Award-winning web series director interviewed

Award-winning web series director interviewed

On February 23 in Los Angeles, the first regional web series #SamoKažem, produced by the B92 Fund, with TunaFish Studio as executive producers, won a Satellite Award given by the International Press Academy (IPA).

The series is part of the Re:Generacija ("Re:Generation") project, launched by the B92 Fund in November 2012, in cooperation with BBC Media Action. The project was joined by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights for Bosnia- Herzegovina, IPSOS Strategic Marketing, TunaFish Studio, Cikotronci, and Braća Burazeri.

This project consists of three important segments: the first being a team of 11 young people from across the region (Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, Prizren, Leposavić, Prijedor, Mostar, Prilep and Veles) that learn the basics of video activism, campaigns and debates, through theory and practical work, in workshops and online meetings. They acquire the skills used to promote other parts of Re:Generacija.

The second segment is known as #KažiTi - an online activist training ground, a sort of "the voice of a generation", getting louder and more recognizable, and growing into an activist site.

Finally, the #SamoKažem series is the third important segment Re:Generacija. It is the first regional web-series for teenagers. The reason that it is broadcast exclusively on the internet was the study that showed the mainstream media lacking in content aimed toward the young, which is why they are inceasingly turning to the internet.

The series follows a year in the life of several girls and boys.The last of the 26 first-season webisodes aired on February 6, and the second season in now in preparation.

The prestigious Hollywood award, given in the Original Short-Format category, was an opportunity to talk with 23-year-old Jelena Gavrilović, a graduate student of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, who directed the series. - How would you describe today's generation of young people, that you also belong to?

I do not know how to answer that question, it's hard for me to generalize. I feel fear and confusion, that may be my most universal impression, while everyone copes differently. Someone is being pushed forward by that feeling, somebody sinks in it, others are blocked and shut down, others yet are made more open.

- Can young people identify with the series?

That was our goal. I guess the fact the series is a romantic melodrama helped in all generations being able to identify at least with some things. If not all, then at least in some.

-The series speaks openly about some provocative things - hidden desires, sex, drugs and alcohol, to family relationships, understanding others and those who are different. How would you define its message?

#SamoKažem is a call to a generation of teenagers from this region to outgrow the problems they inherited from their parents and cross the boundaries that have been drawn by them. But the series does not deal with political boundaries, but instead with the young people on the threshold of adulthood, who are spending a great summer together, examining and crossing borders - virtual, mental and real, on the road of growing up, as do all young people anywhere in the world.

- The length of an episode is atypical for traditional media (5 to 10 minutes) and they are only broadcast on the internet. Why have you chosen this format and media? How well have they been able to communicate with the audience?

We wanted to engage in an experiment and have a new energy come out of it. That's really the whole idea of ​​the series, so the format and media were only a logical choice. I think they proved to be a good choice for our purposes. This is the first series in the Balkans which was filmed primarily for the internet, because we wanted it to be always available to everyone. Therefore, the internet was the only logical choice.

Add to this that social networks provide communication with the audience, and the possibilities are immense. For example, fans of the series can follow their favorite characters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Every hero of our series has a private profile on one of the social networks. Just to emphasize, these is not classic pages, but real profiles, so that fans can interact with the characters. And the fans are now involved in this game. The project's team of eleven inspiring young people from the region took part in promoting the series in this way.

- The series was filmed in almost a documentary style, the acting is natural and realistic. What methods did you use to achieve this?

Actors themselves take the most credit for this, they were willing to engage in improvisation and gave themselves to the scenes, instead of learning the written script. I'll mention that the actors come from across the region - from Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, Prizren... It was also helpful that they became very close privately, and I was mostly just trying to catch as many of these genuine sparks between them. In all the procedures we wanted naturalness, also visually. Director of photography Aleksandar Pavlović is to be credited the most for the impression of a controlled documentary. - The actors are mostly young, how did they work together?

The fact that all participants in the making of the series were young, had its advantages and its disadvantages... it was very exciting. Looking at it from a distance, I think the best thing is that we had the opportunity to learn from each other.

- You used music made by young, mostly unknown bands from the region? Why this musical matrix?

Music is the spirit of the times. The entire production team wanted it to be as diverse as possible. We tried to promote both the old and new bands that we thought deserved the attention. Of course, our personal taste had the most influence.

- What was your biggest challenge in relation to the recording of the series?

The shooting at Ada Bojana, and Silver Lake were definitely the most challenging! It was summer, we were on the seaside, later at the lake... and we had to be filming, be serious and focused. On top of that, the plan was very demanding, so we recorded 25 hours straight at Silver Lake... I did not even know that I could stay awake for so long.

- It is thought that the award given to the series is the third most important in Hollywood, after the Oscars and the Golden Globes. How much does his recognition mean to you?

Honestly, I have not yet accepted that it happened. We knew that in our category there were seven American series, and in fact none of us thought we could get the prize. And that's why we are so surprised and of course we are delighted. I hope that this award will help more people see our series, as well as help us to start shooting the second season.

Re:Generacija is online at kaziti.org/samokazem.org, and on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud