Weekend Writer's Retreat - 58

My Scorpius serial is now joining The Serialists as well as continuing with the Weekend Writer's Retreat.

To recap this dark fantasy story so far:

As a small boy of seven, Scorpius was fetched from the nursery where he'd been raised to live among the nobility - fetched not by his family, but by a falconer to serve as his apprentice.

Scorpius soon learned that a close encounter with a dragon was preferable to the cruelties of the nobles he'd once hoped were family. His master did whatever he could to shield Scorpius from the world outside their cottage, but the falconer was merely a servant, when all was said and done.

An attempt on the life of a young noble while on a hunt sent the falconer and his apprentice on abruptly different paths.

We continue with Scorpius at age sixteen as he enters the service of Lord Thibault.

You can follow the progress of this story arc by clicking on the Works in Progress link just under the blog header.


Scene 58

Scorpius stared at the pebbles at his feet, the same pebbles at which he’d been staring since dawn first broke and Lord Thibault had delivered him to his uncle in the guise of a prisoner.

How much longer would he be forced to linger here, arms wrenched behind him, chained high upon the stone column, forcing Scorpius to bend forward to stare at the pebbles? His back had gone through a rising wave of agony throughout the day, but he found that if he could remain as still as possible, the pain held its breath.

But his legs had gone numb. He needed to shift position.

Yet another biting fly made up his mind for him. It landed on his cheek in the rivulet of sweat and blood left from the guard's blow. Shaking his head to dislodge the fly, Scorpius sent a forked bolt of agony through his hips, up his spine, flaring out across his shoulders, snaking up his arms and exploding along his neck into his head.

Gasping with the force of it, Scorpius squeezed his eyes tight, tears joining the sweat, the blood, the dirt, his matted hair that stuck to his face.

“It will be hard,” his new master had said. He’d known what Scorpius would face.

Taking as deep a breath as he dared, Scorpius concentrated on the memory of Lord Thibault writhing upon the table as the guard had dug the arrowhead from his shoulder. He remembered just how it had felt to press with all of his might against the young noble’s attempts to get away from the pain.

His new master was now laying the framework to wrestle justice from his would-be assassins. Scorpius no longer served a falconer – he served a young noble whose life would always be in danger. So here Scorpius hung in chains in the relentless sun.

His stomach rumbled as he thought of the young noble sitting down to eat. Stretching out his tongue, Scorpius licked the sweat from his upper lip. He had not eaten in a very long time.

In fact, no one had come to check on him in hours. He was bound here in a walled-in courtyard quite apart from everything or anyone. He could hear sounds of life just over the wall, but here there were just the pebbles, the sweat, the flies, the pain and his own desire for revenge.

If he put his faith in his new master who had his own score to settle, the torments once visited upon his former master Richolf would come full circle upon whoever was responsible. Until the gray hours of this morning, Scorpius hadn’t even hoped such a thing could come to pass.

So he hung here, the iron cutting into his wrists, his head swirling with fatigue, his muscles seizing up to draw cries from his cracked lips.

When he finally heard the creak of a door and the rhythmic cadence of footsteps, the jingling of keys and the solid sway of a guard’s uniform, Scorpius didn’t know whether he should be grateful or terrified.

The guard released the shackles from the rings embedded in the stone column, only to grab hold of Scorpius’ aching arms, shoving him forward still bound. Scorpius stumbled on legs that were stiff and swollen. Slaps from the guard spurred him forward.

He entered a cool corridor, so dark after the day he’d spent in the sun that he was as good as blind. He trembled as the sweat chilled on his skin, fear stealing his breath. Kicks from the guard kept him moving.

The corridor turned, revealing a door. A young guard stood at the ready beside it, nodding at Scorpius’ escort and pushing the door open.

The room was empty except for a stool, a rough table and a chair, upon which sat an imposing man in noble attire. Another man turned to fix Scorpius with a stare that shriveled any semblance of courage if it had ever existed inside him.

The guard shoved him forward. Scorpius landed on his face at the lord’s feet.

© Julia Smith, 2011

5 on Friday - Set 70

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Last week, I called on The Beatles to help me out when I needed a set list.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to have a closer look at each member of The Fab Four.

The series continues with drummer Ringo Starr.

1 - Boys - The Beatles



2 - I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles



3 - Good Night - The Beatles



4 - Photograph - Ringo Starr



5 - No No Song - Ringo Starr

Thursday Thirteen - 214 - 13 Things About Moving Onto the High Resolution Editing System During Post Production

1 - Met up with Doug Woods for our third editing session at 902 POST, his post production facility here in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

2 - The editing system shown above displays the offline edit stage - this part took us two sessions to complete.

3 - In the offline stage, the creative decisions are made by the editor and director using the original footage as shot by the director of photography.

4 - The director verifies which shots will be used, and the editor lays them out so that the sequence of shots tells the story.

5 - At this point, the final decisions in digital file form are loaded onto the high resolution editing system. For this project, Doug is using the Avid editing system. I can vouch for its gee-whiz, jaw-dropping, cutting-edge hallmarks.

6 - For the initial session with the high res system, Doug completed the first of two sequences in online edit form.

