I think Maki said it best. They all hit on different levels. Katie's work seems more consistent and has a broader appeal thematically. They may not have said it out loud but it had to go into their thought process.
I'm still interested in reading Abby's comic but I think Katie will make a more polished product and will take more from the collaboration with The Creators.
It's also good to know that in the epic showdown between New York, California, and Canada that the best location won.
Well done to Katie for winning. It was pretty clear by the end of the challenge that she was the best bet. Her comic concept was way stronger than Abby's or Maki's, and what she showed at the end was as strong as her previous comics... if she had time to complete the artwork on the computer. Maki seemed like he needed more time to write jokes, and Abby's comic seemed to have very little to do with her concept. And her humor was too sarcasm based in these comics.
My only complaint comes down, once again, to how badly this was made. The camera focus was all over the place in this episode.... again! And there's no excuse for it! They are in a studio environment! The camera operator only has one job! Capture a good picture! Fucking hell!
Also the lack of TV experience came through, and made the ending really weak and anticlimactic. A floor manager is used in TV studios for a reason, as is a strong director. The floor manager should have already had the blocking set, and explained what was going to happen to the hosts and the contestants beforehand:
How it could have gone:
Three competitors.
"Maki, you are not the strip we are looking for."
Consolation hugs from the two left in. A few words from the creators, a handshake from each. Maki clears off the stage (not standing behind one of the winners).
"It's down to you two. You both brought a lot, but in the end there can be only one."
Pause.
"Katie, you are the strip we are looking for."
Hugs between Katie and Abby. Maki back on for hugs and congratulations.
Only then should the creators come forward to shake hands or hug.
What did we get in the real show? A complete mess. A mess that could have been avoided trivially, if anyone on the crew had ever done any professional TV production work at all.
The lack of production values on the show overall drove us crazy. Like in the last or second to last elimination there's a shot where they left the autofocus on, or something, and you have to sit there watching for 10 seconds as it blurs in and out. And the camera work really pales in comparison to someone's mic ALWAYS clipping. In every episode, in nearly every scene, someone's mic was blowing up.
Ok. Now that I've gotten some sleep, here was my experience last night.
FUCKING AWESOME! I'll be mentioning a few things I tweeted about last night.
I'm going to put the rest behind a spoiler tag, because it's a huge wall of text.
We got there around 5:45 PM and there was a decent line. We were behind around 50+ people. Everyone who had tickets got a cool Strip Search Finale wrist band in pink and purple.
When we sat down, we lucked out to sit in the center section in the 3rd row. Then we realized we were two rows in front of the Strip Search crew & artists! 9 out of the 12 were there. Tavis, Ty, & Lexxy were the ones that didn't show up. There was one point before everything started that the artists told Alex to stand up and everyone cheered.
We watched the first part of the finale to give us a review of things. Everyone cheered at each of the contestants as they were shown in the intro. Watching it with a large audience was pretty great. Lots of laughter and cheering.
Then onto the finale. As Scott mentioned, it was pretty anti-climactic for him and probably most people that weren't there live. It was pretty intense. The moment before the announced Katie as the winner, you could easily hear an audible bated breath of people around you. Then cheering. So much cheering and standing ovation:
It was crazy.
As for the actual video, as I watched the first part again, I noticed how the people in the background were a bit distracting. It also didn't help that I recognized a few people from PAX. One in particular was the head of Child's Play and head of Enforcers. She was originally in the background sitting left of the bald guy in a dress type outfit. Then later on in the episode, she's sitting behind me and to his right with a red Pineapple Maki shirt. Then changed again later on
They really should have had them further back or not part of it at all.
I thought it was pretty messed up during the review they didn't really say anything about Maki's but just about Abby's and Katie's comic. Funny thing, a person in the audience actually asked Mike & Jerry about it and people were like "ooooooh". Maki then replied, "Yeah, what was that about? I was looking forward to seeing what you guys had to say!"
It was then answered by Graham Stark that in regards to editing, they had to take it out. It was a bit of a funny an awkward moment because Khoo, Mike, & Jerry were sitting next to Graham and were like "As him!" then as Graham stuttered through his answer, all three of the guys started moving their chairs away from him.
