Book extinction? Saturday, 28 February 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.5 comments
We’ve made some good story decisions together this week. The biggie is that we know the letters “K.B.E”, left at the crime scene, stand for Keep Books Extinct.
But, what does that mean?!
Well, it could mean someone wants to make all books extinct. Or that they have a particular reason to eliminate this particular book (the journal of Sally Challenger’s 2004 expedition to Arthur Conan Doyle’s lost world). Or, it could be a red herring.
So – decision time. We need you to vote in the sidebar poll on the right. How many books are in danger? The options are:
• All books – Keep Books Extinct is an organisation that intends to wipe out all books. In this case, we could expect another book to go missing soon.
• Only this book – Keep Books Extinct can be hired to assassinate particular books. Aileen will need to find out who has hired them. Perhaps Grazp Pharmaceuticals or “Dino Inc” are the chief suspects?
• No books – it’s a red herring – someone is drawing attention away from their real activities, which might have nothing to do with books. Perhaps someone is trying to frame Aileen because she’s uncovered too much about another crime or scandal? She is an investigative journalist, after all: someone might want her safely discredited and in prison.
If you’ve got any thoughts about any of these potential storylines, leave us a message.
Poll will close today, Thursday 05 March, at 5pm GMT. Vote now!
What’s going on?! Saturday, 28 February 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.add a comment
We’re all working on clues that Aileen might uncover in episode 3. You’re welcome to join in: take a look at the question post on this page and leave a comment or vote in the poll.
But, if you’re new to The Lost Book, you’ll need to catch up! You can watch episode 1 now. Episode 2 will launch on Friday, 06 March 2009. You can read the outline (and find out how we worked together to create the story), look at the storyboards and watch the rough. And, you can find out how production is going by reading the making of… blog posts. The episode will be released this Friday, 06 March.
You can also find out about the book that has been stolen – Sally Challenger’s expedition journal – by reading Jasper Fforde’s articles and checking out the journal so far (we’re recreating it in 100-word microstories: why not enter the competition?).
Keep Books Extinct Saturday, 28 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Story teamwork.add a comment
The mysterious letters K.B.E. have turned up everytime a book goes missing. We had some great suggestions about what they might stand for, and you’ve been voting for your favourite from the shortlist for the last few days. The winner is: Keep Books Extinct, with 33% of the vote, as suggested by Bibliomane. Congratulations, Bibliomane!
Second place went to Kill By Easter, Cutelioness’s suggestion, and joint third was taken by Tom and Grumpy with Keith Benjamin Evans and Kiwi Book Expungers. Thanks to everyone who made a suggestion, and to all of you who voted.
The SCO in March Friday, 27 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Events.1 comment so far
I’ve just updated the SCO’s page to show what they’re up to in March. There’s Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, conductor Louis Langrée and 2008 Grammy award winning violinist James Ehnes. More information at www.sco.org.uk.
The SCO are also back on tour at the end of the month. This time they’re going to Eastern Europe. Follow their progress at the SCO on tour blog.
And, don’t forget, the SCO are running a soundtrack competition as part of The Lost Book. It’s open to composers of any age, so why not have a go?!
Ear Candy Friday, 27 February 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....add a comment
On Monday we will be going back into the recording studio, this time with Blair Mowat. Players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will be performing the brilliant music that Blair has written for episode 2.
We thought we should treat you to a wee snippet of the temporary track, produced on the computer, to whet your appetites. Thanks Blair: we can’t wait to hear it played on real instruments!
Listen to excerpt of episode 2 temporary music track
Watch out for Blair’s blog posts to find out how he approached the 24hr challenge and came up with a piece that complements the animation so well.
The Lovely Bones Thursday, 26 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Story teamwork.add a comment
We started a discussion thread over at BookCrossing.com to decide what book Watson could read on the bus to London, while Aileen catches up with Kyle.
There were some genius suggestions and it was a hard decision. But, in the end, bookguide’s idea of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold won. Watson will love the title, and will be interested in the characters dealing with the consequences of a crime.
Thanks to everyone who took part. You guys really know your books!
Roughed Up Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....1 comment so far
The animated ‘rough’ for episode 2 is done. We are on schedule and Blair and Stephen can now compose music and create sound effects at will. Blair will be blogging his composing (which, by the way, he is doing in just one day – there’s a challenge!), so keep a look out for his posts.
What you see is the next stage from the animatic we showed you last week. Never let anyone tell you that animation is quicker on a computer. This process takes a lot of time and concentration. The ‘rough’ is somewhat, well, rough looking, as we are only concerned here with movement. You’ll notice that we’ve reused some of the stills from the animatic, where nothing impacts on the music or sound effects. You’ll notice too, a few props from episode 1 that we’ve borrowed for convenience – Jasper Fforde‘s The Big Over Easy was left by Aileen in the cafe in episode 1, but will be a different book in the final animation for this episode.
So, next? We need to make things look pretty. It’s a bit like decorating your house. The ‘rough’ is bare plastered walls, now we need to do the paint and wallpaper stuff. Oh, and tell the computers to generate the 2239 frames we need to put together for a week on Friday!
