It’s indie interview time! And we’re pretty stoked to bring you an interview with webseries director Ric Forster. He’s put together some intro materials for a new webseries called Third Base. We definitely want to see the whole season, but Ric and his team need to win a competition to make it all happen.
Check out the info below.
Give us your quick pitch of Third Base.
A group of teenagers find themselves marooned on Mars’ Third Base after their parents are killed in a mysterious accident. With three months before the next shuttle can arrive from Earth, they’re forced to fend for themselves. Think Battlestar Galactica meets Lord of the Flies.
Third Base is in a competition on Facebook over at http://apps.facebook.com/mncwebfest/showentry/994501/null/4. Tell us about what’s happened in the contest so far, and what do you stand to win if you get the most votes?
Movie Extra are offering a $100,000 production budget for the best 60 second web series trailer and pitch. The prize money would produce a 7 x 3 minute episode season – so we’ve also had to submit detailed storylines for the show, in addition to the trailer. Voting and buzz generation are also a huge factor in the judging process – the organisers are really keen to see if our series are able to capture the interest of internet viewers and therefore be viable as an actual webseries.
The contest actually started a few months ago, so we’ve been able to see some of the other entries on Facebook as we were prepping our own shoot. The standard was pretty high, so we were aware that we needed to push the production values as far as possible, and really communicate the story in an exciting way – in just 60 seconds. We shot on a single day – less than a week before the submission deadline – and edited rather frantically over the next 4 days (including ADR and visual effects). Finally the trailer was complete and we uploaded the night before the deadline.
The downside to submitting so late in the process was that viewers then only had a week to vote for the project – compared to months for some of the others. So in terms of voting – we started off way behind. To build buzz and interact with viewers, we created a Facebook page for the series and continued to update with behind the scenes stills and video clips. I think this helped us connect with viewers – showing up directly in their feeds. I also personally reached out to a number of filmmaking and sci fi forums. One of the rules of the contest is that the trailer must reside exclusively on the Movie Extra facebook page, so it was a challenge to reach people without a YouTube presence.
The next stage is to release a number of extended scenes. We massively overshot the amount of footage we’d need for the trailer, so there are a couple of complete scenes ready to hit the web, which will help viewers get a sense of the show’s tone.
After a bit of viral promotion via friends/family/sci fi fans on social networks, the show got several hundred votes and was selected as a finalist. So we’re now in the final stage of voting – with all counts reset – and have until Tuesday 6th December to campaign for as many votes as possible!
Looking through your showreel, it appears that you already have plenty of experience in dealing with the merging of the internet and filmmaking. How do you think that social media and the internet in general are affecting filmmaking?
The influence of social media and the internet on filmmaking is massive. Not only in terms of marketing, but also in the content itself. A couple of years ago I independently produced a web series titled LOL (www.lolseries.com) – which focused on a teenage girl and the pressure she felt to grow up, through social networks like Facebook. Status updates and profile photos appeared in the show – as well as the way teens misrepresent the truth on those sites. It’s now become a pretty mainstream convention and you see social networking integrated into the plots on a lot of TV shows and movies.
There’s a great opportunity to reach out and connect with niche audiences on the internet. Sci-fi tends to have a rough ride on television – I’m still in mourning for the abruptly cancelled Firefly - but online sci fi communities have a huge presence. So it makes sense creating content for sci fi fans and delivering via the web. Something which might not be deemed mainstream enough for television can really thrive online – shows like The Guild did a great job of finding an underrepresented audience.
Should we win the Movie Extra WebFest production budget, we’ll also create a lot of additional content around the show – including video diaries for the characters and an online game. There’s a great opportunity to really build the mythology around webseries, TV shows and films online – where viewers can really dig deep into the story, if they choose. Speaking from personal experience, I loved Battlestar Galactica and watched pretty much every piece of web content they released. And then went to the conventions.
In light of the experience that you’ve had from other shows, what lessons from your past work apply most as you’re making Third Base?
The biggest struggle I had with LOL was delivering enough content to the audience. As that show was self-financed and I was working full time on Hollyoaks, it really was a case of plugging away at evenings and weekends – shooting and editing whenever people were free. That process – which is pretty much how most webseries begin – meant that there were quite often delays in delivering content to the viewers.
On one hand it was great to get angry emails demanding that the next webisode be posted online immediately – it showed that we had a fanbase – but I also felt I was letting them down. I mean who wants to watch 5 minutes of anything, then wait a month before watching the next 5 minutes? It doesn’t make for the best viewing experience.
Previously I’ve had to wear a lot of hats on independent productions – i.e. in addition to writing/directing, I’ve ended up producing, camera operating, buying costumes, taking stills, handling the catering… it can be distracting. On Third Base, I’m fortunate to be working with a great producer in Zoltan Deak, and should we win the competition, we’ll be able to hire and pay a decent sized crew. It’ll still be a small production, but I’m really keen to focus on the writing and directing.
The script is incredibly important, so I’m looking forward (fingers crossed!) to having the chance to really develop the show. Whilst making LOL - a lot of the time it was a case of calling the actors and asking ‘When are you available? I’m thinking of shooting more episodes’ – and the only time everyone is free for the next six months is next weekend. So then there would be the frantic scramble to write, storyboard, get locations, costumes, permits… everything. In an incredibly short space of time. It’s pretty exhilarating, but there’s no doubt that the end product suffers as a result.
What was the process like to cast your film? Had you worked with these young actors before?
Though my producer Zoltan had worked with a number of the actors previously, this was my first time working with them. We’d recently been casting for another couple of projects and didn’t really have the time to do a dedicated casting for all the roles in Third Base, as we were less than a week out from the shoot date! So it was a case of looking back through previous audition footage and finding actors that we thought could do a good job – and shortlist from there. I’m really pleased with how they performed and though not everyone has a chance to shine in the trailer – you’ll see more from them in the full scenes that will be released shortly.
One of our favorite questions to ask filmmakers is what is one resource that you would recommend for filmmakers just getting started? Do you have a “go to” book or video or piece of equipment to inspire you in your filmmaking?
Difficult to narrow it down to just one! There’s a fantastic book by Michael Rabiger called ‘Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics’ which I revisit constantly.
There’s also a couple of great blogs that have a lot of technical information on new cameras and editing techniques – nofilmschool.com and filmmakeriq.com.
Also read Filmmaker Magazine and Script mag pretty regularly to keep me up to date. There’s lots of really inspiring success stories in those publications about low/zero budget productions that go on to be successful in theatres/dvd/web – and details on how they did it.
How can fans support your current project, and where can they find more of your work?
The best way to support Third Base would be to check out the trailer via Movie Extra’s Facebook competition, and vote for the series by clicking the ‘LOVE IT’ button. We’re really trying to spread the word about the show as far as possible, so sharing the link via blogs and Facebook/Twitter would be a fantastic help. Voting closes on Tuesday, the 6th of December.
We’ve also got a few more photos and behind the scenes clips on the website (http://www.thirdbase.tv).
There’s some more clips from my previous shorts and web projects on my website (http://www.ricforster.com), and my teen web series LOL can be viewed at http://www.lolseries.com.
Thanks, Ric, for taking the time to talk with us, and we certainly wish the best with your competition.
Jump on over to the Movie Extra Facebook competition and cast a vote.
About the author
Michael is a huge fan of storytelling in all of its various forms. Beyond writing for Atypical Tales, he has also written a zombie comic book called The Hidden and Dark Heritage, an ongoing weekly horror webcomic and blog.
Read more posts by Michael