7 - At this point, all the technical elements are in place at full resolution. He can now add backgrounds and effects to the footage shot against greenscreen.

8 - Using the chroma key process, Doug places the photographic stills which I chose to stand in for exterior locations, and adjusts the moving footage to match the implied exterior. This stage is called compositing.

9 - During this process, Doug creates a negative image where the background is black and the moving figure is white. If you've seen Sin City, you'll know what these images look like. He then adjusts any greenscreen spill which shows up as gray sections on the black or white figures. After these adjustments, the positive footage then reads true against the supposed exterior.

10 - He can also draw a section around the middle ground of the two-dimensional background photo, and using his effects toolbox, blur the section selected. This contrasts nicely with the foreground figures, who are in focus. It gives the impression of greater depth of field to the background, which adds to a feeling of authenticity for this effect.

11 - He added a glowing effect to surround a near-death vision of the main character's beloved, as well as slowing her movements to suggest that she is a vision and not moving in real time.

12 - He morphed one character into another by first matching the two characters' body positions in the frame, then matching up eyes to eyes, nose to nose. Freakin' cool.

13 - Finally, he color corrected the shots to match the lighting of the supposed source of the exteriors. For example, as the sun sets, he bathes the main character in a warm glow. But when twilight comes, he leeches out the warmth to create the cool tones of moonlight.

Stay tuned to A Piece of My Mind for more updates as the book trailer nears completion.

Summer Stock Sunday - 34

For the third year running, here comes one of my favorite bloggy events - Robin's Summer Stock Sunday meme.

She invites all to post summery photos and visit other bloggers who share their feelings and memories about this magical season.

Last year I decided to post only vintage photos for this feature. They were so enthusiastically received that this year I'll keep 'em coming.










This shot was taken by my dad in the late 70s, while I was in my Little House on the Prairie obsessive phase.

I still have these phases. They're a part of my creative process. It's all good.

Anyway, because I used to obsess about Laura Ingalls' red calico dress and her 19th century boots, my mom indulged her sewing/costuming cravings and made me and my sister our own Little House dresses.

I still have this dress. It's hanging in my closet at this very moment.

Weekend Writer's Retreat - 57

My Scorpius serial is now joining The Serialists as well as continuing with the Weekend Writer's Retreat.

To recap this dark fantasy story so far:

As a small boy of seven, Scorpius was fetched from the nursery where he'd been raised to live among the nobility - fetched not by his family, but by a falconer to serve as his apprentice.

Scorpius soon learned that a close encounter with a dragon was preferable to the cruelties of the nobles he'd once hoped were family. His master did whatever he could to shield Scorpius from the world outside their cottage, but the falconer was merely a servant, when all was said and done.

An attempt on the life of a young noble while on a hunt sent the falconer and his apprentice on abruptly different paths.

We continue with Scorpius at age sixteen as he enters the service of Lord Thibault.

You can follow the progress of this story arc by clicking on the Works in Progress link just under the blog header.


Scene 57

Pulling the reins taut, Lord Thibault stopped them at the edge of a hill overlooking a fortified estate. The approaching dawn revealed laborers already wading out into the fields, watched by overseers.

“I should have asked you this before,” the young noble said, his voice barely audible from weariness and caution.

Scorpius recoiled a little from Lord Thibault, releasing his hold upon him from his perch in the saddle. The sight of the masters keeping watchful eye over those serving in the field brought it all back to him – the screams that hung in the air of the nightmare hunt.

“There is something I must ask of you. Something very hard,” Lord Thibault said.

Scorpius’ lungs tightened with dread. But he remembered the weight of the coins this noble had delivered to Richolf, urging him to embrace life when it was in danger. So he took a deep breath and said, “Then ask it, my lord.”

The noble bowed his head for a long moment. Then he twisted back to gaze at Scorpius as far as his shoulder wound allowed. “This is my uncle’s estate. If we stop here before returning home, we can set events in motion that will see justice delivered for your master.”

“My lord?” The desire for revenge flared inside Scorpius’ chest. How swiftly it took flight, yet he hadn’t realized it even lived inside of him.

“This will take some days to reach fruition. Days you will find very hard.”

“Why should you care about my master, my lord? What is he to you?”

“It is not what he means to me, but what he means to you that concerns me. You will need to hold onto that dearly.”

Scorpius said nothing, so Lord Thibault continued.

“During my first visit to the falconry, I noticed a scar upon your master’s neck. It had a singular shape which I recognized.”

Scorpius knew it well. Only Ingerith’s intervention had healed such a vile piece of torn flesh.

“When I was a boy,” Lord Thibault said, “I was taken to the deepest corner of my uncle’s holdings. It was meant to toughen me, for one day I would be asked to put men to such torments in my turn.

“There was a demonstration of the question being put to an unfortunate fellow, and a grievous wound made that held the shape of the falconer’s scar. The man wielding the iron took special pride in fashioning his own tools. So I know who it was that tormented your master. And this knowledge gives me the missing proof for my own justice, proof I’ve sought out for most of my life.”

