But that's exactly what I'm looking for.

The script for this episode clocked in at 17 pages, which translates (again, roughly) to 12 or 13 minutes. (In theory, a properly-formatted screenplay page should equal a minute of screen time; our scripts always run faster.)

But we've had to reschedule a few shoots, and now a couple scenes will need to be rewritten / replaced to accommodate existing timeframes. That's fine -- but I need to know how much time I have left to play with.

So I'll drop all filmed scenes into a timeline, find a useable take of each one -- straight through, from beginning to end, no edits -- and time that footage out. Subtract from 10:00, which is our maximum episode length, and voila: I'll know exactly how much time I have left to fiddle with.

(The converse of this approach would be filming everything in the script and then some, as we usually do, and then trying to decide what scenes will live or die in the editing process. Not as fun, and invariably leads to the "Hey, whatever happened to that scene?" questions...)

The Incredible Shrinking / Expanding Cast!

When STBD began, we had 8 cast members.

4 years later, we have over 25.

On one hand, it's incredibly gratifying to know that so many talented actors want to be a part of the STBD experience. On the other, it's daunting to juggle so many cast members (and their schedules), because it makes focusing on a condensed (and achievable) story that much harder.

When we surveyed our fans back in February, we learned what we pretty much expected: Caroline, Dierdre and Leo -- our three longest-running characters -- resonate the most with the audience. Of the newer characters, Rich and Tim seemed to stick in the audience's minds the most. The rest are seen as "supporting characters" -- at least until they have more opportunities to shine.

Off-Season Switcheroo

When we return with new episodes of Season Five in September, several of last season's cast members won't be returning. Most have moved away from Pittsburgh, which is hard to argue against (since we're not paying them). Series-wise, their absence may actually be a blessing in disguise, because it dulls the fight for screen time and allows us to focus on the characters the audience is already responding to.

Meanwhile, we're adding at least one new recurring character and expanding the role of another significantly. Why? Because we appreciate the value of two elements on STBD:

A) The continual need for "fresh blood," and

B) The need to be able to tell certain types of stories.

So we looked around and said, "What character TYPES are we missing?" And then we evaluated the actors we've underused, or those who've been patiently waiting off-camera for a chance to act on the show, to see who might be able to fit our potential needs.

The (Too) Big Picture?

Under these circumstances, it's far too easy to have a cast balloon to unmanageable proportions. It's doubly dangerous because, unpaid, there's no guarantee that actors we've come to rely upon to tell our story will actually be there for the long haul. This makes telling a concise story with a reliable payoff quite dicey.

If you're evaluating potential actors, or merely wondering how many roles you CAN include in your story, stop and ask yourself a more pertinent question: How many roles do you NEED to tell your story?

In web video, as in all things, keeping it simple will save you acres of headaches later.

(And, as in all things, always be open to taking a chance. You never know what casting choice or character invention might pay off in unexpected ways.)

Location Is Everything: 5 Tips for Location Filming

Since anyone can pick up a camera and start shooting web video today, it's increasingly important to find an edge that helps distinguish you from your competition -- which is everyone ELSE with a camera.

At STBD, one of our assets is location -- both the city itself (which is highly cinematic) and our recurring cluster of unusual indoor locations (the WANT FM radio station, the Affogato cafe, etc.).

When you're considering filming in a location, here are 5 questions to keep in mind:

1. How "Available" Is This Location?

A lot of small business owners are keen on supporting social media in exchange for some extra exposure (and the cachet that comes from knowing the cool, cutting edge media makers). But not everyone wants to make this a weekly proposition.

Treat every opportunity as if it will be a one-time thing. If you (and the location owner) have a positive experience, THEN you can discuss the possibility of a recurring arrangement. But don't plan on having 24 hour access to a location, write a number of scripts under that presumption... and then destroy your relationship with the location owner on the first day.

2. How Flexible / Creative Can You Be in the Location?

One reason we love filming in Affogato is because it offers so many options for plot / character situations. ANYONE could be in Affogato for ANY reason at ANY time of day. And, as a "public" location, it enables us to introduce new characters and cameo appearances with little need for justification or planning (since every cafe has random customers).

