What makes a webisode

Scifi Channel’s landmark series Battlestar Galactica is credited...

...with the popularization, of not the invention, of the word ‘webisode’. Starting as way of keeping its loyal fans entertained during the show’s hiatus, it created two-minute clips that strung a simple story together. You could view a webisode online via a streaming feed, and eventually other distribution avenues like downloads and podcasts. Since the shows website was firmly established, it did not need portal sites like youtube, myspace video, or google video to reach out. The show’s typical webisode expanded in length from two to eventually four or five minutes as the seasons wore on.

It’s not clear how far the term webisode will carry, or how long it will be the penultimate way to describe a short-form segment of a scripted web show or webseries. Beverlywood, a New Media show by definition with TV-format episodes, is already challenging that nomenclature. Though the clip length is similar, it’s the act structure and variety of content within the segment, that constitutes the difference. A webisode is typically one scene that may have even started in a previous clip or continues to the next. An episode is a more continuous unit.

To see a sample webisode from any web series, TV show, or New Media show, a good place to start would be itunes. Whether you have an ipod or another means of grabbing content from the famous site, it has become a haven for cutting edge content. Perhaps its Hollywood and the entertainment industry’s fascination with Mac personal computers, or just clever branding by the latter. Either way, it’s a great place for fans and enthusiast, are is revver and youtube.

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