Prix italia - Mediagallery

INSIDE WEB SERIES
Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic | Under the Aegis of the President of Rai
PRIX
ITALIA
THE POWER OF STORYTELLING
THE CREATIVITY LABORATORY
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR RADIO, TELEVISION AND WEB
TORINO 19/24 SEPTEMBER 2015
Index
Preface Antonio Marano
3
Introduction4
Simone Arcagni, Mirko Lino, Giusy Mandalà, Antonio Santangelo
Genre, Content and Communication Strategies for Web Series
Fiction in Web Series. An overview of genre
Mirko Lino
5
The Language of Web Series. Comparing semiotic models and communication methods
Antonio Santangelo
13
Appendix26
1
Preface
Antonio Marano, Deputy Director General for Offer Coordination
Once again, on the occasion of Prix Italia Festival, we are offered the opportunity to present a paper
on Web Series. After defining the genre through focused research, comparing the evolution of the Italian market to the international experience1, nowadays we aim to identify and analyse elements contributing to the success of Web Series.
As a genre usually more reliant on simple and direct language, associated with television and cinema
references, Web Series are characterised by alternative or controversial themes as well as shorter episodes than the TV standard. Therefore, these products typically draw the support and enthusiasm of
small audiences and are never destined to achieve viewer popularity comparable to that of other media.
Aware of this, RAI – attentive to the experimentation of language and different ways of communicating
– has exploited the potential of this innovative genre and heavily invested in recent Web Series productions. Some examples include the use of new formats and language (Zio Gianni and Il Candidato), the
main series’ plot extension (Fuoriclasse Off and Io tra 20 anni, companion series respectively of Fuoriclasse and Una Grande Famiglia), although also the production of original content (Mashup e #140Secondi) and contest (2Posti al Sole and Io Credo che lassù) for young and light viewing audiences.
Investment, made in recent months, has enriched us together with our experience and has indeed
meant that RAI is today acknowledged as the first national Italian Broadcaster in experimentation and
production of this young and popular genre
A year ago our commitment was understanding and explaining the Web Series market. Our research
into this genre will continue and currently, with the partnership of EmergingSeries and The Observatory
on Digital Media, we would like to highlight how a successful Web product is not necessarily defined
by the number of its viewers. Success involves the capability to engage different audiences, whether
young or not attracted by traditional communication media, and this is our next goal, which we intend
achieving by increasing our offer of innovative, contemporary and cross-media products.
1
Evolution of Web Series, The Italian Case in the International Scenario, summary of the research: ANALISI DI SCENARIO - EVOLUZIONE DEL FENOMENO WEB SERIES,
Neopsis, 2014, Marketing Department – TV Offer
3
Introduction
Simone Arcagni, Mirko Lino, Giusy Mandalà, Antonio Santangelo
There follows an extract from EmergingSeries Journal no. 2, with the title Inside Web Series, which
will be presented at the 67th Prix Italia – RAI (Turin, 19–24 September).
The articles that follow arose from the needs of the research that EmergingSeries has been conducting since 2013, to try to define the state of the Web series art, basically taking as a reference this year
and last (2014–2015).
The issue of the Journal, found in full, in Italian, on your pen drive, comprises three parts: Technology and Market; Genres, Content and Communication Strategies; Interviews. Here you find just
the first two articles of the Genres, Content and Communication Strategies section, by Mirko Lino
and Antonio Santangelo.
Thanks to our research into the general functioning of the Web series system, Prix Italia – RAI encourages us to ask a question that might direct our future studies: what are Web series and why are
they successful? At the moment we can only come up with ideas, all of which require confirmation.
Nevertheless, the reasons behind this kind of success are difficult to explain. There are a great many
variables to take into consideration. Based on the reflections put forward in this issue of EmergingSeries Journal, one assumption is that Web series attracting positive comments are based on a communicative pact that is somehow different, recognizable and reasonable compared to existing television series or audiovisual products.
Let us look in more detail at the content of the EmergingSeries Journal we are presenting . . .
In La fiction delle webserie: un percorso tra i generi, Mirko Lino tries to identify and define Web series genres. Which have greater success, including winning worldwide Web fests, and which have most views or
are chosen by manufacturers and brands. The genre sphere is an interesting tool, both for understanding
those who produce, what they produce, and their targets, but also for beginning to understand what different groups of Web users are seeking and how to define what they prefer, since we know that the definition
of genre is not a status but the result of a series of upward and downward “exchanges”.
Antonio Santangelo, in his paper Il linguaggio delle webserie. Modelli semiotici e pratiche comunicative a confronto, also gets to the heart of Web series, and analyses, above all, the relationship triggered
with its consumers, seeking to describe several models of reception and reading. In particular, he reflects on the communication objectives pursued by the various subjects that produce, manufacture, distribute, and consume audiovisual serial products for the Web. He then tries to shed light on how these
should be made in order to achieve these results.
As a research group we believe that analysing the content and dynamics or strategies of consumption,
fruition and propagation is the only way to define the specificity of Web fiction and in particular of this
genre-non-genre, which the Web series usually is.
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GENRE, CONTENT AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR WEB SERIES
FICTION IN WEB SERIES
An overview of genre
Mirko Lino
Abstract
This article offers some considerations on the type of genre and its validity in the Web-native media scenario. Within this context a
key role is played by the Web series: fiction serials produced for and distributed on the Web, where languages and methods of fruition have a profound impact on the media and linguistic system of content and entertainment production in the video format. On the
one hand, Web series revive the independent film and TV genre case, translating it for the Web; on the other hand, they tend to detach from it quite consciously, thus instigating experimental, creative and innovative forms and languages. In this scenario, nonetheless hard to pin down, because it shifts constantly in terms of technology and communication, are TV and film genres the conceptual
constructs that allow increasingly medium-active user-viewers to navigate in the vast ocean of Web-serial productions? Through the
Web-serial cases spotlighted by awards and nominations at international Web fests, or for number of views, we will seek to chart a
course of critical reading by applying notions of genre.
Keywords
Genre; Fruition; Television; Cinema; Media Ecologies.
Scenario
In the convergence scenario for audiovisual productions, the Web series is the media format whose impact and dissemination allow us
to observe better than others how traditional media languages hybridize with those of related digital media. The result is production
of media objects that cast a glance at traditional cinema and TV but consciously step away from them.
The Web series is a media object whose definition is complex because it draws attention to a number of variables:
The organization format of serial storytelling. The transverse diffusion of storytelling in itself, using multiple media (transmedia
storytelling); construction of storytelling using multiple media (cross-media storytelling), or with textual contributions from multiple users (crowd storytelling);
Communication Strategies. User-generated content and fandom, educational, brand-oriented content, and we can include the
companion Web series used to expand the fictional worlds of successful publishing franchises (e.g. three seasons of webisodes
shot by Greg Nicotero as spin-offs of The Walking Dead), or to revitalize the identity of old television products (e.g. the venerable soap, The Bold and the Beautiful);
Players and social media. The impact of the Web’s communication channels on production, distribution and fruition of Web series,
for example specific channels for social network’s like Riccardo Milanesi’s Facebook series L’altra (2010); Uno di troppo (2014),
promoted by Fertylized on Instagram; and Silvio Gelmi’s First Time (2015) on Vine;
The technologies. Software and devices for virtual reality, augmented reality,2 live streaming apps (Merkaat, Periscope, Live), serial app games (e.g. one for playing The Walking Dead produced by TellTale Game).
2 See, M. Lino, G. Mandalà, in S. Arcagni 2015.
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This list shows how difficult it is to find a comprehensive definition that will identify the Web series, hence we see how important it is
to define an analysis by referring to cross-variables. Indeed, although the Web series proposes a formal structure very similar to that of
the television series (subdivision of story into episodes that make up one or more seasons), at the same time it stands out from traditional models for the use of pared-down narrative timeframes typical of Web language and communication flows;3 as a format they
revitalize traditional styles while appearing as a busy workshop that creates forms, content, interactivity and participation models, innovative videos, all guaranteeing the viewer an increasingly immersive, compelling, all-encompassing fiction experience.
In this context, where old and new, familiar and innovative, fuse their terms to create new media objects that map the paths for 2.0
entertainment from now on, it is useful to refer to the notion of “genre” because it enables initial orientation within the vast production of fiction circulated as Web series on our devices, for entertainment, conveying new ways to represent and describe the world,
highlighting an experimental dimension that begins on the Web and goes viral in other forms of culture.
