Behind the scenes trailer surprise for the Dark Curse Book Trailer

Do you ever watch a movie and try to figure out how they did certain effects? Well, this trailer may surprise you. There are some computer generated visual effects in this video that really highlight the talent of Mr. Michael Miller, multi-award winning special effects expert and Mr. Jacob Henderson our animator of all creatures not of this world! Lol

Watch the trailer first, before you read further and pay close attention to the details.

The two dragons took hours and hours of work. Jacob uses a special software program to create them. In the program you actually start creating your model from the bones. Yes, you actually have to build the bones of the creature you're creating.

The red dragon gave Jacob a hard time because every time it would move its head a hand bone would protrude! What the?!!! The eye-bone's connected to the hand-bone?!! Too strange! But, once the hand-eye coordination was overcome the video was finished and we were dying to show it to Christine.

There is a lot of hard work that went into making this trailer. It was most certainly a labor of love. Mike and I stayed up until 2 AM for four days putting in over 12 hours a day. Mike and Jacob put in way more than that creating virtual landscapes, the dragons, etc. And hearing Christine as she watched the video over the internet made every single second of that all worth it!

If you've watched the Dark Curse trailer keep in mind that none of the backgrounds are real. This is all CGI (computer generated images). But I think what might surprise people is that the evil mage, Xavier, is not a real person. He is also computer generated. We did take about 3 pictures of different people and blend them, then add to that and animated it. The teeth, which are pointed and disturbingly spooky are actually taken from a piranha photo. They are in fact fish teeth.

Usually Christine has tattoos made for the trailers if any character has a tattoo. But, the new dragon tattoo didn't get done on time so that too is computer generated.

The shot with Nicolas getting stabbed is indeed in the book. But in the beginning, that shot was not at the end. Mike and I watched the footage over and over and it finally hit me that the way the actor responded with the knife in his chest sort of matched up to the book cover. That was entirely unintentional. But it seemed like fate that it happened that way so we changed the shots around so that the stabbing scene would be the end and the book cover would come up.

We ended up cutting scenes from this one. We wanted it to be fast paced and exciting and having too many scenes seemed to slow it down so some were cut. In the end, I think it made for a better trailer.

Sometimes things click into place and the "fates" determine that something special is going to happen. Sometimes it's timing. Sometimes it's luck. Sometimes it's talent and hard work. I think this is all of those things. And I couldn't be happier at the way it turned out.

Turbulent Sea is Joley's story from the Drake Sister's series. I always ask Circle of Seven Productions to do something different with the trailers so they're unique. The idea of doing a music video was exciting!

I sent the story to Sheila Clover English who writes the scripts for most of my trailers.  After reading the book she sat down and wrote lyrics for the music video.  I loved it immediately! Michael Miller came up with the melody and then Gregory and NiNi Burkart of CORVO took it and made it into a song, with NiNi singing it.  It was a real collaborative effort on the part of COS.

Sheila worked with Domini Stottsberry to choose some of the scenes that would be in the script and then Sheila had to match the chosen scenes to the lyrics of the song so they would flow correctly with the music.

Sheila approached me about having someone more experienced with music video do the directing. Victoria Fraasa has worked on many top music videos and her husband, Steve Fraasa is an experienced videographer and DP. I met with Victoria in Pittsburgh during RT and we went over her vision of the scenes. I knew right away that this was going to be something special. So many people were involved from the beginning of the process to the very end.

We thought we would try to get the cover model from the Turbulent Sea book cover to play the part of Ilya. But, he wasn't going to be available during the time of the shoot so Sheila and Victoria started working on the casting.  As soon as I saw Eric Holter I knew he would be perfect as Ilya. He had played a Russian before and we watched his professional reel, which is like a video resume, and contacted his agent to book him for the video.

Cecilia is my youngest daughter and has always played the part of Joley in the other book trailers. It was her turn to be the star. Cecilia got the music in advance and worked hard to learn all the words. She practiced lip syncing to the music and even listened to it in her car as she was driving around. My little girl was about to become a rock star! Lol

Michael Miller does all the special effects for COS and he would be on the set to help out and as a consultant for the special effects shots.  Cheryl Miller, Jacob Henderson and Mike Miller all came for the shoot and Mike, Michael's son who is following in his Dad's footsteps, volunteered to play the villainous teenager that Ilya lifts up off the ground around the middle of the video. 

Watching Cecilia perform was amazing! And watching the video I could see how hard she worked on capturing who Joley and how she performs. 

Eric is an experienced actor and you could really tell. He was so patient and helpful with Cecilia and the two of them bonded right away. You can tell how great their chemistry was during the shoot. A lot of people think there's a kissing scene in the video, but there isn't. The romantic scene is so beautifully done and the part where Joley finds Ilya's gun and pushes him away gave me chills!

I am always so excited to watch the process during one of these shoots, but I never really can imagine how it will look when it is all put together. When I saw the video I was overwhelmed! It was more than I had hoped for. The sense of love, adventure and danger all came across exactly right and the performances were breathtaking.  I love so many of the scenes it's hard to say which my favorite is. I've watched it so many times now and I'm still not tired of watching it. I love the music. I love the video. I hope that people will read this book and watch the video again. The book is very dear to me and I want to thank everyone who is so supportive of this series.

I hope you enjoy the video!

It is very seldom that I can recommend a new book as I don't have a lot of time to read these days. My son discovered a new author, Ann Aguirre, and gave me the book to read on the flight home from RT. It was written in the first person, not a favorite of mine, so I almost said no. However, I'm so glad I didn't as I would have missed the adventure of a lifetime.

