3:09 pm - 03/22/2013
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries proved that fictional stories can be told through video blogs. What's Next!?
About a year ago, Lizzie Bennet, a grad student with a mountain of student loans, a couple quirky sisters, and one over-bearing mother started making video blogs. You might notice that her story bore remarkable similarity to the one told by Jane Austen over 200 years ago...except told through video blogs.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries did what it set out to do...to tell a story in a compelling way using only first-person videos...particularly to tell the story of Pride and Prejudice. And with over 26 million video views and some of the best fans on the internet, it's safe to say that it was a success.
Now it’s time for some new adventures.
OK, so, this DVD set is freaking sweet, it’s so sexy it makes DVG look like a potato.
We've got behind the scenes features, commentary, out takes, and interviews with the cast and creators. But a big part to what is unique to the LBD will come to the DVD as well and that is choice.
In universe, there are over 150 videos and can be consumed in any way you choose.
With the click of a button you could lean back and watch
Lizzie's 100 videos or
Lizzie's 100 videos plus Q&A videos
Lydia's videos
Maria's videos
Gigi's videos
and any combination of these.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries DVD box set should be in your hands this July 2013
It’s going to take us some time to put together another full-on series after wrapping up The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. But we have no intention of leaving you hanging. So here’s what’s coming up.
You've seen the Pemberley Digital press release that announced a search for a partner community. And maybe you've even read Gigi’s SXSW interview where she hinted that the search was related to her upcoming move.
Today, we can tell you that the search is over. A partner community has been selected, and Gigi is going to take you there.
Welcome to Sanditon.
Based on one of Jane Austen’s unfinished novels, Welcome To Sanditon will be a full interactive experience that takes you to the beach town of Sanditon, California as it attempts to revitalize itself into a modern resort destination.
Through Gigi’s videos, you’ll meet the residents of Sanditon as she brings the beta version of Domino to reveal the drama in their lives. But we’re not stopping there.
In The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, you got to interact with the story. In WelcomeTo Sanditon, we’re taking things one step further -- you’ll get a chance to be a part of the story.
We’re busy putting the town together now, and will reveal more details soon.
Welcome to Sanditon will launch in early May 2013.
See you around town.
Since this Kickstarter is helping to fund both the production and manufacture of a DVD and of a book AND the creation of new content, we wanted to make it clear when things will be delivered. We are going to start spending money on the Sanditon series before we even have the money from the Kickstarter (basically we’re taking out a loan against future revenue) so we will be able to launch that series soon after the Kickstarter ends.
We will start the production of the DVD as soon as the Kickstarter is finished. This includes a number of things like filming interviews with writers, cast, and crew, editing outtakes reels from the mountain of content we have from the creation of the series, putting together featurettes discussing the more interesting parts of the project, recording commentaries, and planning and programming the DVD viewing experience. Then we’ll have to wait for the DVD to actually be manufactured before shipping them out of our warehouse sometime in July.
Finally, around the same time as the release of the DVD, we will be launching our second major series. But to find out more of that, you’ll just have to wait.
The Second Major Series will launch in late Summer 2013
We also wanted to give you a bit of an idea of how this money is going to be spent. The DVD packaging we’re using isn’t cheap. Getting 8-10 DVDs in one box actually costs a lot of money, so we have to plan for the production of a lot of these sets. The production of the DVDs, books, posters, pins, etc, and the costs of shipping all of those items to you is our biggest line-item.
The cost of the production of the DVD, which is being handled by the excellent producer Brit Weisman will be another substantial cost. This is mostly in wages to Brit, editors, designers, and crew for the creation of the DVD content.
The production of the Sanditon miniseries is also a large expense, and finally, we’ve included a contingency of just over 10% of our budget, which seems like a safe thing to do to me.
Pemberley Digital is, yes, actually a real company. We are Hank Green and Bernie Su and we are dedicated to the idea of telling compelling stories in new and interesting ways. Thank you for giving us these opportunities.
More info at the Source.
So a new series based an unfinished Austen work and a second major series to debut in August. Thoughts? Anyone looking forward to it after what they've seen on TLBD?
Also, do we need to talk about yesterday's episode?
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries Kickstarter Campaign
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries proved that fictional stories can be told through video blogs. What's Next!?
About a year ago, Lizzie Bennet, a grad student with a mountain of student loans, a couple quirky sisters, and one over-bearing mother started making video blogs. You might notice that her story bore remarkable similarity to the one told by Jane Austen over 200 years ago...except told through video blogs.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries did what it set out to do...to tell a story in a compelling way using only first-person videos...particularly to tell the story of Pride and Prejudice. And with over 26 million video views and some of the best fans on the internet, it's safe to say that it was a success.
Now it’s time for some new adventures.
OK, so, this DVD set is freaking sweet, it’s so sexy it makes DVG look like a potato.
We've got behind the scenes features, commentary, out takes, and interviews with the cast and creators. But a big part to what is unique to the LBD will come to the DVD as well and that is choice.
In universe, there are over 150 videos and can be consumed in any way you choose.
With the click of a button you could lean back and watch
Lizzie's 100 videos or
Lizzie's 100 videos plus Q&A videos
Lydia's videos
Maria's videos
Gigi's videos
and any combination of these.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries DVD box set should be in your hands this July 2013
It’s going to take us some time to put together another full-on series after wrapping up The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. But we have no intention of leaving you hanging. So here’s what’s coming up.
You've seen the Pemberley Digital press release that announced a search for a partner community. And maybe you've even read Gigi’s SXSW interview where she hinted that the search was related to her upcoming move.
Today, we can tell you that the search is over. A partner community has been selected, and Gigi is going to take you there.
Welcome to Sanditon.
