Sharing the I-phone

They were watching a YouTube video of a song from Guys and Dolls... Nice to know the classics haven't lost their magic.

An (almost) exclusive preview...

This is the first cut of the video trailer for The Valley of Unknowing. The cover shown at the end is not the one Harvill Secker are actually planning to use. So we'll put the final artwork in as soon as it's ready. That aside, this is pretty much the finished product, bar the odd bit of enhancing and tweaking on some of the stills.

This video took very little time to make, unlike the last one. I am getting quite adept at splicing music, and this time there was no live footage to shoot.The edit was done on an Apple Mac using iMovie software - which, I have to say, is far from ideal, being a "time-based" system, rather than a "linear" one (like Final Cut or Adobe's Premier). This really makes a difference when you're trying to cut precisely to music. On the other hand iMovie has some very nice bells and whistles, exports with ease, and usually comes free with the computer, as opposed to costing hundreds of pounds. So you can't really complain.

By the way, if you happen to be in Germany, you may have to download this video from the TrailerSpy web site. The download takes slightly longer, but at least there are no annoying pop-up ads to contend with.

http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/15837/THE-VALLEY-OF-UNKNOWING

PS - I owe a big thank you to Derya, our multi-talented German au pair, who supplied the computer and the skills to work it.

Mozart's Last Aria

Matt Rees is one of the most stylish crime writers around at the moment, and his latest novel has just been published in the UK (the US edition will be out in November). In the past, Matt's work has all been set in the contemporary Middle East, where he lives. This time he's taken a journey back to 18th century Vienna and to the mystery surrounding the death of Mozart. (If you think Salieri did it, think again.) Where many historical novelists are concerned, this would be a cue for endless descriptions of fashion or lots of painfully anachronistic dialogue: the kind that always reminds me of a bad school play. Fortunately Matt is of the hard-boiled school of writing: he does his research, and makes every word count. So that's my summer holiday reading sorted.

Here's the rather gorgeous trailer...

And here's the long version. Wonderful  music .... but then, it is Mozart!

Video trailer redux

After ten days of torture at the hands of the world's video editing software designers, I have finally managed to get the edited version of the book trailer for The Einstein Girl up on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwo5GjUK2fY

By ducking and diving through numerous Codecs and compressors, I have succeeded in getting rid of the interlacing lines (don't ask me to explain - just trust me, they are ugly), the pixillation on the archive footage, even the peculiar blips on the sound track. But I have not managed to counter the effects of the YouTube compression, which does horrible things to some of my lovingly taken shots.

For the record, if anyone is thinking of attempting something like this, I would advise them to use Apple/Mac type software and systems wherever possible. They work more smoothly, are more tolerant of file types and generally throw up fewer problems. And for editing, Final Cut is probably to be preferred to Adobe Premiere, at least in my (limited) experience.

In any case please do check out the new version. In a couple of weeks or so, it will have a new, original music track, written by a phenomenally talented Australian composer. So this version will soon be but a memory. I would say 'Catch it while you can!', but I don't want to sound pushy...

Video preview

After much struggling with video rendering and I don't know how many dry runs, I now have a web-friendly version of a promotional video for The Einstein Girl. The final cut will be done next week, along with a certain amount of technical tweaking, but esteemed visitors to this blog can view the rough cut on YouTube, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0pdAFEpFs

I have spent far too much time on this project. But I did enjoy the change, especially the editing, which, for my money, is the best part of the whole process. Easily the worst part is what comes at the end: struggling with the scores of different digital video and audio formats, platforms and rendering options - only a few of which seem not to produce an absolute mess. Today, to cap it all, the editing software developed a massive glitch that will require a complete re-installation. It was all much simpler when cameras were turned by hand...

Do post your comments on the video. It was a labour of love as much as anything, but I'd like to think it will prove useful.