Another lost book! Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Posted by Helen in News.add a comment
As if it’s not enough that Sally Challenger’s journal about her expedition to the lost world has gone missing, we’ve now lost a copy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World! The book disappeared on its way to sonia23 in the USA. Only an empty envelope arrived, stamped “received un-sealed”.
But, all hope isn’t lost. The book is registered with BookCrossing, so has a unique BCID on the inside front cover. If someone discovers it somewhere in the postal system, lost and separated from its envelope, they can get in touch through BookCrossing and tell us where it has ended up.
Give us a clue Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.add a comment
We’re working on clues that Aileen might uncover in episode 3. If you’re new to The Lost Book, you need to catch up! You can watch episode 1 now. Episode 2 is in production, but you can read the outline, look at the storyboards and watch the animatic and the rough. And, you can find out how production is going by reading the making of… blog posts.
You can also find out about the book that has been stolen – Sally Challenger’s expedition journal – by reading Jasper Fforde’s articles and checking out the journal so far (we’re recreating it in 100-word microstories: you can enter the competition).
Right: everyone’s caught up? Okay, we’ve been working together to decide what the mysterious letters K.B.E. stand for. They turn up everytime a book goes missing. We received lots of great suggestions and have chosen a shortlist. We need you to select your favourite option from the shortlist using the sidebar poll to the right. The choices are:
• Keep Books Extinct – suggested by Bibliomane.
• Keith Benjamin Evans – suggested by Tom.
• Kill By Easter – suggested by Cutelioness.
• Killer Book Enemies – suggested by Class PBb.
• Kiwi Book Expungers – suggested by Grumpy.
• Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire – suggested by Julian.
• Kyle’s Bad Evidence – suggested by Class P4b (Conor also had a very similar suggestion).
Vote now! Results announced.
Missing Lynx Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....1 comment so far
We have a heavy animation day today, but before we get started I think it is high time I introduced you to Lyn(x). You named her, you’ve seen sketches of her, she appears in the storyboards and you’ve even seen glimpses of how we’ve been transforming her into a fully 3D Lynx, but here she is complete, limbering up for all the episode 2 action she is going to join Aileen in.
Let’s read it together Monday, 23 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Found books.3 comments
Are you reading The Lost World at the moment? If so, do leave a comment and tell us. You’re in good company: people all over the UK and around the world are adventuring with Professor Challenger, Ed Malone and their companions.
Here are a few copies of The Lost World that have checked in recently via BookCrossing.com. There’s one in Derby with shakereyebooty, waiting to be read. Another’s travelled all the way to New Mexico and is waiting for Jare in Albuquerque. A shorter journey has put a copy in Kigi’s hands in Colchester and another is with Jozebedee in Cheshire. One is with bookguide in the Netherlands – bookguide is hoping to find out what makes The Lost World her husband’s favourite book.
crazy-book-lady in Toronto has read a copy and posted it to Hayes13 in Rome; she says “The story is definitely a boys’ adventure tale! I found it to be a quick read, and it was fun to participate in this international reading project!”. Ilar in Castle Douglas has set a copy free on a train. hippolein in Helsinki is sending a copy back to Scotland with a great review:
Animatic for the people Saturday, 21 February 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....add a comment
So, what is an animatic? It’s a tool to help us plan what we are going to animate and avoid us wasting time animating things in the wrong places or things we just don’t need. Storyboards are great for this, but the animatic takes us a stage further and helps us work out how much time each shot will take and how what we see relates to the dialogue. Now that we have Cora and Sean’s lines recorded we can get quite close to fixing where they will be in the final animation.
As you can see, it’s just a series of still images that appear when needed, for the right amount of time – low tech but effective! Now we need to get onto the hi tech stuff.
The next stage for us is to take the timings we’ve settled on in the animatic and plan the detailed movements and camera positions for the 3D models. Then we go into our CGI software and animate the models (the ones we already have and the new ones we spent last week making), so that by the middle of next week we will have all the animation fixed in what we call a ‘rough’. This will please Blair, our composer for episode 2, who will then be able to write the music knowing that the movement won’t change. See, it’s all about planning!
Microstory winner: day three Friday, 20 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.add a comment
Congratulations Norvaljoe for writing the winning microstory this week.
Norvaljoe’s told us about Monday, 03 May 2004 in the words of Captain Miles Carstairs. Carstairs isn’t exactly a team player – and it seems he has his own agenda. It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes next… and for that we need your help!
Jasper Fforde has created the characters and the background and our three winners so far (Matthias, Bookaddictus and Norvaljoe) have got the journal started. It’s up to you to tell us what happens next – this week we need the story of Tuesday, 04 May 2004.
Sally Challenger’s expedition journal is the book that has been stolen; the book Aileen’s trying to find. If we can work out what’s in the book, it might give Aileen some clues to the theft. Help us by entering the microstory competition.
