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| Venice: the thread | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 17 2009, 10:22 PM (6,374 Views) | |
| abzug | Dec 4 2009, 05:29 PM Post #121 |
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In love with a prisoner
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This article from the front page of today's NY Times is apropos, because it shows that even the highest level tv executives aren't sure how to make money on video content streaming online. So I don't envy small time folks like the Venice producers having to figure it out and experiment. |
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| ekny | Dec 5 2009, 03:17 AM Post #122 |
In love with a prisoner
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Can anyone provide an update about if they are in fact going with this model? Also: if you have a link to the much-ballyhooed first ep that is not for the site proper, pls post here. I assume the site's crashed simply because this is my default position. |
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| cagey | Dec 5 2009, 03:28 AM Post #123 |
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G3 Curtain and Duvet!
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Don't think it's crashed - yet - the Debut is 8pm pacific time - 34 minutes away! The model is first taste is free, after that you have to pay the dealer for more Crystal -- first they have to get a working payment system in place. |
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| abzug | Dec 5 2009, 04:20 AM Post #124 |
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In love with a prisoner
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Well, it's crashed now, as predicted. I just tried to log on, and no dice. MySQL error, which means there are too many users making too many calls to the database, and so the database has crashed (as opposed to there being too much traffic to the server). We used to have this problem on our site during big onsales. We had to do a bunch of major database optimization before we cured the problem, and for the really big onsales we actually put 2-3 databases online to make sure we have redundancy and can handle all the requests. |
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| abzug | Dec 5 2009, 04:22 AM Post #125 |
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In love with a prisoner
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Here's the ep on YouTube, which is a total violation of YouTube's policies (can't post things which are advertisements for subscriptions) but whatever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EguyzSe974E |
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| abzug | Dec 5 2009, 04:38 AM Post #126 |
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In love with a prisoner
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Hmm, interesting. So, not too bad, actually. A couple of stilted lines, and that weird slo-mo as they entered the cafe were my only complaints. Oh, and the opening credits are beyond lame. But otherwise it wasn't so bad. It was nice to see CC & JL making out, I'm not gonna lie. Those two definitely have chemistry, and I didn't feel like I was watching two straight actresses go at it, as I often did on The L Word. And, more importantly, it didn't make me feel icky in a soft porn kind of way, the way every sex scene I've ever seen in a web series has made me feel. In terms of the structure of the four minutes we've seen so far, they established the (possibly central) emotional conflict, which is good. They didn't exactly leave me excited to find out what's going to happen next--it could have ended with more of a cliffhanger. But on the other hand, I am a little intrigued to see how things evolve, storyline-wise. |
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| cagey | Dec 5 2009, 04:53 AM Post #127 |
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G3 Curtain and Duvet!
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Interesting. I totally couldn't get away from it being two now very well known straight women kissing. Like the kissing was the entire reason they made the show. Which is true, in a way. So sure, that first long shot was satisfying after all these months, but after that - look at us kiss, kiss again, kiss again - and not one of them many kisses struck me as particularly heart felt. Or amorous. I was primarily impressed by the production quality overall - very classy by the standards we've become used to. Once some other people see it I'd love to discuss what we think we saw there. |
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| bluesycat | Dec 5 2009, 05:55 AM Post #128 |
Down the Block
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I enjoyed it. The production quality was good, if I can nitpick, some volume levels seemed too soft. The girls have very good chemistry that came across to me very well. I found it painful for Ani that Gina is nowhere close to where she wants her to be. Crystal acted the changing of gears - snuggle time to getting on with the day and answering the phone well. Like I said, my heart hurt for Ani there. On GL, I often wondered if Jessica Leccia was toning down playing sexy, but maybe she doesn't have enough to compete with Crystal Chappell in that department. I was hoping for more of a reaction or showing of desire while she contemplated that invitation to the shower. I found the kissing to be nice, natural and somewhat sexy, which fits perfectly with where these characters are right now. Super, sexy hot stuff should come later (IMO)with some relationship payoff down the road (how long and bumpy will it be? Does that depend on story or if they can afford to keep Venice going?) I didn't like the slowed down shot either. I can see the attempt there to embellish the visual of the two together, but it seemed out of place with the realistic edge I got from the opening scenes. Crystal impressed me, I enjoyed the song, and I wish we could recast Owen. I am anxious to meet more of the characters and will be waiting impatiently for next Friday. I had hoped for a preview of next episode, wouldn't that have been part of a good sales pitch or reeling in of future customers? ETA, Gina with her fingers by her nose. Is that a homage to other digit sniffing scenes, most memorable to me was Kerry or ER? |
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| abzug | Dec 5 2009, 02:50 PM Post #129 |
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In love with a prisoner
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I kinda liked her acting choice there, because it wasn't so much about her finding Gina sexy as it was about finding Gina infuriating. Gina jumps out of bed, Gina focuses on work, Gina tells her she can't be what Ani needs her to be, Gina runs out of the room to take a shower--all of which are stay-away-from-me-moves, and THEN Gina invites her into the shower. So Ani seemed to have emotional whiplash from what I could tell, and was sort of hating herself a tiny bit for going to the shower, for saying yes to whatever Gina offers. ETA: In other news they've gotten more than 13K views in less than 12 hours, which is pretty darn impressive for the first ep of a web series. |
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| cagey | Dec 5 2009, 08:20 PM Post #130 |
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G3 Curtain and Duvet!
