What is a web series? In all honesty, after our class on Friday (28th of July), I felt like a bit of a newbie to web series. Series names and titles were exchanged around the class and I remained slightly shocked at the number of series that people watched or knew. It’s not that the web series is a new concept to me, I just don’t think I had known it to be so established and widespread. Consequently, I feel that I may be misinformed when I consider questions about how a web series differs from a “regular” television show. Nonetheless, what little amount of web series I have dabbled in do offer me a somewhat guided view as to these questions.
What distinguishes a web series from any other kind of serialized motion picture drama? The predominant answer to this question, for me, lies in the series’ accessibility, both for makers and consumers. The fact that anyone with a camera and an internet connection can create and publish content that can be consumed by anyone else with an internet connection (over 3 billion people), is astounding. This is not a small factor in the definition of the web series. I think there is a by-the-people, for-the-people sentiment with web series. I think people like consuming media outside of multi-national production and distribution companies and media outlets. Even if this factor is not apparent in the content itself (which it may well be), I think it is prevalent in the consumption of web series and the conversation around them. This is not a blanket rule, but I think that to a degree, consumers of web series may feel more empowered as an audience within their media consumption.
The form and delivery of a web series can influence the content in a variety of ways. While a low-budget series with episodes under five minutes may not be able to employ the resources, locations, and actors (and so forth) that a high-profile production company or network can, they are not bound by any television restrictions or guidelines. Of course, not all web series are cheap productions made by unqualified people with a spare DSLR, but the general premise of a web series (for me) is that the creators aren’t answering to a studio boss. Their content lives outside the politics of multi-national companies and is delivered on a platform without strict regulations and guidelines. Consequently, there is a lot more daring creativity in the content of web series. They are different, they are new and often relatable, an underappreciated characteristic in television.
The concept of the web series is still rapidly developing and changing. In our class, we didn’t even mention streaming services such as Netflix or the Australian Stan or Presto (that I recall). For me, these services don’t come to mind when talking about web series. However, these services do produce their own original content, that is distributed exclusively on the internet. Does this mean they count as web series? If they do, how does the conversation around web series change when such global, powerful and income (and ratings) driven companies are involved? Maybe this could be something we explore throughout the studio.