Romy Sommer's Blog, page 5

Starting the journey with Harper Impulse

Since this is the week in which Harper Impulse launches, I thought I'd bring you a couple of posts on my journey so far with this brand new imprint.

Next week I'll give some glimpses into the inspiration, characters and setting for Waking up in Vegas, and once the exhiliration of release day is over I'll be back with normal scheduled programming (just in case you're looking for my Behind the Scenes in the movies posts).

* * *
There has been a great deal said recently, by some of the most respected names in self-publishing, about how publishers are a dying breed.

The most commonly cited reasons for the death of traditional publishing is that the big publishing houses don’t listen to their readers and that they are unable to turn on a dime.

The Big 6 publishers (now Big 5, but since I’m South African, that just makes me giggle as I wonder which publisher is the elephant!) have been likened to the Titanic, too large and unwieldy to avoid collision with the iceberg.

Harper Impulse have just proven that to be poppycock.

From their first submission call little more than a month ago, to launching their first titles in early May, they’ve proven that Harper Collins can move as quickly as anyone else in the digital age. Acquiring titles, designing covers, revisions and promotions and contracts, and a ton of other behind-the-scenes stuff that we readers and writers have no clue about – they’ve done it all in record time.

But what impresses me the most is that while they’ve been doing all this, they’ve also taken the time to interact with their readers. They’ve chatted on Twitter and introduced themselves on Facebook, run fun polls and started discussions. They genuinely want to know what readers want to read.

From the day the first submission call went out on Facebook, I’ve been excited about Harper Impulse. I love their vision for books that are fun and contemporary. I love that they’re actively looking for books that push boundaries and try new things. I love that they’re working towards turn-arounds that are previously unimagined in traditional publishing. And I love how excited the editors all are about this line.
I’m excited too. Are you?

Coronations and Celebrations

I have a confession to make ... I'm a Royalist.

Did anyone else catch the abdication of the Dutch Queen Beatrix on Tuesday and the coronation of her eldest son, Willem Alexander, as the Netherlands' first king in 120 years?
Sadly I had to work on Tuesday, so I only caught the highlights on German TV that evening, but I was riveted.

Why the fascination?

Back in my childhood my Omi (my German grandmother) used to get the Neue Post gossip rag (this was back in the days before Amazon and the internet, and the magazines used to reach us months after they were out of date), and she and I used to pore over the pictures of Europe's young royals. To this day, when I follow the goings-on of the European royals I feel connected to my Omi and the unspoilt innocence of that time.

I always felt more of a connection to the European royals than the British, probably because so many of them had children roughly my age (born in the late 60s and through the 70s). Those same children married roughly when I did, and now have young children...as I do.


So Tuesday's coronation of the first of what I consider 'my' generation was already something special. Add in the fact that my imminent release, Waking up in Vegas, features a very similar coronation, and I'm sure you can see why I was so fascinated.

Admittedly, this real life coronation was a much happier family affair than my hero Max's ... but you'll have to read Waking up in Vegas when it releases next week to find out why his day is not the happy event it should be.


Aside from how genuinely warm and likeable the Dutch royals seem, the moment that captured my heart was the moment Queen Beatrix signed her abdication document and passed it to her son. The look she gave him as she handed him the papers wasn't the look a queen gives her successor. It was the look of a proud mother saying to her son "I believe in you. I'm proud of you. You can do this."


This is the way all coronations should be. No grief, no tears for the departed, just a simple handing on of the baton with everyone working together for the good of a nation. And the emphasis firmly placed on the future rather than the past. A lesson my own homeland seriously needs to learn.

Oh, and my heroine, Phoenix, gets to take a walk along a canal much like this one, though sans coronation finery:

From www.timeanddate.com

Endless Possibilities

It's (nearly!) a brand new shiny month, so let's play a little game. Look at the picture below and tell me where in the world you think this is and who lives behind the door.

from www.pinterest.com
To spice it up, I'm going to offer a copy of my new Rae Summers novel, Prohibited Passion, to the commenter with the most imaginative response.

The Call

It's Friday morning, 5th April. I return to my desk at the day job from a coffee run to see an email in my inbox titled 'Harper Impulse submission'.

My heart starts thumping wildly. It's only been three weeks since I submitted to Harper Impulse, the brand new imprint from Harper Collins, but I've heard via the grapevine that the editors had an acquisitions meeting...

