Cair Paravel Studios

Drawing ever closer to releasing the audio drama of "The Visitor". This will be the most technically complex project done for The Dancing Lawn.

Waiting on the few last lines of dialog from my Maureen, and recording a few last bits of foley art (sound effects) that make "He crossed the room" sound like he crossed the room. Everything from Joey's high-five to opening the lid of the box under Maureen's bed will sound plausible. I also located music I can use that perfectly underscores the moods.
 
This is looking great! Yeah, music can be the issue with a lot of things. For this video, I put together music I created as well as music my friend Patrick put together for me:
 
Work on The Visitor is now finished and it is ready to roll out! This project is several things. First, it is the single most expensive project ever done as an original production. Second, it is proof of concept that raises the bar on what you can expect at The Dancing Lawn. Third, if you smile and cry a fourth as much as I did while I was working on it, you'll find it very worth your while.

 
Awesome! I saw it was scheduled for tomorrow. This will be cool!
 
You can now go to see The Visitor either embedded on the forum by clicking the PLAY button on the thumbnail or watch it on youtube. Either way, please leave a like and/or comments. Total cost of new equipment and software totalled over $600.00 to prepare this work. Yeah, most of that was one-time expense, but hey....
 
SEVERAL NEW PRODUCTIONS are right around the corner, all of these short stories that don't require an hour and a half of your time. Stay tuned here.
 
The next story will be a lot quicker to read than it was to write! After the first few chapters were posted, something came up in my life, and the story was abandoned for THIRTEEN YEARS. Yes, for many of you that's more than half your life. Well, guess what, "The Mirror Crack'd" is being finished and will be both here for you to read and after a decent interval an audio drama of some sort.

Lots of people like alternate history. Everything from "What if the Confederacy won the Civil War" to "The Man in the High Castle". This all happened because there was one snake in the wrong place at the wrong time that spooked High King Peter's horse when he was chasing the White Stag. Ergo, no return from Narnia. That seemingly little change to history was like the tiny snowball rolled down the hill that kept gathering layers of white death until it became an unstoppable juggernaut.

Yeah, this is going to be a thing.
 
Coming soon as part of a revived and renewed NarniaFansCast, "Harrod's Bend, or Otterly Narnia". A gentle, reverent sitcom that follows the misadventures of otter Ripley Pond as he leaves Cair Paravel to take up residence in the backwater village of Harrod's Bend. You'll laugh--guaranteed--but you'll also smile and perhaps sigh. How many things give you that satisfaction these days?
 
Ah the pleasant pains of doing audio drama! You have a lot of toys to play with in Audio Drama, but you're adapting a story that's heavy on narration and light on dialog. What do you do?

First off, narration is lecture, dialog is hands-on activity. Did you ever go to a programming class, a sport class, or an outdoor skill instruction that started with a long powerpoint program, informing you that Tennis is actually a modern form of Jeu De Palme which was played by King Henry VIII when he wasn't marrying or beheading? Remember how exciting it was?

Converting description into action that is true to the spirit of the original is harder than it sounds.

THE LINE: So called because a line is the shortest distance between two points. Going from "He greeted her at the door" to "<knock knock> Hi" is like this. Better, but just barely.

THE PEPPER: So called because it adds flavor. Going from "He greeted her at the door" to "Open up, baby, it's your red hot romeo!" followed by, "Oh, it's just my husband." Well, ahem, moving on....

THE LENS: So called because it sharpens the image. Adding to the plot, which is great when done well or terrible if it is imposing your vision over the author's original intent. "Open up! Quick! I think they've spotted me!" Intriguing, n'cest pas?

In doing my own creations, I have the advantage of knowing exactly what I meant by the narration and simply cooking more details in as necessary. I tend to do it in three passes. First I assign the dialog that is targeted in the original by changing:

"Well!" Jim said, "It's about time!"

to

[JIM, FLUSTERED]

"Well, it's about time!"

So yes, my first pass is akin to THE LINE.

Then I am faced with creating dialog to meet descriptive passages. That means going to all the [NARRATOR] spots and turning them into dialog.

[NARRATOR]

A heated arguement ensued.

becomes

[JOHN]

"You ALWAYS do that, and you know it drives me up the wall!"

[MARY]

"I wouldn't HAVE TO do that if you'd keep up your end of the bargain!"

The first attempt to go through the story relies a lot on the lens method. And to begin to take out the clunk, read it aloud....with feeling. You will uncover awkward word choices, and you'll encounter mistakes of translation such as:

[JIM]

"I am just about fed up, Jim said; so stop it right now!"

Now if this were "Talk like a Pirate" day, I might interject "says I" into a sentence, but I would never say "John said".

On the final pass I try to make sure I let the hot air out of sentences. Sometimes in the heat of battle I'll write language into dialog that most people experiencing strong emotions will eschew (i.e. the word "eschew" versus "skip").

[JIM]

That is entirely within the realm of possibility, however you should preface your exhuberant show of confidence with a moment of forethought.

vs.

[JIM]

Cool your jets, boy. It might not happen.
 
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