Ahead of Melbourne WebFest 2014 we are profiling all the series in the Official Selection as well as the “Second Look” series. 

The series follows a global serial killer known only as ‘The Torch’, as he has left a trail of victims in his wake, all with holes burned through their chests. When INTERPOL agent Margo Haige and her team track the serial killer, they realize that they have only scratched the surface of a longstanding conflict, and that The Torch has been hunting a specific group of targets. Pulling out all the stops, they forge into compromising situations to get to the bottom of the growing mystery.

The three say that what inspired the web series was the desire to create a project that they could all be proud of. They are all sci-fi and mystery lovers, with a commitment to great story telling.

Through Aternus, they wanted to look at the choices that we all make, and what kind of long-term effects our decisions and particular loyalties can have in our world, and on others. It’s a story about how the world around us is hanging precariously in the balance of humanities choices, and what one possible outcome of that could be.

Why make a web series?

This is something we struggled with during the initial phases of production: Do we make a short film or a web series? We eventually decided to make the story, as written and were pleasantly surprised when the concept was conducive to web series. We appreciate the freedom that comes along with the wild-west that is digital production, and online content.

How do you finance your series? 

We ran two IndieGoGo campaigns (one for production and one for post) and coupled our crowdsourced funding with personal investment, as well as volunteer and in-kind services from our cast, crew, and local BC film industry.

 What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in production?

There were several challenges. The final day of our shoot we were filming in an isolated park with only our generators and set lights for power. The junction boxes weren’t able to handle the power load and we went through several blackouts. Also, it snowed. A lot. Thank you mid-March in Vancouver! We also struggled with a skeleton crew, especially in the lighting department to get our setups done on a tight schedule, but our crew worked their asses off and came through like champs!

 How do you reach your audience?

While our episodes remain currently unreleased, we have our trailer online and interact frequently with our supporters, fans and potential audience online through Facebook, Twitter, IndieGoGo updates, and occasional e-blasts. Our cast has been excellent with audience engagement on social media as well.

 Is it an ongoing project? If so, can you give us some clues about what comes next?

The future of the project is funding dependent right now. We would love to do more, and are considering a number of ways to achieve this. We have a plan for the series that would sustain over several more seasons – buckle up, it’s going to get dark and awesome!

 Trivia: please tell us a quirky and/or interesting fact about yourself or team that’s unrelated to your web series.

We are very competitive when it comes to story breaking, beverage chugging, and occasionally what sort of animals make the best pets… Daniel swears by cats, and Derek and Rachel swear that he’s bonkers.

Aeternus on the web:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AeternusSeries

Twitter: @aeternusproject

Aeternus is currently represented by Frostbite Pictures — a Vancouver-based digital media studio looking to create content specifically for the web.

Keep up to date with Melbourne Web Fest on twitter: @MelbWebFest

La Trobe University is a festival sponsor of Melbourne WebFest.