What do YOU want to see in a mermaid show?

[Mermaid Stark]

I deleted all the videos we had for Mystic Waters because I felt like they were kind of crappy. Before I start filming again, I would like to ask your personal opinions and what you want to see in a mermaid show.

Like, would you rather have fantastic acting, but so-so video quality, or the other way around?

Any ideas on what you would like to see that is different from H2O?

Thanks!

[Mermaid Varshana]

Acting. But otherwise, I'm afraid the stuff I thought was missing from H2O couldn't be done without a big budget. I don't think they went far enough with the premise. Oh...one idea? Ok, we have mermaids. There are mermaids in this world youve invented. what ELSE is out there if mermaids are real?

[SeaGlass Siren]

I rather prefer acting over great video quality. I mean look at doctor who! Great story, great acting, special effects and props and such were awesome and they don't even need a good camera. The rest just depends on the editing and camera person.

[Aquatarian]

I love all kinds of mermaid related media.

But I would love to see something... Vampire Diaries, Secret Circle, Teen Wolf ish. That might help make it more popular in the public eye, not to mention it would open up a darker story line.

[Alveric]

Good acting and good videography shouldn't mutually exclusive.

A story premiss different from H2O would be good. How about:

Due to a magical mishap, experiment gone awry, etc. the heroine(s) get changed into mermaid(s). The plot is how does she/they get their legs back? A magic crystal, chemical formula? How do they find what they need? Who can help them?
Complications would be the misadventures of dealing with life as a mermaid (getting to school, being kicked off the swim team because you're too good, avoiding being captured by rogue scientists for experiments).

The actresses would have to spend a lot of time in the water in their tails which will make filming complex, unfortunately.

[Mermaid Varshana]

Ehhhhh...not a huge fan of CW shows, but to each their own. Then again, I'm not their target audience. A lot of them seem to run on young adult angst, like which characters with forced chemistry are hooking up with whom, while forgetting to have charm or a soul. There are lots of ways to make a show that is more TV-14 (lest we forget, though, H2O was actually rated TV-PG, not TV-Y or Y7). There are a zillion shows that don't go the teen soap opera route so you can avoid the silly angst stuff. And it's cool when a show doesn't always take itself seriously.

[Mermaid Varshana]

.......frag, unwanted post, pardon my dumbassery.

[MerEmma]

I really want to see something of decent video quality--it's cool that you don't have to have a super nice camera to do a show, but I really think that's what makes or breaks something. I can't stand blurs, haha. I want to see something that's filmed like real TV in that they film a whole season, air it while filming another rather than having to film and edit each every week. I want to see something with a really unique plotline. Lots of swimming! Love the swimming. :P Something with music that isn't H2O--royalty free music for background and theme songs really aren't that hard to find. Good acting. Good lighting and sound. A script, maybe.

[Mermaid Varshana]

Though here's something to remember - if you are not making any money off of this show, I do believe you can use any music you want. It's not a whole lot different from making a music video or an amv.

[MerEmma]

YouTube can still take you down for copyright infringement and has done so to many videos. If it's not yours, sometimes it'll be left up, sometimes it won't be.

[Mermaid Varshana]

Given the ten zillion music videos, amvs, full songs, covers and concerts of every single song ever made, I suppose it's up to luck if it gets taken down. I wonder if obscurity of the music makes a difference.

[Mermaid Stark]

Thanks mers! I just got off skype with Elena, and we both agreed that we would re-write the whole thing because it's a bit too... friendly. The new one is going to really BE mystic. Mystic Waters should be mystic! So we're going dark and doing something more grown-up-ish. Though we didn't write much, it's going to be something along the lines of: The mer population is rapidly decreasing. The "council" of the mer community must decide which humans are worthy of the power of the mer. The two girls who are chosen are either total strangers or enemies (we can't decide yet).

I'm going to sell all my Monster High dolls (except Lagoona) because I don't use them anymore. This will help raise money and give us a budget for the show. We plan on becoming Youtube partners to help with it too. We will do the filming every summer and "air" it in the fall. We're not so sure on the cameras at the moment, but we think that my GoPro Hero 3 might work. We're going to get mics and tripods, and boom poles, etc, to help with the quality. The underwater scenes will be done in the actual ocean, instead of in a pool (except maybe if our characters go swimming in a pool).
Oh, and we're going to ditch the whole turn-into-a-mer-10-seconds-after-you-touch-water thing.

[Mermaid Stark]

Oh, and if anyone is interested in the MH dolls, please feel free to contact me for more info.