Through examples of international and national Web series outstanding for story content and style used to the point of being nominated and winning awards at major international Web festivals, becoming viral phenomena, innovating styles of quality fiction, we will
try to give an overview of the kinds of Web series, and consider what upcoming productions on the horizon have in store.
A Question of Genre
The analysis of fiction for the Web brings poses several questions and one of the more legitimate regards the genres used to identify
series content. The genre allows us to classify content type through the recurrence of rules and traditional motifs; in other words, it
provides an original identity for the story and indicates which narrative universe we are entering. Therefore, one of the first steps is to
juxtapose the codifications that make film and television genres easily recognizable for the Web context, and ask ourselves if we can
apply the concepts of the genres with which we identify films and TV series when referring to convergence audiovisuals.
Considering the Italian context, Simone Arcagni (2013) recalls:
Web series have pumped genres back into the Italian media system: a narrative dimension that Italy has often embraced,
and with great results (for instance spaghetti Westerns, Bava and Argento horror films, etc.). Later ousted almost entirely
from film and television, geared increasingly towards comedy and whodunits, the more dynamic and experimental genres
such as horror, thriller, apocalyptic, and science fiction, are now back in independent – often ultra-independent – Web productions as a major resource, not only to attract audiences, but also as a narrative style that offers a variety of interpretations and reflections.4
Thus genres neglected in TV productions and requiring substantial budgets in filmmaking, crop up in Web domains, less bound to the
rules of the entertainment industry, and therefore free to develop their expression spontaneously. With what could be termed the
“translation of genres on the Web” a twofold tendency developed: on the one hand we see Web series carefully re-encoding traditional
genres, thus initiating a process of reappropriation of narrative imagery by independent grassroots authors and video makers, in order
to prove their creative abilities and skill in handling the languages of TV and cinema, to have the same representative legitimacy from
the two traditional reference media; on the other hand, the Web continues to support the hybridization of multiple genres, stimulating
the interest of assorted audiences that range from mainstream to cult, and niche targets often left on the fringes of television entertainment offerings. For instance, Claudio Di Biagio’s Freaks! (2011–2013) explicitly mixes the imagery of hit TV series like Misfits
and Heroes, which are a good combination of sci-fi and teen dramedies, reproducing them with a healthy smattering of self-mockery
placed over a complex narrative structure that plays out chaotically on different levels, showing how Web stories and genres collect
self-referentiality and intertextuality, becoming multifaceted devices that enrich ordinary TV series with an interactive and participative
dimension using paratextual Web elements like comments and “likes”.
Looking more closely at the Web series scenario, we notice the massive proliferation of certain genres, both pure and hybrid, that
3 See M. Lino, Tempi ridotti. La temporalità narrativa delle webserie, in F. Cleto, F. Pasquali (eds) Tempo di serie. La temporalità nella narrazione seriale, Unicopli, Milan [in
publication]
4 http://www.technonews.it/2013/06/17/the-scape-nel-mondo-delle-Web-series/
6
have colonized the Web fiction offer, and which are mostly comedy, drama, horror, and sci-fi. Indeed, next to entirely independent
productions that fill YouTube and Vimeo, and which are specific to Web TV and Web channels, there are those dedicated to comedy in
its many expressions (gags, sketches, puns, etc.) like 5-Second Films, Buzzfeed or the Italian FlopTv and BonsaiTv; those dedicated
to all forms of horror, like Eli Roth’s CriptTv, which store Web series encoded in specific genres that are able to steal audience from TV
entertainment and compete with the imageries offered by film releases.5
As film theory teaches, genres follow on and fuse respective codes and traditional motifs, changing but remaining equally recognizable to viewers, functioning as a device that illustrates fears and hopes in relation to changes that permeate society. So it is useful to
refer to the theory of film genres to frame Web series in the post-cinema context6 with regard to TV genres, following the cultural approach proposed by Jason Mittel, which stated that in addition to textual components, the dynamics of production, distribution, promotion and reception of content should also be included:
the boundaries between text and the cultural practices that constitute them (primarily production and reception) are too shifting and fluid to be reified. Texts exist only through their production and reception, so we cannot make the boundary between
texts and their material cultural contexts absolute. Genres transect these boundaries, with production, distribution, promotion,
and reception practices all working to categorized media texts into genres. (Mittel 2004)
At this point, a quick aside on the first Web series that appeared on the Net is useful for understanding the dynamics that lead to the
affirmation and hybridization of two or more genres.
Back in Time . . . But Not Too Far: Vlog Series
The Spot (1995–7), Scott Zakarin, considered by some scholars (e.g. Bressa 2015:36– 59) the first Web series product,7 was an interactive and participatory Web fiction where users could read the diaries of the spotmates, tenants of an apartment building that closely resembled the location of the TV teen drama Melrose Place (indeed, the series was nicknamed “Melrose Place-on-the-Web”), access photos
and short videos uploaded by the characters, chat with them and thus offer a personal contribution to the unfolding of the story.
The Spot transported a successful 1990s’ TV genre (the Beverly Hills 90210 teen drama) – to the Web domain, enhancing it with
an interactive and participative dimension, able to develop a shareable and intimate communication space between the viewer-user,
the characters in the fiction and the media format, thus defining one of the most significant differences between online and offline
fiction. This transition came by interfacing with the online diary, namely the vlog. Indeed, the first online fiction serial on YouTube,
Lonely Girl 15 (2006–8) by Miles Beckett and Mesh Flinders, was a staging of teenager Bree’s weekly videoblog, telling her own
personal stories in front of her PC webcam.8 Ten years on, Lonely Girl 15 (unlike The Spot), marked a clear break with the TV model, indicating both a potential separation between TV and Web (being the first “recovered” on YouTube), and the regeneration of TV
in an online dimension.
Other Web series have used the lockdown shot of a probable webcam to diminish the distance between fiction and viewer. The Guild
(2007–13), created by television personality Felicia Day using a comic key to narrate the interferences of online role-playing games
in the daily life of a group of avid players, shows the fun dimension at the origin of the online fiction series. In any case, Lonely Girl
15 was actually a joke, a game somewhere between fiction and reality, no? Web storytelling is a fun method inherited directly from
the gaming culture (what the cyberpunk writer William Gibson (2001) defined “otaku culture”),9 solidly present in the hands-on, per5 This is also demonstrated by the exchange of expertise found between film, television and Web: Hollywood and TV serial directors and actors write, film and perform Web
series fiction, like Electric City produced by Tom Hanks for Yahoo!Screen, David Fincher’s House of Cards, Andy and Lana Wachowsky’s Sense8, both for Netflix, and the
upcoming Amazon Prime release, The Man in the High Castle, by Ridley Scott.
6 See the chapter “Postcinema” in S. Arcagni 2012: 93–120, which refers to Web fiction as one of the most prolific results of the hybridization between cinema and Web.
7 Nevertheless, The Spot was, in turn, inspired by the interactive and participatory experience of Tracy Reed’s QuantumLink Serial (1988–9), one of AOL’s first attempt to
create a computer fiction within the online services accessible to users of Commodore and Apple computers.
8 Again the audience interacted with the fictional character, considering her “real” and sending messages and emails. It was later discovered that Bree was a young actress
working for the Studios and the webcam was a professional camera. For more details on LonelyGirl 15, see F. Rose 2013: 158–160.
9 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/apr/01/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.features
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forming storytelling that characterizes complex media objects like Alternate Reality Games (ARG).10
The fun dimension becomes a narrative genre thanks to various forms of online comedy. Fred (2008–11), an online video comedy
series for very young audiences on YouTube, created by actor Lucas Cruikshank, places the platform itself at the core of the stories,
linking the Web series format to vlogging jokes (the voice the actor uses expresses the idea perfectly).
