Pioneer One

So I found this new web series when I was researching distribution for my web series in development. It was being offered through bit torrent on VODO. The set up was interesting. I downloaded the first episode and watched it. I was hooked.

Best line (for Canadians): Can someone get us some coffees from Willie Hortons... Genius! Pioneer One does a great job of presenting a great story with real characters and a minimalist set. The camera work made me feel part of the action without being obvious or invasive to the scene. The lighting was real and I did not feel like I was watching a polished setup. It was rough and raw and real.

The two leads come across dynamic and alive, absolutely believable three dimensional, as do the supporting cast.

This is a great program to watch. The story is tight and develops at the right pace. The first season of 6 episodes will pull you in.

My suggestion is to download, donate, and distribute!

Maybe there are other stories out there like this, but I haven't run across any with these particular details. It's intriguing, fairly well-paced and feasible (to an uninformed civilian like me).

The acting is a little hollow but generally believable enough to not be distracting. There is a reasonable amount of character development. But I get the impression that someone, at some point, exclaimed "where's the humanity?!!" or the like.

Then they wrote in the blond nurse from the childrens' cancer ward and the pissed off convenience store girlfriend. And farmed the parts out to crushes, girlfriends or granddaughters. The scenes with the childrens' nurse are unwatchable and taint every actor that shares a scene with her. They stand out so starkly, I wish they could be edited out... and replaced with characters summarizing any pertinent information around her character's interaction with the subject. As it is, I just fast forward through them.

Generally good submission from what I assume are less experienced writers, director and actors, at a very low budget. It would be nice to see them in future productions, with more resources, to get a better idea of what they're capable of.

Other have already spoken of this series as a "pioneer" for a new model of funding, so I'll focus on the dramatic and entertainment merits of the show.

First of all, the production is surprisingly good for it's low budget (reportedly $6k for the the pilot). There are some instances where the low budget becomes apparent - e.g. when the characters see something that's clearly meant to be amazing or shocking, we see it in the actor's reactions rather than the thing itself - but low budget is the card that the series has been dealt and the team work around it very well.

What surprised me the most was the quality of the acting. Sure, some of the fringe roles are a bit ropey - but the central cast are excellent. If anything, the lack of mainstream TV experience of the stars is a boon - it's refreshing to see characters on screen who behave in a normal human fashion, as opposed to the hyper-emotion that's become standard these days.

There are some clichéd moments that serve to convey character relationships and something more inventive would have been nice - but it's a 6-episode series, so there's less room for subtle development. On the other hand, one of the hallmarks of low-budget film making is that the director is often more interested in a specific moment or shot and less interested in how to get there. Thankfully, that's avoided here and the plot advances in a logical yet organic way.

As with the acting, the low budget actually helps with the special effects. In mainstream TV sci-fi, we're used to slow motion action, big red fireballs and CGI backdrops. This series' low budget means that they couldn't do any of that. Instead, the SFX is quick and brutal and the main focus is on the people dealing with the aftermath - just as it is in real life.

The writers have a belter of a sci-fi concept here. I'd love to see this series come back for a second season. The danger is that more money for season 2 might move the show in a different direction - but I hope that the show runners remember that Pioneer One's greatest strength is its humanity.

$6000 budget entirely donated by fans. Small amateur crew. Released for free through various sources, in particular supporting that swear word in the industry . . . BitTorrents.

So far, I'm seeing this as a fan-made response to the X-Files. Two government agents, a male and a female (complete with all that sexual tension we know and love from that famous TV series), investigate a strange phenomenon involving a space capsule. The plot so far is fairly text book, as far as an X-Files ep is concerned, but the seeds have been sown for something significantly more involved as the series progresses . . . Time travel, aliens, conspiracies, war, twisted history or some good old-fashioned espionage . . . any or all of these story lines is possible with what has been hinted at so far.

While the plot and script are keeping me watching for now, they're not perfect. The acting isn't believable, especially from the civilian characters, but again it isn't so bad that I don't want to watch any more. There's a couple of nice cinematographic moments and it's all cleanly filmed and edited. And they do a good job of cliffhangers, I genuinely want to see more.

The most important aspect of this whole production is that this is the future of entertainment distribution. As the title suggests, this production is *the* Pioneer of what's to come. The first of its kind.

Pioneer One has proved that independent media can compete with traditional markets. More and more people are looking at web series as a way to distribute shows and build an audience. I like the idea of independent media sidestepping the traditional studios and using the internet to reach an audience.

Pioneer One has an engaging story. The music is amazing. For being produced for less then $10,000 I'm surprised how good it looks. I'm hoping that the creators will be able to produce all the episodes that they've planned for the series.

I suggest that everyone watch this series with an open mind. This wasn't produced by a studio with a big budget and computer effects. Yet, it tells an interesting story.