Conversely, when we've filmed in Torque Denim or Pavement Shoes, we've had a limited window for filming (usually an hour before they open), and we've had to work around their employees / interns, which creates an additional logistical challenge. Is that challenge worth it? Depends on what you can achieve within those limitations...

(Side note: Versatility in a location is underrated. We filmed the "Caroline Meets Lloyd" episode in a utilitarian space in the South Side Works that happened to be serving as a makeshift art gallery at the time. That same week, we realized we needed to re-shoot part of the "Caroline and Rich at the elevator" sequence from the first episode of Season Four... but we no longer had access to the original location. Fortunately the "art gallery" had generic white walls -- similar to the elevator location -- so we faked the re-shoot there instead. [Whew.])

3. How Often Do You NEED This Location?

Just because you CAN film in a location on a regular basis doesn't mean you NEED to -- or that you SHOULD.

One of the easiest places to film is a cast or crew member's apartment. It's usually available on short notice AND at all hours of the day (or night) -- but how interesting is it to a viewer? As often as web video producers resort to their own apartments as a backdrop, yours is going to need to be particularly amazing to stand out from the crowd.

On the other hand, if you DID have recurring access to an unusual space -- a deli, a factory, an antique store -- COULD you find a way to make that a more integral part of your story? Unique is good, but well-utilized uniqueness is better.

4. What Noise Issues Are Involved?

Fans, coolers, traffic, overhead lighting, nearby humans -- all of these things (and more) can create audio nightmares. How much can you turn off / turn down / tune out?

At Affogato, we turn off the coolers, but the fridge in back cannot be shut off. Thus, we have to strip that hum out in post. The cappuccino machine also "cycles," and occasionally "clicks" during a line of dialogue. By and large, we leave that in because it sounds natural, given the location. (Plus, it's too much work to re-record dialogue to avoid "clicks," though we have done it on occasion...)

Oh, and if you turn off coolers, refrigerators, etc., PLEASE turn them back on when you're finished...

5. What Crowd Issues Are Involved?

If you're shooting while a location is open, you may have to film around employees, customers or the general public. These people will not always be quiet while you're filming. If you can't silence the masses, can you make use of their idle chatter?

If you intend to leave the public in your shots, you'll want to have them sign a release form allowing you to use their image / voice in your production. You can also hang up a sign or two (in a WELL-TRAFFICKED area) that states, "Anyone entering these premises during filming MAY appear in the finished production," which implies consent on the part of those who may wander through.

******

Locations can help your production seem larger and more interesting than a simple "indoor apartment" shoot -- but only if the locations are utilized properly. Don't make more work for yourself than you ALREADY have when producing web video: be smart about your locations, and let THEM work for YOU.

STBD Story Meeting and You

On Monday, several STBD regulars convened at a pair of tables in the Shadyside Crazy Mocha to float ideas for Season Five of STBD. We discussed goals and concepts for various characters, and for the series as a whole.

As with any brainstorming session, some ideas and insights were spot-on, and some weren't received quite so warmly. But exchanging these ideas is an integral part of creating the series WE want STBD to be.

What about you?

We'd love to open the story creation process to the audience as well, since you're the ones who keep coming back for more. Do you have specific ideas you'd like to pitch for Season Five? Would you like to try your hand at writing a scene? Let us know!

We're considering the merits of an STBD wiki. Would those of you inclined to provide ideas be interested in the wiki format?

Feel free to post comments here, or to email jkownacki somethingtobedesired com.

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?

Season Four Is Over!

Matt Pavlosky (Todd) and Kevin Koch (Dex) in the WANT FM green room.
30 episodes. 300 (or so) minutes. 5 hours of original, scripted / improvised, collaborative content created by over 20 actors, a handful of assistants and one frequently sleep-deprived producer.

And now, we rest.

