Spirit Blade Productions

Entertainment and Resources for Christian Geeks!

SPIRIT BLADE PRODUCTIONS exists to equip, encourage and inspire Christian Geeks to live in the freedom and purpose Christ offers.

Friday, December 14, 2007 Holiday Rush!

We're feeling a little bit of the "Holiday Rush" around here as we try to get ready to close down shop for an entire week!


 

We've never done anything like this before, but since WE need a vacation now and then, too, we've decided to shut down the office from December 23rd through December 31st.


 

The Spirit Blade Weblog will not be updated during those dates. We're also debating whether or not we'll do the podcast that week. Guess it'll be a surprise!


 

More than anything, Paeter's working extra hard to mix scenes for Dark Ritual so that the time spent off won't slow us down any more than it needs to. Paeter will also be taking a laptop and his copy of "The Pilgrim's Progress" with him out of town so that he can continue doing a little script work for our next big project. (Yeah, sometimes it's hard for that guy to REALLY take a vacation.)


 

We hope you're enjoying the Christmas Season and remembering the cosmic event that it's all centered around! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Paeter= Raan?

If cows ever learned how to fly, snowball fights became common in hell and Spirit Blade was ever made into a major Hollywood movie, I think I would petition very strongly to play the part of Raan.


You might think that's odd, since I do the voice of Merikk in "Spirit Blade". However two things lead me to playing Raan:


1. Merikk is the "leading man", and they'll want someone willing to do more sit-ups than I am for a part like that. (This is still Hollywood we're talking about, after all.)


2. I think I might have more in common with Raan than any other "Spirit Blade" character. At least Raan as he is in "Dark Ritual". I don't know anything about technology, but as Raan struggles inwardly with self-doubt, as he escapes the pain of life by fleeing inward to solitude and his imagination, I feel a unique connection to him.


It probably sounds obvious for me to say I feel "connected" to the characters I'm writing a story and dialogue for, but sometimes I forget that these characters came from my mind. They take on a life of their own and at times I feel like nothing more than a spectator.


Of course, if all I do is watch, then their story will never be told! So I'd better get back to mixing!


-Paeter Frandsen

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 Prolonged Torture

Although I've started into some dialogue scenes that require fewer sound effects, I've discovered that one of them still may take a fair amount of editing. 


Merikk Scythe finds himself being brutally tortured by a sadistic captor. Sean Anthony Roberts gave me so many great options to choose from that it's taken some time to narrow down the best of the best. Likewise, I spent a great deal of time screaming, weeping and moaning into the microphone over the summer and now have to narrow down the most appropriate levels of pain and anxiety for Merikk to be experiencing based on Sean's performance in the final edit.


The process still doesn't take as long as an action sequence to mix, but there are certainly elements I'd forgotten to factor in. Nothing that will get us off schedule. Just enough to remind me that I'm always learning something new in this game!


(You can check out my interview with Sean Anthony Roberts on the "Media" page of www.spiritblade.net!)


-Paeter Frandsen 

Friday, November 30, 2007 Steady Pace

Progress on "Dark Ritual" is moving forward at a steady, even pace. Out of some 30 scenes we've now completed primary mixing on nearly 12, putting us between one third and one half of the way to completion. We've also finished mixing on nearly three songs for the project.


As we head into the Christmas season and the extra activity that always brings, we're very excited to be on schedule for our spring release of "Dark Ritual". Hopefully you're excited along with us!


Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Yay For Dialogue!

Can I just say how wonderful it is to be working on some dialogue centered scenes? 


Granted, in audio drama, dialogue is the center of almost every scene, but as the artform has entered the modern age, sound effects have become more complex and the audio experience more layered than it ever was during the golden days of radio drama in the 30's.


