BryonySeries Christmas Gift

I started the day without internet and had plans for the day, so, except for editing one story and writing a second, it's been an offline day for me today.

With everyone working extra hours as the holidays (i.e. Rebekah and me), and trying to prepare two books for release, we have not had time for an afternoon cooking session to update the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website.

However, Timothy has been giving the website an overhaul so it reflects ALL the titles in the BryonySeries (no small feat) and to play with the information he's learned in his marketing class.

If you're curious, the site is www.bryonyseries.com.

Now here is my gift to you, readers. For four days this week and four days next week, I'm posting a Christmas excerpt from each of the three books of the BryonySeries trilogy and each of the five books of the yet unreleased Before the Blood, the prequel to the trilogy.

For those of you who have read the trilogy, the selections will, hopefully, be a nice jaunt down Munsonville memory lane.

For those who have not, here is a free introduction to the series.

For those readers who belong to WriteOn Joliet, one of the Before the Blood selections may sound vaguely familiar (because I read it to the group over a year ago).

For everyone except my editor, the remaining selections are completely new. I hope you like them.

I wrote them for you.

Photo by Sarah Stegall

Bryony - Official Book Trailer

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: 10 Questions with Videographer Stephen Tuplin

Originally posted in two parts in January 2011.

Stephen Tuplin is working on his last semester at Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, a digital media arts school located in Chicago, Illinois.

He has agreed to film the Bryony trailer; a music video for James Onohan (http://www.jamesonohan.com/), the composer/pianist for Bryony; and a series of interviews with the Bryony team. 

Last summer, I had asked Stephen if he'd like to jump on board because his passion for movies was just the vision I needed for the Bryony trailer.

Stephen also regularly posts in-depth movie reviews on his Facebook page. Below is the first of a two-part interview with Stephen.

Connect with Stephen at echowhitefox@yahoo.comecho whitefox@mac.com http://flavors.me/echowhitefoxhttp://www.facebook.com/echowhitefoxhttp://twitter.com/#!/echowhitefox.

 1) Have you always been a movie buff? Why?

"Movies have always been in my life. Some of my best childhood memories involved watching movies with my family with a roaring  fire in the fireplace. Every time I would watch a movie, I would always get something from it. I don’t do my homework with the TV on cause I need to watch what’s on. The way I see it, movies are about entering the world of another person’s personal vision. Whether it’s a good experience or a bad one, I still respect all film; someone had the guts to pull it off.

2) When did you first try your hand at filmmaking? What did you film?

"In the summer of 2003, my friend Luke and I started production on a film called, “the Squirrel”. It took us about four months to do. The production had no script; just a handicam and some terrible actors: Us. Needless to say, this film doesn’t get shown often. Good times though.

3) What made you pursue a filmmaking degree?

"I knew I wanted to go into filmmaking in high school. People regarded me as the “movie guy” so I knew it was just in my blood. To be honest, I consider this question done; I was always going to make movies no matter what.

4) Why did you choose Flashpoint Academy?

"In my senior year of high school, my dad told me about a new school in Chicago that was all about media arts and filmmaking. He sent me the link to the website and I signed up for my newsletter. The next day, after coming home from JJC doing my annoying Gen. Eds, Flashpoint personally called me. Their policy is to contact everyone who joins their site; this was encouraging for me. After going on their tour, there really wasn’t any other school that could satisfy me. Tribeca Flashpoint Academy is an all hands on school that doesn’t waste my time. Students from Columbia room with students from Tribeca, and they are always surprised at all the things we get to do. Word of mouth can contain exaggerations; Tribeca doesn’t need to."

5) Which do you enjoy more, filming or editing? Why?

"The highlight of my year last year was directing. I get no greater pleasure than working with actors and collaborating with fellow filmmakers. Editing is just one of the many facets that Tribeca was able to teach me. Editing is something I enjoy thoroughly, but it’s not something I would call myself a pro at. The film is crafted, and sometimes saved in the editing room, but the actual shoot is where my adrenaline is."

