I was one of the judges for the inaugural San Francisco Web Film Festival happening June 5-7 at the New People Cinema in San Francisco, CA. We have completed our judging and the Official Selections have been announced!
A few comments about some of the excellent submissions, and my thoughts on the quality of web series in general.
I judged across 7 different categories for SF WebFest and categories particularly impressive to me were "Emotions" (Drama), "Facts" (Documentaries), and "Kids" (Children's Shows). The quality and production value of the entries were astounding. I found most Dramatic entries had interesting shooting techniques, intriguing storylines, and stellar cinematography. "Whatever, Linda", "The Banks" and "Status" all blew me away.
The Documentaries had a lot of heart and soul, particularly "Street Cuts" and "Dress Up! with George B. Style". George's enthusiasm and dedication made his show a pleasure to watch. "Street Cuts" is a brilliantly executed concept, skillfully edited, and a perfectly structured webisode. This series, in particular, is a shining example of what the democratization of filmmaking and distribution has done -- increasing the ability for artist genius like this to be unleashed in a powerful, moving, and high-quality, bite-size package.
The Children's Programming was also of specific note. The international entries from Canada were easily TV-quality already -- from hilariously intriguing and silly scripts to a comedy series for kids aiming to encourage cooking and baking at home with their parents, entries like "Ruby Skye P.I." and "Ty the Pie Guy" demonstrated how the platform of internet distribution is going to completely alter the landscape of children's programming going forwards.
Thank you to all the organizers of SF Web Fest, and I hope attendees of the festival in June enjoy the entries as much as I did.