SayreMedia currently has two experimental vodcasts (one no longer in development) and a revolutionary Web 2.0-centric ebook venture slated to beta launch in early 2011.

Vodcast Series

As a media company, we are focused on creating and publishing original Internet-based content, products, and services using new media creation and delivery tools. We’re continually experimenting with the new-media paradigms to learn how they are reshaping the face of media. To that end, we have created several experimental videopodcast serials to help us better understand the allure, reach, and efficacy of this current hot, new media tool.

It is important to note that our goal when creating these videopodcast serials was to use the same level of technology that most podcasters currently use. This meant spending almost no time on production and postproduction QA/QC. Why? Becuase most video podcasters use a simple camera (often a webcamera) and only have basic production and postproduction skills. We wanted to see how the general Interenet public would receive our videopodcasts if using the same tools.

The results have been amazing. With almost no money or time spent on promoting our vodcasts, our cheaply-produced scifi vodcast, The Adventures of Thomas Brin, has been downloaded over 2 million times (as of Feb. 2009)! It has become so popular that many fans have requested that we continue the story. So, we have decided to continue the experiment, this time uping the production values to see what effect that will have on market penetration and acceptance.

Starting with Episode 3, more attention was spent on production QA/QC and more effort was put into post-production quality. Episode 3 is finished and live. So you can view it, compare it to the first two episodes, and decide for yourself if we’ve succeeded in boosting the overall quality. Episode 4 was shot at the same time as Episode 3 and is currently in post production with no estimated release date yet—hey, we work on this in our spare nanonseconds!

How will our redoubled efforts at improving the overall production QA/QC turn out? We’ll let you know. Either way, the cast and crew have had a fun time producing this innovative video podcast!

Our foray into vodcasting continues to provide us with essential market intelligence that will allow us to better create and promote B2B and B2C products and services. Below is a list of our current experimental media properties. Click the image to visit that vodcast’s website.

The Adventures of Thomas Brin

SCIENCE FICTION: Video Podcast. With the first episode debuting in July of 2005, The Adventures of Thomas Brin is one of the first independent movie series to be published exclusively on the Internet as a videopodcast (vodcast cinema). It is a series about a man who thinks he’s a machine. With a Jules Verne meets Silent Running aesthetic, The Adventures of Thomas Brin harkens back to 60’s scifi were the visual effects (VFX) did not have to look real to draw a viewer into the story. It is created almost entirely on a virtual set with real actors. To stay true to the budget-minded vodcaster creedo, we used a low-cost greenscreen set up in a garage.

We decided to create this vodcast as an entry in an online independent movie challenge sponsored by DVinfo.net, a community of film and video production professionals. For our efforts, the movie short won the award for Outstanding Visual Effects! Whereas we can now rightfully claim our award-winning status on all of our very shameless marketing materials–and you know we will–we do look forward to the day when we win an even more prestigious award. But to do that, the production values will obviously have to be kicked up several notches!

This experimental surreal science fiction series is a new, bold direction in independent movie making. Actually, it is a new, bold endeavor in the newly created realm of vodcast cinema. Vodcast cinema is independent movie making for Internet-only delivery through the medium of videopodcasts. The focus is on pioneering cheap but effective ways to produce programming that entertains. Based on the response we have had to date, we think we have certainly achieved that goal!

Ahem!TV: Politics, Business, Culture, & Fish!

We are no longer producing new episodes of Ahem!TV.

NEWS, COMMENTARY, and HUMOR: Video Podcast. Ahem!TV is where Lou Dobbs meets Jon Stewart. It’s an Internet-based news and commentary program focused on politics, business, culture, and fish! That’s right, fish. Fish are good for you and they look funny. So, like fish, Ahem!TV is good for you and also entertaining.

Each episode was designed to not only entertain, but also make viewers question their assumptions and–hopefully–spur them to think more critically about the world in which we live. Ahem!TV delivered high-quality, serious and insightful news summaries but with a satirical twist.

Our main focus with this experimental vodcast project was to see whether a non-fiction, weekly news serial had more appeal than a fictional movie serial such as Thomas Brin. Based on the measly 15,000 downloads the show received, it was clear that we were not hitting the target with this project. Perhaps it was Jeff’s great (make that poor) acting or his political views, or maybe it was just too darn good and that scared people! Read more about our decision to stop producing this experimental series.