Robyn Paterson's Blog, page 14
June 26, 2017
China makes a play for the Teen Anime market
One interesting development which has gone somewhat unnoticed during the first half of 2017 was China’s streaming media companies entering the teen animation market. While Chinese companies have for a long time been providing animation services for the Japanese market on the production end of things, China is finally making an effort to turn some of their more popular Young Adult properties into animated series.
One of these is Full-Time Mage (Quanzhi Fashi), which is based on a popular webno...
June 23, 2017
How to Write a Good Story – Part One – The Essence of Story
On social media across the Internet, there is a single constant refrain- “How do I write a good story?” It comes from new writers eager to make their eBook fortune on Kindle, young adults who want to join in the fanfiction fray, and even experienced writers who are looking to up their game. It’s lead to a huge boom in How-To writing books, and an even bigger boom for those who offer their services to writers like editors, cover designers and marketers. The editors especially are in demand, b...
June 21, 2017
Microsoft Dictate
This is interesting. Microsoft has released their new Text to Speech add-on for Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) called Dictate.
Which, according to the Project Website–
Features
Supports more than 20 languages for dictation
Does real time translation to 60 languages
Commands like “new line”, “stop dictation” and “enter” to give more control while dictating
Two modes of punctuations: Auto and manual for English
Visual feedback to indicate that speech is being processed
So I gav...
What Writers can learn from Animators and Comic Artists
Recently I did a post looking at the ideas of a writing guru called Eric Edson where among other things he made the statement that characters in movies only have four emotional states- Mad, Sad, Glad, and Scared. Edson’s view was that these are the most common emotions used in film because they’re the most visual ones and easiest for the audience to understand.
In the discussion that followed in the comments, my friend Don pointed out that there are many other visual emotions that appear on...
June 16, 2017
DNA Podcast 044 – Musical Brains
In this episode, Don and Rob are joined by their friend Richard Moule to discuss music and how it affects us. The trio explore the physical processes behind our reactions and interactions with music and discuss how music and humans evolved together over time. The three also delve into music as soundtrack, and discuss the ways in which moviemakers use music to control and shape the emotions of the audience. All this, and why John Williams owes Gustav Holst royalties is waiting for you in thi...
June 15, 2017
Eric Edson’s Screenwriting Tips
One of my favorite YouTube channels is one called Film Courage, which is a channel basically dedicated to interviewing screenwriters and screenwriting teachers. There are some fantastic interviews on there if you’re interested in writing in general, but especially screenwriting.
Case in point this interview with writing teacher Eric Edson 12 Useful Tools To Help Beginning Screenwriters Write A Better Screenplay.
Now, the title is total click bait, in that Edson really doesn’t offer anything...
June 6, 2017
The S.P.I.N.E. of Every Good Story
We know that stories exist because humans use them to learn from each other- they’re a teaching tool we use to pass knowledge and ideas between ourselves. Therefore, it will come as no shock to anyone that audiences must get something from a story to enjoy it. However, not every audience member wants the same thing, and not every good story offers the same things to its audience. That said, for a story to be successful with an audience, they must get at least one of five things (and preferabl...
June 2, 2017
DNA PODCAST 043 – POST APOCALYPTIC RPGS
In this episode, Don and Rob are joined again by their friend Chad to discuss Post-Apocalyptic (Tabletop) Role Playing Games. The three discuss the different ways in which an RPG can be Post-Apocalyptic, the importance of post-apocalyptic hygiene, and then go through the history of the Post-Apocalyptic gaming genre with side trips into movies, anime and pop-culture. All this, and why The Flintstones is a post-apocalyptic setting, is waiting for you in this episode of the Department of Nerdly...
May 19, 2017
DNA PODCAST 042 – DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS
In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by fellow gamer Jack Ward to discuss the granddaddy of tabletop roleplaying- Dungeons and Dragons. The intrepid trio throw on their adventuring gear and delve deep into the many editions of D&D while sharing their thoughts on how D&D became a cultural fixture in our society. All this, and why you need to roll for initiative right now!… are waiting for you in this episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs.
May 5, 2017
DNA PODCAST 041 – REMAKES, SEQUELS AND REBOOTS. OH MY!
In this episode, Don and Rob sit down to discuss the issues involved with remakes, prequels, sequels and reboots, and why at best they’re a tough act to pull off well, and at worst they’re totally awful. Along the way, they delve into the nature of story itself and how stories reflect the writers and society. All that, and why the Ice Cream Man was an important figure in Star Wars lore (at least according to Don), is waiting for you in this episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs.
