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March 17, 2008 |
It's a novel, it's a TV show, it's an entire online world
By Mike Beggs
 Canadian author Douglas Coupland built his reputation on ’net culture. If you ever use the terms “Generation X” or “McJob” it’s because of Coupland. But even for a guy so connected with the Internet, the TV show based on his latest book has a really strong Web presence.
jPod the book hit store shelves in 2006, jPod the show premiered on CBC in January. Also launched were Web sites detailing different aspects of the show. jPod follows the comical misadventures of twentysomethings toiling for Vancouver video game company Neotronic Arts. CBC new media producer Elizabeth Levine said Coupland’s edgy storyline provided the perfect venue for online content. “You don’t want to go to a Web site that just tells you about this week’s show,” she said. “Coupland’s characters... really take on a life of their own beyond the broadcast property.”
The main site is the jPod Lounge, which offers 12 interactive 3D nodes. Lead character Ethan Jarlewski (David Kopp) hosts a virtual tour and visitors can then “go right into where these podsters work, and literally create parts of the show. You’re actually interacting with the characters in your own universe,” Levine said.
Other sites include Defendoid.com, which features a retro video game the Podsters play during slacker moments; Neotronicarts. com, which provides glimpses into their work days; and the coming-soon jpodcowboy.com, a blog by jPod’s resident ladies man, Cowboy. Other coming Web attractions will include hugsbeforesex.com, sneakerslut.com and porngobbler.com.
jPod is also the first TV show or film production to participate in the new eBay Neighbourhoods concept. Neighbourhoods gather related merchandise into one online store and promote contact among collectors. And the online marketing doesn’t end there. “You can find us by being a member of a Facebook group that loves video games, or a running shoe purchaser on e-Bay, or someone who likes to read Douglas Coupland,” Levine said. Since the show’s January launch, “we’ve got tons of Facebook groups. People are posting on their walls and sending them gifts, and fully interacting with these characters.”
When scouting locations, photograph everything
Tim Matheson on production technology and scouting trips  It’s fair to say actor and director Tim Matheson has had a long career. As a teen he was the voice of Johnny Quest and of Jace in the series Space Ghost. He was also Michael on Leave it to Beaver and Griff King on Bonanza. More recently Matheson has received two Emmy nominations for his turn as Vice President John Hoynes on The West Wing.
Recently in Mississauga, Ont., on a directing gig, Matheson reflected that technology has not changed television productions dramatically — “the cameras and lights got a little smaller, a little faster” — although he does rely on a handheld video monitor he had custom-made by a tech in Vancouver. “When I’m on the set, I don’t have to sit in front of the Video Village (monitor group) and watch. I like to be up with the actors. I can swing back and forth between the two or three cameras, and watch the shoot.”
But the one piece of professional equipment Matheson can’t be without is a digital camera. “When I’m scouting locations, I shoot every angle. And every night I download it into Apple’s iPhoto and erase everything on the camera, so I can shoot another 300 photos the next day,” he said. “That way I have a permanent record of every location I’ve ever seen, and don’t have to go back (to them) again and again.”
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