MovieChat Forums > Storytellers (2013) Discussion > Was anyone else disappointed with this s...

Was anyone else disappointed with this series?

posted 10 years ago by Apcrocks8
3 replies | jump to latest

As I type this, the series is currently half over (with season one), and I am a bit disappointed with how this series turned out.

First off, each of the stories being told are supposed to relate to one another. That is true, but not every story fully relates to the other stories. Some parts are confusing and just do not make sense.

In the third episode, the episode starts out with scenes from the second episode, but from another characters perspective. There was no "previously on Storytellers..." or anything like that. This "flashback" to episode two took about half of the third episode. Now, there may have been some reason for doing that which I have failed to comprehend, but I felt confused as to why they would take up half an episode to show stuff that everyone has already seen.

Another issue I have, which is more with the people watching and commenting, is that people think Joey Graceffa should be hired on a television show or that Storytellers should be on a television network. To be honest, I did not think that Joey Graceffa's acting is all that great. I am not saying he is a bad actor, because he definitely has acting ability. I am merely saying that maybe if he had a bit more experience acting he would have been more "relaxed" or "familiar" when filming. Also, if this series is to be on television, no one (or at least most people) should have to watch an episode more than once to understand the episode/plot.

I also think that the episodes are a bit short. Each episode is somewhere around ten minutes, which makes the whole series only about one hour long, which is pretty short if you ask me.

This is just my two cents. The series is not over yet as I write this so maybe it will get better and make more sense in the final few episodes.

[–] nikgnorge 10 years ago

I'm underwhelmed as well, especially considering the $100,000 budget. Where did that money go? I don't want to be cynical, but from what the final product looks like, I'm guessing the bulk of it went to actors' paychecks. I've seen a lot of webshows and YouTube videos that did not crowdfund such a huge amount of money and yet still managed to look professional and entertaining. I haven't really noticed any complex special effects in Storytellers. Even the sets look like they could be private homes and public spaces, therefore the crew did not have to pay to film there. And yes, the show is super short. 20 minutes per episode would have allowed the show to expand the plot, which is weak and not that fresh to begin with.

The bottom line is, there are a lot of people out there that would have made real art (or at least constructed a compelling and fresh story) if given a hundred thousand bucks as opposed to what Joey has done with this show. But that's life.

[–] Apcrocks8 10 years ago

With only a one hundred thousand dollar budget, I knew that this web series was not going to be perfect. With that amount of money you cannot make something that looks like a professional movie in a movie theater. That does not mean what you make will be bad, it just means it will not be as good quality wise.

From what I have noticed by reading comments and reviews, people are confused on whether the stories they are telling at the campfire are real or not. That confused me too, because when they show each character sitting at the campfire they start out by acting like they are making a story up. The confusing part is that each story does relate. (I have been told that each episode is the story told in a specific characters point of view, which from my understanding is not really true). In one of the later episodes, a character who was only seen in the actual stories they were telling appeared at the campfire and sat down, which probably further confused people as to whether the stories they are telling are "real" or just "made up" as they go along.

I also still dislike how people think Joey Graceffa should be on television (or that the web series should be on television). What I find interesting is that Joey has very little acting experience, yet everyone praises him and says his acting is worth being on television. There are so many actors in the world, who probably have more acting experience than Joey, yet get way less recognition by people.

Joey claims that he wants a season two of Storytellers. I am curious as to how that would work. In the first season, everyone was just telling a story around a campfire. Will the second season be a continuation of the first series story, or will there be a new story people are telling around a campfire?

Lastly, I think Joey should have created a separate channel or website for the Storytellers videos. That way they would all be together in one place and it would look more professional than the episodes being on his vlogging channel.

[–] tallgirltv 9 years ago

$100,000 is $16,000 an ep. Not much of a budget.