Credits crunched Monday, 27 July 2009
Posted by Adam in Story teamwork.Tags: composer, screenplay, script, soundtrack, story, writing
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Hi team, we’ve had a couple of days off but haven’t deserted you all just yet. We need to tie up a few loose ends before The Lost Book finishes completely. So how better to start than to thank everyone who contributed to the writing of the final episode? The tempo of Alexis‘s music was a tad slower than the previous couple of frenetic episodes but you may still not have had time to catch all these names.
Thanks team, we couldn’t have done it without you! And don’t go away…
Episode 6 – animatic Saturday, 11 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Making of....Tags: animation, composer, script, story, storyboard, video
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We’ve got a draft script, a set of storyboards, and an animatic so you can start to see how episode 6 will work.
First up, congratulations (and thanks!) to the people whose story ideas made it into the episode: Meg, for Kyle and Aileen’s date and for Aileen’s article; IndiaJones and Lulu for Watson’s evidence-gathering; Bookaddictus for Beryl’s arrest; Tom for Aileen joining Invisible Inc.; and Headlong for Aileen’s Mum getting released.
The animatic is very rough: storyboard sketches put together with a scratch track (a recording of the script as read by Adam and me). What it does for us is allows us to plan the timings of each sequence. This is a much slower episode than episode 5: although a lot of stories are included, they’re being recollected calmly. It takes the pace down from the frenetic activity of the rescue scene, so that we’re ready to leave the characters at the end.
We’re still discussing which library Otto is working in and what Professor Remi is doing (we snuck her story in on a magazine cover!) so there are some details that need to be finalised.
In the meantime, we’re working on the animation. We need to have all the animation finished by Wednesday morning so that we can hand a “rough” over to composer Alexis Bennett. It’s a pleasure to welcome Alexis back to the project – he wrote the music for episode 1 way back in January.
Lunch and storyboards Friday, 10 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Making of....Tags: actors, bookcrossing, script, story, storyboard
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We really did have lunch at the Sheep Heid Inn, Duddingston. Many thanks to D.J., who didn’t just give us lunch but made us welcome, gave us a tour, a history lesson, and an introduction to the sheep heid that gives the pub its name (well, the 19th century copy – made when the original, presented by James VI, was sold).
The photos here show the sign and the BookCrossing shelf in the main bar area.
Adam and I have been talking about storyboards for the last several days, but today is the day they need to be finished. We have a script roughed out – I’ll post it later – and, of course, we know which stories need to be included.
Episode 6 is very different to normal, because it will be told using voiceover narration rather than dialogue. We normally record the actors before we start animation – typically we’d have had a recording session this week – so that we can match the animation to the dialogue. But, that’s not needed with voiceover so we won’t be going into the recording studio until the end of next week.
What this means is that we’ll be using a “scratch” voice track as we work. A scratch track is a rough recording we make ourselves, so that we have a guide to timings. It’s very rough – you’ll hear it on the animatic.
It also means that we can continue to tweak the script for a little longer than usual…
Crazy on a Sunday afternoon Monday, 1 June 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....Tags: actors, cora bissett, script, sean biggerstaff, soundtrack
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It was all a blur. Not only did we dash off the script in record quick time, we nearly melted on the way over to Glasgow for the recording session.
As always, we had some new characters and new accents for Cora and Sean to deal with. Cora brought Professor Remi to life with a lovely francophone lilt. Sean provided a suitably thuggish henchman on top of his usual duties. For the first time ever Sean didn’t need to mention “Aileen” which meant we didn’t get to fall about in stitches when he mispronounced it – maybe next time Sean. Of course, Stephen was keeping cool at the control desk, despite the balmy weather.
Everyone was very focused – something to do with wanting to get back out in the sun, I think – and it wasn’t long before we all agreed it was done. In fact, just one more of these sessions to go and the whole series will be done. Thanks again guys for turning out on such a hot, sunny Sunday – you deserve lots of ice cream!
Episode 4: script and storyboards Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.Tags: script, story, storyboard, writing
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The script and storyboards for episode 4 are finished! Take a look and if you’ve got any thoughts or comments, let us know. Otherwise, we’ll be talking next about some of the smaller details for episode 4 before going back onto the main plot.
Thanks to Bibliomane for naming Beryl Potts. We loved the chemical link and agree that there’s something very sinister about a baddie with such a grandmotherly name. Thanks to everyone else for your suggestions, they all made us chuckle or think.
If you want all the details about how we developed the story for episode 4, and who took part, take a look at Plotting Episode 4. And, don’t forget that we’re still trying to decide whether Grazp Pharmaceutical’s logo is the dino footprint – vote now in the sidebar poll.
Name needed Monday, 27 April 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.Tags: script, story, writing
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Hello! There’s going to be lots happening this week. We need to finalise the story for episode 4 as we’ve got actors Cora Bissett and Sean Biggerstaff booked up to record the dialogue tomorrow. We’re finalising the script and storyboards today.
It looks as if the cliffhanger ending is going to be even more exciting than we thought. The two options (a gunshot and Aileen getting captured) have been neck-and-neck all weekend. The vote is currently 50% for each. So, here’s a suggestion. We’ll end episode 4 with a gunshot. It’ll be heard by Lyn and Kyle, who are listening in via a bugging device. The episode will stop here… but Aileen will also be captured. We won’t see that – we’ll simply open episode 5 with Aileen in captivity. Is that okay?
Right now, we need your help in thinking up a name for a baddie.
Otto Dafé will be making his report to the person in Grazp Pharmaceuticals who hired K.B.E. to remove the Challenger journal. Who are they? We won’t see them in episode 4, but we’ll hear their voice. Is it a woman or a man? Is is the “Grazp” behind “Grazp Pharmaceuticals”? Is it someone from the Challenger expedition? If you have the perfect name for this baddie, leave a comment. We’ll choose our favourite before tomorrow’s recording session.
The Lost Book is an animated web series where you wrote the plot.
