Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side Live Chat
Thursday, February 28th, 2008 
Ian Sanders and Kim Moses put themselves in the hot seat as they participated in the first CBS Veoh Live Chat. With about 150 participants in the chat room, the Ghost Whisperer show runners talked about their vision for melding both TV and the web and more about their web series "The Other Side."
I got to ask the first question, so of course I asked about the cool special effects on the series. I was surprised to learn that everything on the show is done in the office during editing instead of in some fancy special effects house (which would cost a lot of money.) Says Ian, the show is shot on HD, just like a movie with two cameras. But unlike big movies, they’re able to look at the footage (the dailys) as they shoot and their team actually works on a rough cut while they’re still filming. That way they can make sure they have everything they need before leaving a location.
Unlike shooting a big TV series, doing a webseries means it’s all-hands-on-deck at all times with everyone performing multiple duties. It also means finding clever short cuts in order to get things done, like running to the Lowe’s to buy a leaf blower in lieu of a specially made wind machine.
Says Kim, it’s all very reminiscent of when you’re a kid and it’s, "come make a show with me in a tent." Which she finds very exciting. Ian emphasis that small crew and small budget doesn’t mean it can’t look professional, and this show really does. Says Ian, "We have the wow factor on the web."
Don’t know what the "wow factor" is? Just watch an episode of "The Other Side" over at CBS.com. You’ll be amazed by how much they pack into a few minutes and the special effects are. . . shall we say. . .to die for?
Which brings us to the cast of "The Other Side." After a short video tour of the Ghost Whisperer set (at my favorite place, Universal Studios), Mark Hapka (Zach), Marie Westbrook (Haley), Lucas Alifano (BJ) and Peter Douglas (Luke) sat down in front of the live chat cameras.
Mark parked himself right in front of the laptop and was constantly distracted by the steady stream of silliness coming from the chat room. There were some friends online as well and some great questions. They talked about their backgrounds and how they got into acting. Mark said he started by forcing his parents to watch him reenact the entire Star War The Empire Strikes Back movie while Marie started out as a science teacher but found she liked acting better!
Lucas was asked if he really knew how to skateboard and he had to laugh. "I said I could skate, but I’d never been on a skateboard in my life," he confessed. After getting the part, he took a "crash course" in boarding from a friend then spend a whole weekend in a parking lot practicing. "I fell on my butt a lot!"
Still it wasn’t the skateboarding that made performing his role difficult, it was the cold. Since The Other Side is a dark and dreary place, the scenes were shot during several long, cold and rainy nights.
"I was so cold that my teeth were chattering," says Lucas.
"And you were wearing a hoodie!" says Peter with a laugh. His most difficult day on the set was when he had to create the head shimmy effect used in the series. He had to shake his head side to side over and over and over again in order to capture it properly so it would look right when speeded up. The next day he arrived on set with a hangover only he hadn’t had a thing to drink! Who knew that simply shaking your head could be so hard on the brain!
All in all it was a fun chat. The actors had fun with each other and the hostess, the lovely Sunny, gave away some cool prizes. And kudos to the staff at Veoh for keeping track of the questions on the fast moving chat board.
You can see Mark and the whole gang on Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side II when you visit cbs.com.