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Question: do the phrases "Premium Subscriber," watch in HD, and Ad Free suggest that there will be a "non-premium" as in, for free level of watching? For instance, the yt channel? |
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| abzug | Dec 6 2009, 03:21 AM Post #131 |
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In love with a prisoner
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They do indeed imply that, but there has been no official reference to a free option, and in fact the subscription as it was described on FB and twitter indicates that there will be no free option. |
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| ekny | Dec 6 2009, 06:19 AM Post #132 |
In love with a prisoner
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So I just got around to watching. Once. Having trouble coming up w/any emotional response: it is plain too short for me. Speaking solely for myself, it's impossible to *have* an emotional response to two characters kissing when I don't know who they are. Clearly--these are not Olivia & Natalia. Which is fine. Good, even: they've established different characters--over an extremely short time-frame. Which is an important achievement--mission-critical, in fact: it lets us know both these actors can, in fact, pull that off. Singly that wasn't a worry but in relation to each other so soon on the heels of GL--a legitimate concern. (Or to put it another way: this is early incarnation Olivia, if she'd been gay; and late-incarnation Natalia, if she were gay, not religious, more together, & more realistically-drawn.) Almost all my other responses are essentially technical in nature. Production values are pretty darn good. I agreed with blueseycat's comments: sound on the roof was a little muddy, but... generally okay. (I did briefly wonder if that location was a callback/attempt to correct the cluster***k that was the rooftop scene in GL. I assume it was mainly convenience/the view.) Don't know who the guy is, couldn't tell from context, don't care. Not having a coming attraction as part of end credits seems a missed opportunity: how else sell What Comes Next? No one should expect another scene involving snogging for some time, so... we need something else, since Ani's off to another photo-shoot, thus possibly off-camera for weeks to come*. A few quick cuts showing Gina (or Ani) w/other characters--even w/o sound while credits rolled--might have gone some way towards that end. (* I found myself wondering: if they count episode-length from start to finish [including credits], then say 90 minutes total/6 = 15 weeks. If we count them as only ~4 minutes that = 22 weeks. Has there ever been any indication of how long this season is expected to run?) I read & agreed with *both* abzug's and cagey's comments re the snogging. There was no squick or feeling of exploitation a la L-word. Neither was there any feeling of connection, for me; there was nothing especially romantic here, or loving, just casual affection & a sort of practical, morning-after air to the thing. The relaxed naturalism of the bed/kissing stuff was definitely good, esp compared to much of the other stuff we've all seen--and what it could have been (in a bad way). But it didn't make me feel invested. Or much of anything. I think it's in part because Gina comes off like a player. Or maybe 4 minutes is just not gonna do it for me & I'd be better off waiting for a few eps to pile up, then watching. I thought deciding to do the first scene w/relatively little makeup was a very good choice, & a slightly surprising one; promo photos all looked way plastic. Similarly, I'm a bit surprised no one yet mentioned the handheld--which for me was the one thing that did work--completely. If you have a relatively static scene & don't want it to be exploitative--which, again & importantly, it was not--handheld is a nice way to suggest more emotion, introduce a sense of emotional movement via the camera, esp when there is little or no physical movement going on w/the characters. I realize handheld might be all they had money for, & most of what we'll see anyway, but I'm fine with it regardless--& for this kind of scene, especially. Particularly since there was no odious soundtrack interfering--which again, I appreciated. I don't want music over dialogue, don't think it works generally. See: Deadwood for best use of music during a cable show. As transition between scenes/moods or comment on scenes--great. & necessary. Otherwise it gets in the way.Agreed the slo-mo was an error. Interrupted the naturalism, felt stagy & unnecessary. The fact that the editing was jumpy was, I assumed, deliberate, in order to convey the disconnect betw the characters: it in fact interferes with getting anything emotionally satisfying