I'm not too stressed. A sale would be a dream come true, but a rejection won't be the end of the world. If it's a rejection, then I plan to self-publish. I have a freelance editor on standby and a cover already designed.

I may not be anxious, but I can still scarcely breathe as I click open the email. It's two lines only. "Are you free today for a quick call? I'd love to chat further to you about your submission."

I've already had friends go through this, so I know editors don't just call to chat about your work. They call to buy.

I shoot back a reply. "Any time" and my mobile number. And I sit there trying to remember how to breathe.
It's 11:40am.

Then my phone beeps, reminding me the battery is running low. Just that morning I'd decided to let it run itself out before re-charging and its death is imminent. Oops.

I plug in the charger and naturally, for the first time ever, it won't take a charge. I run all over the office, trying all the plug points, swearing, sweating, as the phone refuses to charge. Thank heavens the rest of my team are out and there are no witnesses.

Finally, the screen lights up, the charge indicator starts to move, and I breathe a massive sigh of relief.

Just then the hair & make-up stylist who's doing prep for our next film shoot pops her head in my door, and I can scarcely manage a coherent conversation about aging make-up and contacts and hair extensions. She looks at me funny, so I say "I'm so excited! I'm about to get The Call!" Then I have to explain what The Call is.

As soon as the stylist leaves, I email the Minxes, because they're my soul sisters and they know exactly what The Call means. And because I don't want to be alone in this.

Then I make a toilet run, get pen and paper ready, make a list of points to discuss with the editor in case my brain stops working, get a glass of water ready, and ask the kitchen to keep me lunch. I don't plan to leave the desk where my phone is now plugged in and charging until that call comes in.
I'm ready.

Time ceases to have meaning, but I think it's about 12:15 when the phone rings.

Thank heavens for that list! I manage to have a sane and sensible conversation with the editor, even though my brain stops working after she utters the words "we'd like to offer you a two book deal."

Since the phone is still plugged into the charger, I spend the entire phone call bent down with my head practically between my knees. Which is probably a good position to be in when you take a call of this magnitude.

We talk royalties and contracts and covers, what the imprint is about, estimated release dates, and changes to the opening scene. We even talk about writing conferences and the editor's holiday on the South African coast. (Now that I'm typing up this story, I'm amazed I remember so much of the conversation!)

I even manage to mention the fact that Waking up in Vegas is in fact the first in a series of three. Three rings, three stories. Read the book when it goes on sale and you'll know what I mean.

When we hang up, I literally stand up and dance. And there may have been an air punch. Again, I'm truly grateful it's a quiet day at the office and I'm alone.

The rest of the afternoon was, needless to say, a write-off. It's hard to focus on everyday day job type stuff when you're floating a few feet off the ground.

So that's my Call Story. There's a great deal more that's happened since, but that'll have to wait for another blog post. Because I'm going off to dance some more.

Misbehaving

If you're here looking for the next instalment in my Behind the Scenes series, my apologies. Those posts take a little time to put together, and since I've been kept busy on a shoot for a headache tablet commercial (and the house we were shooting in had zero signal) the next post will be delayed.

In the meantime, I've gotten my rights back to Let's Misbehave and have been re-writing it ready to self-publish. There are moments when I see flashes of brilliance, but mostly I'm thanking all the writing gods for the opportunity to edit.

There are 'had's and 'that's all over the place, and my characters 'notice' or 'watch' everything around them. Happily, I not only get to fix these basics, but to add more depth to the characters. The new and improved version will be available on Amazon later this coming week.

Here's a sneak peek at the new cover, courtesy of Viola Estrella.

Behind the Scenes 11: The Sound Department

The only thing I remember from my years in film school (at least, the only thing I remember learning inside a lecture hall) is that the audience only notices the soundtrack when it's done wrong.

A good movie soundtrack should be so realistic and integral to the scene that you never even notice it's there. Footsteps, bird song, doors opening and closing, background traffic... all those normal sounds we hear every day and take for granted.

The on-set sound recordist's job is to capture all the different audio elements as cleanly as possible for the Sound Designer. Aside from capturing all the background elements (sometimes recorded separately as 'wild' takes), he or she also needs to record those elements while also ensuring the actors' dialogue is audible at at all times (preferably with no unseen aeroplanes flying overhead, or crew members chatting about the weather in the background).
Of course, this isn't always possible.


