So one of the key facets of the studio this semester is the fact that we’re tasked with making a webseries. We’ve had the discussion in class of what makes a webseries, as opposed to a regular TV serial, but I’m gonna go into a few more details on my particular thoughts on the matter here.

The mere presence of the prefix ‘web’ gives me a pretty good idea with what I’m working with, if I’m tasked to make a webseries (as I am in this particular serial). This is because, whilst TV serials generally have an average run time of around 20-30 minutes, web serials, due to the nature of the platforms they are published on, and the attention spans of an audience whilst in the ecosystem of the web, generally have a much shorter run time, at least in my experience. There is the odd 20 minute long webseries you will come across, but I’ve found they’re generally trying to imitate more of a feel of a traditional TV serial than they are embracing the platform they are using. Anywhere from 3-4 minutes to (in my opinion) 10 at the absolute maximum is probably suitable for an episode of a webseries, with probably the optimal length being between 4 and 6 minutes.

But that’s just one difference between making a webseries and a TV serial. Perhaps a more important thing that needs to be considered is the type of devices your viewers will be watching the webseries on. Traditionally, TV serials are viewed on much larger screens – even with the proliferation of Netflix and mobile viewing, it is still very much the case. Platforms like YouTube especially, however, are made with almost equal focus on mobile phones and tablets, as well as regular computers – as far back as 2014, half of YouTube’s views were coming from mobile, a number that will undoubtedly only have increased since. This leads to perhaps the biggest factor that has to be considered when producing a webseries – considering the limitations and constraints of the mobile device. The smaller screen means that minute detailing may go unnoticed on a phone, or certain scenes that may have looked fine on a large screen might actually be difficult to watch when scaled down, depending on the way the shot is framed. In my opinion, this does one big thing – it places less emphasis on the production value of the series (even though production is still highly important), but instead places a bigger emphasis on making sure the story gets conveyed properly and in its entirety within the restrictions of these potential viewing conditions. I don’t as of yet know how this will be done, but I think it’s often very important that this in considered when constructing any webseries.