Some Genre Strategies
Comedy, in its many forms (gags, sketches, skits, puns, nonsense), is the genre that can exploit the characteristic form of the Internet
medium, especially its communication flows and cropped timeframe, mingling with other genres: dramedy, zombedy, fantasy comedies, etc.. It is a genre that highlights the talents of young authors who contribute to renewing codes, forms and styles, using freer
languages, intercepting or launching new trends, focusing on a metatextual dimension that if well organized and well dosed provides
interesting interpretations on how the Web regenerates itself by tending to destroy or mock what has already been created, taking it
to the excess and undoing the bombast.11 In this respect, Ho sognato Manuela (2015), a corporate Web series produced to promote
Maxibon ice cream, turned the world of Web marketing and production of brand-oriented Web series into comedy, proposing an efficient “mise en abyme”: a Web series that tells the story of the production of a brand-oriented Web series in order to lampoon – with
the complicity of the audience – the invasive product placement logic tending to cripple the independent creativity that is crucial to
brand promotion. So it is no coincidence that the oldest Web series (dating back to a pre-YouTube era) is a sitcom – Something To Be
Desired (2003–9) – describing the lives of a group of Pittsburgh friends, which ran for six seasons.
The spread of compact fruitions and timeframes, as in Leonardo Settimelli’s Web series Il Progettino, whose episodes lasted ten seconds (four for the theme music and six of content), allows interchangeability between the Web and television: the Web looks to TV to
parody it, drawing on an endless resource for referential games, while TV is increasingly attentive to what is happening in the sphere
of online entertainment, to renew itself and adapt to media consumption convergence. So it is increasingly frequent to find Web series
and Web docs on TV, while young Web authors are being invited to write fiction conceived for online and TV broadcast (for instance
The Pills’ Zio Gianni, one of the newest Ray platform contents), as well as traditional TV fiction with the valiant (but necessary?) intention of bringing two different audiences (young and adult) towards one content.
After a first phase in which the Web series sought to combine the possible forms of the new medium with traditional media codes
(genres more complex to produce like horror and science fiction) in their many variations, they began to assert themselves in the audiovisual landscape of the Web. Horror and science fiction allow authors and video makers to show off their professional skills and
expertise with genres boasting structured coding and a wide variety of imageries, as well as having fun with the creation and use of
digital effects.
Specifically, horror varies from the revival of traditional figures, especially vampires and zombies, to fusion with various imageries and
10 The alternate reality game topic is explored in this issue in Domenico Morreale’s article, Serialità Web tra narrazione transmediale e fruizione sociale online.
11 A dynamic that recalls the term “creative destruction” used by Joseph Schumpeter in the first half of the 20th century to explain some fundamental aspects of the relationship between Capitalist production and innovation.
8
contexts (mystery, fantasy, thriller, etc.). In any case, it is a genre that is tied closely to the place where you shot – urban locations,
suburbs, abandoned places – but it can also be used for regional promotion. Elba – L’eredità di Napoleone (2014) written and directed by I Licaoni, for example, is a mini horror comedy action Web series starring the tormented ghost of Napoleon and a couple of
tour guides. The project was commissioned by the Italian Tourism Board to promote the island of Elba and has received several awards
at international festivals (Melbourne, Los Angeles), both for the quality of the work and for the original choice of using horror to convey promotional messages. Gli abiti del male (2013), produced by Brandon Box and MYmovies, distributed on Yahoo!Screen and
also vaunting a TV broadcast (Italia 2), is a horror Web series set in Milan’s monumental cemetery. As Roy Menarini (2013) wrote
when he added this Web series to the context of Italian fiction productions “it is up to Web series like this to renew a dying tradition
[...] and in a country deeply marked by religious culture like ours, choosing the cemetery as the interstitial place between worlds assumes an even more striking significance.”12
The Ushers (2013), by Andrea Galatà and Chiara De Caroli, has won several awards in national and international Web fests (American Online Film Awards, LAWebFest, California Film Awards, IMMaginario WebFest, Rome Web Awards, Marseille Web Fest), making
the best of Web series 2014 charts drawn up by the US magazine WebVee Guide, as well as selling its online distribution rights to
Twenty Twenty Production. The series also brings into play narrative and production strategies based on the concept of crowdsourcing,
involving crews scattered around different countries (Japan, Zambia, UK, USA, Italy, Netherlands, Spain), who gave the final product
different stylistic contributions each time.
Here, too, we can refer back to what Menarini writes for Gli abiti del male, since The Ushers also flouts national-popular Italian TV fiction traditions, placing a young priest in the key role, fighting demons, in a country where general TV fiction like Don Matteo continues to attract massive audiences.
Other Worlds, Other Fiction
As noted by Rod T. Faulkner, author of the eBook 200 Best Online Sci-Fi Short Movies (2015), sci-fi productions on the Web are
striking for the quality of the graphics, scenarios, special effects, and for the stories that make fullest use of imagery and figures from
much cyberpunk, fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, and apocalyptic literature. For Faulkner, Web series represent a new frontier for
12 http://www.mymovies.it/film/2013/gliabitidelmale/
9
science fiction. Haphead (2015), by Jim Munroe, for example, brings together the themes of films like Matrix and Existenz, and
pays homage to the sensitivity of virtual reality technology by describing the world in 2025, where videogames will be totally immersive, thus proving to be one of the best sci-fi Web series products of recent years, hardly distinguishable from a TV production. Bamf
Girls Club (2012), by Comediva, however, brings together the female protagonists of sci-fi and fantasy (Katniss Everdeen, Hermione
Granger, Michonne, Buffy, etc.) under the same roof, transforming the Big Brother format into funny, satirical scripts that pay homage to the world of contemporary pop culture, a crossover of imageries well-known to viewers and giving the series a fan fiction feel.
Clearly the concept of the “science fiction” genre is usually an indication for stories that move across multiple codes, effectively combining formulas of different genres.
Vera Bes (2014), by Francesco Mazza and Riccardo Milanesi, brought back to Italy horror films with dream-like settings, mixing fantasy and thriller styles. The story stars Vera, a young tattoo artist whose enters her customers’ dreams through her designs, helping
them defeat their inner demons.
The series has had good results in terms of views and also at festivals (Rome Web Fest and Marseille Web Fest), and reveals substantial references to the tradition of Dario Argento films, Dylan Dog comics and mood of American Horror Story.
A project that expresses the sense of genres mixed with the visual codes of sci-fi Web series is Wastelander Panda (2012), from two
students, Victoria Cocks and Markus McKenzie, whose prologue collected 150,000 views in less than a month. It consists of three
crowdfunded episodes, which will be used to develop a TV series, and tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world starring an alienatingcomic figure: a stuffed toy panda that behaves like the hero of a Hollywood action movie.
Return to Reality
The latest editions of important international Web fests like Los Angeles, Melbourne and Marseille have given awards to two Web series with different styles and genres, thus drawing attention to some delicate aspects of reality: Alzheimer’s Disease and Down Syndrome. Michaëlle en sacrament (2014), by Christine Doyon, Frédérique St-Pierre and Hervé Baillargeon, produced by Canada’s TV5,
awarded best screenplay and best actress at the Marseille Web Fest, is a mini Web series of five dramadies, comprising four-minute
episodes that describe with gentle irony the weekend young Michaëlle spends with her grandmother, without knowing she suffers
from Alzheimer’s. Gettin’ DOWN (2013), by Dennis Curry, winner of the Outstanding Reality Series at the last edition of the LAWebfest, and nominated at Melbourne and KwebFest events, is a project initiated in 2009, when its creator began to lecture in audiovisu-
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al language at centres for the disabled. The series has no real plot, but brings together interviews with people with Down’s Syndrome
to talk about their dreams, work, love, etc., with the aim of promoting social integration of diversity.
Now what?
The Web series moves across a constantly evolving terrain, where the genre is recoded for the purposes of effective communication and
promotional strategies, sometimes becoming more a pretext than a text, an area where high and low, independent and corporate, broadcaster, player and user-spectator blend their respective speeches, and in which production methods cannot disregard ways of fruition.
Comedy is still the most across-the-board genre and, as already mentioned, adds its “edy” suffix (dramedy, zombedy, etc.) to the
names of other genres, its humour emerging in the metatextual dimension, easing its self-referential burden. It drives the diffusion of
genres with which it hybridizes and contributes to the satirical proliferation of figures from horror or sci-fi imagery, renewing discursive
features (for instance Web series devoted to the figure of the zombie and its apocalypse in a comic key), with the comedy and entertainment recovering the sense of the Web’s short, fluid languages. Having attached these characteristics to genre strategies, applicable to comedy and to others, the question remains of what will happen to genres when faced with the many technological developments in the process of being massively marketed and continually updated (apps for live streaming, virtual and augmented reality):
will they work as an organizing principle, or will they too be overwhelmed by the tsunami of innovations, creativity and conceptual
developments that are glimpsed on the horizon of new immersive media ecologies, all in real time?