Based on one of Jane Austen’s unfinished novels, Welcome To Sanditon will be a full interactive experience that takes you to the beach town of Sanditon, California as it attempts to revitalize itself into a modern resort destination.
Through Gigi’s videos, you’ll meet the residents of Sanditon as she brings the beta version of Domino to reveal the drama in their lives. But we’re not stopping there.
In The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, you got to interact with the story. In WelcomeTo Sanditon, we’re taking things one step further -- you’ll get a chance to be a part of the story.
We’re busy putting the town together now, and will reveal more details soon.
Welcome to Sanditon will launch in early May 2013.
See you around town.
Since this Kickstarter is helping to fund both the production and manufacture of a DVD and of a book AND the creation of new content, we wanted to make it clear when things will be delivered. We are going to start spending money on the Sanditon series before we even have the money from the Kickstarter (basically we’re taking out a loan against future revenue) so we will be able to launch that series soon after the Kickstarter ends.
We will start the production of the DVD as soon as the Kickstarter is finished. This includes a number of things like filming interviews with writers, cast, and crew, editing outtakes reels from the mountain of content we have from the creation of the series, putting together featurettes discussing the more interesting parts of the project, recording commentaries, and planning and programming the DVD viewing experience. Then we’ll have to wait for the DVD to actually be manufactured before shipping them out of our warehouse sometime in July.
Finally, around the same time as the release of the DVD, we will be launching our second major series. But to find out more of that, you’ll just have to wait.
The Second Major Series will launch in late Summer 2013
We also wanted to give you a bit of an idea of how this money is going to be spent. The DVD packaging we’re using isn’t cheap. Getting 8-10 DVDs in one box actually costs a lot of money, so we have to plan for the production of a lot of these sets. The production of the DVDs, books, posters, pins, etc, and the costs of shipping all of those items to you is our biggest line-item.
The cost of the production of the DVD, which is being handled by the excellent producer Brit Weisman will be another substantial cost. This is mostly in wages to Brit, editors, designers, and crew for the creation of the DVD content.
The production of the Sanditon miniseries is also a large expense, and finally, we’ve included a contingency of just over 10% of our budget, which seems like a safe thing to do to me.
Pemberley Digital is, yes, actually a real company. We are Hank Green and Bernie Su and we are dedicated to the idea of telling compelling stories in new and interesting ways. Thank you for giving us these opportunities.
More info at the Source.
So a new series based an unfinished Austen work and a second major series to debut in August. Thoughts? Anyone looking forward to it after what they've seen on TLBD?
Also, do we need to talk about yesterday's episode?
it was cute and most of the actors were really good. lydia was my fav and to watch her character progress and learn was way more than what i thought would be in a youtube series. plus taking on the sex plot line was so real. :(
I would love to contribute but I do not have money for it rn :(
kind of hoping they'll do Persuasion??? that would be cool
Emma would be easy-- I'm thinking fashion and/or matchmaking blog. Boom, done
Edited at 2013-03-22 09:51 pm (UTC)
Throw in the fact that it's actually a poor business decision for people to throw money at a project that they'll never recieve a percentage of profits from and I'm getting tired of it already.
mte. i think it was cool when people tried to invent something (or sell it to more people) but didn't have the money to start mass production but now it's starting to get, i don't know, tired?
At least with the Veronica Mars one it seemed like it was basicly his last option and that WB expected it to fail. I can't understand why LBD needs cash when they funded nearly 100 episodes themselves already and could easily get industry backing for their DVD.
i am polish so i couldn't even give anyone money if i wanted to
and i would never give my money to any of that, even pushing daises continuation i really want
Kudos to the LBD creators for recognising that 14-25 year old tumblr fangirls were going to be their main audience and catering to their demands. But by aiming for the fandom obsessives demographic, they made something that isn't actually very good by broader entertainment standards.
The concept was never really going to work as it forced so many nuanced parts of the book to become contrived and theatrical. The episode where Darcy broke the fourth wall to suggest that the vlog format created its own verisimilitude made me laugh because that couldn't be further from the truth. The acting from all but two of the cast was awful.
And don't even get me started on the sex tape storyline. The Brighton sub plot cannot be adapted for a modern retelling because there simply isn't a modern equivalent to the scandal of elopement in Regency England. Lydia's storyline was a mess from start to finish.
The one thing I will give the creators of LBD credit for is casting POC in prominent roles, which is something other adaptations haven't done. Apart from that, it was a hot cringeworthy mess.
And another reason being, at least in my opinion, that the writers (while very nicely updating certain parts of the story like the ethnicities of the cast and making the Collins/Charlotte thing a job offer) for some crazy reason decided to adhere much too closely to the original story.
Being a modern adaptation there were some things that just couldn't be adapted and it will forever bug me that of all things they chose NOT to change up the dialogue in certain scenes. It was just so fucking stilted in so many parts.
It's kind of funny that you say that, because I've hated everything related to Austen for years and I actually liked LBD. oop. So maybe I'm part of that target audience?
It's been canon since 1813, you morons!
But P&P is so 'British' to me that I don't think you can re-create it in modern day America. If they'd been more subtle with it then it might have worked better.
MTE about the creators catering to youngin' tumblr fanbase.
I thought the Lydia storyline had some good acting but conceptually it was not as successful as some other aspects of the series.
There was a Bollywood modern adaptation from a few years' back which had some good things about it, but overall their Emma character wasn't as sympathetic/clueless as Cher was, so I didn't love it as much as I wanted to.
the kissing from last episode was.super hot though so props for that.
The last episode made me really happy though, although I've just realized the actress who plays Lizzie is terribad.
I think back to the episode where Lydia finds out about the sex tape and I always want to laugh at the horrible, super bad cry (?) the actress who plays Lydia lets out before she runs off camera.
I'm thinking they probably didn't want me to laugh.