Felicia Day and The Guild were big winners at the IAWTV Awards

Firstly, hearty congratulations to the winners of the IAWTV Awards (the full list is on the IAWTV website). You will forever be the first cohort of IAWTV winners, something to be proud of. Secondly, congratulations to the production team who managed to pull off an impressive evening, no mean feat for a first year. Thirdly, overall I was really pleased with the whole event, thought it was well conceived and executed.

No comparisons
There is little point in trying to compare last night’s awards to past events. This is the first awards the IAWTV have hosted and they should be assessed on that basis. I am a member of the IAWTV and this event was a celebration of a community I hold dear. I can’t pretend to be a dispassionate observer, because I’m not. I was making screengrabs throughout the show so I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow account. I did enjoy the liveblog of the event by Amanda Walgrove in The Faster Times even though I don’t agree with all of her observations. It is likely that the IAWTV Awards will be at CES again next year, so this was a great base to build on and I have no doubt that next year’s will be even better.

You can see the screenshots here:

What was good

• There was a clear plan for the evening, and even when things didn’t go to plan I never felt concerned that the whole event was going wrong.
• There was obviously a big emphasis on timing, and things did move along quickly. That is a huge achievement.
• Tech always goes wrong, but the show carried on, which is exactly what should happen.
• There was an underlying respect for the occasion, the space and the community. Even though there were cracks about web TV I could have done without hearing from some quarters, the ceremony itself was respectful, dignified and fitting.
• Some of the pre-recorded segments were very good indeed.
• There were no streakers.

Jane Espenson and Bernie Su hosting at the IAWTV Awards

What could have been better

• The stress on timing meant that people were literally running on and off stage and sometimes the stage was empty. This wasn’t a major issue in the overall scheme of things but would be an area to look at for next year. I would have preferred the award section hosts to stay on stage at all times and help get people on and off stage and cover for any glitches.
• Sound was an issue all the way through and would be the #1 priority for next time. Levels fluctuated wildly from silence to barely-there to booming and back again. However, anyone who has had to perform in any venue not run by them will tell you that sound is one of the hardest things to get right. Even with well equipped desks and great sound engineers, things can go wrong. Someone should have had a handle on the hot mics, at least, to spare us the unguarded commentary.
• Some of the live segments fell flat, some of the recorded segments were too long, and sometimes meshing the live and recorded together went awry. Again, these are problems all live shows are subject to. Most of the things that could be controlled before the event were, and that’s all you can hope for.
• Using YouTube meant that there was effectively no chat room because it was pretty much spammed all the way through.
• I understood the idea behind using Siri – the Awards were at CES! – but it didn’t quite work and added another layer of complication that didn’t need to be there.

April Grant, Amanda Shockley and Kai Haison hosting at IAWTV Awards

Individual high points

• Grace Helbig – I am not familiar with this young lady or her show ‘Daily Grace‘, but her performance last night was very good so I will investigate further.
• The Indie Intertube ladies – I’ve known Amanda and April for quite a while and actually met them this year (yay!). They were poised and classy hosts and I was so proud to watch them on stage.
• Felicia’s speeches and her stripper heels, Sean Becker’s speech, Kim Evey’s speech (again, not pretending to be unbiased).
• Elisabeth Flack receiving an award for Exceptional Individual Service. Elisabeth worked behind the scenes tirelessly for the IAWTV and she was incredibly helpful and welcoming to me when I was considering joining the IAWTV. You are an inspiration, Elisabeth, and I was thrilled to see you honoured.
• Jane Espenson

Personal low points
If you were in the IAWTV chat room last night you would know what these were for me. Not sure I’ll share them beyond that but there were parts that I thought were ill-conceived, mainly relating to individuals whom I think should know better. Or maybe I just don’t get their humour. Lots of people don’t share my sense of humour, either, so maybe it’s down to a question of taste.

Take-Aways
This was a celebration of web TV, the creators and the community and went off without any major problems. I think the infrastructure is building to take advantage of the opportunities that will open up in the coming months. We want people outside our space to take us seriously as professionals. This was a step towards achieving that, and I thank the Academy and everyone who helped make it a success. Have a day off this weekend for once. You deserve it.

Yay – After months of waiting!

Felicia Day and The Guild have had an enormous influence on us wanting to make web video. Ever since I started blogging I have been a fan of just how much Felicia has achieved. She really is an inspiration, a role model and all-round nice person. I frequently write about The Guild and people connected to it on my blog, the last geek bus home, because they are very newsworthy – and today the news is – EPISODE 1  OF SEASON 4 IS OUT NOW! Here it is:

Behind The Scenes….