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GENRE, CONTENT AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR WEB SERIES
THE LANGUAGE OF WEB SERIES
Comparing semiotic models and communication methods
Antonio Santangelo
Abstract
The article, the result of a structured qualitative desk and field-based research, based on semiotic methodologies, deals with the specific way in which Web series use audiovisual language. In particular, it reflects on the communication objectives pursued by the various subjects producing, manufacturing, distributing, and consuming serial audiovisual products for the Web, and trying to shed light on
how these should be made in order to achieve these results. In this regard, a model for the classification of existing titles is presented,
laid out like a map, which allows us to consider the meaning of each in a general overview. The underlying hypothesis for the entire
work is that Web series are a new means of communication that is slowly finding a place in media imagery, taking up a position in
relation to other forms of audiovisual communication, above all television.
Keywords
Language; Web Series; Communication Practices; Semiotic Mapping; Television.
The specificity of Web series
The paper aims to provide an overview of semiotic models of contemporary Web series, in an attempt to highlight, at least in broad
terms, the specific traits of their language. The following reflections are the result of mixed desk-type and field research, conducted
from May 2014 to July 2015, using the archives of the EmergingSeries platform,13 of a list of titles indicated in Ross Brown’s book,
Byte-Sized Television. Create Your Own TV Series for the Internet (2011), in the charts drawn up by Wired Italia of the best, most
interesting audiovisual products for 2014’s Web series14 and on data collected from field surveys conducted respectively by observing
participants at the workshop organized by Prix Italia15 in January 2014, titled Innovare la qualità delle Fiction puntando sul Web in
un’ottica transmediale (Innovating the Quality of Fiction Focusing on the Web in a TransMedia Perspective). Casi di successo e questioni aperte;16 with in-depth interviews of Alessandra Zupi of Marketing RAI and RAI producer Leonardo Ferrara;17 lastly, with focus
groups conducted with about 20 students of the University of Turin’s Prix Italia laboratory.18
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14
15
16
EmergingSeries is a University of Palermo research project, partnered by the e-Campus University with the contribution of the author of this article
www.wired.it/play/televisione/2014/11/07/10-Web-serie/ and www.wired.it/play/cinema/2014/12/27/meglio-peggio-webserie-2014/
One of the world’s key events for themes linked to international television: www.prixitalia.rai.it/
Moderated by: Bettina Brinkmann, head of TV EBU. Guests: Neopsis, presenting the results of a RAI research project called Le Web series in Francia, Gran Bretagna, Italia,
Spagna, Stati Uniti, ed. Andrea Bellavita, Rocco Moccagatta, Miguel Salerno. Voyelle Acker, France Télévisions; Eleonora Andreatta, Director of RAI Fiction; Chrystal Chappell,
US actress and writer, co-producer of Venice – The Series; Janet De Nardis, Art Director of Roma Web Fest; Liselott Forsmann, YLE; Sophie Sallin, Unité Fictions Produites
RTS Svizzera. Each of these figures presented a case study and best practices in the Web series context. Lastly, Giuseppe Tipaldo, University of Turin, pondered how to bear
in mind the opinion of the users in analysing the success of these Web series.
17 There interviews took place in September 2014.
18 This part of the research was conducted with Giuseppe Tipaldo, University of Turin.
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Based on the findings from this study, we will try to argue that here, as in other cases (Santangelo 2013:169–195), the medium
is not the message, contrary to what some less illustrious followers of McLuhan might say. In other words, at present there seems to
be no characteristic determined by the nature of the technologies underpinning the production, transmission, reception, and fruition of
Web series. Rather, the specificity of Web series language depends on the use of audience fruition and production practices of those
offering content, which are defined by the idea that all these people are interested in how this genre of product should be structured
so that there is some point in watching it and – before that – making it. To quote McLuhan once more, it is the meeting point between thought patterns and expectation systems of all these subjects to determine the form and content of the message. Therefore,
as Scaglioni and Sfardini (2010:127–150) stated about a similar topic (convergent television), to address the issue of the language
of the Web series it makes little sense to reason in ontological terms and it would be better to take a phenomenological stance. Serial products for the Web could be interactive, transmedia, multi-platform, low cost, on demand, viral and whatever else, but not all of
them are, and hardly any reveals all these features. The starting point for understanding their semiotic mechanisms actually seems to
be the difference that is slowly emerging in collective imagery with regard to traditional forms of TV series19 (which are also, in part,
inspired by cinema and video games), along with their logic of transmission and fruition (for instance, general and theme free-to-air
or pay satellite and cable channels).20
Short or long format
In this respect, a first major dividing line may be drawn across the format of the Web series, which may be shorter than traditional
TV series or the same length. Some authors, like Ross Brown (op. cit.: 2), believe that brevity is their specific element. The opinion
is shared by professionals gathered at the abovementioned Prix Italia seminar, and RAI marketing and fiction production people. But
at EmergingSeries authors disagree, as do some members of Prix Italia, who believe that audiovisual works of more traditional fiction – at least in terms of length – produced and broadcast by players like Netflix, Amazon Prime and others,21 must be recognized
as Web series.
Those leaning towards the first idea think that Web series require writing techniques to be different from traditional series (Brown ibid:
72). For example, in this genre of product there would not be time to sacrifice the action – the narrative nuclei mentioned by Chatman (1981:52–4) – for the benefit of those forms of characterization, the subplots (Marks 2007:29–78), the themed dialogues
(Bandirali, Terrone 2009: 245–1) that for many scriptwriters can prove very useful for adding depth and meaning to the stories.
Chatman (ibid.), on the other hand, seems to define the latter as “satellite elements” of storytelling and, consequently, expendable
19 This research refers especially to those defined by Grignaffini (2012: 54–70 and 105–7) as miniseries, series, serials, sitcoms and docu-soaps. They are part of the corpus
of the analysis also Some documentary and interview series are also part of the corpus of the analysis.
20 Soon we will consider why streaming-on-demand services like Netflix are still classified as distributors of web series, although unique
21 Consider, for example, House of Cards (2013–15), Orange is the New Black (2013–15) and Bosch (2014–15).
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for the sake of brevity. Yet, as Pamela Douglas (2007:70–8) writes with regard to the TV series, episodes of the latter are also divided into reduced beats, stand-alone modules from the narrative point of view,22 often cliffhanger-based and needed to allow the networks that broadcast them to insert advertising repeatedly in the reasonable hope that viewers stay tuned to their frequencies to find
out how the story ends. Some Web series authors argue that this writing technique is very useful for them too, allowing them to generate products that are actually modular, which can be used in dual mode, as short Web videos and as “long” audiovisuals for television or cinema.23 For various reasons, then, both TV and Web authors address similar problems and therefore it appears that brevity
can never be taken as an absolute distinguishing feature of Web series language.
Moreover, not even the audience considers this division between short Web series and long TV series significant. Students of the University of Turin suggested it was necessary to distinguish between two ways of fruition of audiovisual media in general, depending on
the time available to them. If the latter is limited, of course, they appreciate Web series with episodes of reduced duration, but also
claim that thanks to the broadcast logic of streaming, on demand and download, they can easily watch episodes of their favourite
TV series by splitting them into sections, stopping and resuming viewing as they please, the same way they read a novel. Similarly,
when they have more time, they watch TV series episodes back-to-back, and appreciate choices by players like Netflix to make the
content of products like House of Cards available all together, in a single solution, so fans are not forced to wait several days for the
airing of the next episode. In any case, this logic of access to their favourite serial content is easily found in the world of short Web
series, and those of the serial subgenre above all become “long”, and require careful horizontal development of the narrative in order to make this type of fruition enjoyable.
Viewing regimes
Judging from what the students had to say, but also by what can be seen by examining the contents of the corpus of audiovisual products for the Web on which this research is based, there is a much more important parameter for reflecting on the specificity of Web
series language other than the brevity of the format. We mean regimes of visibility (Ferraro 2001:2–3), tied to how the Web series
position themselves compared to television in particular, and in some cases to other major audiovisual media, referred to the fundamental categories of seeing and watching.