From www.domgee.com
Imagine shooting a street scene in Manhattan... You can hardly ask all traffic in a three block radius to stop so you can hear the actors talk. Or when ther are big SFX explosions going off. So that's where re-recording comes in. The audio for most big budget movies is almost entirely put together in a studio once the picture has been edited, a job so big it definitely deserves it's own blog post.

On smaller jobs, like the ones I work on, almost all the audio is recorded live on set and only minor adjustments are done in post production.

In this post I'm just going to concentrate on the on-set recordists, those poor slobs who are on set at the crack of dawn, usually are parked the furthest away from set and have to schlep ther gear the greatest distance, spend all day out in the elements, either baking hot or freezing cold (because it's always one extreme or the other), usually over-looked by the Director and DOP who only have eyes for what the camera is doing...
Yeah, whoever thinks film work is glamorous has never been on a real film set.

The Sound Department is one of the smallest departments on any film set, seldom more than three people, and on most of the TV commercials I shoot it's a 'one man band'.

From www.trewaudio.comThe head of the department is the Sound Mixer, who places the microphones on set, then monitors the audio levels, quality etc during takes, and liases with the AD when another take needs to be done because the audio was not 'clean enough' on the previous take. He will also let the Lighting team know if he needs baffles (great big screens of cloth) erected to reduce extraneous sound.




From www.canford.co.ukOn bigger shoots, the Sound Mixer will be assisted by a Boomswinger. This is the guy (or gal) you see most often in movies about movies, the one holding a big stick over the heads of the actors with a big grey fluffy sock on the end. The boom pole is used whenever microphones cannot be placed on the actors themselves. Boomswinging is an art in itself, as the operator not only has to keep moving the microphone to whoever is speaking, but also needs to watch that his pole (or its shadow) aren't in shot, even when the camera is on the move. (BTW, the grey fluffy sock dampens wind noise).

On even bigger shoots, the third and most junior team member, often an apprentice, is the Cable Basher, sometimes very boringly known as the Sound Utility Technician. Apart from assisting the team in everything else they do, changing batteries, perhaps operating a second boom, he also keeps track of the microphone cables, making sure they don't get snagged, tripped over, wound too tight etc. He's also the Sound Mixer's personal tea boy.

In this digital age, with radio mics and other equipment working wirelessly, cables are no longer such a big thing. But there are still many instances when wireless doesn't work, such as when there is too much wireless interference, no clear line of sight between the microphone and the sound recordist, or when the actors cannot be 'wired' or 'mic-ed' because of their clothing or action.


From www.filmjob.info
So what does it take to be a sound recordist?
Aside from excellent hearing, a good awareness of the world around you, technical knowledge of audio equipment and the science of sound, years and years of experience, there's also a certain amount of artistry and talent involved. Sound, so often take for granted, can heighten the emotion of a scene, and catching just the right sounds on set can make the sound editor or designer's life so much easier.

From next week I'll be looking at the more creative departments of a film unit, starting with the Art Department.

The best April Fool's joke

Today's winning April Fool's joke comes courtesy of JA Konrath.

I'm back working on my Superstorm Sandy Story, and getting to do what we writers do best: research. Today I had the onerous task of picking Halloween costumes for my hero and heroine. This is the costume Ana ended up picking for Cam:

"As you wish."

Thought for the day

"If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." - Paul Bryant

Behind the Scenes 10: Toys!

For those not technically minded, you're excused from today's lesson, because today I'm going to show you some of the toys we get to play with in the film industry.

Dollies
These are part of the standard operating equipment you'll find on almost every shoot. They enable the camera to move along tracks to get closer into the action or run alongside the action. The movement created is a little different from an ordinary zoom in or out. The dolly is moved manually so it usually requires its own dedicated technicians, the dolly grips.

Dolly image courtesy of www.needlegirlhaystackworld.com
Dolly tracks come in both curved and straight lengths, so they can cover pretty much any motion at floor level, but what happens if you have a location with a floor so uneven you can't lay tracks (like a forest floor covered in twisting roots) or too narrow to fit a dolly (like a doorway in an apartment)?

That's when we might use a...

Steadicam
This is a body-mounted rig usually carried by a particularly buff specialist operator. Film cameras might be getting lighter as technology improves, but you try carrying this weight over and over again as a scene is re-shot and re-shot and you'll develop muscles too!

The steadicam also has built-in stabilisers to offset the body's natural up/down walking rhythm to avoid making viewers seasick.

