4 posts tagged “film”
A few weeks ago, the creator of CSI released a book on paper where every 20 pages or so, the reader can go to a website, put in a password, and see a video that supposedly enhances the story. I just watched the "trailer" for it, expecting it to be horribly cheesy, as most book trailers are...but it appears that book trailers are starting to come into their own. Somebody spent real money on this trailer. Lots of set-ups, recognizable actors, a custom costume, text effects, props, foley, DOF, set design... Of course, it helps that the creator of CSI can probably just use the resources of CSI.
I'm not saying it's not silly, 'cause, the major conflict is Sqweegel vs. Dark. No joke. He must have gotten the character names out of a Saturday morning cartoon, although the content doesn't look made for children and the publisher is Dutton Adult. I wanted to experience this book/film since creating that kind of hybrid would be perfect for me, but the reviews made the book sound like total dreck. It sounds like people may be open to the concept of the hybrid, but that this particular execution didn't work so well. Several reviewers said it felt more like an interruption than an enhancement. A couple mentioned that they didn't like having to give out their email addresses to access the videos. Sounds like the clips on the website are a mixed bag, ranging from "well done" to "terrible." Some people liked the experience of the hybrid, others hated it.
It seems there is a much better executed book/film: Skeleton Creek. For one thing, the premise incorporates video clips into the story rather than just being a gimmick. For another, it's a kid's story. Kid's books have pictures, adult books generally don't. I think kids may be a more receptive and natural audience for this kind of storytelling, at least for now, until the genre matures.
Very intriguing for those of us who enjoy writing prose as well as filmmaking...
Check out Moviestorm. You can make an animated movie (machinima) for free. I love the idea but it's in beta and I tried to watch some of the resulting movies and had a lot of trouble with it. I'm scared to download it in case it crashes my whole system, especially since my media computer has Vista which is not compatible with anything, I mean, with Moviestorm. Sometimes, it's worth paying for a product after beta. Also, this version seems to have just regular people in regular settings. The great thing about something like this is to get into environments that would be too expensive to make in the real world: science fiction, fantasy, historical, something with epic crowds. I'm sure that's coming. Until, then, I may find myself in a game world that supports machinima because I don't think I can resist playing around with it. If you see a chick in WOW fending off monsters away from her cast and crew, that may be me... :-) Say hi and help me slay that dragon so I can get on with my film!
Ramon, the actor who plays Dad in Psychopath, just got cast for a major role in an indie feature. The producer saw his photo in my May 17 blog entry, “Ghetto Lights!” and knew he was the one. See? Those ghetto lights do the job!
Congratulations, Ramon!
