REVIEW: branded entertainment goes MINI

How do you follow-up the online branded entertainment hit "The Hire" from BMW Films starring Clive Owen? Create another online episodic of course, this time with actor Bryan Callen (Scary Movie 4 and lots of TV work - 7th Heaven, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Fat Actress) and director Todd Phillips (Old School, Starsky & Hutch) featuring the trendy, souped-up MINI (Mini-USA is owned by BMW).

The Automobile Channel reports that:

The campaign will also have a prominent place in the viral community, leveraging unique partnerships with digital media in addition to print and broadcast. Starting this month, "Hammer & Coop" will have a solid presence on popular online sites Second Life, MySpace and YouTube. The characters will be incorporated into Second Life's "online society" on March 15, the trailer and video components will be available on YouTube after February 20, and a custom profile has been created for "Hammer & Coop" on the popular social networking site MySpace. In addition, advertising content will be available on podcasts and mobile phones (through iPod Infuse and Mobile Video on Demand).

Despite this aggressive online marketing campaign, the Hammer & Coop episodes are not available for embedding in blogs so unfortunately you'll have to leave THR and visit their site. In the spirit of Starsky & Hutch, the episodes are campy, action packed, and fun (though we liked The Hire's suave, Bondlike approach to suspense and action).

REVIEW: Heavy Metal in Baghdad on VBS.tv

The online series 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad' is a breath of fresh air - actually more like a terrified, exhausted gasp. In five short docudrama episodes the series does well to diverge from the ‘embedded journalist in Iraq’ video segments that we’ve become so used to on CNN and Yahoo’s online series Hot Zone. The series follows VBS.tv affiliates Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti on a perilous tour of Baghdad to seek out Iraq's only heavy metal band- Acrassicauda.

Though seeking out a heavy metal band in Iraq seems a unique idea, and warrants the title of the show- the true originality of the series stems from Alvi and Moretti's vantage point ... or lack thereof. They don’t have the clout of a high powered news organization around Baghdad. We begin to see this drawback on their less-than-V.I.P. entrance into the city: routed like stowaways through Erbil, Kurdistan and nearly rejected from a Baghdadi hotel frequented by the mainstream foreign press.

Though the two hipsters are never tossed into a gunfight or thrown to the ground by a roadside bomb, the current chaotic state of Baghdad is ever-present. The violence, tension and fear are all front-and-center of this series, exposed in post-curfew explosions and quick glimpses of AK-47s.

VBS.TV does very well to host this type of short series. Launched by Spike Jonze of Adapatation and Being John Malkovich feature film fame, VBS.tv is a free online broadband network ala MTV's Overdrive and CBS's Innertube (see last year's THR review). In this case, VBS' videos are delivered by content pioneer Brightcove. VBS continues the counter-culture trend of its print magazine parent ‘Vice’ with over a dozen programs like ‘Heavy Metal’ that see the world with fresh, edgy perspective.

Viewing the content is easy and fast, and navigating the site is just as effortless. With expanded programming that touches on unique and interesting topics, VBS TV may just achieve their slogan – ‘Rescuing you from television’s deathlike grip’

IMA's Public Media - Camera, Laptop, and a Vision

Unconventional media veteran Michael Rosenblum delivered the keynote this morning at the IMA's Public Media 2007 conference. Michael’s tenet is that today’s digital video cameras are the modern equivalent of Gutenberg’s printing press – media is democratized. So what is PBS and NPR going to do about it?

Following a brief talk from new PBS SVP, Interactive Jason Seiken (who has been on the job for a month and doesn’t have strong answers yet), Michael challenged the 800 PBS, NPR, and public broadcasting professionals in the room to reconsider their business. And not to be afraid of change. He said that you’re not in the television and radio business, you’re in the media business with the mission to get out in the community, cover stories, package them, and get them online.

Michael has a colorful career in traditional television with WNET in New York, KRON in San Francisco, and the BBC. He helped launch Al Gore’s CurrentTV and has been a tremendous proponent of citizen or video journalism. He now has training institutes around the world, bootcamps for aspiring video journalists.

I was reminded of the early DIY videoblogging pioneers such as Steve Garfield, Andrew Baron (Rocketboom), and former San Jose Mercury News reporter Dan Gillmor who left the Merc last year for do-it-yourself local news.

How will formal public broadcasting incorporate these ‘radical’ thoughts? There is an increasing sense of urgency amongst the community to get engaged with online media, social network, and community building. But as Michael reminded the audience, the window to get engaged is closing and there’s a video journalism steamroller bearing down which could put PBS and NPR in the same camp as the railroads.

REVIEW: HellHoles on AtomFilms

Clever. Entertaining. Laugh out loud funny. These are just a few of the superlatives for Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin's dark comedy.

We'll go on a limb here: Hell Holes represents the future of online episodics. Delivered in short, tight 4 minute webisodes, Hell Holes is the story of a cheap, slightly perverted slacker who rents a rundown trailer ... which happens to be a gateway to Hell.

The show succeeds because of its strong story, clever writing, and stunning computer graphics, but instead of going on and on simply take a look for yourself. It might just be the best 4 minutes you spend online all day.

A Truly Interactive Quest

The Bay Area's KQED NPR and PBS station recently launched one of the most innovative online programs we've come across. Called Quest, the series is billed as A Different Kind of Science and Nature Adventure:

Direct from the Quest site:

KQED's QUEST is a new multimedia series about the people behind San Francisco Bay Area science and environmental issues and how their work is changing the way we live. Do you know what is in your own backyard?

This non-fiction series is the first THR has seen truly integrating audio, video, and interactive content all around a central theme. If you are a parent or have any interest in Bay Area scienetific and environmental issues, you'll be glad you spent time on their site.