The Web is increasingly becoming a place where creative ideas are being conceived and brought to life. And Web video series are a big part of that trend. The latest series to make the transition from new to old media is The Annoying Orange.
Web Video Breaking Out
One of the biggest successes is Fred, AKA Lucas Cruikshank, who managed to turn a simple and fairly stupid idea into enough of a hit that he and it was picked up by Nickelodeon and ended up being turned into a feature film co-starring Pixie Lott. None too shabby by any standard.
There has also been a host of other successes: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on DVD, Nordkalotten 365 and Pioneer One on BitTorrent, Blank on BitTorrent and DVD. Shorts uploaded to the Internet have also got their creators noticed in the wider world: Andrew Allen (The Thomas Beale Cypher), Federico Alvarez (Ataque de Panico!), and Patrick Jean (Pixels).
And Shit My Dad Says went from being a Twitter stream to a sitcom on CBS starring William Shatner.
The Annoying Orange
The latest Web video series to be picked up by and for a wider audience is The Annoying Orange. According to Deadline, production company The Collective has teamed with its creator Dane Boedigheimer to produce six half-hour episodes for television.
Conrad Vernon (Monsters and Aliens, Shrek 2) will exec-produce, Tom Sheppard (Pinky and The Brain) is writing, and Malcolm McDowell is being lined up to play one of the characters.
The Annoying Orange is a strange animated series featuring fruits and vegetables with human faces and personalities. There have been 73 episodes at the time of writing, with the first being uploaded to YouTube in October 2009. Since then The Annoying Orange has racked up more than 500 million views, and 1.7 million people have subscribed to the channel.
Conclusions
The Annoying Orange
is another success story for Web video series. It shows that the Internet now provides a place for creative people to share their wares with the world. And if they’re good enough then people will sit up and take notice.
