Beyond The Trailer, Best Shorts Join Indy Mogul

Congrats to you, Indy Mogul, on the newest additions to your web series family! Is it a boy? A girl? No, it’s two new series, expanding Next New Networks’ dominion into the online film scene.

Hosted by animator/writer Bobby Miller, The Best Short Films In The World features four short films a week in the form of brief clips. Sometimes the reasons for their selection aren’t entirely clear, either in terms of quality or in terms of subject matter — Episode 8’s James Bond theme pretty much boils down to Miller wearing a tuxedo in between clips. And on a premise level, Best Shorts‘ success depends on the clips representing each film, which means that drama picks don’t play in the context of the episode nearly as well as comedy does, which is a shame, given that strong dramatic shorts are often ignored online and could stand greater attention.

However, much in the same way that often the best part of Mystery Science Theater 3000 wasn’t the movie-mocking but the interstitial sketches featuring the robots and Mike or Joel, the glue of Best Shorts is its host. Miller is the genesis of the show’s funny, geeky voice, and his antics make the show worth watching on a regular basis. A two-part Halloween-themed story arc sent Miller to the grave and them back again; he’s since recovered from his zombie state, though, resuming his slightly self-loathing, unabashedly nerdy persona.

Also joining the Indy Mogul family is Beyond the Trailer, formerly known as TitanTV’s RevYOU. Hosted by the sharp and confident Grace Randolf, Beyond takes a recent release, lays out the behind-the-scenes drama, and then gets fresh audience reactions from outside the theater. Episodes are released the same day as the film, which is a pretty impressive accomplishment on its own. Plus, her informative preludes on the film’s background are fast-paced and info-packed, and she’s able to get great responses out of the average movie-goer.

The one trap Randolf falls into is opening her interview segments with asking people whether or not a movie is good. While her later interview questions are usually much more interesting, the piece always ends up starting with a dull round of yes/no responses. It’s also clear by the outside light that the audience reactions she’s getting are from people seeing early Friday showings, which is an interesting choice of crowd: there’s a greater diversity of filmgoer, but the fanboy crowd turns out in force for the midnight Thursday screenings, not the 1 p.m. matinee — and fanboys make for great video.

So again, Indy Mogul, congratulations on your newest bundles of joy. But one thought for you as you devote yourself to nurturing these babies: While Best Shorts fits nicely with the Indy Mogul focus on enabling and encouraging independent filmmakers, Beyond the Trailer’s celebration of big feature releases is a less obvious leap. If you use the argument that there’s nothing indie filmmakers care more about than films in general, then Beyond has its place, but maybe keep an eye out and make sure that both shows feel accepted by the rest of your family.