6) Where do you hope to use your skills after you graduate?

"I hope to either work for a production company, or do PA work on shoots happening around Chicago. I’m really open to whatever opens up. God’s brought me this far; I don’t worry about tomorrow."

7) It's ten years from today. What are you doing?

"I hope to be directing at an independent film company, perhaps my own."

8) Is creating a compelling book trailer more difficult than creating a movie trailer? Can you elaborate?

"Well, a trailer consists of footage from a movie that has already been shot. Since this is a book, it’s more about making it into a movie and then making a trailer. Since I don’t have the means to do this, it’ll be more about thinking up specific shots and sequences to film. So, this is going to be more difficult than a movie trailer; but it’ll still be a blast."

9) After agreeing to create the Bryony trailer, you offered to film interviews with members of the Bryony team? Why are these extras important to have?

"I proposed this because it sounds like your website for the book is in need of content. Since you’ll have a video for the book, it only seems more convenient to have face-to-face interviews with those responsible for the book. Knowing the faces of the people behind a novel causes a connection for the reader. I find I respect a film more after watching behind the scenes footage of the filming; a book is no different."

10) What feeling will people have after viewing the Bryony trailer?

"My goal is to tease the audience with ambiguity and wonder; but also some surrealism. If the footage is the book's cover, it’s my goal to make them want to open it."

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Making the Bryony Video, Step Three: Finding Melissa Marchellis

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Making the Bryony Video, Step Three: Finding Melissa Marchellis

Up until this month, Bryony filmmaker Stephen Tuplin had an actress interested in playing Melissa. After we set a production date, the actress had a conflict of interest, so Stephen asked my seventeen year old daughter Rebekah to portray Bryony's main character. He liked her "look," for the role, he said.

I thought Rebekah would refuse. She is very shy, preferring to hang out with one friend at a time rather than a room full of people. To my surprise, she agreed to do it, so I copied the script, and she began practicing "swaying and swooning."

Five hundred miles away, her older sister, Sarah Stegall, Bryony web administrator, was seeking someone to "makeover" Rebekah. Sarah found two people. Vanna Fleetwood to cut and style Rebekah's hair, and Jennifer Wesolowski to do her makeup.

On the Sunday afternoon before the April 20 shoot, Jennifer, Rebekah, her friend, and I huddled in a department store bathroom experimenting. Jennifer strove for a natural look, since "Melissa" would be on her way to bed, but wanted to highlight Rebekah's large, blue eyes.

Meeting in a department store had its advantages. Not only was it a location for us, we had a ready supply of product just waiting to be purchased and tried out on Rebekah's face. Fortunately, Rebekah had brought her own makeup with her, so few additional items were acquired.

Conversation was mostly, "Watch how I put this one and now you try it," and, "No, we're not line for the bathroom." Rebekah's friend took "before" and "after" pictures with her camera phone to send to Sarah for posting on the Bryony blog and Facebook pages. (We've haven't gotten that far yet, oops!).

Although she exhorted Rebekah to practice at home, Jennifer had so much fun, she offered to come out to the Magosky mansion the night of filming and do Rebekah's makeup. Good thing, too, because Rebekah came down with a nasty cold later that day and didn't feel up to playing with cosmetics.

While we were playing with eyeliner and mascara, Rebekah's older brother, Timothy, was looking for 70s-style pajamas. He had taken Rebekah shopping the other day, found a couple of possibilities, and sent, after having received permission from an employee, photographs from the floor to me for critiquing. ("Excuse me, ma'am, may I please take pictures of women's nightwear?").

Again, we found two pairs that might work, so we sent the images to Stephen and dug through a bin of DVDs waiting for his reply. He suggested buying both. That way, if one didn't work well under the lights, we had options. We paid eighteen dollars total and left the store, feeling like we had an MGM budget.

Now all we needed were a couple of Victorian men's suits and a blond wig. How difficult could that be?