Like all media, television is able to prolong its viewers’ sense of seeing, allowing them to “see a long way” (hence the etymological
meaning of the word “tele-vision”) and configure their gaze, making sense of what it shows them. Of course, neither of these two
operations is innocent or automatic. They are more the result of a series of reflections, often complex, that with regard to the theme
of seeing provide answers to a set of scopic and ethical issues. The former are related to the quality and richness of the audiovisual
experience, which are objective, referential, centred on the ability to render the objective qualities of what we are discussing. The latter answer questions that are far more subjective, on how much must, may or may not be made visible on TV. As regards the theme
of watching, we usually focus on linguistic choices – audiovisual and narrative – made by those expressing themselves through television, representing the world and pursuing both debate about it, and – inevitably – meta-debate on the medium itself and its “nature”. Referring to some Bolter and Grusin (2002:43–56) categories, these debates may pursue a semantic effect of transparent
immediacy: in this case, what the images show does not appear filtered by any particular expressive choice, almost as if viewers are
in front of a window open onto what they are being shown, often communicating to them a sense of revelation of how things really
are. In the second case, on the other hand, we can see a hypermediation effect (Bolter, Grusin ibid: 6–72), in which the audiovisual
language becomes, in a sense, opaque, turning from a simple expressive medium into something else, for the aims of communication
itself, as it is only through the filter that, obviously, we come into contact with the world depicted.
This kind of reasoning – which actually applies to all means of communication – reflects naturally in television shows and helps establish a set of expectations in the viewer. These expectations must be addressed not only by those who work for TV, but anyone involved
in the various audiovisual media, in order to differentiate their offering or at least hallmark it with something that has its own raison
22 The autonomy of the narrative structure in these short forms within the series is linked to the fact that they deal with a topic that is easily recognizable and which concentrates
on the transformation of an initial state into a different ending.
23 This is the position supported, for example, by the authors of the producers of the Web series Due di picche, at the Web Serie d’autore conference, organized by Storycode
in collaboration with EmergingSeries, on 9 April 2015, at the headquarters of the Torino Piemonte Film Commission.
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d’être on the overall media landscape. Here we are supporting the concept, in this regard, that today’s Web series take root in the
imagery of those who create them and those who watch them, as something that in some ways shows us more than what television
(first of all but also cinema and to a certain extent videogames) tends to show, representing or reproducing it equally well, and when it
is unable to achieve certain technical standards it is still capable of offering something more from the ethical and cognitive perspective.
A conceptual map for the classification of Web series
Transforming the themes of seeing and watching into two axes, and placing the concepts we have just mentioned (scopic/objective,
ethic/subjective, world/immediacy, medium/hypermediation) at their vertices, we can try to classify communicative practices at the
origin of Web series that implicitly or explicitly communicate with television series and the audiovisual world in general. The resulting
tool can be used as a concept map to position existing titles and possibly to reflect on those to be developed in future, as happens in
marketing. Furthermore, the squares of this diagram can serve as inspiration for thinking about the existence of certain “genres” of
Web series, based not so much on the repetition of specific themes or recurring stylistic elements – we will not mention horror, comedy or drama here – but on the relationship between the different types of communication objectives of the authors, producers, distributors, their audience, and the linguistic and content characteristics of audiovisual products that allow them to reach the viewers.
Fig. 1 – Axes and squares of the map
Starting from the Y axis, we can define as having scopic meaning all those Web series that ensure the topic they are dealing with is
“seen well”. It is primarily a technical seeing, focused on image quality, cutting, sound, acting, but also storytelling. From the perspective of those who produce and create these Web series, they often serve to showcase professional skills, inevitably gauged to the standard defined by television and cinema. From the perspective of the audience, they convey the pleasure of finding something of high
quality on the Web and, in some cases, of feeling like a discoverer of new talent. Ross Brown (op. cit.: XI–XIII) means scopic Web
series when he addresses the audience of readers of his manual for writing “byte-sized television”, who are mainly students of American video schools. He urges them to take advantage of the Internet to show the world how good they are. This is also the kind of content intended by many TV producers in the most established networks when they argue (like RAI’s Leonardo Ferrara in the interview
quoted in the first paragraph of this article) that big broadcasters can find promising new authors thanks to the world of Web series.
Lastly, this way of conceiving the audiovisual Web series is again in the minds of broadcasters when they produce them directly, with
the idea that their professional skills and resources will allow them to generate something remarkable for the Web because they offer
elevated standards both in visual and narrative terms. In more basic terms, scopic Web series provide an answer to a cliché repeatedly
mentioned by University of Turin students, recalling the times when videos found on the Internet were mostly homemade. Now, however, many Web series achieve the technical standards of professional products that were once available only on other media platforms.
In the world of Web series, however, the “scopic” concept is not only connected with quality but also with the amount of vision. Indeed, scopic Web series offer viewing that is as good as on TV or in established audiovisual media, and to see more than what the
latter show. This is the case with the companion Web series, created precisely to accompany TV series, exploiting the mechanism of
the prequel, or developing the back stories of main or secondary characters.24
Here, seeing often encroaches into knowing and turns into a sort of exploration of narrative possibilities left open by the possible
24 Dexter – Early Cuts (2009–12), Dr. Who – Pond Life (2012), Una grande famiglia – Vent’anni prima (2013), or The Walking Dead – Torn Apart (2011) are all examples .
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world (Eco: 1979 122–73) generated by TV series. But this is also the logic of those audiovisual serial products found on the Web
and made by established or aspiring professionals, linked to the world of video games, comics or all the other cult media content not
shown on TV, possibly because it is considered niche phenomena.25 Finally, it is how many high- and low-budget projects function,
promising to show a certain kind of reality in a more direct, scathing, inappropriate way and, in general, more truthful and interesting
than had occurred previously on television26 or elsewhere. In this case, however, instead of enhancing knowledge and exploration of
a world created by a reference TV or media serial product, work is done on spectator encyclopaedias and screenplays (ibid.: 79–85),
to show them the latter can be revived to be disregarded, enriched or used to go beyond the expectations they are able to generate.
Turning to the X axis of the diagram in Figure 1, scopic Web series may decide on one of two different communicative goals: to show
the world they intend to represent or show the typical language they will use to represent this world in audiovisual media in general and for television in particular. In the former, as already mentioned, we can speak of a semantic effect of transparent immediacy
and revelation; in the latter, of hypermediation. The Web series that arise from the latter, which could be defined as formal, are often genre products, obviously made to show that they can express themselves following certain rules, once again set by cinema and
television but also, in some cases, as will be shown later, by the Web itself. They are used for the pleasure of finding something new
on the Web, albeit made with the blessing of what the audience has learned to enjoy according to its experience in other contexts.
However, there are also some experimental formal Web series, mostly interactive or transmedia, again focused on audiovisual language and how it is used on various media platforms, but here aimed at innovating communication dynamics to propose to audiences.
Returning to the Y axis of the diagram in Figure 1, the contrary of scopic Web series are those that could be defined as ethic. Here
the word “ethic”, as we have seen, refers to a strongly subjective communicative intention, as opposed to the objectivizing aim of the
preceding examples. Anyone who pursues this goal, seems to want to use their work to emphasize that the topic addressed is particularly relevant from a cultural, moral or value standpoint, while those who watch this kind of content seem to do so recognizing and
acknowledging its importance. In these cases, attention to image or sound, or the pleasure of reviving genre language, are often –
not always – left in the background but strong, simultaneously reasoned and passionate positions are held about the world depicted
or about media language. This depends on whether we observe the Web series quadrant that could be defined as “socially committed”, precisely because they are committed to tackling complex and often controversial issues, or whether we observe the meta-reflexive Web series quadrant, citing the language of old and new media to deconstruct it and consider its meaning. However, in these
cases, television and other audiovisual media27 are left in the background, as elements of encyclopaedic and cultural anchors, allowing anyone to realize they are dealing with audiovisual products that differ from more traditional series, or from films, documentaries,
etc., showing something they do not usually show and questioning the way they address viewers.
25 This is the case of Mortal Kombat Legacy (2011–13), linked precisely to the Mortal Kombat world of videogames, or the Vittima degli Eventi (2014) project, linked to
the Dylan Dog comic universe; for more insights into the latter, see M. Lino (ed) Vittima degli Eventi: analisi di un fenomeno crossmediale (monograph issue dedicated to
Vittima degli Eventi project). EmergingSeries Journal, no. 1, 2015.
26 This is the case, and will be discussed later, of several famous series produced by Netflix, like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black.
27 In some cases, as we will see, the same can be said for the Web and – specifically here – types of expression and content of some of the best-known audiovisual products
circulating on the Internet.