One of the reasons we did the “Behind The Scenes of The Guild Season 4 with Higlet” series was because the idea really really amused us. But there was something else. The Guild is released on MSN/Xbox Live first and only onto YouTube later. That doesn’t stop people searching for The Guild on YouTube, though, and usually it goes to RickRolls (I’m looking at you, “watchtehguild”) or rips from MSN. The Guild is sponsored by Microsoft and the views need to be counted by them because it helps funding.

How does the Higlet stuff help?

When people search for The Guild Season 4 on YouTube now, our videos come up near the top. I’ve updated all the information on the videos with a direct link to Season 4 Episode 1 and an annotation that directs people to watchtheguild.com. Hopefully people will find our videos and then click off to the real Season 4 of The Guild.

The REAL Behind The Scenes

And if you want the real deal in Behind The Scenes of The Guild, you need to be listening to the Knights of The Guild podcast, the Official Fan Podcast for The Guild. Each week they are going to be doing a CompanionCast stuffed full of snippets, info and gossip direct from the set – the actual, real set. The first one is out tomorrow, so look out for that!

Taken from my interview with Felicia Day

BC Browncoats have their say

During the Vancouver Can’t Stop The Serenity event, the BC Browncoats had this to say to Felicia Day:

Shiny!

(Some of the Jayne hats, from Serena’s photos)

So very Shiny!
Last Saturday was the 5th Annual “Can’t Stop The Serenity” (CSTS) event in Vancouver – and what a time was had. From 10:30 onwards there was a feast of entertainment and camaraderie with a Dr Horrible sing-along, screening of The Masked Roger and Browncoats: Redemption first cut, bingo, costume competition and, of course, SERENITY! CSTS is an annual charity fundraising event that takes place to raise money for Equality now and local charities. We took our new camera and made a little film….

…and at the end is a birthday shout-out to someone….(see here for who!)

So many Browncoats…

It was a packed, too, with tickets selling out on the day. People who were in the MacMillan Space Centre for other things were drawn to the event and two people asked me what it was all about – one of whom was a Joss fan who will hopefully be joining the BC Browncoats now. I will be blogging about the event later, but for now you can find lots more photos from the day at the BC Browncoats Meetup site.

Thank you to Gayle, Serena and EVERYONE who made the day such a brilliant event. All the money raised there goes to Equality Now and BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre Foundation. We’re looking forward to next year’s already!

Music matters:  The song on the video is “Look at The Moon” by Killingstars (wow – they look really cool! )

Part 2 of Higlet’s Exclusive report

This week in “The Guild season 4 behind the scenes with Higlet” we delve deep into the running of The Guild Season 4 and find that a helping hand is never far away:

Special thanks to our guest stars today, who worked really hard in front and behind the camera (and to The Guild, of course)!

Did you spot…?

You get bonus points this week if you can spot the references to Dr Horrible, The Two Ronnies and Red Dwarf.

More Higlet…

There will be a brand new installment of Behind the Scene of The Guild Season 4 next Monday. To make sure you don’t miss any of our videos, subscribe to EvilWorldofHiglet on YouTube. Don’t forget you can find HigletFilms on Facebook, follow @worldofhiglet on Twitter – and now @higgymeister has joined the throng!

Knights of The Guild record from Behind The Scenes of The Guild S4

Until now, Kenny and Jenny were the only ones BTS of The Guild

I have often said that one of the best ways to deal with Guild Deficiency Syndrome is to subscribe to The Knights of The Guild podcast. Kenny and Jenny bring us all the stories about the cast and crew of The Guild and have given us some brilliant Behind The Scenes shows.

The Guild is filmed in LA

..so you would have thought that they were safe from Higlet. But no. Somehow he found a way to fly down there and infiltrate the set. Did he meet Felicia Day or Wil Wheaton? How about Kim Evey? And has he got anything to say about Sean Becker? He’s not saying how it all went down, but returned last week with a paw full of dynamite footage. And speaking of feet…here’s Episode 1:

There are at least two more episodes from Behind The Scenes of The Guild Season 4, depending on legal advice. Oh, apparently there’ s someone called George on the phone for me, I have to go. See you later!

PS We are now on Facebook! It’s a bit confusing but I’m pretty sure this is the link to get there. Join us and tell your friends!