One of my favorite things about web series is the level of consideration that must go into deciding what type of production you are going to have. Where do you put your resources? The more cinematic, the more time spent moving the camera, changing the lighting, renting equipment and in term money required. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries recently completed an epic web adaptation of ‘Pride And Prejudice’ and they did it with one camera and lighting set up in one location.

Wasted Time takes the cinematic approach, and it looks fantastic. Lighting, cinematography, editing are all top notch, and look as good as anything you’ll see in the theater. The production team at Ravavilad opted to shoot the series on a RED camera because they believe it and the Alexa are the only options for a truly cinematic look. The result is the first web series I’ve seen that can be viewed on YouTube in 4K resolution – now if only I can get one of those displays.

The downside to a big production is that Wasted Time is just four episodes long and around twenty minutes. While series that focus on quantity have shown the most success online, the team believes that a quality over quantity approach can help them stand out from the crowd and cultivate an audience of dedicated fans.

Wasted Time has a lot of other things worth discussing beyond just the production. The show is quite exemplary all around – in fact I will say now that the only criticism I really have of the show is the fact that it isn’t long enough. Of course the creators are addressing that right now with a five episode second arc to the series. There are a few more things worth highlighting though.

The concept of the series is to make a series of loosely connected shorts centered around the seemingly insignificant moments that make up the majority of our lives. These are the moments that would get left out when the larger story is told later on – or the scenes that would end up on the cutting room floor. While that description might not sell you on the show, anyone who subscribes to the belief that some of the best stuff in movies ends up on the cutting room floor should certainly take a look. Ultimately the quality and authenticity of a story comes down to the level of detail in it, and these moments are that detail.

The brilliance of the loosely connected aspect of these stories is that episodes can range from dramatic to comedic and seeing previous episodes adds to the overall enjoyment but is not significant enough to be required. For example the pizza delivery man from the hilarious porn episode makes for an awesome Easter egg when he appears at the pizza place to give a little comic relief to the dramatic robbery episode.

Watching the first episode was something of a refresher course in just how excellent, well crafted cinema can be. Dolly shots through a full bar, shots of characters through neon signs, quick cuts through well crafted insert shots, crazy cool locations, interesting Bio Shock like ambient sound, and excellent music – all combine to form something that should hold the viewers interest at all moments, even if the subject matter on its own is seemingly bland. The details that make the story are all there, and you can almost smell it.

Oh ya, the acting was good too. You can find Wasted Time at their well crafted web site http://wastedtimeseries.com