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The socially-committed Web series quadrant
Each quadrant of the diagram in Figure 1 is characterized by several linguistic peculiarities, enabling those who pursue scopic/objective or ethic/subjective ideas regarding the representation of and immediate reflection on the world or hypermediated reflection on
media, to achieve the desired communication results. Some solid examples may be useful for classifying the salient features of various types of Web series language within the quadrants themselves.
As for the “socially committed”, the award-winning Getting DOWN (2013) and Libres (2012) – classified by festivals respectively
as a reality serial and a drama series – represent perfectly the characteristics of this product genre. Their similarities, though belonging to two very different “TV” genres like factual and fiction, both derive from the kind of audiovisual content which pursues immediacy and transparency. Getting DOWN talks about the daily lives of several young people with Down Syndrome, and it does so in a
very simple way, using the documentary approach of a handheld camera without artificial lights, in medias res sequences, and fixed
camera for interviews from “the confessional”. Libres, on the other hand, albeit more varied from the language perspective, chooses
the path of very realistic photography, restrained acting, and decidedly classical cutting. It tells the story of a group of young Spanish people who move to the mountains, settling an abandoned village, to try an alternative way of life compared to their own crisisridden neoliberal society.
Given the background themes, it is quite obvious why these two Web series can be classified as socially committed, addressing some
important issues not often found in general television, but they do it using general television language. Something very similar is found
in Venice – The Series (2009–15), a spin-off conceived as a free development of a subplot of Guiding Light (1952–2009), one of
the most famous, long-lived CBS soaps, which had dedicated episodes to a love story between two women who realized they were
homosexual late in life. On television this theme was dramatized by emphasizing the social and emotional complexity of the choices
of these characters, while on the Web their relationship is accepted as established and the focus is on showing the daily life of a gay
couple. During the Prix Italia workshop, mentioned several times here, the authors pointed to the increased freedom of expression
they are guaranteed by the network and the chance to reach an audience that until then they had been able to contact via Guiding
Light. Again, then, we can understand what it means to reconnect the class of the socially-committed Web series with the “visibility”
of certain issues when shown on television.
An interesting digression can also be made about how this kind of content builds the outlook of its viewers on the world. As mentioned,
here it is a matter of pursuing the immediacy and transparency of language in order to focus all attention on what is being shown. For
this reason, no form of expressive experimentation is sought: the visual and narrative stylistic features of several genres are already
widely known and codified in the general imagery. Venice – The Series therefore remains a soap opera, Libres a drama series, and
Getting DOWN a reality serial, of which many can be seen on television. In some cases, although not many, there are some technical
or grammatical hiccoughs, but this does not undermine the overall quality, because these issues are not part of the communication
pact established with the audience. What matters is precisely the world represented, and its ethical and cultural value.
The meta-reflexive Web series quadrant
Observing the success28 of operations like Venice – The Series certainly inspires some thought on the functioning of generalist TV and
on some of its limits, which are explored by Web series. In this case, however, audiovisual content distributed on the Web makes no
explicit reference or any direct criticism of television, which actually represents the launch-pad for the new project on the Internet. In
other circumstances, however, the reflection on television and media in general on their ethics of representation of the world and,
above all, on their language, is more explicit and becomes the focal point or one of the central elements of the topic, as occurs with
meta-reflexive Web series.
A striking example of this kind of content is Ho sognato Manuela (2015), created by Zero, a YouTube collective, for advertising Maxibon Motta ice cream. In this case, advertising language is targeted and, more specifically, the practice of product placement. Here a
classic frame story is developed, with a group of young video makers commissioned by Maxibon to produce a branded Web series,
28 While Guiding Light has been suspended, Venice – The Series is still being produced and now even has to be paid for.
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using hyperbole and irony to describe how a fiction sponsored by a company is produced to promote one of its products.29 Thanks to
a very simple expressive procedure – that of the video in the video – viewers are invited to keep a critical distance from certain communication ploys, although they are basically involved in them.
Slightly more subtle, from this point of view, but similar in meaning, is Hot for Words30 (2007–15), where the attractive Russian
philologist, Marina Orlova, uses her looks to make a living dealing with what she is most passionate about: the meaning of words.
The semiotic mechanism that sustains her videos is definitely tongue-in-cheek. The theme makes it clear immediately that the communication pact being offered to the audience, stating that “smart is sexy”, then the protagonist appears in all her glory in front of
a Webcam, her clothes creating a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t effect, as she talks about the philological meaning of words that are
suggested directly by viewers. In practice, therefore, emphasis is placed on the fact that we cannot contravene the unwritten and oftcriticized rules of the entertainment world, whereby a beautiful woman who wants to present in intelligent terms in the media must
satisfy the voyeuristic demands of the viewer.31 On the other hand, however, how all this can be exploited is shown in a playful way
to the advantage of those who basically do not want to conceded entirely to this concept.
The two aforementioned products, however, do not lampoon just television language, but also several communication practices that
are present on TV but are even more recognizable on the Web, like videoblogging or branded audiovisual content production. There are
many meta-reflexive Web series32 working on distancing themselves from the intrinsic dynamics of Internet audiovisual communication. Nonetheless, as Mirko Lino says (2015), those focused solely on these themes are now decreasing, while it is more common to
come across hybrid projects, criticizing the relationship between the Internet itself and the audiovisual world in general. One is Kubrick
– Una storia porno (2013), about a group of young filmmakers who dream of making films but are forced to produce porn, the only
sector in which they can make any profit, thanks to the Web. Another is Bob Torrent (2015), on the world of low-cost audiovisual production generated by the phenomenon of Web piracy. In these cases, squawking cinema or television serial language and that of this
kind of content, typically available online, makes for some smart comedy that highlights the contradictions of contemporary reality.
29 The catchphrase of this series is “nice but we need more product”, pronounced by the marketing director of the sponsor company, who demands Maxibon ice creams be
seen in each sequence, even when their presence is totally unjustified.
30 Hot for Words is one of many cases of hybrid Web series falling into two or more quadrants of the diagram shown here (in this case, between the revealing and the metareflexive type). The rest of the article contains paragraphs specific to this type of content.
31 The Webcam approach is particularly interesting here, because it stands at the crossroads between the expressive approach of television, appropriated from Grande Fratello
(see, in this regard, Ferraro in Volli 2008: 348–75 ), and that of the Web, basically where it was born, proving immediately that it was well able to meet the needs of the
voyeurism typical of contemporary media companies.
32 Lonely Girl 15 (2006–8), the fake videoblog of girl locked in the house by her parents for religious reasons, now revived in a grotesque, comic key by YouTube, Martina
Dell’Ombra De Broggi De Sassi.
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It is interesting to note that in none of the examples cited do the authors criticise television and media language directly, preferring
satire and comedy. The de-constructive effect of this kind of operation is still visible, but the willingness to entertain is also evident,
once again, applying an approach widely recognized by the public, as if to create a sort of dialogue, rather than an interruption, using the same communication codes it seeks to criticize. So, in reality, it is not completely removed from the mass communication approach we all know.
The formal Web series quadrant
The contemplation of television language and its relationship with its audiovisual equivalent, now taking root on the Internet, is not
always hallmarked by ethical criticism. In many cases, indeed, it is pursued for the sheer intention of experimenting or, more simply,
for amusement. This is the case of the “formal” Web series, focusing specifically on the issue of the form of expression.
These are mostly genre products, often citationist, which the authors think will demonstrate that they know how to reproduce the visual and (above all) narrative functioning of films or most famous TV series, while the audience is entertained by various communication dynamics it knows and loves. An emblematic title in this respect is Wastelander Panda (2012), and it is no coincidence that the
makers are two film school students. They play with the stylistic elements of fantasy to narrate the epic of an implausible family of
anthropomorphic pandas from its origins, roaming the desert in search of redemption. Everything looks very serious and precise, from
the protagonist’s voiceover to the post-apocalyptic settings, battles, dialogues, costumes, and music. Yet the mood is one of pure, constant divertissement, perhaps because of the actors’ artificially simple masks, like Carnival costumes, denoting the good-humoured
nature of the entire operation.
