Produced by VIDLIT: Liz Dubelman & Paca Thomas
About Craziest
by Liz Dubelman, Editor
The inspiration for CRAZIEST came one day while I was listening to Bookworm with Michael Silverblatt on KCRW (my local NPR station). I am an NPR junkie. I feel lonely when I don't have it on in my car or streaming out of my computer speakers. Anyway, his guest was Myla Goldberg, who wrote "The Bee Season." I thought, if spelling bee champions are weird, Scrabble players are at least as weird. I began to explore people who build "thought castles" — people who take thinking too far. What would make someone need to create her own order? Who would that person be that would have such a strong need for magical thinking?
CRAZIEST is the first in a series of short stories. I have since completed a novel as well.
Producing Vidlits
by Paca Thomas, Production Designer
A VidLit starts with the written word." That's our mantra, it seems, and it is taken quite literally in the creation of a VidLit. A story, article or excerpt of a book is chosen by Liz Dubelman, VidLit creator and Editor-in-Chief, which she then crafts into a "Shooting Script"- a breakdown of the piece into dramatic beats. Within each of these beats, Liz, now wearing her Director's beret, outlines the conceptual approach we will take with this particular VidLit. Liz then sends these notes to the Flash Artist (currently, that just means me) for realization. One of the cool things about working with Liz is that she lets me "paint outside the lines"; vamp on her ideas, frequently zipping off on my own creative tangent because I found a great image that supports the story. The narration, usually done by the author of the original piece, is recorded very early in production and is used as the main timing reference. This way we can maintain the natural rythmns and cadence of the narration.
The entire site was designed and built on my Apple 17" Powerbook, using Macromedia Flash MX and MX2004 Professional. (future VidLits will be created on Apple's Dual 2.5 G5, with dual 23' HD monitors, still on order). The "style" of VidLits actually arose from both the strengths and limitations of Flash as an animation tool. When it comes to animation, I have always looked on Flash as The Dancing Bear; I'm amazed, not that it does what it's doing well, but that it does it at all!  |
Not exactly Renderman or Shake, this very powerful internet tool, but we have grown quite fond of the results. Adobe Photoshop CS is absolutely essential for filling in many creative gaps left by these limitations. Adobe GoLive is used for the few HTML necessities and FTP chores. The artwork can come from any source, from original art and photography to old magazines to Google searches, or whatever future VidLit designers bring with them. The "style" of VidLit will be an evolutionary one.
Because we chose to be a Broadband-content-only site from the get-go, I had carte blanche to take a professional approach to the VidLit Audio. Music and Sound Effects are created using Digidesign's ProTools HDAccel, Steinberg Cubase SX, Ableton Live , a vast sound and music sample library and a slew of virtual instruments from Arturia, G-Force, Korg, Native Instruments, Propellorheads, and Spectrasonics. The Final Mix - what you actually hear - must be done, ironically, using the Flash Audio Envelope editor; the audio equivalent of doing brain surgery with a melon-baller. I listen to the whole thing on two sources: My $10,000 PMC-Bryston monitor rig and my winky little PowerBook speakers. The audio is presented to you as streaming 128 kbps stereo MP3, the equivalent to a very good song download, so turn up the volume!
About the Vidlit Team
Editorial : LIZ DUBELMAN
Liz Dubelman |
is the founder of VidLit. Her pre-digital career included ten years in film production. Her television work won her two Emmys -- one as a producer and one as a director. She was the first woman member of the labor negotiating committee of I.A.T.S.E., New York local 644 (cinematographers), and is an establishing member of Women in New Technology. She has been consultant to all of the major studios in the area of digital rights and Internet content. Ms. Dubelman is a graduate of Hampshire College. She is awaiting publication of her first novel. She can be contacted at: liz@vidlit.com
Design and Production : PACA THOMAS
(pronounced PAY-ka) has spent the better part of his adult life finding ways to make ADD profitable. Educated in Theatre and Music, he has alternately and coincidentally made his way as an actor, singer, composer, lyricist, artist, and sound designer. In the guise of the latter, his work at Advantage Audio, including countless projects for Disney, Universal, Sony, and Dreamworks in animation sound has garnered him five Emmy awards and more than a dozen nominations for the MPSE Golden Reel award. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, writer/manager Sheri Anderson Thomas, and a bunch of Scottish Fold cats. Paca is eternally grateful to Liz Dubelman for letting him be a part of her unique and brilliant concept. He can be contacted at: paca@vidlit.com
Related Links
Vidlit Website:
www.vidlit.com
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