We aim to be a production company that pushes the complexity and layering of audio effects even further. More of our action scenes are being expressed through sound effects alone, with little or no dialogue to "spoon-feed" visual descriptions to you. It makes for a great challenge that requires a lot of thought and time spent editing. I think the result is well worth the effort, but even so, I'm thrilled to have reached a few scenes in a row where people are in rooms having conversations. Although, does it still count as a conversation when one person talking is also being tortured into feverish, puking, delirium? Hmm... Maybe this scene won't be as simple as I thought.


Now where did I put that "vomit splattering" sound effect...


-Paeter Frandsen

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Another scene done!/BIG Price Drop!!

Finished another big action sequence today! This one was a lot of fun. Cyborg blasters verses magic spells! The next three scenes I work on will be dialogue centered, which will be a nice change of pace and they will probably be completed more quickly as well.


I was thrilled to discover that www.spiritblade.net is #2 in the Yahoo search results when using the term "Christian sci-fi"! We've also now made it to the first page of results in google using the same search term. (And of course we're number one when searching with the phrase "spirit blade".)


If you've stopped by our website this week, you may have noticed that we've dropped the price for both the CD and mp3 download of "Spirit Blade"! The CD set (originally $15.00) is now just $7.99 (shipping is still free!) and the mp3 download (originally $10.00) is now only $5.99! We've also made the entire first HOUR of "Spirit Blade" available to download for FREE in high quality mp3 format. 


With everything going on, it's never been a better time to visit www.spiritblade.net!


Have a great Thanksgiving!


-Paeter Frandsen

Monday, November 19, 2007 "Spirit Blade" On The Radio!

We have a VERY exciting announcement today!


 

"Spirit Blade", our premiere audio drama, will be broadcast this Tuesday night on CKDU FM in Halifax at 9pm Atlantic time. Several other Canadian radio stations will be airing it also throughout the week. For a list of these affiliate stations, visit http://sonicsociety.org/ and click on "Syndicate Stations" in the upper right of the page. And while you're there you may like to get aquainted with the sonic society if you're a fan of Audio Drama!


 

And if you'd REALLY like to help us out and you live within frequency range of any of these stations, give them a call or pepper them with e-mails after the broadcast and tell them you loved hearing "Spirit Blade"!

Friday, November 16, 2007 Just Like Magic!

Although there are still a few maintenance issues to resolve, we've been able to move forward again with mixing for "Dark Ritual". Currently we're designing new sound effects to represent a supernatural force that our heroes will be up against. The sci-fi and fantasy genres collide even more in this story than they did in "Spirit Blade", and we're enjoying the challenge of bringing a distinctly "magical" sound into a story that has, until this point, been dominated by sci-fi elements.


 

We're also counting down to our big price drop next week on the 23rd. Both the CD set and digital download for "Spirit Blade" will be reduced significantly in price, making it easier than ever to join the gripping action experienced by the Underground Liberation!


 

Lastly, we've added another free download to the "Media" section of www.spiritblade.net. It's a featurette comparing audio clips from the very first read-through of "Spirit Blade" to the final product! Paeter Frandsen(Merikk), Michael Tully(Raan) and Michael E. Bryce(Isaiah) were all present for this historic event and you can tell by listening that they had a blast not taking themselves, or the script, too seriously! You don't want to miss this candid look at the origins of "Spirit Blade"! Jump over towww.spiritblade.net and click on "Media" to check it out and listen in!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Back on Track!!/Holiday Season

It's great to be back on track with mixing! Since I've been working through scenes in close to chronological order, I was able to listen to the whole story so far yesterday before jumping back in. Now I'll be delving into some new genre-bending sounds, ambiences and effects as our heroes are taken from their "sci-fi" environment and thrown into combat with what appears to be a group of dark robed wizards in the middle of a dense forest! Just what the frezz is going on here?! That's what Merikk, Raan and Vincent are all thinking right about now. Only time will tell!


 

I wanted to let you all know that there are some VERY exciting events coming up this holiday season! We'll start things off with another big (and permanent!) price drop for both the CD and digital download of "Spirit Blade", just in time to stuff the stocking of your sci-fi fantasy fan this Christmas! Watch for the price drop to happen November 23rd.


