I love technology. I love my laptop, and my cell phone and all those fancy things that keep me connected and entertained. But I am not tech savvy. I can generally figure out how to use new gadgets in a very basic way on my own, and if someone who knows what they’re doing can show me I can generally learn fairly well and retain that knowledge. But if I’m trying to figure out more complicated functions on my own, I tend to get frustrated very quickly.  Kind of a funny thing to say when Dean and I have chosen to involve just about every kind of new media in our quest to make our short film, which requires me to learn how to use lots of new technological things.

This weekend we had our first chat event over at The Creative Alliance. Aside from the topic briefly veering into Canadian milk packaging (apparently they buy it in bags, but that’s neither here nor there at the moment), we discussed how we can drive more traffic to our respective websites.  Everyone had good suggestions and ideas, and it was a great time. And afterward, while reviewing the transcript for information people had passed on, I realized anew that I am still just a babe in the woods.

People were talking about doing things with their blogs and sites that I think I might need a translator to understand! I’ve bought a few books, but as much as I like to read for pleasure, when it comes to learning how to do hands-on things I learn quicker from hands-on teaching. If there’s not someone who can show me how to do it, then I just have to figure it out myself through trial and error. Books can only help me a little. The up side to this is that I feel great accomplishment when I manage to get it right. The down side is the amount of time it takes to get it right.

I say all this for a few reasons. For one, I’m hoping that by interacting with the great people over at The Creative Alliance, I’ll be able to absorb some of their know-how… which is one of the great things about a community.  For another, you may notice some changes here on the blog while I try and figure things out. I think our awesome and talented webmisstress has done a great job with the look and layout of the site, but I don’t expect her to do everything.  So I hope you’ll bear with us if things get a little wonky from time to time.

I want to make this site great. I want people to want to come here and spend time here. And I want people to get involved in our project. My reasons aren’t purely selfish… yes, I want to raise the money to make this short film very, very much. Reaching that goal is very high on my priority list right now. But part of the reason I want to do that so badly is because I can’t wait to enter the next phase, the community participation phase. I love that sense of working with creative people, and being excited by a common project, and I hope that’s what we can bring to Blood & Dust. And for that, going through all this difficult figuring out of curious technological things seems worth it. Just, please don’t mind the swearing!

Sin-scarily,

Morgan Elektra

So, while Dean and I love each other very much we don’t always agree on everything. I would wager most couples who are together for longer than six months would say the same. Recently, we were discussing the project and our vision for Blood & Dust and discovered one of those things we don’t agree on… What makes something a horror movie?

We have both been horror fans for a long time and we both love the genre. But our ideas about what is or isn’t a horror movie can differ greatly. So, in preparation for this podcast I sent out a call… on Twitter, Facebook, DreadCentral.com, and DeadRobotsSociety.com… and asked others what they consider horror. We got some really interesting responses.

Terry Mixon of the Dead Robots said horror “twists the normal and expected and makes it terrible and fearful.” Tee Morris says horror is “the unknown…on an adrenaline rush”. JD Sawyer differentiated between horror and terror, stating “Horror deals with things that should not be. Terror deals with immanent threats to life and limb.”

I particularly liked what Metamor City’s  Chris Lester had to say. “Horror explores the battle against evil, death & the unknown & usually has implicit assumptions about how we should face them. The evil is often supernatural but not always, & may come from outside or from within. Catharsis is usually the story’s goal.”

And that’s just the beginning of what people had to say. Clearly, horror is subjective. Anything can be horror, if it scares you. The Dead Robots’ Society recently asked me on the show to discuss this particular subject  as it pertains to writing– make sure you check out that episode either in our feed or at www.deadrobotssociety.com. We recorded this episode before that appearance actually, but do to some technical difficulties it took a little while to get this ready to go.

Anyway, it became clear that my view on horror is very broad and inclusive… if something is good and dark then I tend to claim them for us. And by us, I mean horror. So far this week I’ve claimed PG Holyfield, Tee Morris  (check out his latest offering on Erotica Ala Carte  if you don’t believe me), Dan Sawyer and Phillippa Ballantine.

Dean was a little more narrow in his definition. So we had a good old time debating what was horror and what wasn’t. Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, Aliens… how did we classify them? Listen and see! And be sure to chime in with your thoughts on what we did or didn’t get right.

I hope our discussion enlightened you a little, and gives you a little insight into what we have planned for Blood & Dust.  

Sin-scarily,

Morgan Elektra

Promo: Cybrosis

Songs: Dark Matters – David Emeny

     It was supposed to be a simple thing. Morgan was going to do a straight read of the short story that she’d written, and I was going to edit out the coughs and the lip-smacks and the occasional flubbed line followed by delicate strings of profanities, and sit back and take it easy on this one. But then, she made a suggestion: “Why don’t we add in some bar noise in the background?” An easily-filled request, sure, and it was a good idea. This was a good twenty-minute story, after all, and just that simple little element would help ground the listener with a sense of time and space. Plus, I know exactly how easy it is to get lulled into a stupor by the rhythm of words, regardless of their quality, and before you know it, you’ve just listened to the past five minutes of a podcast without actually absorbing a single word that’s been said. That extra “sweetener” would help to get your brain’s attention right back in its seat where it should be. So I went to www.freesound.org and typed in “bar ambience”, and within seconds, I had several loops to choose from. Simple.

   Only, nothing’s ever simple with me.

   See, once I added in the bar noise, I realized how easy it was to identify the loop I’d selected as a loop. And there was this mention in the story of a tv playing in the background- only, it was hard to find anything long enough to be looped in that wasn’t also copyrighted. So we decided to change the noise of the tv to the noise of music from the sound system. And once that was done, I realized- it sounds like a bar, but it sounds like an empty bar. So I thought, why not add the sound of a chair scooting back right about here? And Morgan said, “Well, if we’re gonna do that, why don’t we put in the sound of the door opening over here?” And by the next time I let her listen to it, I’d downloaded about twenty-five sound effects for use in this one story. And those I couldn’t find, I’d Foleyed. I had the attack scene (spoiler!) layered in no less than seven separate simultaneous tracks. In short, I went wa-a-ay overboard.

   It’s very easy to think, “If I don’t go overboard, I’m going to go down with the ship.” In other words, if you don’t make it shine, nobody’s going to notice it. But the simple fact is, not every podcast out there is The Leviathan Chronicles. The majority of people out there are relying on the strength of their narrative to draw you in, and this time around, I had failed to do just that- to let my wife’s story come to life and breathe. So, after a week-and-a-half of editing the piece into the aural equivalent of a Michael Bay movie, it took me another week to simplify it back to a place where it was good solid sonic entertainment without sounding like I opened up the file in Audacity and dumped in everything in the drawer – which is why it took us so long to get this one out to you (Next time, I’m just going to tell you the dog ate my homework). I like what came out at the other end, and I hope you do, too- but rather than live on hope alone, I invite you to drop us a note and let us know how we’re doing. ‘Cause after all, if we’re not giving you what you want, it’s all just so much sound and fury.

   Thanks y’all,

Dean Sasser

ATTRIBUTION INFO FOR THIS EPISODE:

Certain sound effects used in the creation of this episode were provided by soundsnap.com and through the Freesound Project . All other sound effects were created using purchased sound effect libraries, or were created in-house.

Music for this episode was provided courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network at musicalley.com . The artists and songs used in the creation of this episode are:

David Emeny: DARK MATTERS

Candye Kane: I’m A Bad, Bad Girl

Carey Bell: Let Me Stir In Your Pot

Kelly’s Lot: Woman’s Love

Bree Demoss: Something New

Delilah Why: How Was I