However, there are many cases of formal Web series that are not underpinned by irony and pick up awards at festivals, perhaps because they show that audiovisual products for the Web can be made at the same standard as films or TV. Nevertheless, the feeling of
déjà-vu is very strong, and there are many examples, including titles like The Syndicate (2012), a sort of British Dexter (2006–13),
where Showtime’s famous serial killer is replaced by a whole family of hardened murderers; or Juda’s Goat (2014), about vampires
and other types of undead. As with all genre products, what proves to be important here is not so much the story but how it is told.
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Language is in the spotlight and somehow becomes “opaque”, obscuring everything else and arousing the sensation of mediation
we have already mentioned.
More interesting, however, are the experimental forms of Web series, working on issues of interactivity or transmedia, seeking new
approaches to expression capable of innovating audiovisual language. We can mention many Italian projects, from Lost in Google
(2012) to Under (2014), Futour 2045 (2014–15), and Elba – L’eredità di Napoleone (2014). It would be too complex to describe them all, and beyond the scope of this article, but what counts is that the aim of all of these operations – or one of their focal
points, because we will see that some of them hybridize with the “revealing” Web series approach – is to involve the audience directly in writing or in exploration of worlds that unfold across various means of communication within different forms of interconnected textuality, in some cases overflowing beyond media with the formula of the alternate reality game. In all these situations, seeing
is driven by looking through the lens of languages and complex communication strategies developed to construct a particular fruition
experience and its immersive method, but this is pursued at the price of a greater cognitive effort than that usually required by more
traditional audiovisual products.
Lastly, an interesting type of formal Web series has emerged in recent years, linked to the audiovisual adaptation of classic novels,
often transposed to cinema or television, like Frankenstein (Shelley, 1818) or The Invisible Man (Wells, 1881). In Frankenstein
MD (2014) and in The Invisible Man (2014), for example, some young video makers try to translate the contents of these famous
works into the typical language used for Web videos, relying on the Webcam approach or that of audiovisual genres, from sitcoms to
thrillers. The result is more or less successful, but the audience is encouraged to reflect on the nature of the different media involved
in these operations.
The revealing Web series quadrant
The last type of content to be described is defined in the diagram in Figure 1 as the “revealing” Web series. As mentioned, it is
based on the desire to show and see well the world they represent, at least as well as well as on television and in the great audiovisual mass media, but also showing and seeing more than this, essentially without experimenting and reproducing the language
of cinema and TV.
There are endless titles that could be mentioned as examples of how this Web series logic works. In this regard, the first we might
mention are those produced by television broadcasters, namely the so-called companion Web series, a topic already discussed in the
previous sections and which requires no further explanation here. It is useful to recall, in this context, that generally speaking these
Web series use the same language as TV series, reproducing their characters, mood and overall format, but also explore inside the
worlds created, shifting to the past or developing some of the secondary narrative lines. In this way, they reveal something that fans
had not yet been able to see on television, giving them the opportunity to browse the Web for any videos related to narrative worlds
they have learned to love elsewhere.
With regard to revelations, there is also an interesting policy followed by a major Web streaming communication player like Netflix,
whose strategy to make Internet television has rocked the confidence of many observers in defining its audiovisual serial products –
House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Marco Polo (2014) – as Web series.33 This discussion really needs much more space, but
in the perspective being explored in this article we can see that each of these titles, in its own way, aims to show more than what
we usually see on television and to do it better. For example, House of Cards goes behind the scenes – so to speak – of the most
famous political drama of the American television series, West Wing (1999–2006), showing that the President of the United States
of America’s people are not those unblemished heroes the public thought it knew, but cynical, refined players seated at the card table of the brutal power game. Orange is the New Black, conversely, puts viewers inside a world seldom narrated in film and television
history, a women’s prison, observed, moreover, through the “alternative” perspective of a bisexual woman. Lastly, Marco Polo heads
literally into another world, that of the famous Venetian merchant, spending the highest budget in the history of audiovisual serials in
general. Of course, this genre of products can be and was broadcast on TV, but the same goes for the Web series – in Italy, look at
33 For example, in focus groups with University of Turin students, opinions proved to be conflicting. Alessandra Zupi of RAI Marketing does not consider this kind of product to be
a Web series but a television series distributed applying a new methodology; EmergingSeries writers, however, as mentioned, include them in a database dedicated precisely
to Web series.
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the case of Il candidato (2014), keeping to the subject of politics – and, as mentioned in the previous pages, the fact that the duration of each episode is similar to that of traditional series episodes or that their language does not deviate from that of the latter may
not be enough to classify them as purely “television” content.
Revealing Web series may also include those that disclose something about some specific area of reality, more or less niche, and because of this stated goal, they can belong to both the fiction and the factual genre. Some fiction series we might mention include Blue
(2012–15), by Wigs, about a woman who works as a prostitute to earn enough to raise her son as a good middle-class American
boy; HBO’s High Maintenance (2012–15), about the customers of a New York marijuana dealer; We Folk (Italy, 2014), about the
journey of two friends around the beauty spots of the Abruzzo region, funded by the regional authority to promote tourism on its territory; Sin vida propia (2012), about the world of the 30s age group without steady employment; Funny or Die (2014), about two
couple, one Italian and one American who become neighbours in the United States, and funded by automotive manufacturer FIAT FCA
to promote its brand; Oposto do sexo (2013), about issues in the sex lives of couples. The list could go on forever, just as we could
classify this genre of product in different ways: sitcoms, comedy, drama, etc.. Perhaps the most evident aspect to emphasize is that,
in their vast variety, all these titles are linked by two linguistic approaches in particular: first, standardization of what is not normal,
like the life of a mother who is a prostitute and wants to give her son a better life, or a father who is a drug dealer but leads a quiet
life in good New York neighbourhoods, showing all the nuances and complexity of the phenomenon; second, the extremes of what is
more normal, like a journey, a relationship, a life characterized by problems at work, and showing it as adventurous, dramatic or grotesque. In this way, as mentioned above, the authors work on collective imagery, going beyond or playing with encyclopaedic knowledge and screenplays of viewers, thus creating an interesting communication pact with them.
With regard to factual audiovisual content, the same objective is pursued by Web series like Luminaries (2015), a set of documentaries promoted via Facebook as a social platform, about young American inventors whose genius led them to develop innovations, but
outside of universities or large research laboratories; Under the Hood (2014), behind the scenes in the world of videogames; Transformers, Shakira on Fisher Price (2014), a Fisher Price corporate product, on the theme of motherhood as seen by the famous South
American singer, talking about her personal experience with her son; I am Naomi (2015), about the daily life of top model Naomi
Campbell. In all these cases, albeit using different languages to fiction, there is an obvious attempt to reveal something that contrasts
clichés and explores the background of what viewers already know well, perhaps from television or films.
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Hybrid Web series
Of course, there may be Web series straddling two or more diagram quadrants, aiming for the communication objectives of each. This
is the case of the aforementioned Hot for Words, which is not only an interesting meta-reflection on the mechanisms of TV language
and audience viewing practices, but also a revealing product, because it shows the semantic function of an important part of the world
in which we live, like the words we use in everyday life. Black Version (2010–15) is both socially committed and formal, remaking
several famous film sequences with black actors, not just as a spoof but also to reflect on the racial differences between whites and
blacks. Web series that are both in the revealing and socially-committed quadrants include Gaytown (2008–9), on the complicated
life of a heterosexual in a city populated only by homosexuals: The Guild (2007–13), about the world of online videogame fanatics,
and the distortions but also the positive elements their addiction brought to their lives. Bridging formal and revealing Web series quadrants we find a project already mentioned, Elba – L’eredità di Napoleone, designed to engage viewers in a transmedia experience so
as to introduce them to the island of Elba. For Web series that are both formal and meta-reflective, see Freaks! (2011–13), about
the lives of some famous Italian YouTubers who find themselves mixed up in adventures like those of the characters in the television
series Misfits (2009–13), highlighting with citations the differences between the languages of the two media and their respective
features. Finally, among Web series that are both socially committed and meta-reflective, we find Martina dell’Ombra de Broggi de
Sassi, which initially appears to be about a lightweight, ditzy videoblogger, but actually seeks to understand the role of Web audiovisual language and its communication dynamics in creating public opinion, individual identity and social relations in contemporary society.