Steadicam image courtesy of www.focalimageproductions.com.au
Ladderpod
An amazingly simple contraption for getting a little height. The camera is rigged at the top, the operator climbs up, and a couple of brawny grips keep the ladder stable. The one pictured below is quite a fancy model. Most are much shorter and much less impressive.

Image courtesy of South African grips company Dragon Grips 
But if you want the camera to sweep dramatically upwards or sideways, you need a...

Jib arm / Crane
These are long arms that can lift the camera up high or extend the camera into hard to reach areas. Jibs are lighter and smaller and come with interesting names like Jimmy Jibs and Meerkats.

Jimmy Jib from South African company Crow's Nest in use at the Augrabies Gorge
Cranes are longer, reach higher, and are more stable. Both use weights to balance out the long reach.

In the Olden Days, directors and camera operators still sat on the end of a crane to manually operate the camera. In this age of safety and liability issues, this gung-ho approach is rare.

Gung-ho approach on The Hunger Games - courtesy of Dragon Grips
Reaching the unreachable - courtesy of Dragon Grips
These days we have remote camera heads (head = the fancy doodat on which the camera is mounted which connects it to whatever else is supporting it) which can swivel the camera up, down or tilt side to side.
Cam Remote from www.camerasystems.com
These remote heads are also highly specialised pieces of equipment that have their own specialist technicians with fancy job titles like Scorpio Head Operator or Powerpod Technician.

Tracking cars and Process trailers
You know those scenes where the actors are driving along, engrossed in conversation and not paying the least attention to the road? That's because they're not!
Their car has been secured on the back of a process trailer, rigged with lights and cameras, and all the actors need do is remember their dialogue.

Process trailer courtesy of San Diego Film Commission

A tracking vehicle is any vehicle, be it a quad bike, golf cart or truck, that transports the camera alongside the action

Tracking vehicle courtesy of Dragon Grips

Aerial Camera Mounts
Last, but by no means least, are the special rigs that enable cameras to fly above the heads of us mere mortals. Cable cams and helicopter mounts are the ultimate toys on any film shoot, but since they also cost a pretty penny to use, it's not often we get to play with them!

Image courtesy of www.aerialstar.com

Behind the Scenes 9: The Grips Department

Question: What’s the difference between a grip and a PA?
Answer: A PA can spell “grip.”

The Grips boys are the butt of a lot of film industry jokes because they're the brawn rather than the brains of the film industry. That said, considering these guys often have to understand technical things like velocity to weight ratios and other stuff I have no hope of understanding, they can't be too stupid.

My note: While gripping is not exclusively a male job, in a line of work  that involves as much muscle as this it's rare to find a female grip.

"But what do Grips do?" I hear you wail.

Put very simply, the grips department is responsible for everything underneath the camera. So while the camera team work on the camera itself, the grips are in control of everything that moves or supports the camera - legs (tripods), dollies, jibs, cranes, tracks and other camera mounts.

Put even more simply, their job is to push, pull, mount and hang stuff.

The head of the department is the Key Grip. Aside from supervising where the camera goes and how it moves, he is often also responsible for safety around the camera.
According to one website I visited, the name Grip comes from old circus terminology. Since I don't know much about circuses, I can't comment.

The key's chief assistant is the Best Boy. As with the Lighting Department, the Best Boy is the most senior assistant. On larger shoots and feature films, he also handles the logistics and paperwork for the team.

On our smaller shoots we often only have one key grip and one assistant, but the more complicated the equipment, the more assistants will be needed. For example, to build a length of track, level it across often very uneven ground, and assemble it (including loading on the very heavy crane weights) requires a great deal of labour.

Question: Why was the dolly invented?
Answer: To teach grips how to walk upright.

While reporting to the Key Grip, the Dolly Grip works closely wth the camera department. His role is to move the dolly (see picture below) or crane on which the camera is mounted and to ensure it runs smooth and level at all times.

Dolly in motion - from www.act.org.li
Rigging Grips are the guys who assist lighting with preparing the next set-up by setting the lights, rigging scaffolding, hanging black-out cloth etc. However in the UK, where union rules are very specific about who can do what, this is handled exclusively by the lighting team.

There are a whole bunch of other specialists involved in mounting and/or moving the camera, which we'll look at next week. [Warning: it may get a little technical.] And if you have any questions, just ask.

And finally, for some light relief for anyone who's made it to the end of this post, here's a whole bunch of film industry "how many people does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" jokes.