Thanks to everyone who watched us this season, who gave us feedback, who helped us improve. Thanks to our supporters of all stripes, who help keep the magic happening. Thanks for spreading the word and helping more and more people find out about Something to Be Desired -- without you, we stay in our little bubble forever.

Thanks also to the cast, who continually give great effort and create intelligent, multi-faceted and often hilarious moments among characters. You tell the story we all come back to see, and share.

If you missed any part of Season Four, you can watch any episode here. Or just start at the beginning. (Or, if you're so inclined, the REAL beginning -- though you'll need a few days to work your way through the archives.)

We'll begin filming for Season Five soon enough. We'll also be making various changes to the STBD site, fixing some things and improving others. New videos will pop up on the site from time to time -- subscribing will ensure you don't miss one. And this blog will probably see a bit more activity now that we're not filming / editing under such a time-consuming schedule.

Now... where's the bar?

Length Matters

Liz and Lloyd know the value of length...
When STBD began, our first "season" consisted of 5 episodes averaging 10 minutes in length, released once per month.

In an effort to get episodes out more often, we switched things up in Season Two: 2 episodes per month, 5 minutes apiece. Then our audience weighed in, letting us know that 5 minutes wasn't enough to make the story feel "full." So we adapted again.

In Season Three, we kept to the 5 minute length, but sped up production again: episodes were released at least weekly. (For a brief stretch, they were even released daily, and then we [meaning I] burned out.) And, still, the frequency of release didn't offset the length issue for our audience -- even with twice as many episodes, 5 minutes just didn't feel like "enough" of an experience.

So, this season, we switched to 10 minute episodes, released weekly -- or 4 x the amount of production we were pumping out in 2003!

And yet, there are STILL fans who suggest we make the episodes EVEN LONGER.

The Problem with Length

Forget for a moment that we're creating 40 minutes of original content on a shoestring budget each month and giving it away for free. Further complicating the issue are the logistics of planning. 12+ hours a week spent editing an episode is nothing compared to conceiving of the scenes, writing the scripts, scheduling the actors and actually shooting the footage.

If we moved to a 22-minute approach, similar to traditional sitcoms, we'd be looking at twice as much work per week. (Plus, traditional sitcoms have the offsetting benefit of those 8 minutes of commercials to pay the bills...)

Add to that the bandwidth issues, the conversion / upload / download time and the doubled stress on data management and storage, and you see a hydra of reasons why we shouldn't EVER go longer than 10 minutes.

And yet...

In Praise of Length

There are times when even 10 minutes doesn't feel like "enough" time to tell a story.

When we pace episodes, or compare our arcs to those of like-minded shows, we're inevitably at a disadvantage. Sex and the City has an extra 10 minutes of context / subtext / tension to build toward a payoff. STBD has to pack as much as possible into only 10 minutes, which means something -- plot, character, nuance, dialogue, action -- will suffer.

That's not to say that length is a cure-all. How many 3 hour films have you sat through, lamenting their decision NOT to edit it down to 90 minutes? (Return of the King, anyone?) But having more space to play would certainly open up our options in terms of storytelling.

The question is -- and again, let's temporarily forget the cost and logistics -- would longer episodes help us to BUILD an audience, or would the additional investment of time drive them away?

What's the perfect length?

Bizarre Google Search Return

While checking our stats, I noticed we were suddenly getting hits based upon the phrase "web series."

"That's odd," I thought. "How many web series ARE there out there now? Hundreds? I wonder where we are in that food chain."

So I did a Google search for 'web series' (no quotes).

We're the #1 return.


Really?

I searched with quotes. Same thing. #1.

This is odd, until I realized no one really uses the phrase "web series" except me. Everyone else calls it "videoblogging" or "podcasting," etc. So who else is using the phrase these days?

Evidently, VH-1. Good company to be in, if you like that sort of thing.

This is certainly preferable to that upswing in traffic we got a year ago when people were searching for Rachel Holt, which happens to be the name of both a tabloid schoolteacher / seduction / murder suspect AND the character portrayed by Samee Nann in the second season of STBD...