Andy Free's Blog - Posts Tagged "multimedia"
Advantages of a Multimedia Approach
I've always been interested in multimedia platforms like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, and as I have written previously, I've been forging ahead with a similar approach for my Avalon Series books. What I mean is, adding in videos and music to supplement the written word. It is possible (I am told) to incorporate music into Apple ebooks using a certain proprietary format, but I have not yet chosen to do that. Instead, I am using a multimedia approach on YouTube.
The initial results (after about a year) are positive, with some unexpected benefits. The most surprising benefit was that characters in the book, as they go through the turmoils of love and war, have generated many songs that are more than soundtrack songs - the songs are actually part of the book plots.
As a songwriter, this process has been very interesting to me, in that it has opened up a new avenue of songwriting based on imagined characters instead of just my own personal experiences. So my musical productivity has increased dramatically as well as the range of topics in my songs.
For example, a recent song is called "Bonny Portmore and Deirdre's Delight." You may remember "Bonny Portmore" as the intro song to the first Highlander movie. It is a public domain Irish folksong about a famous oak tree and Irish estate. This combined song with original content has an environmental message and is based on the experiences of Deirdre, a Shieldmaiden of Avalon, in ancient Ireland when the extensive oak and ash climax forests were still present. If you would like to listen to the full track, it is track # 9 and can be previewed free at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/andybfree5
There is also a player on my website for what I am calling "Songs of Avalon" on the Books tab:
http://www.andybfree.com/books.html
The Avalon Series itself is currently two books and I am working on the third, called "Avalon: Ravenna," due out later in 2018.
Avalon: Companions
Avalon: Kings and Queens
Your comments and thoughts are welcome!
The initial results (after about a year) are positive, with some unexpected benefits. The most surprising benefit was that characters in the book, as they go through the turmoils of love and war, have generated many songs that are more than soundtrack songs - the songs are actually part of the book plots.
As a songwriter, this process has been very interesting to me, in that it has opened up a new avenue of songwriting based on imagined characters instead of just my own personal experiences. So my musical productivity has increased dramatically as well as the range of topics in my songs.
For example, a recent song is called "Bonny Portmore and Deirdre's Delight." You may remember "Bonny Portmore" as the intro song to the first Highlander movie. It is a public domain Irish folksong about a famous oak tree and Irish estate. This combined song with original content has an environmental message and is based on the experiences of Deirdre, a Shieldmaiden of Avalon, in ancient Ireland when the extensive oak and ash climax forests were still present. If you would like to listen to the full track, it is track # 9 and can be previewed free at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/andybfree5
There is also a player on my website for what I am calling "Songs of Avalon" on the Books tab:
http://www.andybfree.com/books.html
The Avalon Series itself is currently two books and I am working on the third, called "Avalon: Ravenna," due out later in 2018.
Avalon: Companions
Avalon: Kings and Queens
Your comments and thoughts are welcome!
