Adam Copeland's Blog, page 6

Making a Movie Trailer for Your Book: A Focus on Individual Image Creation

I mentioned in my earlier blog, the Modus Operandi for creating a specific image that will appear in my movie trailer blog follows a certain process. That includes previewing rough drafts of the image, suggestions for changes, stamp of approval on a final rough draft, then the final completed image.

I'd like to walk you through that process for one image here.

When working with the artist, David Greene, I first emailed him a list of descriptions – one for each image – and then I sat down with him and verbally clarified what I'd like to see for the image we were currently working on. When necessary I even drew very rudimentary stick figures for him, but mostly he was keen enough to understand right away what I was looking for.

After the first image he made for me, I had a good idea how fast (and talented) he was at making the rough drafts and how he could adjust on the fly. That filled me with enough confidence to be fairly demanding when making suggestions for changes.

For the most recent image we were working on I sent him the written description: "Image1 (Black and White, pencil/charcoal): Patrick is on his knees before a burning Jerusalem circa 1099 AD. He is wearing chainmail with a white surcoat over it. The surcoat is smeared with soot and blood. It also has a red cross emblazoned on the chest (classic 'Crusader' style). The cross should be bright red and the only color in the image. Patrick has a 'What have I done?' look on his face and his arms hang limply at his sides. A Norman style helmet (conical cap with nose card, a la 'Bayeaux Tapestry') rests up-ended on the ground near his knees as if he just took it off, set it down, and it is in the process of rolling away."

After a brief discussion, David took the idea and ran with it. Within a couple of days he had these rough drafts for me:

Image "A" Provided by David Greene

Image "B" Provided by David Greene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both were great starts, but I did not like the angle. I did not want to see a full frontal image. I suggested that I'd like to see the character more at an angle. Soon David had this image to show me:

 

Kneeling-Face Covered

I liked it much better, but now I was concerned about the character covering his face. I wanted a viewer to see the pain on the character's face, imparting the significance of the moment. Again David adjusted and came up with this:

Kneeling, face exposed-but now not enough of an angle

Closer. I suggested a compromise between the last two images – the previous image's angle, plus the exposed face. Also, I made the final suggestions of having the character looking skyward. David excitedly accepted the suggestions and in a few days I gave the stamp of approval after seeing this:

Final Rough Draft Approved for Green Light

My final input was to point out that I envisioned the character having an appearance similar to that of Brandon Lee, the actor and son of Bruce Lee who tragically died while filming The Crow. I even emailed links of Google images of Brandon. That turned out to be unnecessary, as David was already familiar with, and a fan of, the actor.

After all this back-and-forth, all the nit-picking on my part, and the tweaking. David came up with this final awesome image:

Final Image - "Patrick at the Fall of Jerusalem"

My friends and colleagues were just as astounded as I was (though, due to technical difficulties, the image here is blurry and does not do the final image justice). I received a print out of the image just in time for a book signing where I put it prominently on display. I'm fairly certain it went a long way towards selling more books than I normally would have. Customers are much more willing to buy a product when they have a clearer image of what the product has to offer – in this case a clear image of what transpires in the pages of Echoes of Avalon.

Which brings up an interesting point: Even after these images have been used in a movie trailer, they still will be quite effective by themselves as promotional tools for all sorts of occasions for a long time to come. Money well spent.

These images, and future ones, can be found on the Echoes of Avalon Facebook page. Check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.247839491948866.60569.196323337100482&type=3

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"Magic to Mayhem" Dreamed Into Reality by Northwest Writers

What's better than reading a great collection of entertaining stories of speculative fiction? Writing, then publishing them with your best friends.

That's precisely what Northwest Independent Writer's Association (NIWA, for short) did when we banded together less than a year ago to form a co-op of writers from the Portland, Vancouver and surrounding areas. At the time when I helped co-found the organization I had thought at best we would lean on each other for support and help motivate one another to write short stories and share them at meetings over lots of beer (well, that does happen quite a bit too). But I had no idea that we would be on fire to publish an anthology of quality sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and Twilight Zone-ish stories.

