John Visclosky's Abstract

So, here's my abstract for my thesis project.

“The Reunion”
John Visclosky

The Reunion is an innovative—but light-hearted—new webisode series that aims to combine narrative, stylistic, technical, and marketing commonalities shared by pre-existing web serials, such as Red Vs. Blue or Getting Away With Murder. As the segments are released in weekly installments on YouTube, they will be supplemented by an accompanying blog-site detailing every facet of each episode’s creation.

By following the formation of the series from inception to publication, the project attempts to reveal functional marketing tactics, and effectively establish a paradigm for future webisode success. The thesis further aims to serve as an academically viable teaching tool that will instruct upon both the creative process and a developing new form of media.

The series revolves around the various members of a family who are coming together for one fateful weekend at an annual family reunion. Shot in a mockumentary style—with shaky hand-held camerawork, first-person documentary style interviews, and an improvisational script—the project will adopt a quirky, off-color sense of humor. Each episode will be no more than five minutes in length, and will be packed to the bursting point with jokes, innuendos, and oddball relatives.

The main character is Ben, a normal guy who hates his job as a greeting card writer, and who constantly yearns for something more. The main dramatic thread of the series will be Ben’s attempted love affair with the token girl next door, Jen. The two were childhood friends, but have not seen one another for quite sometime. When they meet again at the reunion, Ben finds that Jen is newly single. As he begins to romantically pursue her, we learn more about the other members of Ben’s family, including his steadfast and stalwart cousin Claire, his newly gay brother Dan, his desperate cousin Suzie, and her non-English speaking fiancé Alejandro.

The Reunion is a multi-disciplinary exercise that will combine elements of technically sound filmmaking, creative story telling, and shrewd, innovative marketing.