Webisodes for kids

Dear readers,

Summary

Have you ever heard of webisode? It actually sounds 'alien' to me at first. Then, I've come to realized that webisode is actually short scripted series that airs on Internet instead of the television. In this article, Chris Corbett, the writer and producer of TinyTown, a webisode for kids, shared his story about webisode with ABC radio. TinyTown is basically a short clip about detectives starring kids. According to Chris Corbett, the cost of production for webisodes are much more lower compared to the cost of production for television. In order to produce a good webisode, producer must really understand the audience well. For example, Chris Corbett highlighted that the length of webisode should be between 4-5 minutes so that it will not be too long and draggy. Due to the rise of YouTube and mobiles for entertainment, webisode is a great project to work on.



More about webisode...

The purpose of webisode is not just for entertainment but it also helps to educate, promote and persuade too. Similarly to television, webisode can be divided to different genres such as educational, adventure, action, comedy and many more. The style and format of webisodes are simple, episodic and scripted, short and it is continuous.

Following are the 6 tips for writing webisodes series:

1) Arrange a good story lining
- write in blocks of 10,20 or 30 episodes

2) Cliffhangers
- needs a cliffhanger at the end of the episode to create a suspend

3) SMS
- increase audience involvement by allowing audience to sign up for the SMS updates on the show and allow audience to comments and give feedback

4) Soap it up
-inform the type of story in order to gain interest from advertisers

5) Close up
- have more zoom in shots as the screen is smaller compared to television

6) Be funny
- Consider where your audience will be consuming webisodes

(http://www.smallscreens.org/)

Who are the audience?

Nowadays, children and teenagers are those who hook up on internet 24 hours. Cellular-news (2009) reported that 80 % of teens go online without any limit. The audience will mostly be teenagers and children. Thus, the content of webisodes should be genres related to their life in order to attract their attention. Moreover, children and youth should be included as actors in the show to attract the attention from the same age group.

References

ABC.net.au 2007, Webisodes for kids (Online, accessed 9 June 2009).
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2007/2124198.htm

Cellular-news 2009, US Teens Going Online Wirelessly Without Limits or Controls (Online, accessed 11 June 2009).
URL: http://www.cellular-news.com/story/37496.php

Smallscreens 2007, 6 tips for writing webisodes series (Online, accessed 9 June 2009).
URL: http://www.smallscreens.org/