There was also a moment where they showed us the best blooper from the recording. I won't spoil too much, but it was during Elimination 8 of Tavis vs. Abby. Mike & Jerry had a hard time keeping serious during the reveal of the winner. It was for a good 5+ minutes of them not being able to be serious. I couldn't stop laughing. Now, thinking back on the part, I can see why Abby gave those facial expressions. Shit was great. Look forward to it being on the DVD/Boo-ray extras.
There were a lot of really good questions and answers given. From the ones I can recall:
1. Overall, the show costed $300k-$400k to make.
2. Depending upon DVD/Boo-ray sales, will help determine whether or not a season 2 will happen. There was no mention of a Kickstarter.
3. Abby will be doing a Kickstarter very soon for her Long Halloween comic. She is currently taking a break from school. She will be releasing her Long Halloween comic in mid-October.
4. Maki also plans on doing a Kickstarter as well, especially since he recently quit his job.
5. So far Monica, Alex, and Amy have moved to Seattle. There was mention that Abby was looking into it as well as Tavis. Max exodus to the Pacific NW!
6. Robert Khoo took out each of the artists who lost in the elimination round to dinner afterwards then dropped them off at the Hotel Max. Funny enough, most of the artists were at the Hotel Max for the entire time. So it was like an after party of the losers every time he brought someone there.
7. Abby was pretty bummed she didn't win, but it's not stopping her. She states looking back at it, she wishes she submitted a different part of her comic.
8. In regards to how things were edited to what we saw of all the contestants, nothing was edited to portray anyone differently from how they really are. Everyone was 100% legit on how and who they are in regards to personalities.
9. Graham Stark states that they would have done things a lot differently now that they know how long things took each day. The hours would be from as early as 5AM to as late as 3AM for people working on the show. No other mention of editing and filming from the complaints people have mentioned on this forum.
10. If there were to be a season 2, everything would be different. Challenges, how they choose the contestants, even the eliminations (?).
11. Someone asked Khoo, after the $80k successful Kickstarter that Lexxy recently had, did they think that $15 was a bit small for a reward. It was first answered by Katie as it was a great reward. She left her job at Nickelodeon and that $15k helped pay for a lot of things. Then Khoo chimed in because Abby won, she is getting the assistance from the people at PA like the Levins to work on her website: http://campcomic.com/ and Kiko helping with other things. Khoo said that overall, $80k wasn't that much. If you think about it with all the experience Katie will be getting along with the aid of the PA staff, that is extremely valuable and would be difficult to put a monetary price on that.
12. All Strip Search contestants will be at PAX Prime. There panel will be held at the Paramount Main Theater.
I asked a question. It was funny because it was Mike who was choosing the people in the audience to ask. He had already chosen and pointed out people in green shirts. I was wearing a green shirt and he had chosen people in my general area to ask questions, so I had to think of something to get his attention.
I then busted out my 3DS and was waving it opened so they could see the light from the screens. It was Jerry that pointed me out and I was able to ask my question. I asked why they chose a 17-25 minute format for the show vs. 40 minutes like most reality competition tv shows do. This immediately gave the reaction of Graham Stark looking down in defeat with a sob. He earlier mentioned how long the process took each day and how exhausting everything was, so it was funny seeing him react that way. Khoo answered that 20 minutes was the best because most people on the internet don't have that sort of attention span. I then asked how much will we get to see of extra footage in the DVDs, and they answered, it was yet to be determined.
The night ended with Khoo saying, "Hey after this we're all going to the Tap House Grill for food and drinks. You guys should come too. It's like a block away." That was hilarious. If I wasn't low on funds and didn't need to work early today, I would have went. I can only imagine having 100+ people show up. It would be like this first challenge on Ramsay's Best Kitchen!
Anyhoo. That's all I got for now. I may remember more things as they come up.
As for my opinion for Katie as the winner, I would have been happy if any three of them won. I was rooting for Abby, overall, but Katie was the clear choice in her consistency.
