Urban Wolf
{{Infobox television
| genre = Science fiction Thriller
| creator = Laurent Touil-Tartour
| director = Laurent Touil-Tartour
| starring = Vincent Sze
| composer = Thierry Caroubi
| country = France
United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 1
| num_episodes = 15
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer = Napoleon Premiere
| producer = Laurent Touil-Tartour
| location = Paris
| camera = Yves Dahan
| runtime = 58 mn
| first_aired = {{Start date|2010|05|13}} on Sony's www.crackle.com
}}
Urban Wolf is an online non-verbal drama series, with 15 webisodes of 4 minutes long each.
The movie was written, produced and directed by Laurent Touil-Tartour.
The world premiere and first public screening of the show took place at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con.
In 2009, at the 4th Annual Los Angeles Independent Television Festival Urban Wolf won the Award for Best Drama.{{cite web |url=http://itvfest.org/ |title=The 2009 ITVFest winners are... |access-date=2009-08-09 |archive-date=2010-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328131052/http://itvfest.org/ |url-status=dead }} And in 2011, during the 15th Annual Webby Awards Urban Wolf won the People's Voice Award for Best Drama.{{cite web |url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=97&season=15#film_drama |title=Urban Wolf winner of the Best Drama Webby Awards 2011 |access-date=2011-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415053345/http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=97&season=15#film_drama |archive-date=2011-04-15 |url-status=dead }} It also has been selected for the 2009 AFI DigiFest by the American Film Institute as "one of the most compelling example of new media storytelling".{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/Education/dcl/ |title=AFI DigiFest Most Compelling Films of 2009}}
On March 31, 2010, Sony Pictures Entertainment officially announces a groundbreaking worldwide distribution deal for the series.{{cite web| url = http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cracklecom-launches-acclaimed-international-suspense-web-series-urban-wolf-89626007.html| title = Crackle.com Launches Acclaimed International Suspense Web Series 'Urban Wolf'}} The show premiered on Sony Pictures Entertainment owned Crackle on May 13, 2010.{{cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/03/urban-wolf/ | magazine=Wired | first=Hugh | last=Hart | title=Spy Thriller Urban Wolf Crackles With Tension (But Without Words) | date=March 31, 2010}} Then Sony Pictures syndicated the series in a multi-platform footprint including: YouTube, hulu, the PlayStation Network, Google TV, the Bravia Network, Animax, AXN, AT&T, Sprint, etc.
Plot
=Season 1 (2009)=
The plot focuses mainly on an American tourist freshly landed at Paris airport in France who is pursued and terrorized by a malevolent security camera operator.
Awards and nominations
=Awards=
- 2011 Webby Award – Best Drama Award Winner of the 15th Annual Webby People’s Voice Awards.
- 2009 Independent Television Festival – Best Drama Award Winner.
- 2009 Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival – Staff Picks Award Winner.{{cite web |url=http://filmfest.dragoncon.org/filmfest09awards.htm |title=2009 Dragon*Con Awards Winners}}
=Nominations=
- 2009 American Film Institute DigiFest – Nominated as "Most Innovative Digital Media Production".
- 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Media Lab - Center for Future Storytelling - Official Selection.{{cite web |url=http://www.media.mit.edu/research/center-future-storytelling |title=Urban Wolf at the MIT Media Lab}}
- 2011 Webby Award – Nominated for "Best Drama" for both Webby Award and People's Voice Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=97&season=15#film_drama |title=Urban Wolf nominated for Best Drama at The Webby Awards 2011 |access-date=2011-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415053345/http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=97&season=15#film_drama |archive-date=2011-04-15 |url-status=dead }}
=Honorees=
- 2011 Webby Award – Official Honoree for "Best Individual Performance" at the 15th Annual Webby Awards.{{cite web |url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?media_id=97&category_id=695&season=15 |title=Urban Wolf distinguished as an Official Honoree for "Best Individual Performance at the Webby Awards 2011}}
Reception
The series has received overwhelmingly enthusiastic critical reception. Journalist and critic Hugh Hart, writing for Wired Magazine noted: "Laurent Touil-Tartour exploits sharp edits, a driving score and spare cinematography to extract maximum tension and an handsomely filmed suspense drama.”{{cite news|author=Wired Magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/03/urban-wolf/ |title=Spy Thriller Urban Wolf Crackles With Tension (But Without Words) |publisher=wired.com |date= March 31, 2010|accessdate=2010-03-31}} Hugh Hart also enjoyed the usage of non-verbal storytelling: "Not a word gets spoken in Urban Wolf. But even without dialogue, French filmmaker Laurent Touil-Tartour has made an unusually sophisticated spy-tech thriller.”
