‘This isn’t the old days’ – a line that was spoken often on this week’s #WebSeriesWednesday show ‘Mythos’ – proved to be about as incorrect as one can get. I’ll also discuss how important a great score is to your production.
Let me first say, Mythos is great! I loved this show all the way through and I am seriously having trouble finding things to criticize. If I have to pick nits I would describe the writing as just solidly above average, although I think that might sell it short. We see the pure and noble Morgan slowly turn to the dark, a subtle change I loved. The ideas and plot lines all feel quite fresh and well balanced -though it did not quite reach the level of great for me, but that is always subjective.
Everyone is just so good in this -Mythos is a collection of amazing undiscovered talent. I have yet to see a web series dish out so many roles and have every single one hit the mark. Miriam Pultro (whom I praised for her role in Casters) delivers another great performance here – although this time it was on both sides of the camera!
Second – and it is a big second – this week’s #WebSeriesWednesday went back to the stone age, or at least the late 90’s. ‘Mythos’ 9th and final episode will be officially released tomorrow (Thursday) but I was given the opportunity to watch it a day early. Let me say this – that didn’t work out – for a long time.
First I was having nightmare level connectivity issues that caused me to buffer the episodes. By the time episode nine came around I was struggling to keep my dropbox download from failing every 10 minutes. Things got bad beyond description, the low point being Miriam discovering her camera was broken while trying to film the ending for me on her phone. Yes. That bad. Hopefully she didn’t really smash her toaster in spite of technology.
There may still be some ways to go technologically before web series are truly ready for prime time – in the sense that these things can still happen and they can prevent someone from finding your show in ways that do not happen to television programs. In the mean time though this experience was quite eye opening in another way.
If you want to be successful, in anything you do, you have to have an intense passion and desire to do so. Chatting with Miriam during the show and seeing her dedication to making sure I saw the ending, wow let me tell you, this girl has it.
When you guys go out and make your shows keep that in mind. There will be days where you have to drag yourself through the mud, and you have to like it – such is dedication. Ultimately all the talent in the world will not save you. The most successful series are such because they did everything right, to its full extent, without cutting corners beyond their budgets.
Back to the show! One aspect that really stuck out was the score. It reminded me of some of my all time favorites, like Cliff Martinez’ score from Solaris. Its quiet and moody, but almost always present with the ability to take over when needed. Most web series have scores of some sort but never has one felt as prominent as Brad Althouse’s score for Mythos.
It’s clear that the series was written with music in mind. There are so many sequences that are simply images and music, and it can be quite moving. I particularly enjoyed the dream sequence at the end of an early episode – just images and a song, movie making in its purest form.
Most web series creators are not musicians and I get the feeling many think of music secondary to all other things. Many would debate me on this but there are times when I feel like music is the most important thing. Sometimes it takes a music cue to really drive home an emotion – and music can achieve that far better than any other medium.
I’ve long had the idea for a movie that was simply music and images, fitting somewhere in the long lineage of musicals but updated for modern audiences. There is just something about these sequences in films that are just so true to the art form. The requirements of editing for story are lost and replaced by a poetic mix of camera motion, musical movements, and beautiful imagery.
Mythos is not quite that but with its lovely, ever present score, and its fair share of beautiful images the show is a well crafted ode to the art of film making at its most basic level. I really hope to see more shows created in this style in the future.
Until then you can check out Mythos at http://mythosseries.com
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