from the kissing, as well. Which I also assume was the intent. Finally, I found it notable that no one mentioned the writing (as writing) beyond Abzug's comment abt a few clunky lines. Since a lot has been made of the lack of info about KT's skills in that dept. So I guess it's ok then, so far? Seemed to me to be serviceable: realistic, not uber-soapy. (Yet.) I had no problem with it: in fact, it took me a moment to wonder what was missing from the comments here. So that's a good thing, yeah? At the very least it didn't get in the way of the actors. I think my issues are & will probably remain 1) shortness of eps 2) straight ladies who still pretty much come off as straight ladies. Relaxed, but thus far, I guess I'm not buying the Lesbian. Just because they're two women in bed... evidently doesn't necessarily 'read' as lesbian to me. And why that may be the case is kinda interesting. Thought I'd throw out something for y'all to react to/against. :lol: eta: char descriptions apparently up on site. Reading, again, with the first viewing behind me, that each will have significant, ah, romantic challenges with these other soapy ladies just made me kinda cringe, really. Not enough time, don't-care-bout-that. Sigh. |
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| ekny | Dec 6 2009, 08:18 AM Post #133 |
In love with a prisoner
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Final thot: by this time tomorrow there will be half a dozen new Otalia vids featuring snippets from the kiss. By this time a week, the numbers will be into double-digits: I assume people have had half-finished vids they've been sitting on for weeks, possibly longer, waiting for a spot to put some of that footage into. Any of you lady lags care to... wager?
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| abzug | Dec 6 2009, 04:25 PM Post #134 |
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In love with a prisoner
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My understanding is that the rooftop cafe is going to be the location for many scenes throughout the season. It's like their hangout or something.
12 episodes I believe. Which means 48 minutes of material? Which seems weird because they've been giving the indication that the total amount of material is more like 70-90 minutes. Maybe future episodes will be slightly longer?
I think that's right. Gina is so clearly got a huge wall around her--they established that very quickly. So anyone who felt really emotionally invested in these two felt it because of Otalia, not because of what we saw on screen. Gina's a user, and we're supposed to have a problem with that. Ani has a problem with it; Owen (her brother) has a problem with it.
Yeah, that was basically my assessment of the writing as well. |
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| cagey | Dec 6 2009, 05:17 PM Post #135 |
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G3 Curtain and Duvet!
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Further reflection has me siding with the notion that the kissing feels disconnected because it is. Ani seems much more into it than Gina because Gina isn't really into it. She got what she came for and is now ready to be outta there. It struck me while watching that JL seemed to be much better at kissing girls than CC. But, if that is CC kiss acting, I am impressed. Here's my spec on the slo-mo rooftop: too much wind. If they used that footage at normal speed it would be nothing but hair in the face for both of them. I don't think it was an arty choice, just expedient. I am hoping there's an indoor space for this requisite hangout Cafe/Bar. The writing: too early to tell. I'd call this a pilot episode to introduce the cast, except there will be several just to cover all the characters. I can forgive those leaden moments of dialogue where the characters must summarize how they got to be where they are now and who they are to each other. The skeleton of the plot, as visible in the character bios, screams for something extraordinary to happen to raise the level of drama above mundane.
I wouldn't expect them to do sliding scale or pay-what-you-can, those mainstays of lesbian marketing, but the only way they can reduce piracy and calm the tide of snark that would overwhelm them if they made it exclusively pay-per-view, seems to me, is to make it available in some free format. I know nothing about such things - the subscription is $9.99 for 3 months. Anyone know if you can download the product for your own use or if this is just a license to access the product online for the limited time?
That is a sucker bet and you know it.
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As transition between scenes/moods or comment on scenes--great. & necessary. Otherwise it gets in the way.

8:46 AM Jul 11