I can confidently say that this is just the tip of the ice berg. Expect more from us in the future. If you're a lover of speculative fiction, read on, and follow the links to your preferred means of literary entertainment….

"NIWA presents stories to chill the heart and warm the soul.

An old school sci-fi murder mystery in the vein of Clarke and Asimov; A mousy cubical drone with desperate hidden desires; A servant of evil hell-bent on a bargain to make himself immortal; The wasted land of the future holds more than a girl thought to find; Unannounced visitors push a wounded vet to the edge of sanity; A lonely man and a shopkeeper find faith in the smallest of articles; In war and peace, some scars never fully heal, and sometimes the monster in the woods may be your only chance not to become prey.

From the coffee stained, microbrew soaked Pacific Northwest comes a collection of speculative fiction from the Northwest Independent Writers Association. NIWA has assembled eight short pieces from up-and-coming local authors, ranging from stories to keep you awake at night, to tales of swords, sorcery, and humanity's far-flung future."

Magic to Mayhem: Northwest Indpendent Writers Association 2011 Anthology of Speculative Fiction

ISBN-13: 978-1466437173

ISBN-10: 1466437170

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4659-2640-1

Amazon

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Mayhem-Independent-Association-Speculative/dp/1466437170

Kindle Store

ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Mayhem-Independent-Association-ebook/dp/B005YVAIES

Createspace Store

Paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3706931

Smashwords (all digital formats – mobi, epub, stanza, etc):

ebooks: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98718

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Book Signing at Vancouver Washington's Vintage Books

If you're a lover of epic fantasy, with classic fairy tale elements, come to Vancouver Washington's oldest and most respected independent bookstore Saturday, December 10th between 1PM and 3PM. I'll be signing copies of my novel "Echoes of Avalon." I'll be sharing space with other local authors who will be signing copies of their works of science fiction, fantasy, horror and new age adventure. We are all part of Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA) and we'll also be selling our collective work of speculative fiction, "Magic to Mayhem."

Get a jump on Christmas shopping and support local artists and local business!

Saturday, December 10th, 1-3 PM
Vintage Books
6613 E Mill Plain
Vancouver WA 98661

 

 

 

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Making a Movie Trailer for Your Book: The First Steps

This is the first in a series of blog entries that will be documenting the process I'm taking to create a "movie" trailer promotion for my book.

I've always wanted a kick-ass "movie" trailer promotion [image error]for my book, Echoes of Avalon, but always felt that it would either cost a butt-load of money, or take a butt-load of time. Turns out both are mostly true. Mostly.

Naturally, the quality of your final product is directly proportional to the amount of money and time you put into it, but they are not entirely the only resources you have to rely on. Patience, networking, and luck can fall in your favor if you just let them. I could have gone off half-cocked a long time ago and made a crappy trailer that ideally  would  have used one of those production companies that use live actors, costumes, the whole nine-yards. If I had, I'm certain two things would have happened: 1. I would have spent a lot of money (somewhere in the neighborhood of of at least $1,000) and 2. No matter how well meaning the production company or how much effort they put into it, the trailer would still not be truly "movie" quality and kind of cheesy. Something I DO NOT want associated with my book.

So, I waited patiently until the time was right. Rather, I waited until the right guy came along. A friend of a friend, David Greene of Vancouver, WA,  is an incredible artist and since he is not (yet) a "professional" artist, his prices are in the realm of possibility. After viewing the samples of his  drawings and colorings on his Facebook page I knew he had the skill and range I was looking for.

I've seen several effective trailers that used only still images that were manipulated with a laptop's movie-making software. By just simply zooming in on specific points, panning the "camera" across the image, throw in some text or audio, set it all to an epic soundtrack, and–viola!–you have a decent, cost effective and un-pretentious trailer. That's  my plan: Use a handful of still images, ranging from black&whites, to vivid color. I want to show the evolution that transpires in my book as the main character, Sir Patrick, goes from historical Medieval Europe (black and white images) to the Isle of Avalon (water colors) to the Fairy Realm beyond the curtain of "reality" (photoshop colors). Dull to vivid.