I'm also very sad because I didn't get the Mii Street Pass Tag of Katie from her 3DS and I was 2 rows in front of her!
Bad focus and clipping mics. Those two problems solved and this show would have been twice as much fun for me to watch.
That would've improved it immensely, but there were a lot of niggling things that made us wonder if they'd ever even watched any reality TV show before, like keeping the camera static on one person while they're talking instead of cutting back and forth and overdubbing audio, or giving the viewer 3 seconds to read every comic (I had to hover my finger over the pause button during the eliminations). The audio of the announcer/host guy was always at a different level from everyone else in the room. It seems like they could've at least improved the issues with editing on a week to week basis.
2. Depending upon DVD/Boo-ray sales, will help determine whether or not a season 2 will happen. There was no mention of a Kickstarter.
Ugh, this is bullshit. I want to support season 2, but there's no way I'm buying the DVD - the regular episodes I've already seen and can watch online, so I'm only paying for whatever bonus content they add.
For all the criticisms you guys are talking about with the filming, you should let Loading Ready Run know, so they can improve on that shit.
If they don't know this already, they have no business taking money from anyone to make a TV show.
The thing is, for PA to pay someone more qualified would probably be way more expensive. It's probably more reasonable to expect LRR to learn from their mistakes and improve than it is for PA to spend more money on a different production team.
For all the criticisms you guys are talking about with the filming, you should let Loading Ready Run know, so they can improve on that shit.
If they don't know this already, they have no business taking money from anyone to make a TV show.
The thing is, for PA to pay someone more qualified would probably be way more expensive. It's probably more reasonable to expect LRR to learn from their mistakes and improve than it is for PA to spend more money on a different production team.
PA had better production teams in the past. The guys who did PATV Season 1 were pretty good, and better than LRR IMHO.
I mean, that late show we tried was a disaster, but I learned more about stage and tv production from that one failure than I ever did from doing something well.
For all the criticisms you guys are talking about with the filming, you should let Loading Ready Run know, so they can improve on that shit.
If they don't know this already, they have no business taking money from anyone to make a TV show.
The thing is, for PA to pay someone more qualified would probably be way more expensive. It's probably more reasonable to expect LRR to learn from their mistakes and improve than it is for PA to spend more money on a different production team.
PA had better production teams in the past. The guys who did PATV Season 1 were pretty good, and better than LRR IMHO.
But do we know how much they cost?
It was also mentioned how the original idea of Strip Search was asked to Khoo 2 years ago or so by Mike & Jerry. Khoo nodded and made a note of it.
Then he asked about it on Twitter of what people thought if they did a webcomic contest show. Graham Stark tweeted at him saying along the lines of not only would he want to see it, he'd film and produce it.
Then a year goes buy and Khoo emails him with the subject of the what was mentioned in twitter and the message being, "So you want to do this?" And it went on from there. So it seems if LRR never tweeted at Khoo, they may not have even considered them.
Okay, it seems LRR got the job because they took it super cheap, or as a learning experience. I guess not doing a good job is expected then. Expected, but still not cool. If they had said, at the outset, that it was a free job or that it was made by amateurs, I'd have been more forgiving. I'd still be just as annoyed with all the mistakes, but I'd be more forgiving.
Seriously. Camera focus. That's all I wanted! And better microphone placement.
Hey, it got (slightly) better after the first episode, where it sounded like Graham had to re-record his audio and place it over the video of him speaking.
There is a thing called daily rushes. You should watch back over the footage from that day to make sure you catch any bad shots, or messed up any sound, so you can either re-shoot it or, at least, do a better job the next day. It's super basic production knowledge like this which makes me wonder what anyone was doing in between setups.
I have a friend who interviewed to get a Penny Arcade camera job, he said that while the job looked fun, the amount of money they were willing to pay was a fraction of what he would usually make for such a job and passed on it.
Even I watch sections of lectures recorded at cons that night in case I fucked something up. That way, I have a chance to correct it the next day for the rest of the lectures.
Even I watch sections of lectures recorded at cons that night in case I fucked something up. That way, I have a chance to correct it the next day for the rest of the lectures.
