I have committed the blogging crime of not staying current. This is because when I first created this blog, to keep people appraised of the status of our innovative visaully-augmented eBook, I had no idea the financial challenges we were about to hit. Money fell away, people fell away, promises were retracted, lies proliferated. Needless to say, the very thing I created Cinenovel the this new genre to do; get away from the disingenuousness of Hollywood and its people, I came up against the same in this endeavor.

I'm not crying. Merely presenting my case. Now, the book, "The Plunge of Icarus" is done - all 500 iPad frames (yes, it is epic) of glorious color and surrealistic story telling. Not to worry, 500 frames does not mean 500 pages. The actual text is equivalent to a novella.

We're on the Apple App Store and the iBook Store. Go to www.cinenovel.com and click through for direct access. The book is now available as both a unique Novel/App as well as an iBook.

As an ardent indie we are suffereing the concerns of the vast predictions of books going the way of the wind. I hope that's not true, but the evidence is unfortunately all around us.

Perhaps, as idealistic as it may sound, I am hoping that Cinenovel, by presenting a slightly different approach to reading, would catch on and inspire other authors to take a look at the potential to add visuals to their words.

We shall see. Yes, we shalle see.

Thanksgiving 2014. We have a lot to be grateful for here at Cinenovel. After years of struggle and experimentation, "The Plunge of Icarus" is at long last done. After some back and forth with Apple over what they determined was "objectionable material" we were able to come to a happy - if somewhat censured - common ground.

The project is a first of its kinf Novel/App and is available on the Apple App Store by searching The Plunge of Icarus.

If there's anyone out there even reading this blog, do chime in and let me know.

Jeff Buchanan

Images

Our sample cover page for the CineNovel, "The Plunge of Icarus."

Post-Production

Post Production continues on the inaugural CineNovel, "The Plunge of Icarus." As with any pursuit of passion, the work is fulfilling, yet doesn't happen as quickly as desired. The images are looking absolutely beautiful and we are entertaining a great deal of interest from a number of potential partners. However, the deeper I get into the process, the more suspect I am of many of the potential investors. I am looking at ways to maintain the same autonomy that has gotten us this far and looking at inventive ways to complete the book independently.

I have faith that eventually I will find an angel investor that sees the enormous potential of what we're doing - in both artistic terms as well as business - and will come aboard to be part of this endeavor, grateful to be an active member of the team as opposed to straight money investors who are focusing on the bottom line.

At present we are months away from the finished book, but when it's done it's going to cause a stir in the traditional publishing world, as well as establish itself as a new genre of visual storytelling.

We will keep you posted.

CineNovel

"The Plunge of Icarus"

I have been horribly remiss in not staying current on this blog for "Plunge of Icarus." It has been due the immense workload of bringing the world's first CineNovel to fruition.

We are now heavily into post-production, compositing the photography of our actors/characters with the various background plates we shot. The novel was endorsed by the U.S. Air Force, which granted us unlimited access to Edward's Air Force Base near the Mojave Desert. As you can imagine, the scope of the plates we captured has served to make "Icarus" look larger and more impressive than ever imagined.

The artistic side has been clammed up a bit by the realities of finance. We are currently in our 2nd round of financing, chasing down contacts to finish the book. We're entertaining a good deal of interest from various sources, especially since we are now considering releasing the CineNovel as an e-book as well as traditional print. Nothing like the prospect of high-tech to prick the ears of investors.

The pages we have produced have served as a proof of concept, working beautifully as a marriage of images with literature.

I will try and do a better job of keeping this blog updated.

Jeff Buchanan

CineNovel

Mother's Day

It's may 10th. We wrapped principal photography for the CineNovel, "The Plunge of Icarus," Friday, May 8th. A great production, a whole new arena. We learned a great deal to apply to the 2nd book which will titled, "The Rise of Icarus."

In the coming months we will be selecting final shots, doing the CGI and compositing and working toward an inventive lay-out that will do the book justice. from there we will be meeting with printers in order to get the final book published and then we're into distribution.

Everyone involved has been wonderful and supportive, and their hard work is reflected in amazing images that will used to illustrate the first ever, coffee table science-fiction picture book, hereafter called, CineNovel.

Jeff Buchanan

Director/Publisher

Production Continues

It's May 3rd and cast and crew continue to experiment, to discover the philosophy behind a CineNovel. We have completed seven days of principal photography, with four remaining. There is something to this, crossing the basics of photography with cinema, with literature and storytelling. The actors, in general, didn't waste time or energy memorizing lines, as all they need to do is get through the emotional range within a scene. 

We're shooting "limbo" (primarily an empty stage, with actors being placed to fit into previously shot plates from locations at a church and the famous Ennis House in Los Angeles, as well as an air force base. We've learned a great deal which will certainly be put to use in the sequel, and the third and fourth and so on.

Once we wrap I will certainly be better prepared to create a continuing blog on the edit process, post production, printing and marketing.

Jeff Buchanan