John B. Rosenman

Some folks don’t like Shakespeare.

Some folks hate Beethoven.

Some folks despise Rembrandt.

I’ve always felt that there was an absolute standard for art.  Do it right, take care, use your craft and knowledge and experience, and everyone should agree that what you did was mighty fine.   But a recent incident with a friend reminded me of what I already knew: that such a view is naive.  No matter how brilliant and flawless a work of art is, somebody somewhere won’t like it because tastes and perceptions and backgrounds differ.  Indeed, there will always be people—bright, intelligent, well-read, cultured people—who don’t like Shakespeare or think he’s greatly overrated.

The moral?  It’s simple: whether you’re a writer, painter, musician, composer or whatever, you should be prepared for bad reviews and negative critiques no matter how hard you strive to make it perfect. 

I recall one of my stories, “Only a Stone,” which two editors disagreed on.  One editor gave cogent reasons why the ending was too subtle.  Another editor gave cogent reasons why it was too obvious.  What do you do with that?  Well, what you do is weigh both their opinions and judge for yourself what to do.  My point is, that intelligent folks will often disagree and you alone must decide who is right.  Just remember that writing a flawless masterpiece does not always mean others will see it your way or give you rave reviews.  Or even one rave review, for that matter.

Be prepared to be slammed.

Recently I saw a 2007 science-fiction movie, MAN FROM EARTH, which is based on a Jerome Bixby short story.  I dug the guts out of the movie.  I loved it.  The Providential Journal said that the movie “Quietly Restores Dignity to Science Fiction Of The Mind.”  The movie won the Grand Prize for Best Screenplay and First Place for Best Feature at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.  It was also an Official Selection of the San Diego Comic-Con International Film Festival.  Okay, these aren’t Academy Awards, but the movie has received some critical acclaim. 

Having seen the movie three times, I decided that it was one of my four favorite movies of all time.  (The other three are the 1939 The Wizard of Oz, the 1953 The War of the Worlds, and the 1950 Cyrano de Bergerac.)   I realized that for those who like action and scenery, Man from Earth is static and probably won’t fly.  It involves “talking heads” – that is, people basically just talking to each other, and it takes place almost exclusively in the main character’s house.  There’s no eye candy; nothing blows up; there’s no X-rated bump and tickle.  But I loved it.  For perhaps the first time I could remember, there was a prolonged and intelligent exchange of ideas and concepts, which is what the best science fiction is often primarily about.  According to the DVD, Professor John Oldman informs his incredulous colleagues that he “has migrated through 140 centuries of evolution [which means he is 14,000 years old] and must move on.”  Is he Real or Memorex?  Sane or nuts?  The movie builds and rebuilds on its premise, discusses historical patterns and events intelligently, presents interesting, well-drawn characters, and builds “to a final” and shocking “revelation” and a satisfying conclusion.  Plus, it is so rich and dense, that you can watch it multiple times and continue to find something new.  What more could you want?

And all this in just 87 minutes.

I lent this movie to my good friend and fellow writer, Richard Rowand.  We don’t always agree on things creative, but often we do.  I thought he might be put off by the static, talking heads, dialogue-heavy quality of the movie, but to my mild surprise, he offered a more critical, all-encompassing critique, which he had posted online at www.recipedujour.com.  I offer it in toto, with his permission, for your consideration.

 Rich’s Note:   “Try it. You’ll Like It.”

Ever see or hear or experience something you liked so much that you urged everyone you know to see or hear or experience the same thing because you were just positive they would love it as much as you did? You raved, maybe?  Went on and on until you became a bit of a bore on the subject? Urged and cajoled until you finally wore them down and they just weren’t as impressed as you had been? It’s happened to me a million times. Sometimes we build something up so much it can’t possibly live up to the expectations we’ve planted. Sometimes others just have different tastes. Sometimes their minds just weren’t as ripe as yours was. No one quite likes the film The Legend Of 1900 as much as I do. It’s okay. I’ve come to accept that. Susan [Rich’s wife] doesn’t share my fascination with Cool Hand Luke or The Godfather. I’ve come to accept that too.

Tim kept a film recorded on his DVR for over a year, waiting for Walt and me to visit so he could share the movie with us. Walt and I didn’t like it at all.

Recently, my friend John leant me a DVD of the film Jerome Bixby’s Man From Earth. He explained that it was a thinking person’s film with very little action: just a bunch of characters sitting around having a discussion. Most people, he claimed, wouldn’t like the movie, would be bored. 

Now I have to tell you that Jerome Bixby wrote the most frightening story I have ever read, which was “It’s A Good Life.” There have been a couple of attempts to translate that story to television and they have not worked for me. It wasn’t the commercial interruptions so much as the fact that sometimes the printed word, and the way the words are used, can convey so much more than a director and actors can portray.

Such, I’m sad to say, is what I thought as I watched Jerome Bixby’s Man From Earth. I have to tell my friend John that the direction and acting ruined what might have been a pretty good story. . . had I read the story first. Though made in 2007, it seemed like they were presenting something as it would have been shown on television in the late 50′s or early 60′s. Even some of the characters were more caricature than fleshed out, almost as if they were lifted from a street corner in a frame from an old comic book, their clothes more props than costumes, their make-up more masks than reflections of their inner thoughts. For me, the director (with, I’m sure, others) just didn’t have the vision needed to captivate me.

I wanted to like this film. I wanted to share John’s enthusiasm, but I just couldn’t.

There you have it: two (supposedly intelligent) people sharply disagreeing.  It happens all the time.  In the end, whether as creators or consumers of art and literature, we have to be prepared for the reality that we are human beings who have different tastes and perceptions.  Also, we come to our experiences with different backgrounds, experiences, and histories.  Wouldn’t it be a boring world if we all agreed and felt the same way about things?  Yes, it would, and I tell my students that frequently.  Different strokes for different folks.  Vive la difference!  No matter how good you are, or think you are, somebody’s gonna disagree or cut you down.  Accept it.

