How can I describe Aidan5? a gritty, science fiction noir with a style like nothing seen before in the world of new media. It has everything a portrayal of a futuristic dystopia needs: controversial scientific advances, violence and action, and a mysterious and sinister scientific corporation.” The story will make you wonder and the visuals will make your jaws drop… it is that good…
The 2 persons at the core of this web series, Ben Bays and John Jackson agreed on an interview limited-release.com style. So get on board and enjoy!
1/ Ben Bays, John Jackson, could you please introduce yourself in a few words?
Ben – I’m a filmmaker who loves writing, directing, and producing big ideas. I love blockbuster movies, but I don’t always have blockbuster cash, so I try not to let that stop me. I figure if I do a good job with little or no resources, then studios and investors might want to see what I can do with theirs. If a project isn’t going to be challenging in some way, I’m probably not that interested.
John- I am John Jackson, a professional producer/director/editor based out of Columbus ,Ohio doing internal corporate story telling and some regional commercial work.
2/ Could you tell us more about your web-series, AIDAN5 and what it represents for you?
Ben - Aidan 5 is a no-budget sci-fi film-noir about a detective who is trying to solve the murders of his own clones. It is told through live action photography and pencil-sketched backgrounds.
I think for us it represents freedom. — The freedom to make a high-concept project without worrying about how much it’s going to cost. Everything but the actors is illustrated, so your only budget limitation is your imagination.
3/ Which one of you got the idea of replacing locations by drawings? and who does those wonderful drawings?
Ben – That was Johnny’s idea. Ben Brown is the original artist who gave Aidan 5 it’s “look”. Since then, we’ve had the pleasure of working with several talented artists like Jason Mowry and Dug McGuire who all depleted their personal No. 2 pencil supplies to make this show possible.
4/ AIDAN5 looks like a living comic book, in the style of The Spirit and Sin City. Are you yourself comic fans?
Ben – I’d consider myself a comic book fan, although I’m certainly not an expert or connoisseur. As a kid I was always into Batman, Superman and X-MEN. Later, I got into Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and other graphic novels. — My favorite is still a tie between The Watchmen and Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.
John- Yes I have been a life long comic fan but not to the extent that I follow one or two comics solely. I wanted to be a comic illustrator should I say doodle maker myself, having drawn my whole life . I just love cover artwork that inspires creativity in me both visually and story telling.
5/ AIDAN5 has the look and feel of a super production, but is in fact a no-budget, sci-fi web series made solely with an all-volunteer cast & crew. This is very impressive, how big is your team and what are the resources available to you?
Ben – We have a core creative team consisting of about 8-10 people who are all working on writing, producing, editing, posting and delivering the show. Our on-set crew probably averaged 10-12 people on a given day, not including the cast. – These numbers fluctuate quite a bit since working on the project is completely voluntary.
In many cases it was dictated by who was available to show up on the day of filming. All those involved are industry professionals, so between the lot of us, we either owned or borrowed everything we needed to make the show — from costumes, to cameras, to studio space.
John- At times it was as big as 15-30 cast & crew members or as small as 2 people during post production. We shot across several spaces during production utilizing various sized green screens in large studios right down to my garage. We had several cameras, a small jib arm, some various sporadic audio equipment. We edit on an Avid Media Composer system and use After Effects for the rest. We have a composer and a sound designer in post and several artists going at any time.
6/ Why choosing a web-series? I guess that after winning a 48-hr film festival short, the next move would be to create a feature film…
Ben – With Aidan 5 we wanted to make something that we loved and take it directly to the audience without worrying about the headaches of finding distribution. We also wanted to tell a serial story where you could get to know the characters more deeply, and an episodic format over several seasons allows you to do that in ways you normally can’t in a traditional feature film structure.
John- I had been wanting to do a serial based project for a while, that in fact was how Ben and I met, while working on an idea for a TV series but when my original short hit it just seemed right for a web series. First; a serial style of story telling interested us both. Second; it would only be possible if we approached it like the 48 hr contest and made short quick videos that could be completed without a huge investment. Third; The creative freedom to do something yourself and not wait for someone to sell your idea too was very appealing.
7/ The web-series are multiplying, sometimes good, most of the time bad, with some evolving into a phenomenon such as Vampire Mob but one thing is for sure they are attracting more and more people… in your opinion, is it because of the quality, the fact that they are free to watch or simply a new way to enjoy “movies”?
Ben – I think the web is simply a new way to enjoy narrative storytelling. It’s simply the next logical step where the audience is able to directly create and distribute the content they want to see. They are their own niche, and because the cost is so minimal by comparison, they can afford to do it. It gives people who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to tell their stories a platform to do so.
In many ways it’s the democratization of filmmaking and just like anywhere, the best-told stories will rise to the top. In time, the quality will continue to improve just as it did with television and cable. The trick will be finding the good among the bad.
8/ Once the series complete, will they be available on DVD?
Ben – Yes, we will be releasing a DVD after the final episode of season one has been posted. It will contain never before seen bonus content and be available for purchase on www.aidan5.com.
9/ You are using the social media such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Aidan5, in your opinion, how important is it to masterise those tools for nowadays artists?
Ben – They are absolutely essential. They are not only your marketing tools, but they are your audience feedback tools. I don’t need to hire a focus group to tell me what my audience wants, I’m talking to them directly every day. You meet all kinds of amazing people and develop relationships with them engaging in a communal audience. It really eliminates the ivory tower mentality between artist and audience and I think it’s invaluable.
10/ If you had to describe yourself in one word?
Ben – Impatient.
John- Collaborative
11/ And finally, where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
Ben – Directing a studio feature. But mostly, I’m interested in writing, directing, producing projects I am passionate about in whatever form or medium they happen to be in.
John- Wow… I don’t look past this weekend let alone 10 year plans… I hope still here and telling stories and being a wise father to my three kids who will be all teenagers then…gulp. Now that’s a series