Truth. I don't listen to GeekNights, but I do watch most of our videos.
Comments
I'm still interested in reading Abby's comic but I think Katie will make a more polished product and will take more from the collaboration with The Creators.
It's also good to know that in the epic showdown between New York, California, and Canada that the best location won.
My only complaint comes down, once again, to how badly this was made. The camera focus was all over the place in this episode.... again! And there's no excuse for it! They are in a studio environment! The camera operator only has one job! Capture a good picture! Fucking hell!
Also the lack of TV experience came through, and made the ending really weak and anticlimactic. A floor manager is used in TV studios for a reason, as is a strong director. The floor manager should have already had the blocking set, and explained what was going to happen to the hosts and the contestants beforehand:
How it could have gone:
Three competitors.
"Maki, you are not the strip we are looking for."
Consolation hugs from the two left in. A few words from the creators, a handshake from each. Maki clears off the stage (not standing behind one of the winners).
"It's down to you two. You both brought a lot, but in the end there can be only one."
Pause.
"Katie, you are the strip we are looking for."
Hugs between Katie and Abby. Maki back on for hugs and congratulations.
Only then should the creators come forward to shake hands or hug.
What did we get in the real show? A complete mess. A mess that could have been avoided trivially, if anyone on the crew had ever done any professional TV production work at all.
FUCKING AWESOME! I'll be mentioning a few things I tweeted about last night.
I'm going to put the rest behind a spoiler tag, because it's a huge wall of text.
We got there around 5:45 PM and there was a decent line. We were behind around 50+ people. Everyone who had tickets got a cool Strip Search Finale wrist band in pink and purple.
When we sat down, we lucked out to sit in the center section in the 3rd row. Then we realized we were two rows in front of the Strip Search crew & artists! 9 out of the 12 were there. Tavis, Ty, & Lexxy were the ones that didn't show up. There was one point before everything started that the artists told Alex to stand up and everyone cheered.
We watched the first part of the finale to give us a review of things. Everyone cheered at each of the contestants as they were shown in the intro. Watching it with a large audience was pretty great. Lots of laughter and cheering.
Then onto the finale. As Scott mentioned, it was pretty anti-climactic for him and probably most people that weren't there live. It was pretty intense. The moment before the announced Katie as the winner, you could easily hear an audible bated breath of people around you. Then cheering. So much cheering and standing ovation:
It was crazy.
As for the actual video, as I watched the first part again, I noticed how the people in the background were a bit distracting. It also didn't help that I recognized a few people from PAX. One in particular was the head of Child's Play and head of Enforcers. She was originally in the background sitting left of the bald guy in a dress type outfit. Then later on in the episode, she's sitting behind me and to his right with a red Pineapple Maki shirt. Then changed again later on
They really should have had them further back or not part of it at all.
I thought it was pretty messed up during the review they didn't really say anything about Maki's but just about Abby's and Katie's comic. Funny thing, a person in the audience actually asked Mike & Jerry about it and people were like "ooooooh". Maki then replied, "Yeah, what was that about? I was looking forward to seeing what you guys had to say!"
It was then answered by Graham Stark that in regards to editing, they had to take it out. It was a bit of a funny an awkward moment because Khoo, Mike, & Jerry were sitting next to Graham and were like "As him!" then as Graham stuttered through his answer, all three of the guys started moving their chairs away from him.
There was also a moment where they showed us the best blooper from the recording. I won't spoil too much, but it was during Elimination 8 of Tavis vs. Abby. Mike & Jerry had a hard time keeping serious during the reveal of the winner. It was for a good 5+ minutes of them not being able to be serious. I couldn't stop laughing. Now, thinking back on the part, I can see why Abby gave those facial expressions. Shit was great. Look forward to it being on the DVD/Boo-ray extras.
There were a lot of really good questions and answers given. From the ones I can recall:
1. Overall, the show costed $300k-$400k to make.
2. Depending upon DVD/Boo-ray sales, will help determine whether or not a season 2 will happen. There was no mention of a Kickstarter.