Conclusions
In the light of what has been written so far, it can be concluded that the concept of absence of specific language for Web series advanced at the beginning of this article is supported by the studies conducted. Rather, as anticipated, the characteristics of this kind of
content are established by the communication practices of makers, distributors and consumers, taking into account that they must offer a communication pact that is somehow different, recognizable and practical compared to television series or existing audiovisual
products. What would make sense would be watching a Web series, knowing of the existence of all the alternatives that can be found
on television, at the cinema or elsewhere. In this regard, there are various types of proposals, inspired by the criteria described in this
article and which are based on the concept of the “visibility regime”. They differ from attempts to innovate traditional TV and other
media language,34 integrating it, with the aim to reproduce it and compete by offering smarter, braver, more committed or even similar content, but to include different platforms and ways of distribution.
It would be interesting to consider why certain ways of conceiving Web series are pursued only by specific subjects, but we are unable
to do so in depth here. For example, we have noted that a producer and distributor of on-demand and streamed content like Netflix
is aiming for quality content but which, ultimately, is similar to TV products in type of language used, while allowing viewers to see
more and see better with respect to what they are used to seeing on television, especially if generalist. For this reason, these series
designed for the Web also end up on pay-tv, which offers its audiences a similar communication pact.
Also on television, but this time the generalist kind, it is not unusual to see some of the Web series defined as “revealing” or “formal”, or new works commissioned to order by broadcasting companies from their authors, especially if the latter have been shown
to be able to procure a large following of fans on the Internet. Again, the reasons for certain practices are understandable, given that
most of the time this kind of product is based on the ability to reproduce TV or cinema regimes of visibility and typical language, a
34 Although it should be pointed out that none of the experimental Web series considered in the corpus of this research works with completely new communication methods for
television and other audiovisual media.
23
fact that enables those who create these works for the Web to prove they know how to work in other professional contexts and those
who watch them enjoy a decent show, discovering interesting new content and new talent.
Similar considerations may be addressed to Web series funded by big brands operating in non-media markets, slipping into the quadrant of revealing or formal products, probably for the generalist nature of subject they intend to offer, or for the choice of Facebook
to promote a Web series with the young geniuses changing the world with their inventions, a subject that naturally recalls the values
and personal story of the founder of the famous social network, but proves also to be a great subject and buzz activator, a feature
without doubt indispensable for an audiovisual product to be deployed on this kind of channel.
Equally important reasoning, however, should be pursued regarding quadrants used least by authors and audiences of Web series and
therefore roads less travelled in this context, both linguistically and in general communication. In this regard, it is quite obvious that
audiovisual Web serial products with ethical and meta-reflective nuances are fewer in number than other types, and among the formal,
the most distinctive are works that reproduce the language of the most popular genres, compared to experimental works. This often
also occurs at festivals, which are then identified as hotbeds of new talents for traditional media and as drivers of innovation. Perhaps
the reason is that those who produce Web series are still looking for new business models and thus try to create content that will allow
them to enter media circuits able to sustain themselves economically, but these are all assumptions that should be explored further.
What remains after studying the language of Web series, is the impression of facing a field of audiovisual production that is still rather immature in its attempt to define its own identity, and in the typical development phase of every new medium or new method of
communication, where it is necessary to rely on what is known and well coded, and already present in the media before its arrival.
Something similar to what is happening to the Web series occurred for television programmes. Before they found their own specific
type of expression they relied on that of radio, press, theatre, cinema, and literature. Bolter and Grusin (op. cit: 79–92) call this dynamic “remediation” and argue that it involves old and new media in a relationship of mutual exchange, and at the end of the process they will all change and find a new balance. This is clearly what is happening today with television, Internet, film, videogames
and other forms of audiovisual expression in our society. Given the speed of these changes, it is highly likely that before long the language and communication practices in the world of Web series will change, making necessary further adjustments – even substantial
changes – to models described in this article.
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APPENDIX
Web series mentioned in this issue:
Black Version (USA 2010- 2015)
Blue (USA 2012–2015)
Bob Torrent (Italia 2015)
Bosch (USA, 2014–2015)
Dexter - Early Cuts (USA 2009–2012)
Dirty Work (USA 2012)
Dr Who - Pond Life (UK 2012)
Elba - L’eredità di Napoleone (Italia 2014)
First Time (Italia 2015)
Freaks (Italia 2011–2013)
Frankenstein MD (USA 2014)
Funny or Die (USA/Italia 2014)
Futour 2045 (Italia 2014–2015)
Gaytown (USA 2008–2009)
Getting DOWN (USA 2013)
Gli abiti del male (Italia 2013)
Green Grable Fables (USA-Canada 2014)
High Maintenance (USA 2012–2015)
Ho sognato Manuela (Italia 2015)
Hot for Words (USA 2007–2015)
House of Cards (USA, 2013–2015)
I Am Naomi (UK 2015)
Il candidato (Italia 2014)
Il progettino (Italia 2013)
Io tra vent’anni (Italia, 2015)
Juda’s Goat (UK 2014)
Kubrick - Una storia porno (Italia 2013)
L’altra (Italia 2010)
Lego Star Wars – The Yoda Chronicles (USA 2013–2014)
Libres (Spagna 2012)
Lonely Girl 15 (USA 2006–2008)
Lost in Google (Italia 2012)
Luminaries (USA 2015)
Marco Polo (USA 2014)
Martina Dell’Ombra De Broggi De Sassi (Italia 2014)
Mashup (Italia 2015)
Michaëlle en sacrement (Canada 2013)
My Music Show (USA 2012)
Oposto do sexo (Brasile 2013)
Orange is the new black (USA, 2013–2015)
QuantumLink Serial (USA 1988-1989)
Room8 (USA 2013)
Ruby Skie P.I. (Canada 2012)
Shakira on Fisher Price (USA 2014)
Sin vida propia (Spagna 2012)
Something to Be Desired (USA 2003–2009)
The Guild (USA 2007–2013)
The Invisible Man (USA 2014)
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (USA 2012)
The Spot (USA 1995-1997)
The Syndicate (UK 2012)
The Ushers – A Dark Tale of a Bright Night (Italia 2013)
The Walking Dead - Torn Apart (USA 2011)
Una grande famiglia - Vent’anni prima (Italia 2013)
Under (Italia 2014)
Under the Hood (USA 2014)
Uno di troppo (Italia 2014)
Venice - The Series (USA 2009–2015)
Vera Bes (Italia 2014)
Wastelander Panda (Australia 2014)
We Folk (Italia 2014)
26
Extract from EmergingSeries Journal no.2:
Inside Webseries, ed. Simone Arcagni
Scientific Committee
editor
Simone Arcagni
Marco Bertozzi
University of Venice IUAV – Culture of Design
news editor
Mirko Lino
Antonio Gentile
University of Palermo – Department of DICGIM
story editor
Giusy Mandalà
Giulio Lughi
University of Turin – Department of DIST
Web engineer
Filippo Castrogiovanni
Roy Menarini
University of Bologna – Department of Sciences
for Quality of Life
editorial committee
Ornella Costanzo
Domenico Morreale
Antonio Santangelo
Andrea Minuz
University of Rome “La Sapienza” – Department
of History of Art and Performing Arts
contributors to this issue
Simone Arcagni
Luca Cinquemani
Mirko Lino
Giusy Mandalà
Domenico Morreale
Antonio Santangelo
Emanuela Zaccone
Domenico Morreale
Guglielmo Marconi University – Department
of Sociological and Psychopedagogical Studies
Roberto Pirrone
University of Palermo – Department of DICGIM
Antonio Santangelo
eCampus University – Department of Psychology
newsroom contacts
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Christian Uva
University of Roma Tre – Department of Philosophy,
Communication and Performing Arts
EmergingSeries is an online platform
addressing phenomenon of Web series
and Web docs.
EmergingSeries is part of the Osservatorio
sui Media Digitali
The project started in academia and brings together journalists,
academics, practitioners in the world of cinema and media.
The idea is to analyse, explore and study the varied and interesting world of Web series and Web docs through posts, news, articles, insights, festival reports, building a large archive and a scientific journal: EmergingSeries.
The observatory explores the contemporary media scenario with
regard to Web and mobile aspects, focusing on Web cinema, Web
TV, Web series, Web documentaries, apps, and social networks.
Its research looks at the relationships between technologies (devices and software), market, fruition models, methods and forms
of narration, information, platforms, user profiling, forms of sharing, participation, circulation, and interactivity: crossmedia and
transmedia storytelling, gamification, convergence.
27
Rome, September 2015
Project managed by Alessandra Zupi, Marketing, Analysis and Planning Department
Translation: Studio Star -Torino