WEB SERIES
GeminiDivision.com
Premieres on 18 August
I haven’t quite sorted out what makes a good web series. Is it characters we just can’t get enough of? Perhaps a dollop of J.J. Abrams-esque mystery to keep us returning to a particular website? Whatever the litmus test is for each of us, the novelty of this new format shows no signs of slowing down. On Monday, NBC Universal Digital Studio will premiere its first effort on NBC.com and SciFi.com for us to take a look. Rosario Dawson stars as detective Anna Diaz, a New York cop in the not-so-distant future who begins her story via web transmissions to an unknown party while on holiday with her boyfriend in Paris. In the first two episodes released to press (each less than ten minutes in length), her beau, Nick (played by a handsome and frequently topless Justin Hartley) proposes. Later, he succumbs to mysterious seizures and tries to attack her in a trance-like state. From the series description, we know that Diaz must soon solve the mystery of his murder, and then gets ensconced in a war between artificial life forms and the agency charged with hunting them down. Series creator and executive producer, Brent Friedman holds a CV that boasts such fare as ‘The Twilight Zone’ and ‘Enterprise.’ For a new weekday series, its story has the potential of reeling us in for a few minutes a day while we ignore the duties of our desks. The production itself is on par with what one would imagine for this experimental format - few locations, few characters, and some background effects that are just…well, a little J.V. Lucky for us, Ms. Dawson (also an exec producer) is very engaging, and we’re willing to go wherever she may be taking us. The opening scenario is a bit on the ‘Alias’ side, but it seems we are destined to go down more of a ‘Battlestar Galactica’ path as we press on. As for me, I’ll watch for a bit. Once you’ve peeked my curiosity, the poor CGI is forgiven. At least as long as my short attention span will allow.
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3 Responses to “Gemini Division”
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I am looking forward to the show and the opportunity for interaction with the interactive experience. Part of it may have already started. For instance, there are codes that flash at the end of many of the Gemini Division videos. I believe these are encrypted messages based on a Vigenere Cipher. Where they lead, I am not sure.
I reviewed my prescreen experience and conference call for Gemini Division on my blog. Really looking forward to the show. Sounds like there is a lot of depth to it with its alternate storyline, graphic novels, and ARG-like experience very similar to Heroes Evolutions.
TimTodd
PrimeTimeForChange
Its so important that Gemini Division does well. It’s the kind of innovative product that injects the interactivity of the internet into the traditional lean back viewing model of old media.
Its success would bring much needed attention to a groundswell of indie interactive web TV projects like ours.
One gripe though is geoblocking the show to the US, I think its a cop out, failing to fully embrace the tenets of operating on the internet by making it virally distributable and available worldwide.
Deleted: The Game
@Deleted: The Game.
Geoblocking and new media is an interesting subject and there is room for additional thinking as outlined below.
The content that is Gemini Division seeks to leverage itself across multiple platforms and technologies while at the same time providing an ARG-like experience. It is important to remember that as we get closer to converged and interactive content, the complexity and diversity of that content increases as well.
Old media content was and is relatively easy to distribute to a global mass audience. There were less moving pieces and traditional media emphasized mass consumption of that content. New media content on the other hand emphasizes interactivity and active participation while catering to niche audiences and communities.
As new media becomes more technically complex and grows to exist across multiple technological platforms, the task of producing and distributing that content internationally becomes more difficult and costly. We can’t just flip a switch and solve the problem. It isn’t that easy. There will be growing pains no doubt about it as we rethink, produce, and distribute new media. The global distribution of complex, cross platform interactive content is one of those hurdles and there is definitely room for more thinking on the issue.
One of the interesting notes from the pre-screening conference call that I was able to be a part of, is that Gemini Division will be released to other territories and that each territory will have its own replicate ARG experience.
I also found a quote from Brent Friedman detailing the reasoning for a staged territory release of the show. It appears to match the reasoning above.
“G-D is geo-blocked because Sony will be releasing the series outside the U.S. in the very near future. In order to give the show the best shot, Sony is creating a unique multi-platform release for each territory. This means translating the content into many languages, managing the marketing and customizing the experience depending on local distribution partners. Coordinating this kind of effort on a global scale is not impossible, but it’s not realistic for a project of this (relative) scale. Although this approach does not fully embrace the potential of the worldwide web, it was very effective on our first show, Afterworld, in building a brand and an international audience. Bottom line: if it ain’t broke…”
Tim Todd