3. Abby will be doing a Kickstarter very soon for her Long Halloween comic. She is currently taking a break from school. She will be releasing her Long Halloween comic in mid-October.
4. Maki also plans on doing a Kickstarter as well, especially since he recently quit his job.
5. So far Monica, Alex, and Amy have moved to Seattle. There was mention that Abby was looking into it as well as Tavis. Max exodus to the Pacific NW!
6. Robert Khoo took out each of the artists who lost in the elimination round to dinner afterwards then dropped them off at the Hotel Max. Funny enough, most of the artists were at the Hotel Max for the entire time. So it was like an after party of the losers every time he brought someone there.
7. Abby was pretty bummed she didn't win, but it's not stopping her. She states looking back at it, she wishes she submitted a different part of her comic.
8. In regards to how things were edited to what we saw of all the contestants, nothing was edited to portray anyone differently from how they really are. Everyone was 100% legit on how and who they are in regards to personalities.
9. Graham Stark states that they would have done things a lot differently now that they know how long things took each day. The hours would be from as early as 5AM to as late as 3AM for people working on the show. No other mention of editing and filming from the complaints people have mentioned on this forum.
10. If there were to be a season 2, everything would be different. Challenges, how they choose the contestants, even the eliminations (?).
11. Someone asked Khoo, after the $80k successful Kickstarter that Lexxy recently had, did they think that $15 was a bit small for a reward. It was first answered by Katie as it was a great reward. She left her job at Nickelodeon and that $15k helped pay for a lot of things. Then Khoo chimed in because Abby won, she is getting the assistance from the people at PA like the Levins to work on her website: http://campcomic.com/ and Kiko helping with other things. Khoo said that overall, $80k wasn't that much. If you think about it with all the experience Katie will be getting along with the aid of the PA staff, that is extremely valuable and would be difficult to put a monetary price on that.
12. All Strip Search contestants will be at PAX Prime. There panel will be held at the Paramount Main Theater.
I asked a question. It was funny because it was Mike who was choosing the people in the audience to ask. He had already chosen and pointed out people in green shirts. I was wearing a green shirt and he had chosen people in my general area to ask questions, so I had to think of something to get his attention.
I then busted out my 3DS and was waving it opened so they could see the light from the screens. It was Jerry that pointed me out and I was able to ask my question. I asked why they chose a 17-25 minute format for the show vs. 40 minutes like most reality competition tv shows do. This immediately gave the reaction of Graham Stark looking down in defeat with a sob. He earlier mentioned how long the process took each day and how exhausting everything was, so it was funny seeing him react that way. Khoo answered that 20 minutes was the best because most people on the internet don't have that sort of attention span. I then asked how much will we get to see of extra footage in the DVDs, and they answered, it was yet to be determined.
The night ended with Khoo saying, "Hey after this we're all going to the Tap House Grill for food and drinks. You guys should come too. It's like a block away." That was hilarious. If I wasn't low on funds and didn't need to work early today, I would have went. I can only imagine having 100+ people show up. It would be like this first challenge on Ramsay's Best Kitchen!
Anyhoo. That's all I got for now. I may remember more things as they come up.
As for my opinion for Katie as the winner, I would have been happy if any three of them won. I was rooting for Abby, overall, but Katie was the clear choice in her consistency.
I'm also very sad because I didn't get the Mii Street Pass Tag of Katie from her 3DS and I was 2 rows in front of her!
I mean, that late show we tried was a disaster, but I learned more about stage and tv production from that one failure than I ever did from doing something well.
It was also mentioned how the original idea of Strip Search was asked to Khoo 2 years ago or so by Mike & Jerry. Khoo nodded and made a note of it.
Then he asked about it on Twitter of what people thought if they did a webcomic contest show. Graham Stark tweeted at him saying along the lines of not only would he want to see it, he'd film and produce it.
Then a year goes buy and Khoo emails him with the subject of the what was mentioned in twitter and the message being, "So you want to do this?" And it went on from there. So it seems if LRR never tweeted at Khoo, they may not have even considered them.
Seriously. Camera focus. That's all I wanted! And better microphone placement.