Perhaps Scorpius should have felt his blood chilling with fear at the thought that Lord Thibault had played a flawless hand. The young noble’s continued dismissal of Richolf in favor of Scorpius had pulled the veil over any hint of interest in the falconer and his telltale scar.

Perhaps he should have felt a chill. But for Scorpius, the memory of the coin bag’s weight as he passed it to his master fanned the embers burning in his heart. This noble could have sent Richolf into the darkness with nothing.

“What would you have me do, my lord?”

“It will be hard.”

“How long have you waited to find the scar upon my master?”

Lord Thibault looked across the fields at the estate. “Whatever you think 'hard' will be, the ‘hard’ I’m warning you about is far worse.”

“And yet you ask it of me.”

Birdsong filled the silence between them.

“My father knew that one day I would be called upon to send men to their deaths,” Lord Thibault said. “Or worse. To wish for death and not be granted that release. He schooled me to rule, and I did not shy away from his lessons.

"Yes, I am asking you to do this, Scorpius. A request, and not a command.

“I’m going to ride into my uncle’s courtyard, and if you’re still on the back of this horse I will present you as my prisoner. You will be the one who took me from the falconer’s field and held me on behalf of your master.

“They will not believe your master was the falconer. Fortunately for my purposes, you will not be able to answer any of their questions. This will make my version of what happened ring true.”

The burning rush through Scorpius’ veins gave way to icy fear. Lord Thibault was young, but he continued to play his hand with the sureness of a red-tail swooping low over the field.

“I will do as you ask, my lord,” he said, his voice trembling.

Lord Thibault’s head bowed quickly. The sounds of the morning could not drown out the sounds of his weeping.

© Julia Smith, 2011

5 on Friday - Set 69

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

It's been another crazy week - going at non-stop speed.

Beatles - help me out...

1 - I Feel Fine



2 - Lovely Rita



3 - Because



4 - Chains



5 - All Together Now

Thursday Thirteen - 213 - 13 Things About the Road to Post Production For My Book Trailer

1 - Two November 30th's ago I successfully completed my second NaNoWriMo novel-writing marathon.

This gave me the second half of the vampire novel I'd begun during my first NaNoWriMo, a few years earlier.

















2 - Last October at the writing retreat at White Point Beach, I finally finished the revisions which married those two NaNoWriMo storylines together.













3 - It was during this retreat that I was matched up with Tara and Shawna for the brainstorming session. Tara is at far left, back row. Shawna is at far right, back row. I'm in the front, at right.

Our time at the retreat sparked Tara's feeling that we would work well together on set. She has a production company, and she thought it would be a great beginning project to work together on a trailer for my vampire book. She knew the manuscript was going out to readers for critique as soon as I got back from the retreat.













4 - I plunged ahead into the next NaNoWriMo that November, setting my vampires aside to write the adult Scorpius story (his boyhood backstory makes up my Saturday serialized fiction.)

After a lot of intense writing, I set everything aside - including my blog - and went to Toronto to spend Christmas with family and friends. This is me with my sister-in-law, Violetta.

A great time of renewal before 2011 brought me to the Year of Reinvention.













5 - While in Toronto, I had lunch with two writer friends, Charlene at left and Chris at center. Charlene and Chris have a tradition of giving a name and an intention to their creative year.

They had named 2011 the Year of Reinvention. So I enthusiastically took them up on this and named it my Year of Reinvention, as well.

















6 - After plunging right into pre-production meetings with Tara over the winter, by spring we were ready to shoot the two-minute book trailer.

On April 30th, I spent a long but exhilarating day putting aside my Clark Kent life to direct the shoot.

This is the Director of Photography, Luke Hudgins setting up a shot.

Photo by Caroline Ruyle

7 - Notice the green screen behind him. The actors were shot against this screen for later replacement with a photograph, whose light source he matched in the studio.











8 - Here, the actor is placed against the green screen to simulate laying wounded upon a battlefield.












9 - Wednesday evening - a year-and-a-half after I finished typing the 50,000th word into my NaNoWriMo vampire manuscript - our editor Doug Woods from 902 POST in Halifax spent a second session with Tara and myself tightening the book trailer from a two-minute piece to a one-minute piece.

The initial rough edit is put together on his Avid editing system.

You can see Scott Baker as my main character Peredur laying against the green screen on the right-hand side of the editing screen. He struggles as a battlefield scavenger - played by my husband Brad - steals his ring.













10 - Delirious, Peredur sees a vision of his betrothed, seen above on the right part of the screen. Stevie Cooper as Tanwen gets some special effects treatment to suggest to viewers that she is not actually present on the battlefield.











11 - Tanwen's effects shot blacks over the green screen, but the editor controls the digital layering and can still place Tanwen against an image like this sunset sky, except the ones used in the book trailer were purchased from Shutterstock Images.

12 - To the left side of the Tanwen shot above is the effects stabilizer screen which the editor uses behind the scenes for matching the live-action digital footage to the static sunset shot.

13 - Doug and I got a lot done tonight, honing the footage into several tight, editorial sequences. We'll meet again next week, when Doug will move the footage to his high definition equipment.

Stay tuned for more updates as the book trailer nears completion!