Last week was the HauntJaunts.net blog overhaul, this week was the making of a HauntJaunts.net promotional video. Why all the fuss? Because I made up my mind that September 1 will be the official launch of HauntJaunts.net.
It’s going to be a bit of a push. I have a lot of entries left to add, which is just a matter of data input, but the groundwork for the site itself is basically laid. The way I see it, I work best under stress. And if I don’t set a firm date and make it public, I might not ever get this thing off the ground!
However, I wanted something kind of neat to help when I start promoting the site more actively. I’m full of all sorts of big ideas, but there’s just a teeny matter of a thing called a budget. So it was time to get creative.
I had a blast making a video for my first book, Beneath the Morvan Moon. I always wanted to make another one, but it’s a lot of work and I haven’t really had anything out to promote. Until now.
I ran across a neat site, One True Media, that offers cool templates for free. You just plug in your pictures and go. (I really liked their Metropolis.) That seemed like it would take some of the work out of it.
The only drawback was you can’t use it for commercial purposes. They have a sister site, SpotMixer, that has industry specific templates, but you also have to pay a fee. Which really isn’t all that high for the product you’re getting. Still, it was more than my budget would allow…
Yet, that Metropolis template sparked something in me. I figured with some of the images I’ve gotten off of stock.xchng and used in the blog I could create something…
So I started goofing around with Windows Movie Maker. I imported some pictures, suddenly copy started coming to me, as did the vision of what kind of transitions and effects might look cool, but I also needed music. That Metropolis template had a groovy soundtrack. I needed something like that. But where to find something cheap and legal?
I surfed the Internet and was guided to Partners in Rhyme. They not only had a decent selection of free clips available for all sorts of uses, even commercial, but a couple that would work for me. But one in particular I knew, just knew, was IT. Score! (Pun not intended.)
Twelve straight hours later, I’d created a promotional video that I’m pretty excited about. I hope you will be too. But you’ll have to wait until September 1st to see it.
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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