Critic Jandy Stone Hardesty, in her review for Row Three, said that Touil-Tartour has “a nice flair for composition and a good sense of visual storytelling, he also knows how to do good twists and suggest things rather than spell them out, something I really appreciated.”{{cite news|author=Jandy Hardesty |url=http://www.rowthree.com/2010/05/16/urban-wolf-is-watching-you/ |title=Urban Wolf is watching you |publisher=rowthree.com |date= May 16, 2010|accessdate=2010-05-16}} William Bibbiani, in CraveOnline, called it "an exciting little bit of filmmaking that deserves its notoriety and is worth howling about”,{{cite news|author=William Bibbiani |url=http://www.craveonline.com/tv/reviews/138846-urban-wolf-review/ |title=Urban Wolf review |publisher=craveonline.com |date= May 12, 2010|accessdate=2010-05-12}} and Liz Shannon Miller writing in GigaOM wrote that "“Urban Wolf is a gripping thriller that stands out as proudly unique. Some of Wolf‘s execution might emulate classic 1970s thrillers, but the concept is pure 21st century, playing nimbly with issues of privacy and paranoia. When a director can make even the eating of a potato chip seem malevolent (as occurs in the yet-to-premiere episode 7), you know you’ve watching something special.”{{cite news |author=Liz Shannon Miller |url=http://gigaom.com/video/urban-wolf-a-near-perfect-21st-century-thriller/ |title=Urban Wolf a Near-Perfect 21st Century Thriller |publisher=gigaom.com |date=May 13, 2010 |accessdate=2010-05-13 |archive-date=2010-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102021403/http://gigaom.com/video/urban-wolf-a-near-perfect-21st-century-thriller/ |url-status=dead }}
Reviewing it for the Mingle Media TV Network, journalist Kristyn Burtt wrote: "The reason this series stands out amongst the pack is its cinematic feel and the utilization of mise en scene. You don't hear the main character utter a word until Episode 7, and boy, is it effective.”{{cite news|author=Kristyn Burtt |url=http://redcarpetcloset.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-came-upon-this-series-at-last-years.html |title=Urban Wolf behind the scenes |publisher=The Web Files |date= May 17, 2010|accessdate=2010-05-17}}
Awarding the film a five out of five star rating, Feo Amante's film critic E.C.McMullen Jr. wrote: "The tension from episode to episode is incredible and Laurent just keeps ramping it up. With its beautiful settings (shot in Paris, France), excellent cinematography, and super tight, witty action, this could very well define the future of online cinema. I'm not kidding! URBAN WOLF is a Turbo Thrust Cat and Mouse Thriller with a V8 engine!”{{cite news|author=E.C.McMullen Jr. |url=http://www.feoamante.com/Movies/STU/urban_wolf.html/ |title=Urban Wolf review |publisher=feoamante.com |date= May 14, 2010|accessdate=2010-05-14}}
Characters and cast
=Urban Wolf=
Actor Vincent Sze plays the role of Justin Case.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
;Further Reading
[http://filmnewsbriefs.com/2009/12/fnb-innovators-laurent-tartour/ Interview with Laurent Touil-Tartour]
- {{cite web|url=http://www.webseriesnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/laurent-touiltartours-urban|title=Laurent Touil-Tartour's 'Urban Wolf' Could Change Web Series Forever|last=Mbariket|first=Rich|date=April 22, 2010 |publisher=The Web Series Network}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.feoamante.com/Movies/STU/urban_wolf.html|title=URBAN WOLF could very well define the future of online cinema. I'm not kidding! URBAN WOLF is a Turbo Thrust Cat and Mouse Thriller with a V8 engine!|last=Amante|first=Feo|date=April 28, 2010 |publisher=Feo Amante}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.eguiders.com/video/urban-wolf|title=Urban Wolf may become the first successful international thriller web series|last=Roth|first=Melissa|date=August 6, 2009 |publisher=eGuiders}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.feoamante.com/Cons/ComicCon_2009/index.html|title=I'm putting my money on a new webseries called URBAN WOLF|last=Amante |first=Feo |date=July 25, 2009 |publisher=Feo Amante}}
External links
- [http://www.urbanwolf.com/ Urban Wolf's Homepage]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Zvu0vbubk Urban Wolf on YouTube]
- [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1458696/ Internet Movie Database]
- [http://itvfest.bside.com/2009/films/urbanwolf_itvfest2009] on Independent Television Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban Wolf}}
Category:American drama web series
Category:YouTube original programming
Category:Works about video games
Category:French superhero films
Category:Espionage television series