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Streamy Nominations Announced!
Monday, March 1st, 2010
This morning, the 2nd Annual Streamy Nominations were announced, and we’re thrilled to say Riese has 4 nominations!
-Best Foreign Web Series
-Best Cinematography (Christopher Charles Kempinski)
-Best Art Direction (Chad Krowchuk)
-Best Sound Design (Bill Mellow & Kevin Belen)
Congratulations to every one on Team Riese, as well as all the other nominees. Looking forward to seeing you all in LA!
A full list of nominees can be found here.
-Ryan
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News Update and a Fan Creation Contest
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Hey Riese fans,
Hope everyone’s February has been a good one. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing the world come together here in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Games. It’s absolute craziness, but in a good way. I mean, really, how often can you say the Olympics are happening right outside your window (Literally, in our case. The Olympic Village is right outside our office windows).
First off, the news. We’ve been making a lot of headway with finding some new homes for Riese, and it’s looking more and more likely that we’ll be able to put the episodes online again soon. It’s still too early to announce anything specific yet, but wanted to let you know that big things are definitely in the works and we’ll keep you posted. Again, you guys have been so awesome, and the support you’ve shown has only helped people looking at the show to be more excited to take it on. We have some awesome fans.
To help keep us all busy during the hiatus, we’ve decided to do a contest! The lovely folks at Simon & Schuster were kind enough to provide a number of copies of Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk novel “Leviathan”. Here’s the synopsis for those of you unfamiliar with it:
“It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.
Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.”
With the Great War brewing, Alek’s and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.
—–
It’s a fun and epic piece, and a must if you’re steampunk enthusiast. So, here’s the big question: how can you win it, and some other great prizes?
We’re inviting people to create fan pieces for Riese. Art, photo collage, wallpaper design, avatar collection, music, poems, invent a character in the Riese world, fanfiction – whatever inspires you. We thought it’d be a fun activity for you all to demonstrate how creative and artistic you are, and reward it! You have until March 5th, 2010 to get your submission in. Once we’ve received them, Kaleena and myself will select the winners. Additionally, we’ll be showcasing the winners here on our blog for all other Riese fans to see! So this could be an opportunity to get your work viewed by people all over the world.
So, to summarize the rules:
Entrants have until March 5th, 12:00AM PST to submit their entires at ryan(at)riesetheseries.com. Entries include any fan creation, including but not limited to, drawings, paintings, music, fanfiction, wallpapers and avatars. We encourage entries to be creative and original, as we’re always drawn to unique ideas.
Winners works will be shown throughout the month of March on riesetheseries.com. Works will remain property of their respective artists.
Prizes Include:
Hardcover copy of Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan
Exclusive Riese & The Sect buttons
Riese Apparel
We’re excited to see what you come up with, and as I said, we’ll keep you posted on any developments as soon as we hear them! Now get creating! And if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us for more details. Cheers!
-Ryan
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Important News Regarding Riese
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Hey Riese viewers,
As the new year rolls around, we’ve had a lot of developments with the show that we’ve been itching to tell you about. First of all, as you’ve already seen, Chapter 2’s episodes are new and improved, with higher production values, exciting story and some really amazing cast additions. Also, we’re nearly finished with the development of our iPhone game tie-in. Without giving too many details away, I think you’ll all be really excited.
We also recently partnered with Fireworks, a digital distribution branch of ContentFilm, based out of the UK. They’re largely responsible for the transition of the webseries Valemont from internet to television, and they handle a number of many other well-known webseries as well.
What does this mean for Riese? It opens up a number of opportunities. For one, it increases the chances that we can keep making this show and letting you become further involved in the world of Riese. Additionally, it boosts the possibility of us being able to distribute the series on other platforms (episode downloads, DVDs, and television).
Now, for the bad news. While Fireworks is negotiating deals on our behalf, we’ve had to remove our episodes from online streaming. We’re not happy about it by any means – we want all of our fans to enjoy Riese whenever they want – but we also understand that it’s a necessary move in order to keep a project like Riese afloat. The few of us that are responsible for producing Riese on a day-to-day basis are realistic that we cannot sustain it without the support of Fireworks and our viewers.
We hope to have everything back up as soon as possible, and we’ll keep everyone posted as we move forward. I know a lot of people will be bummed out, but just know that this slight delay could mean a whole new future for Riese. We don’t want to disappoint you all, but I know you’d be even more disappointed if we left the rest of this epic tale untold.
Thanks for being a part of something that’s been incredibly dear to us, and for helping to turn it into something greater than we could have ever imagined. We hope to have your continued support during this brief hiatus. In the meantime, look for bonus behind-the-scenes videos from our newest episodes.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at ryan (at) riesetheseries(dot)com.
Sincerely,
Ryan Copple & Kaleena Kiff
Creators of Riese
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Emilie Ullerup joins Riese!
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Big news: Emilie Ullerup has joined the cast of Riese for Chapter 2. Emilie will be playing “ALIZA”, a revolutionary and companion of RAND.
Emilie is best known for her work as ‘Ashley Magnus’ on the hit Sci-Fi show “Sanctuary”. She also played ‘Kaitlin Joyce’ on “J-Pod”, winning a Leo Award for Best Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series. Emilie has also had prominent roles in “Smallville”, “Blood Ties” and “Battlestar Gallactica”.
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Peter Kelamis joins Riese
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
We are thrilled to announce Peter Kelamis has joined the cast of Riese. Peter will be playing the part of “ORMAND”. More details to be announced soon.
Currently seen as ‘Adam Brody’ on Stargate Universe, Kelamis has appeared in nearly 100 projects including film, television and voice work in cartoons and video games. In addition, Peter is well known for his work in stand-up comedy.
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