Behind the Curtain: The Catch Short Story Film

Today is a very special day, the unveiling of the short story film. This film was created by myself, using Melanie Conklin’s visceral and chilling short story, The Catch. You can read her original story here: The Catch by Melanie Conklin.

This dark and troubling gem was actually the grand prize winner of the Behind the Curtain Flash Fiction contest.

The Grand Prize Package for Melanie included many unique goodies, such as an exclusive interview with me (stay tuned!) touting her latest project, a writing notebook from Ruth Long, the chance to collaborate with me on my next crazy flash fiction contest (coming Spring 2013).

One of the coolest prizes I offered was a dramatic audio recording of Melanie’s winning story. This is something I’ve never offered before and, frankly, something I’ve not seen a great deal. There are audiobooks, of course, but not much in the way of short story recordings and frequently the dramatizations are a little suppressed. So it was an exciting idea for me.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about my recording process, so I thought I’d share a little, especially since Melanie’s story recording evolved in such a cool way.
The first thing I did was paste her story into a Word document and start breaking up the beats. Every story has a pulse, a natural rhythm, that you must suss out if you are to read it out loud successfully. Some sections must be fast, others dragged out deliciously. I highlight words in different colors to emphasize at different levels. I make notes such as [Pause], [Speed Up] or my personal favorite, [Brogue].

The more I read it out loud (and gave myself extreme chills), the more I realized that I wanted to do far more than just read it. This story needed music!

Simple enough, except I needed music that was royalty-free, the perfect length and mood. No problem. I started sifting through the THOUSANDS of circus-related free music. Most of it sounded like a broken carousel on methamphetamines.

After, no joke, two hours of reviewing music, I found the perfect piece, “Carousel” by Circus Contraption. It was dark, tinkly, and reminded me of a music box slowly winding down. But the section I loved was also two minutes, 30 seconds too short.

So I downloaded some free music editing software and sliced and diced my way clumsily through to the cut I needed. I’m not going to talk about how long it took me to do that or how steep my learning curve was. On the plus side, it ended up fairly excellent and I worked the one editing blip into the story, as you’ll see.

So I had my audio recording and my music. I also had a great vintage photograph from the Behind the Curtain Pinterest board that Melanie used as the inspiration for her story.

I kept staring at that image, which was so evocative; Melanie used it so well in her story that just looking at it was giving me killer goosebumps.

I’m a very visual person, as well as aural, so I finally gave in to the natural temptation. “Clearly,” said I, “I need a movie to go with this audio.”

So I started combing the internet for images that would work hand-in-hand with this photo. It was not easy, but what massively ambitious artistic project is?

Once I had found and edited all the images to my satisfaction, it was MERELY a matter of sequencing them in a dramatic fashion for the story. My hope is that these photographs unfold in a manner that does Melanie’s story justice.

Did I manage?

Behind the Curtain: Reveal

AND SO IT IS TIME…

WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR…

Shoot, sorry, Capslock.

This has been an extremely challenging contest to judge. I was able to winnow down our 62 entries to eight finalists with some difficulty, but picking the final four winners was arbitrary to an insane extent. I’ve lost the last little bit of my sanity (if it offends, plucketh it out), but I did finally decide.

As a reminder, this will be my last contest till Spring 2013 and oh, was it a doozy.

So with no further ado, here are the WINNARS of the Behind the Curtain Flash Fiction Writing Contest (and no, that’s not a typo).

Be sure to go and read all the winners. And, for that matter, all the entries. Give out some of that author comment love.

In no particular order:

The Winner of the Dark Arts Package

Sophie Moss (@smosswrites) for Scarlett’s Rose Petal Revenge

Sophie offers us a perfectly plotted revenge tale, engrossing and chilling. She was also the winner of Twitter’s #FanFav contest!

Sophie wins an original canvas by artist/writer Angie Richmond, personalized with a quote from her winning story.


The Winner of the Dark Veil Package

J. Whitworth Hazzard (@zombiemechanics) for his creepy, stalker story, Scopophiliac

Thanks, J., for making me check behind the curtains every time I come home at night.

J. wins a copy of the Veil and Subdue album, plus a handmade one-of-a-kind libretto book by composer Paul Ramey (which I seriously almost kept) with behind the scenes goodies, autographed by myself and Paul.

The Winner of the Dark Romance Package

Jessica Marcarelli (@jmarcarelli) for her entry, Behind the Curtain

So glad Jessica revived my long-dormant childhood fear of clowns. I didn’t need that sleep anyway.
Jessica wins a digital copy of Sophie Moss’ newest release, The Selkie Enchantress.
If you didn’t win a copy of Sophie’s wonderful book, you can get it here.


THE DARK FAIRY
GRAND PRIZE PACKAGE
The wondrous prizes include:
* A copy of Veil & Subdue.
* A magnificent writing notebook by Ruth Long aka @bullishink.
* The winning author will be featured on Yearning for Wonderland in an in-depth interview. This interview will highlight your book, blog, or any other artistic project of your choosing. Anna will then promote this interview heavily on Twitter/Facebook and G+.
*The winning author’s story will be recorded by Anna in a creative/theatrical recording of your Behind the Curtain entry.
* The winning author will be Anna’s partner in her next flash fiction contest (in Spring 2013).
*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

AND THE GRAND CHAMPION OF THE DARK FAIRY PRIZE PACKAGE

 

Melanie Conklin

WOOOOOOOOOO! Go forth to her website and pour out congratulations and love, as it was a mightily hard-fought battle but her story prevailed.
Melanie’s entry, The Catch, is a pithy bite of dark flash fiction with a crunch at the end. I was filled with dread the entire time I read it and she built the suspense to the unbearable climax. Well done, Melanie! I look forward to collaborating with you on my next flash fiction contest in 2013!
When the audio recording of The Catch is posted, I will let everyone know!

Congratulations to all of our entrants and thank you so much for giving me a peek of what resides behind the curtain.