Robin Hobb
Book Trailers!
Monday, July 6th, 2009 | Updates | 2 Comments
So after a long, much needed holiday week, I am back in the editing chair. I’m proud and happy to say that we’ve completed work on two book trailers for Fantasy author Robin Hobb’s upcoming novel DRAGON KEEPER, which is due out this month from Voyager. DRAGON KEEPER is set in the same world as the LIVESHIP TRADERS TRILOGY. For this project, I worked extensively with Ms Hobb developing her concept. We teamed up with special effects master, Tim Peirson of Cast of Thousands who worked with Ms Hobb to develop the facial features of people of the Rain Wilds. This is the first official depiction of the people of the Rain Wilds and she was very pleased with the results. Jade of Supernova Hair and Tattoo did a fabulous job on hair and all in all we were very pleased.
I did two versions of this trailer. The first version was Ms Hobb’s, with a voiceover that she wrote. The second is mine, with title cards, so that the cards may be easily translated into other languages if she so chooses. I’ve included both below. The Voiceover cut is currently up at Voyager Online.
Voiceover cut:
Title cards:
Many thanks to our two actors, who were exceedingly patient and to the production assistant, who managed, of all things, to find a secret hidden box in a tree with a tiny notebook in it, asking those who found it to leave a note. We filled it out appropriately, so somewhere in the woods near Tacoma, there is a notebook in a tiny box that says, “Book trailer for Robin Hobb” and contains this website’s url.
I really look forward to doing more book trailers. I really enjoy the creative aspect. Writers so rarely get any sizable input in the visual representations of their characters. They do not have a large voice in book covers. It was fascinating to me to watch Tim Peirson and Robin Hobb bring the people of the Rain Wild to life and strange to have a real Rain Wilder sitting in my living room.
Hope this finds you all well and rested after the summer holiday-
Kat
72 Hours Film Festival in 32 Hours
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | Films, Shorts, Uncategorized, Updates | No Comments
I write to you from the other side, we are here, we have finished. This year, we attempted, and finished The Grand Cinema’s 72 Hour Film Festival here in Tacoma, WA. Vonda N. McIntyre wrote the screenplay and Robin Hobb starred in it as well as Jennifer Lindholm, who is still in high school and in process of writing her first novel ( a horror novel no less) and therefore does not have an author’s website just yet. Erik Hulslander, of Bit Rationale, who is also my web master (and this entry keeps insisting he wrote it, which is his way of stealing my byline, Erik fix that or I will sue! I will! I have a lawyer in my pocket!) showed up and provided logistics and every manner of production support. My brother Giles built one of the sets and provided all meals which leaves me feeling like anything I cook from this point on in my life is lacking in taste, and Mike Peterson, a very talented architect who is also a very talented musician, delivered the soundtrack, custom written. Carolyn McIntyre was very kind to drive her RV all the way up from Olympia to give Vonda a quiet place to write outside our family madness. She also took some amazing stills which we hope to use in the longer version of the film- (check out the photography on her website, it is breathtaking.) My niece, whose chosen stage name is now Cadence, was rather anxious to not be included as usually she has some role on set. She is not a wallflower and muscled her way in to be the on hand, fog machine technician and primary operator for the final scene. I’m proud of her. The Hot Shop at Tacoma Museum of Glass allowed us on the floor and a completely up for anything UW student who happened to be crossing the Glass Bridge when we accosted her, Alison Jensen, jumped in and joined our mad fray for a very critical half hour of filming.
Not to sound like a fifteen year old girl, but it was completely awesome.
It was an exciting process, Vonda came up with a script idea very quickly and delivered it within a few hours. I wish I had a writer like this all the time but I imagine she has more things to do than live at my house and write scripts. But for one weekend I got to live the dream. It was not without obstacles… production sputtered when my son, who manages to get sick every year on the weekend of The 72 Hour Film Festival (”Next year just tell him it is on a different weekend,” his doctor suggested) spiked a fever and had to be taken in to the doctor. No one was deterred and soon we were back on path to production, though I wish I could have had those hours in post. My primary concern right now is that the soundtrack was imported into the film and the volumes are not adjusted. For the actual screening at The Rialto, I am not sure how much dialogue you will be able to hear. But my plan is to spend the next week making changes and adjustments and to hold a second, informal screening at my new favourite local wine shop, Winestyles with a few tasty bottles of wine. And of course, I’m nervous as anything because I am a perfectionist, and 72 Hours, well, 32 Hours doesn’t allow you to be a perfectionist. It makes you someone who finishes something but not a perfectionist.
I had a wonderful time, and I hope some of that is evident in what you see on the screen. Having a writer on the set proved invaluable asset, both for continuity and the spirit of the project (I now firmly believe that if Robin and Vonda set their minds to it, they could talk anyone, into anything. Beware their jedi mind tricks.)
If anything, I think the festival is to push home just what can be accomplished in a weekend. Which in our case, was a lot, and of course, leads to the question, what could we have done with a week?
And that is exactly how people get suckered into this madness, ladies and gentle readers. Exactly and precisely.
Yours from the grey city,
K.