Since we’ve talked about both old and new media and also thought about where both of these are headed in the future, I want to talk about an internet sensation which didn’t even need the ‘old fashioned’ media anymore but received huge popularity over the internet alone.
In November 2007 the Writer’s Guild of America decided to go on strike, commonly known today as the ‘Writers' Strike’. The strike’s goal was to rectify injustice in the monetary compensation the writers got in comparison with the large studios. The strike lasted 14 weeks and 2 days (100 days). In this time, many television shows went on hiatus due to the lack of writers.
During this period, writer Joss Whedon decided to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would avoid the issues that were being protested during the strike, namely the monetary compensation of the large studios.
Out of his idea came ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’, a 43-minute comical musical film, which was released in three acts. The difference to a normal movie was: it was initially published exclusively on the internet with the plan to find a venue for the series that will once earn its money back to pay the crew.
The episodes first aired on the Dr. Horrible homepage, hosted on Hulu, accessible internationally and free to watch. Act I premiered on Tuesday July 15, with the other two acts following in a two-day interval.
Many people on social platforms like MySpace, LiveJournal or Facebook posted about ‘Dr. Horrible’, which soon after became a huge success among users of these and other platforms - and still is.
On October 10 all three acts were made available via iTunes. Two months later on December 19, 2008 a DVD was exclusively released on Amazon.com with the effect that soon after it topped Amazon’s overall bestsellers in musicals and was the number 2 overall bestseller in the Movies & TV category.
On November 29, 2008, Joss Whedon already blogged about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and stated that, "We've been able to pay our crew and all our bills", due to the profit that was made from iTunes sales.
In November 2007 the Writer’s Guild of America decided to go on strike, commonly known today as the ‘Writers' Strike’. The strike’s goal was to rectify injustice in the monetary compensation the writers got in comparison with the large studios. The strike lasted 14 weeks and 2 days (100 days). In this time, many television shows went on hiatus due to the lack of writers.
During this period, writer Joss Whedon decided to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would avoid the issues that were being protested during the strike, namely the monetary compensation of the large studios.
Out of his idea came ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’, a 43-minute comical musical film, which was released in three acts. The difference to a normal movie was: it was initially published exclusively on the internet with the plan to find a venue for the series that will once earn its money back to pay the crew.
The episodes first aired on the Dr. Horrible homepage, hosted on Hulu, accessible internationally and free to watch. Act I premiered on Tuesday July 15, with the other two acts following in a two-day interval.
Many people on social platforms like MySpace, LiveJournal or Facebook posted about ‘Dr. Horrible’, which soon after became a huge success among users of these and other platforms - and still is.
On October 10 all three acts were made available via iTunes. Two months later on December 19, 2008 a DVD was exclusively released on Amazon.com with the effect that soon after it topped Amazon’s overall bestsellers in musicals and was the number 2 overall bestseller in the Movies & TV category.
On November 29, 2008, Joss Whedon already blogged about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and stated that, "We've been able to pay our crew and all our bills", due to the profit that was made from iTunes sales.
As you can see, Dr. Horrible had no promotion on any old media device, it only became successful due to people talking about it on the internet.
Nowadays it’s only freely accessible from the United Stated on Hulu.
However, if you’re interested in watching ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’ (watch the trailer!) – and I highly recommend watching it ;) – I’ll gladly lend my DVD to you.
However, if you’re interested in watching ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’ (watch the trailer!) – and I highly recommend watching it ;) – I’ll gladly lend my DVD to you.
Okay, I watched the trailer and it really seemed to be a funny movier. I've heard about it before and now that you also recommended it I want to watch it.
AntwortenLöschenSo, would be great if you lend my your DVD next Tuesday :)