(Re)building after a broken image. PART 1

INTRODUCTION: The long road to rebuilding a web series.

As a few of you may already know, I have been working on a series for a while now called "The Pacifist Gamer". Recently, the second episode was featured on the GameTrailers' main page. In the first few hours, things seemed to go very well as the overall score kept rising and ended on a 9.8 out of 10. That, unfortunately, did not last very long. Slowly the episode went from a nearly perfect score to a 6.6 out of 10. Things were looking grim even if the views would eventually reach the thousands.

Luckily, some members of the community were nice enough to suggest a few changes. I carefully read each one of them and picked out the ones I thought were worth consideration. In essence, a nearly complete transformation will be necessary and this blog aims at documenting every step I intend to take.

In the first chapter, I will clarify what modifications must be made and the impact they will have on the production and distribution. Thankfully, I'll try to make this as concise as I can. So, sit comfortably and be ready for a short and pleasant read.


CHAPTER 1: Things must change but how?

As a lot of people suggested, the first change has to be the color palette. The community found the current visuals of the show to give out an amateur vibe. The blacks turned into blue and the whites turned into red simply didn’t look professional. Thankfully, I have received several suggestions and I will try them all. Whatever looks better will be retained. If, in the end, nothing seems particularly interesting, I will use a simple white balance. You can never go wrong with the classics!

Another big complaint seems to be that the character is too angry and sounds like the Angry Video Game Nerd. So, I have decided to take the opposite route and play a guy who is cool and collected even when faced with overwhelming obstacles. For this new character, I will have to be very careful because overdoing it can be just as annoying as someone who rages constantly. A list of specific rules will be invented to prevent me from turning into a caricature.

The next change may sound innocent but it is the one that will require the most work. Someone commented that I looked like a “Warcraft peasant” with my hat. Although simply removing said hat seems to be a simple procedure, it is not, I assure you. By not wearing the hat, I must now reshoot the entire theme song as the current one has plenty of shots featuring the attire in question. Also, all of the blog banners must be redone. From ScrewAttack to Destructoid, I have to make new headers for each web site. Finally, the page for the series on Changeover Productions’ web site also has to be reworked to remove any content involving the hat. Who would have thought that removing a simple item of clothing would be this complicated?

The final change is something a little more abstract: I will spend more time on the scripting process. Hopefully, this will allow me to write better lines instead of something that sounds like it was written over a lunch period.

So, that’s it as far as changes go but what does it mean to the viewer? It means a more intelligent and entertaining show with the flip side of a longer release period between each episode, especially between the second and third.

This raises another question: why will this take so long? Well, this is mainly due to my hectic schedule and the show’s lack of funding. As of right now, I do this for free but each episode cost money to produce. In order to gather enough cash to pay for all of the expenses, I have to work somewhere else. This other job requires me to work five days a week. In my two days off, one is used for house chores and groceries leaving only one day to work on the show. Each episode take around 50 hours to make, divided into approximately 10 hours of work a day, it comes to five weeks. Now, with all of the upcoming changes in the third episode, I easily expect an extra 10 hours of work. Basically, what I am saying is that episode three is a long ways away.

This blog should fill the void left by the long absence of the show…

Come back soon for Chapter 2!

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LOOK WHO CAME:

Changeover   

M Randy   1

knutaf   1