Take 2 Friday, 20 February 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....add a comment
We’re just back from Glasgow, having had a morning of, well, hilarity. Far from being all stuffy and serious, the voice recording session for Episode 2 took place in an air of relaxed joviality. Cora and Sean were on fine form and sauntered through their lines with aplomb. Stephen commanded those airwaves and got all takes (and some extras) in the can ready to send down the wire to us before the end of the day. We’re now putting them into our animatic which we hope to post soon so that you can all see how it’s shaping up.
Thanks team for making it all happen so easily – see you again in five weeks time!
Dinosaur logo – what does it mean? Thursday, 19 February 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.4 comments
Watson’s sniffed out a possible clue: the dinosaur footprint logo keeps turning up. If you look closely, you’ll see it on the bus seat upholstery and on Aileen’s cappuccino as well as on her phone and Watson’s laptop.
Tom and Anna are working on a conspiracy theory. Tom says, “Was there not a Grazp Pharmaceuticals with an expedition at about the same time of the expedition described in the stolen journal? What logo do they have?”. Anna agrees, and has some ideas:
Suppose that this large company, which has a dinosaur’s footprint as a logo, is behind the theft… Could it be that this company tries to gain control over what people know … and what they don’t know? If so, they must also be involved in other media: newspapers, TV, the internet, … (Remember, Watson said the dinosaur made a deafening noise!)
I think it’s definitely worth looking at Dino Inc.: What exactly does the company do? Who are its owners? I wonder if the owner (or one of them) bought that Grazp Pharmaceuticals to find a cure for his illness … which could be provided by the “Black Crystal”.
You’ll find out more about Grazp Pharmaceuticals and the legendary “Black Crystal” in Jasper Fforde’s articles about Sally Challenger’s expedition. Don’t forget: the book that’s been stolen is the journal of this expedition.
So…have you got anything to add to the conspiracy theory? What do you think is going on?! Leave us a message!
Protected: The Lost World campaign edition password needed Thursday, 19 February 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.Enter your password to view comments.
Reviews of The Lost World Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Found books.add a comment
Thousands of copies of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World have been given out as part of The Lost World Read 2009, co-ordinated here in Edinburgh by the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature. We’ve been tracking some of those copies via BookCrossing.com… and have the first couple of reviews of the book to share with you.
Episode 2: storyboards Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Posted by Helen in Story teamwork.1 comment so far
The storyboards for episode 2 are ready for you to look at and comment on! Leave a message if you have any thoughts about the story.
The storyboards tell the story using a series of pictures. We’ve been thinking about how best to show what happens; storyboards are a way of working out what each shot will look like.
The storyboards have the dialogue and action written below each picture. You can also download the script as a PDF. We’ve got a recording session with actors Cora Bissett and Sean Biggerstaff on Friday morning so any tweaks will need to be made by then.
You’ll notice that the script is laid out in a particular way: with subheadings like “INT. DOC REBUS’S – DAY”. This is the standard screenplay format used for films. The subheadings describe where each scene is set: interior (“INT”) or exterior (“EXT”), the location (“DOC REBUS’S”) and day or night. If you’re interested in finding out more about screenplay format, the BBC Writers Room has a page about script formats and a PDF showing film screenplay formatting.
If you’d like to know how everyone worked together to develop the story for episode 2, take a look at Plotting Episode 2. And, if you’d like to help write episode 3, we’re looking for suggestions as to what the mysterious letters K.B.E. might stand for.
All-a-board! Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....add a comment
As you can see, quite a lot of tea was consumed in the making of episode 2 storyboards. The last few days have seen all your ideas put together into a script for episode 2 and the accompanying artwork produced to show us all (me included) what might be happening on the screen while our voice actors are doing their thing.
The process starts with a lot of pencil drawing. Each panel is roughed out, several times if necessary, before being inked in and coloured up. Each stage takes a fair amount of time. As with all drawing though, it’s the thinking before the drawing starts that makes this bit useful. We spend quite a while discussing ideas and making thumbnail sketches of action sequences before we decide exactly what we are going to work up. I even had to get out the Starbucket (a pint of tea at a time) for this session, oh and the iPod, oh and the serious headphones!
But that’s not the end of the process. There is always room for improvement and refinement we find, so feel free to comment and help us to home in on the final version, ready for the animation stage.
K…B…E…? Monday, 16 February 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.11 comments
Don’t think you’re getting a rest just because we’ve worked out the story for episode 2! We need to start thinking about episode 3.
We’ll be posting the storyboards for episode 2 later today tomorrow (the outline is already up, and if you haven’t seen episode 1 don’t forget to watch the animation, read Jasper Fforde’s articles about the missing book – Sally Challenger’s expedition journal – and read the first two entries in the journal).
It’s about time we worked out what the mysterious letters K.B.E. stand for. They turned up at the scene of the crime in episode 1. They’ve turned up again in episode 2. They must mean something! What could it be?
(Julian has already pointed out that KBE stands for “Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire” and Connor thinks it might mean “Kyle Bad for Ever”.)
Please leave a three-word comment with your suggested expansion of K.B.E.
We’re going to leave suggestions open until the end of Monday (23 Feb) and then set up a poll to choose the best one on Tuesday, so hurry up and let us have your ideas.
The Lost Book is an animated web series where you wrote the plot.
