Many web serials look amateurish when they first launch. But that doesn't mean that given time and experience, the series won't turn into something fairly professional. A good example is Pure Pwnage, a Toronto-based web serial now in it's second season. The series was created by Geoff Lapaire and Jarett Cale. These guys have gone quickly from no0bs to… well, pure pwnage.
Just compare the first two epsidoes of season 1. Episode 1 opens with character Jeremy refusing to get out of bed. Hardly compelling content. It takes about 3 minutes before anything really starts to happen and although his character emerges in the course of the half hour episode, there doesn't seem to be a point to any of it. It's just aimless rambling. Now turn to episode 2, with it's quick cuts of lots of girls talking about pro-gamers. Maybe it's still not the most intriguing content ever but the cutting and shooting are leaps and bounds beyond the previous episode.
And the episodes just keep getting better. By the time you get to this season, the creators have developed some serious film making chops and the story telling isn't bad either.
This is the power of the net (or one of them anyway). Anyone can become a creator and if they stick with it, they can go from amateur to professional. Now Lapaire and Cale are the serious pros of the web serial world. They've been at it since 2004, have a following of millions and apparentally, make a living at it.
I love this quote from the Wikipedia page on Pure Pwnage:
The word "pwnage" can be pronounced several different ways. The show's creators pronounce it "ownage". Jeremy justifies this pronunciation with the following statements: "When people say '/poʊn/', they sound like a complete fag, and I'm not cool with being a fag, so I pronounce it 'own'."
The episodes are very long by web serial standards, running closer to TV lengths. And even 18 episodes in, I think they could stand a good edit, but who am I to argue with success? Take a look at the most recent episode and then wander over to their site and take a look. It's nicely built with all the features you want.