So how do I feel after reading Rich’s intelligent review?  Well, I’m a little more disposed to accept the possibility that Man from Earth is flawed and imperfect and isn’t The Movie of the Century.

But I still like it . . . a lot!

John B. Rosenman

***Please view the book trailer on my web site at www.johnrosenman.com. Just scroll down beneath the top blog or visit “Trailers And Movie Clips” on the menu to the left.***

Recently I decided to turn my novel, Dax Rigby, War Correspondent into a trailer. After all, many authors I knew online were doing it, and supposedly trailers helped with promotion. So I thought I’d try it, too. Though I’m only a beginner on the subject, I hope the following account is helpful to authors who might consider converting their books—especially novels—into short, dramatic movies of two minutes or less.

A fellow writer gave me the name of a good, moderate-budget designer of book trailers. I contacted her, and filled out two forms. The first was an e-contract and I chose the deluxe, $300 package (some trailers cost much more) which included stills and video segments, music and a voiceover. The contract also specified that I could have up to three revisions with my input. (Eventually I would use more.)

The other form requested a blurb, synopsis, pic of my book cover, all of which I sent, and it asked questions about the “turning points” and “black point” in the novel, the resolution, major conflict, setting, exciting scenes, pictures and types of music to be used. It also stipulated that a script would be provided with suggested pictures.

I e-signed the thing, sent it back, and used PayPal to send her half the payment.

As promised she sent me a script with accompanying pictures. I was surprised by how short and “bare bones” the script was, only about eighty words. Also, it omitted a lot of the plot. But as Kim McDougall, another designer of trailers points out, she hasn’t liked “trailers that tried to tell a story. That, after all, is the purpose of the book. Instead,” she prefers “trailers that offer up a mood, a feeling for the style of the book and only basic plot teasers.” Geoff Nelder, an author, describes it similarly. To him a trailer “is an extension of the imaginative artistic creation. The trailer is not a two-minute synopsis but an insight into the pull of the story. A writer has to hook the reader early in their novel, but the trailer is a multimedia hook taking the art into another dimension.”

At any rate, I looked at the provided script and requested some word changes and one or two new lines. The stock pictures she sent me were a more difficult matter. They didn’t look enough like the people and events in the novel. The hero and heroine were especially difficult. Fortunately, the designer was patient. Over a period of weeks, she sent me more stock photos. Eventually, I made my choices—not perfect, but acceptable.

The designer then sent me an url with recorded music. I went to the site, listened to the two clips she mentioned, and chose the one she recommended. It’s rousing and dramatic, in my opinion just right for Dax Rigby, which is an action-adventure SF novel.

The real problem came with the voiceover. Though I’m new to this game, it seemed too laid back and passive for my novel, which features warring aliens, fights to the death, and hot, passionate sex, not to mention a hero who tries to save two alien species and five billion lives back on Earth. To me, the voice needed to be as rousing as the music, and stir you in your seat.

I informed the Trailer Maker of my sentiments, and we hit a hiatus that lasted about a week. Perhaps, she said, she needed a new sound card. Eventually we decided to nix the voiceover and she cut $50 off the cost.

Next, came more fine-tuning of the video. A few words in the script were changed, and a couple of misspellings corrected. I asked that the publisher’s url be slowed down at the end so that potential purchasers would know where to go.

Finally, after six or seven weeks, we were ready for Show Time! I had proved a demanding, difficult-to-please customer but was pleased with the result (and since then the trailer has received much praise.) I sent her the second payment, and as contracted, she put the trailer on several sites, including YouTube and Blazing Trailers. I, in turn, installed it on my web site, MySpace, Photobucket, Break.com, etc.

Fellow Beginners, be advised. There are many formats out there, and some sites are fussy. In my case, they don’t accommodate Flash Video. Thus, you can’t upload it without converting it. In the modern, rapidly-changing world of the Internet, one size does NOT fit all.

Finally, do trailers, which Kim McDougall calls “the newest fad in book promotion,” actually work? Like her, I don’t know. She points out that “The book trailer phenomenon is still relatively new.” Plus, there are lots of books competing for fewer customer bucks during a deteriorating economy. Since some sites my trailer’s posted on lack counters, I can only guess that in the two weeks it’s been posted, 500 people have watched it. That’s not many, considering that trailers about celebrities’ antics and misbehaving animals regularly attract hundreds of thousands of hits. However, I’m finding new ways to “sell” the video, starting with PROMOS in seven or eight Yahoo Writer and Reader groups. In addition, one trailer site has given it featured billing, and I used Photobucket to send a link to fifty folks that not only connected them to the trailer, but to seven of my books. So far, several friends have responded favorably.

There are, of course, various ways to gauge the effectiveness of trailers, such as your Amazon stats and the number of visitors to your web site. But guys and gals, nothing’s perfect.

At the time I contracted for my first trailer, my assessment was that I would probably not break even, let alone turn a profit. Still, it seemed a good thing to get my name and book viewed by as many people as possible. Also, I felt that if I used a variety of other promotional methods, there would overall, be a positive effect.

One can always hope.

As for the future, I’ve already arranged for my next trailer, which will be done at Norfolk State University with two talented students under the guidance of a Mass Communications professor. This time I wrote the tentative script myself, reducing 116,000 words of A Senseless Act of Beauty to 110. One of the students will be using Photoshop, which I understand will animate the trailer’s scenes. Perhaps we’ll use voiceover.

Finally, since I am a newcomer in this area, I invite comments and corrections. There may be many of the latter, but they should benefit us all. Until my next blog, then . . . See you at the movies!