Our mutual friend connected us on Facebook, we met in real life, I told him what I was looking for, he said he could do it, and we agreed to terms. We even drew up a simple contract that bullet-pointed the specifics: A total of 8 images created at a rate of no less than one a month, at $100 an image, payable upon completion and hand-off of each image. He has already done a couple rough drafts (shown in this blog) on one of the ideas, just to confirm that is what I'm looking for. I was very impressed and gave him the green light to complete it. I imagine that will be the MO from here on out: rough drafts, stamp of approval, completion.

Once that is done, I'll work on the movie editing software. I still haven't decided if that is something I'll do myself, work with someone to get me started on doing it yself, or yet again pay someone to do it all. It will all depend on how busy my day-job-life goes.

Stay tuned. My pain will by your gain.

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Short Story Published in Chaos Theory Magazine

Okay, maybe it's not a time-honored and classic publication like Analog or Weird Tales, and maybe it's a quirky little internet E-zine, but it's a publication and I'll take it. Chaos Theory: Tales Askew has accepted my short story (novella, really), Jhove's Tower – which is essentially the middle chapter of my novel Echoes of Avalon – a flashback scene for the villain Loki. It is about his origins and what his obsession with Avalon is all about. If you are a fan of the movie 300, you'll probably dig Jhove's Tower. Chaos Theory is collection of eclectic stories of speculative fiction, with a wide variety of sci-fi, fantasy, and the paranormal. You can enjoy Jhove's Tower at http://www.genspace.com/ctta/issue-14/tocframe.htm

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Finding Motivation for New Writing

Just posted a new short story: http://adamcopelandsite.com/other-writing/our-lady-of-dreams/

It is the product of a Northwest Independent Writer's Association writing challenge. The challenge was to write a story of a supernatural event that happened to you. The catch, however, was that the story could be fact or fiction. In effect, it was a sort of "campfire" tale involving yourself. What do you think? Did this happen?

What is Northwest Independent Writer's Association? It is a group I help start to help indie writers with every aspect of the writing process, from pen-tip to publishing. Part of that process is providing motivation to write, and then a place to show it off. For the time being we have a Google Group site until we have our own web-home. There, as well as a place to post your short stories, there are Writing Challenges. A member proposes an idea to write about and other members take it up and post their results. The challenge can revolve around an idea, a photo, song lyrics, or what-have-you.

Actually, that is the real reason I helped start the group: Laziness. I needed motivation to write more. Now I have deadlines and peer pressure to get stuff submitted. Damn. Out smarted myself.

So feel free to check it out. Maybe join. Who knows, maybe you need motivation too.

Hope you like peer pressure.

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So I finally broke down and made a fan page on Facebook f...

So I finally broke down and made a fan page on Facebook for my novel ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Echoes-of-Avalon/196323337100482 ). I had resisted because it seemed redundant and I'm lazy. Good Lord, I thought, how many web outlets do I need?

Turns out, as many as possible and you never know which one will take off.

Also, FB is just getting bigger and bigger and becoming more and more a part of everybody's life. Besides, it can't hurt. Well, sacrificing my laziness to do a little work hurts some. But only a little.

If it turns out to be a marketing bonanza, I'll be sure to blog about that too and we all win.

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Echoes of Avalon Now Available at Vancouver's Interstellar Overdrive

The premier bookstore of speculative fiction in Vancouver Washington is now carrying "Echoes of Avalon". Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Interstellar-Overdrive/144248258978590

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Echoes of Avalon eBook Free For a Limited Time!

Echoes of Avalon is free through July 31st from ebook provider Smashwords. If your a book lover who uses Nook, Android, iPhone, iTouch, Kindle, Blackberry or just about any other electronic format imaginable, then go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7823 and use the discount code posted there. This is a great opportunity to read Adam Copeland's multi-faceted epic fantasy of Irish Knight Sir Patrick Gawain's journey of self redemption while battling worldly monsters and inner demons.

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Complete Strangers Rock!

Got my 12th review tonight on Amazon for "Echoes of Avalon." And the first from a complete stranger. Very thankful she liked it, and a fellow author of fantasy: http://www.destinyswarriors.com/

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