Well, it has finally happened - a YouTube [TM] book trailer of MBT!
Made by the skillfully deft and technically versatile Courtney Wood over at Putnam (my US publisher). (A bit of trivia about Courtney; she set up this blog in the first place for me to go on with - if you go right back to the beginning of it all you will find a test post from her...)
I must say it is rather odd to see MBT out there in "That's what they - those other people do" computer land.
Also: for an extra bit of linkage fun here is a post about the panel I joined at the Sydney Writers' Fest. a couple of months ago, written by the most excellent Judith Ridge.
12 comments:
That was fun. Makes me ready for a full length animation.
nice recap-trailer of the books content but I got annoyed when he started the commercial(?)talk. sounded "wrong". Perhaps it was his voice that did it.
Okay, now I'm confused. It is pronounced "ROSE-a-mund"? I've been pronouncing it "ROSS-a-mund" in my head the whole time and I'm not sure I can change now... even if I'm wrong!
I'd be lying anna if I was to say I did not find the infomercial tone of the fellow's voice a bit at odds with the vibe of MBT. They did ask me to do the voice over, but clearly I declined for I think it would have been an awkward voice-over then and I feared much worse. Ah well.
As to pronunciation of Rossamünd:
You are spot on femina, "ROSS a mund" is how I would have it in people's heads, on their lips yet folks keep insisting on "Rose a mund" or worse yet, "Rose a moond" (though I have indeed umlauted the "u" but it is still not that quite that long a vowel in Rossamünd's name).
I would L-O-V-E to see a full length anim of MBT too, sir!
I got a bit confused over the dots over U in Rossamund. I think it´s in German that that is pronouced "y"=Rossamynd. But I understood how it was said after I figured that it sounded weird to pronouce it with an Y.
im afraid after seeing that clip i wouldn't be rushing to the nearest bookstore, but its still better to have something to advertise it than nothing!
...and im embarrassed now cuz i always pronounced rossamund as rose-a-moond... :S... when i read the back of the book i then realised it was ross-a-moond (still thinking that dots above a u mean it turns into oo) now i finally realisee its ross-a-mund! wich still feels weird on the tongue after all those times of reading his name... my bad
btw - in the background of the blog, there are the words "ex - monstrum - vacare" what do they translate into?
(im assuming something goes after vacare and before ex?)
A question. will it be explained in book 3 how Europe came to be on Rossamund´s hearing? Was she sent for or she was just in the area and stopped to visit him?
Hey anna,
Didn't Rossamund send her a note saying that he was going and that even though it was a stretch, he wanted her to come? I thought it was like that.
DM,
I have never seen a trailer made like that before. I think that if I were to make something similar, I would cut the voice almost entirely and replace it with simple text to accompany your mind-bogglingly fabulous artwork and the A-okay music. Or maybe a use a couple of really well chosen quotes from the book itself with voice actors doing the lines - like 10 seconds of Fransitart saying that monsters weren't always what they appeared and then Europe and one of her quotes about how she hunts monsters for money and so on with one line from each character on their main standpoint. Then gigantic text saying that the books were on sale such and such a date.
Not that I know much about it. I'm just playing because I think your story is so much broader and bigger with so much more mystery and imagination than the trailer gives credit for.
Cheers!
I´ve must have missed it somehow...
Yep, found it on page 545.
The trailer is fun to watch. I agree with Susan that it wouldn't make me want to run out and buy the book; but, I don't think that I've ever seen a trailer that pulled off that trick. Besides, even the story itself doesn't expose the full depths of the story! To explain that seeming absurdity... I figured that the Book 2 Explicarium was no more than entertaining fluff, but read it anyway because I had enjoyed the story so much - and was amazed to find how much the encyclopedia of the Half Continent further added to my enjoyment. The thought that Rossemund might be somehow involved in the ancient and tragic tale of Biarge the Beautiful has increased my already high hopes concerning future volumes - though the Half Continent is so huge and richly detailed that I wonder how many volumes there might be before the story reaches that point. Regardless, thanks so much for a great adventure; the price of the book doesn't begin to cover how much delight I've gotten from reading it.
Thank you alyosha, rather beautifully and encouragingly put.
Thank you every one, in fact!
As to the quality of the trailer - well, it is a bit "BAM! WOW!" which I do not feel is the correct tone for MBT, yet my US publishers want big things for it and are pushing hard for the same. I find myself in a bind of being very grateful for the tireless work they do to promote the books yet not always agreeing with the direction they take. Not sure how to resolve that one - I tend to just go with the gratitude, say thank you, and trusting Upstairs (if I mjay put it like that) let things be as they will.
As to your excellent inquiry susan:
"Ex Monstrum Vacare" means (very very roughly) 'of monsters be free' - or more gramatically normal but less poetic, 'be free of monsters'.
Cheers!
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