Promoting My Book with a Video

[Brown Rat]

My video, in contrast, is not going so well. I'm a bit discouraged. But I'm not giving up.

[Teresa Edgerton]

What problems are you having? (We may have plenty once we have the scenes in the camera and start getting fancy with them. Right now it's all pre-production.)

[Mark Robson]

This really is exciting. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the finished product. Film is something I've never had anything to do with. Just the thought of a camera pointing in my general direction is enough to give me the willies, let alone the idea that someone might be producing something based on stuff I've written. It seems you have the resources to produce something really worth watching, Teresa - I hope it generates the interest you're looking for.

[Alia]

Teresa, I would love to help out in any way. I'm not an actress but I have done voice dubs (I think it's what they are called) for educational videos. Just let me know... It's the only skill I might have but I'm willing to give it to you freely.

[jackokent]

This is so exciting it's almost worth going to California for. Don't suppose your budget would stretch to shooting in England would it?

[Alia]

Originally Posted by jackokent

This is so exciting it's almost worth going to California for. Don't suppose your budget would stretch to shooting in England would it?

If you shoot in England I want to go.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Our budget is miniscule, Jack. And if I could afford to go to England, you all would have seen me there long ago. I've always wanted to visit the British Isles.

Despite which disclaimer, we actually have a sort of "second unit" filming in England and Normandy. Some friends who were going anyway for the Battle of Hasting recreation have promised to film some backgrounds we can (possibly) green screen in.

Alia, thank you for the offer! When it comes time to dub in voices, if we need more people I will definitely keep you in mind.

And Mark, I'm sure the end result is going to look far more like a home movie than something by a movie studio -- I'm just hoping it will be one of the best home movies ever. We have a lot of talented people involved, but then we still come up against the fact that John has a one chip video camera (whatever that means) and we would need something far more expensive to make the effects really ... effective.

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

What problems are you having? (We may have plenty once we have the scenes in the camera and start getting fancy with them. Right now it's all pre-production.)

Everything looks too abstract and spacey--sort of like a bad acid trip. The current bashed-together mess bears almost no relation to the book.

I've learned quite a lot about how to use Final Cut Express, and I've created some fairly tolerable "music" in Garage Band. But I feel like I need faces (perhaps the red-garbed solaratti would do) to humanize the otherwise hallucinatory effect of the footage I've shot and the filters I've used. I was going to use some of my students' faces . . . but they just look like students, which doesn't convey science fiction coolness.

Paul is having trouble producing a model of the Anarchy. Other objects relevant to the book are too mundane (sandwiches, pickles, Bead's nametag) or too difficult (Jaime's blisterjewel jacket, Casey's earlobes).

And the ghost, well, that's just not working out!

Sometime in the next two weeks, I hope to have time to stop by your house for a visit, and I'll bring my laptop to show you what is and what isn't working. Maybe John will have suggestions.

[Teresa Edgerton]

We can show each other what is and what isn't working.

John went out and bought a better camera (there went the Christmas money), Megan and I made many costumes (in between the writing in my case), Daisy came on board as our producer, and we are supposed to film two scenes tomorrow.

Unfortunately, since some of the people involved agreed to come we've heard no more from them, so I'm a little apprehensive ...

[Brown Rat]

Is John using a bluescreen for any of the shots? If so, what material is he using for the screen, and how is he lighting it? Final Cut Express will filter out a blue screen, so that I can superimpose spaceships and whatnot over a star field (and throw chowder on the starscreen) for my video, but I need to have a consistent blue (in hue, light, etc.) or it won't work well. The blue towel I used in a test shot isn't consistent enough.

[Teresa Edgerton]

At this point we're using a green screen, which John read was much better if you are filming outside. Part of it is painted plywood, and the part on top is painted muslin. If you poke around online long enough you can get the information they need to custom mix Chroma Green and Chroma Blue at Lowes or Home Depot. (If you can use the green for what you're doing, you could come by here, get a swatch of our paint, and take it to Home Depot for a color match.)

We're still having some problems with faint green halos, but it seems to be a question of lighting the scene correctly and then tweaking the footage afterward.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Our second day of taping, and I think we have some really good footage. It was all war and mayhem, and many died (picturesquely) for the cause ... some of them repeatedly.

By a very lucky chance, Charles (one of our actors) recruited a friend for the battle sequences, and the friend, Mark, turns out to have extensive experience with theatrical makeup, and works with an airbrush. He did some awesome makeup for the Furiádhin today, and that was just on the spur of the moment.

Also, Megan and I made our acting debuts as peasants in a burning village -- the beginning and almost certainly the ending of our careers in drama.

Now if we don't turn up some more problems in the compositing ...

(Carolyn, you really do need to come by and see what we are doing.)

[scalem X]

Also, Megan and I made our acting debuts as peasants in a burning village -- the beginning and almost certainly the ending of our careers in drama.

Why can't I read this part without having a smile on my face?

Even if eventually it is not as you liked, it must be fun to do it nevertheless; a bit like writing.

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

(Carolyn, you really do need to come by and see what we are doing.)

I know, I know. And I really really really want to. And I will. But right now . . . ack.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by scalem X

Even if eventually it is not as you liked, it must be fun to do it nevertheless; a bit like writing.

Well, it wasn't that we weren't reasonably pleased with the result (it helped that we were supposed to look terrified), it was just that we didn't like doing it, since we're both camera shy -- especially me.

Oh, and Ethan made his film debut, too, but he slept right through it.