Ripples, Or Making a Book Trailer

Here Be Monsters: Settler 26 on Vimeo.

Today we're releasing our all-new (and very first) book trailer.  As with pretty much all things Here Be Monsters, it was created by using (read: exploiting) our talented friends.  In this case, it's the work of Parissa Mohit, a friend and incredible filmmaker and animator.  We are honoured to have her contribute to our project.

Which brings me to something that struck me recently while thinking about Here Be Monsters (which, obviously, I do a lot of, oh narcissistic me).  I realized how creative projects tend to generate more creativity.  A sort of ripple effect of creation, if you will, that spreads and builds and swells and motivates other artists of all kind to go places they might not have ventured had not this first project happened.

What made me think of that was actually making this book trailer.  I started by writing a very basic script of a few sentences, with a few indications of some beats and a few things my completely non-visual brain thought would be cool.  Then I showed it to Parissa (first ripple), and told her to use it or not, as she probably knew much better than I did what would work and what would be an unadulterated catastrophe.  She looked at it, and immediately suggested we use as a background the amazing cover illustration Annabelle made for us, and base the animation on that (second ripple).

Then I suggested I could make the music with my band, Les Ordures Ménagères, (third ripple, albeit self-directed).  As Parissa went away to work on the film, I went to my friend and band drummer Olivier Dufault.  I told him about the project, and we settled in our practice space to come up with something together.  We made a first song, mostly from a keyboard line I produced.  It was alright, but kind of boring.  So I told Olivier: "You know that weird thing you do involving contact mikes on your drum kit, effect pedals, amps, pre-amps and a mixer, and that I really don't understand but sounds really cool?  Well we should use that".  So he played something really cool (fourth ripple), I added some keyboard to it, and we tried to record it.

The recording didn't sound very good, but the piece was exactly what I wanted.  So we asked third Ordure Ménagères band member Jérome Simard, who knows his way around all kinds of arcane recording devices, to rip himself away from his newborn baby, and come give us a hand.  Which he did (fifth ripple), recording something of incredible quality in a space that was not soundproofed (we could hear some Tom Waits and some Ozzy Osbourne being partially massacred next door), using only two mikes and a very basic console, on a laptop that is so old that creationists would probably believe it has never existed.

So, what I'm saying is, we're really lucky to be surrounded by such talented people, and that they're willing to work with us with such enthusiasm.  But I also believe that enthusiasm begets enthusiasm, and that once you start a creative project, it attracts creativity from all around.

So check out our trailer, and enjoy.