Botswana, USA Web Series
Botswana, USA Web series seem to be the new big thing; you will even find them on major network's websites, such as NBC with The Office mini episodes. The famous Ask A Ninja, started out as a web series. Web series originally started out as a way for indie filmmakers to get their work out there and on the web, including posting them on YouTube. You can now view hundreds of thousands of web series all over the internet with different budgets, quality types, domain types, etc., including: Family (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2-MTs_Lsog), The Bicyclist (http://www.thebicyclist.tv/), The Free Box (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTdW6g02Ar8), Cataclysmo II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6k8RbsHM5U), and Botswana, USA (http://www.botswanausa.webs.com/) to name a few. I must admit though, out of all the web series that I have checked out (which I have seen a lot), I think the cinematography on Botswana, USA surpasses them all.
I talked with the show’s creator, and one man show, Joriah Goad about his fairly new, but breathtakingly beautiful web series, Botswana, USA. In talking with Joriah, I found out that he has a surprisingly low to no budget production cost on his series which is filmed around Seattle, Washington, home to many indie filmmakers. He owns his own camera, a Canon XHA1 and sound equipment and finds most of his actors through word of mouth or Facebook. Joriah started this web series inspired by music from Daptone Records and the African style house that he and his wife are house sitting for.
Botswana, USA started as a scene for Joriah’s filmmaking class including such characters as Martha and Brionne. His class and friends loved the scene so much that it gave him inspiration to produce a full web series. The first season, when finished will be comprised of six episodes of about fourteen minutes each, except the first two. It is around the third episode that sets the tone for this young series, which normally takes filmmakers a year or two to really establish. Ed Halliday, a fan from the Botswana, USA site mentions, “Everything about this series has grown since episode two, absolutely everything. Your cast is really stepping into their shoes as the characters they are playing, your storylines are giving more to the viewer in one episode than before, this one left me hanging, fertilization was the PERFECT way to end this episode…” and I must agree with you on that Mr. Halliday.
Botswana, USA takes place in a hotel setting, with the characters occupying a different room each episode, set in none other than Botswana. Within each episode you will come to find the ridiculously crazy occupants, mainly “white folk” that occupy these rooms and harass the hotel help. Each character brings something different to the series whether it be high on drugs, crazy, intense or just plain odd, it is what makes Botswana, USA (besides the cinematography) enjoyable and keeping you coming back for more.
Music really speaks to Joriah, so for each episode, he spends what little money he has budget wise on the soundtrack. Daptone Records has supplied the soundtrack for his second two episodes which Joriah feels the music really helps to set the tone.
This very talented, young filmmaker plans to continue this biting, brilliant, breathtakingly beautiful series with the hopes of funding to continue on to Season Two (shooting next summer) and possibly market the show to IFC (Independent Film Channel) or any other major networks such as HBO or Starz with the help of a few friends.
Besides finishing up the final episodes of Season One, Joriah’s next big plan is to submit a film to the BET Film Festival coming up in the next few months.