Grimspace is amazing! By the third page I was on a roller coaster ride along with the heroine, wondering what in the world was going to happen next. I was surprised to find I wanted more! More! More! The story is gripping and very edgy.

I don't know this author, but I honestly couldn't put the book down and didn't want anyone to interrupt me for any reason. I loved everything about the book. The world and the characters, even the secondary characters, were all amazing!  The heroine is amazingly real and the hero is dark and flawed (just the way they should be).

I will admit that the first thing I did Monday morning was look Ann Aguirre up on the internet (http://www.annaguirre.com) to find other books. This turned out to be her first, so I called her publishing house and begged (see what I'm capable of doing to get a good book????) to see her next book. I can't wait to read Wanderlust and if the it's even half as good as the first, she will be at the top of my autobuy list.

If you love an adventure and a page turner, great characters and edge of your seat action, this sci-fi romance is definitely for you. Pick up Grimspace and give it a try!!!

I guess, years ago when I first picked up a pen and started writing stories, I thought my way of escaping into my stories was more for pure entertainment than anything else.  I was young and naïve then, and didn't understand that when I wrote a book, I put myself into each and every story.  My experiences, the things that I lived or saw day to day, my beliefs and fears go in to build every character, hero, heroine, villain and friend. 

I became involved in martial arts.  I loved that world, lived it, breathed it, lived it every single day.  For me, martial arts was a way of life, a way to live with honor and discipline and a sense of rightness.  I embraced the discipline, and the order, the sheer peace in a chaotic world.  I loved the strong men and women who went about their lives with inner peace and a strong sense of duty.  I found a place I seemed to fit.   About the same time, I was also raising children and taking on abused and emotionally disturbed children, unwed teens, and working with battered women and rape victims.

There were the first seeds of the GhostWalkers, a mixture of all these things that were so important in my life.  My martial arts training gave me so much depth for writing action and fight scenes.  I found myself loving to revisit my own training and my friends to get the right blend of technique to make each scene as real as possible.  The incredible courage I saw on a daily basis from children, teens and adults who had to fight their way back from some of the worst situations, but did so with hope, taking one step at a time and climbing back against incredible odds, inspired me on a daily basis.

I think all writers, with or without their knowledge, put themselves into each story.  I always heard write what you know.  I was writing fantasy and paranormal and thrillers, and I didn't understand for a very long time that truly, deep down, where it counted, I was writing not only about what I knew best, but what I cared about most.

To learn more about my Ghostwalker Series click here.

Hi everyone! Here are some video clips from the filming of Predatory Game. To see more visit COS's Vlog at: http://booktrailers.blogspot.com/.

Predatory Game will be in stores February 26th, 2008. Click here to read the first chapter.

Christine

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~DARK HUNGER IN MANGA~

Dark Hunger is in stores today for the 1st time in manga format!!  This a REISSUE of a short story of the same name that I did for the Hot Blooded anthology.

ORDER DARK HUNGER ONLINE:
Amazon.com
BarnesAndNoble.com
BooksAMillion.com

~ABOUT DARK HUNGER~

This is the first EVER Manga by Berkley. Berkley has done a wonderful Manga style book of Dark Hunger. The artists were amazing depicting the characters and the story and stayed very true to the work. I think you'll love to see the characters brought to vivid life and enjoy reading the story through pictures. This is a fun, exciting rendition of my short story and hopefully you will enjoy seeing it come to life as much as I did!

~ABOUT HOT BLOODED~

This is an anthology with Maggie Shayne, Emma Holly and Angela Knight, three very wonderful writers who can really deliver 'hot-blooded' stories. My contribution is titled Dark Hunger and is the story of Juliette and Riordan, an ancient Carpathian hunter sent to South America to hunt the vampire. Juliette is a descendent of a dying race. Together they race to save her sister, taken by a fanatical group for their own reasons. This story is very steamy and filled with action.

ORDER HOT BLOODED ONLINE:

Amazon.com
BarnesAndNoble.com
Walmart.com

Dark Hunger is the first in a five-book series within the Dark Books about the South American brothers. The second is Dark Secret.

Click here to read Chapter 1

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I often get asked for book recommendations, so I decided to do a little blog to tell you about a book that comes out tomorrow (October 2nd) called Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson.

Lord of the Fading Lands is a captivating story that stays with you long after you put it down.  It's one of the best books I have read in years!  This is the first book in her Tairen Soul Series and I highly recommend it. It's an epic fantasy romance that is sure to keep you up all night. Enjoy!

Please visit C.L. Wilson's website at http://www.clwilson.com  to see what all the fuss is about.  You won't be sorry!

~DARK CELEBRATION NOW IN PAPERBACK~

Dark Celebration is in stores today for the 1st time in paperback format!! 

ORDER ONLINE:
Amazon.com
BarnesAndNoble.com
Walmart.com

Not expecting a mass readership, as it only covers a single night in the lives of the Carpathians, Dark Celebration was originally published in a special hardcover edition. Thanks to so many readers writing in, it will now be released in paperback!!

New to this edition:  Three deleted scenes. PLUS all new dark desserts!!

~ABOUT DARK CELEBRATION~

Click here to read Chapter 1

~DARK POSSESSION IN STORES~

Dark Possession is in stores today!! This is the next installment in my Dark Series and it is MaryAnn and Manolito's story.

ORDER ONLINE:
Amazon.com
B&N.com

~ABOUT DARK POSSESSION~

Click here to read Chapter 1