 

We'll also be making nearly half of "Spirit Blade" available to download in high quality audio format for free! That will be happening at around the same time, but we'll be sure to make an announcement.


 

Lastly, (and this is a BIG one!) right around Christmas we're gonna... hmm. No, I think I'll let that one be a surprise!


 

See ya!


 

-Paeter Frandsen

Friday, November 9, 2007 Computers Suck

Sometimes computers are just very, very lame. This has been one of those weeks. Our files for "Dark Ritual" are backed up and safe, but this has been a "computer maintenance week" and so not a lot of creative advances toward the completion of "Dark Ritual" have taken place. Still, these parts of the puzzle are just as vital and so while it's not as fun, we're doing what's needed anyway.


 

Have a great three day weekend!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 Playing Catch-up!

Busy, busy! This week I've had to put some of Spirit Blade Productions on the back burner. After my weekend out of town I raced to catch up with various things on Sunday night before starting a three day gig with the public schools.


 

Naturally I'm bummed to not be working on "Dark Ritual" much right now, especially since after a weekend of playing fantasy boardgames with my friend Mark, I feel more inspired than ever to create! Still, sometimes you've gotta go with the gig that pays better.


 

Tomorrow will hopefully be a productive day, although I've been running into some issues with my computer lately that I may need to look into before getting back into "Dark Ritual". Have no fear, I've backed up all of my work to an external hard drive and will continue to make that a habit.


 

So there's the skinny at the moment. Catcha later!


 

-Paeter Frandsen

Thursday, October 25, 2007 Michael Bryce Junior!/Release Dates

This week Paeter was excited to have Michael Bryce Junior chat it up with him in the Monitor Room. Michael played the role of "David" in "Spirit Blade" but was unable to continue the role of the mysterious boy in "Dark Ritual" because...well, he started growing into a man.


 

Look for Paeter's interview with Michael during the main feature of this weekend's podcast. http://paeter.libsyn.com


 

This week proved to be another slow week with paying gigs taking up more of Paeter's time. Still, he's nearly finished working on another heavily layered action scene. We keep saying that the scene we're currently working on is "one of the most complex and exciting in Dark Ritual". We've been saying it more often than we thought we would because we keep finding more ways to make this project a nail-biter!


 

Lastly, a word on "Release Dates". You may have noticed that the release date for "Dark Ritual" has changed from December 2007 to Spring 2008 on our main website. Since this is only our second project, we're still trying to get a sense for pacing and how long it takes to finish projects of the size we create. While announcing official release dates can be exciting and help build anticipation, we don't want to see an ounce of quality lost because of a rush to meet a deadline. You've seen enough of that in both movies and video games that are rushed to meet a studios deadline and better serve the "almighty dollar".


 

We've decided, at least for the forseeable future, to give only rough estimates for our release dates so that when our projects are REALLY ready, and meet the quality standards we demand of ourselves, you'll be able to experience them the way they've been envisioned with zero compromise.


 

Rest assured, we're not using this new policy as an excuse to slack off or waste time. We'll continue to keep you informed on the latest developments and progress for each project we're working on. When we've got a new product ready, you'll see it coming and be the first to know. We're working hard to bring you the absolute BEST in Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy! We think you'll appreciate the results.


 

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 18, 2007 18 Seconds Of Awesome!!

After the monotony of cutting and pasting dialogue for two days, Paeter spent Thursday afternoon working on a sequence no longer than 18 seconds, but so layered with action and sound effects that it proved to be one of the most complex sequences yet!


Although we won't spill the beans on what exactly is happening, we'll say that alot of very nice people are being hurt very bad by someonevery good at what they do.


"Dark Ritual" is proving to be more brutal in its action sequences and this is one that may have you wincing a few times while your ears try to keep up with the action!


Have a great weekend and don't forget to join us at the podcast!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Sometimes Boring Is GOOD!

Not much to report on yet. Yesterday I took advantage of a subbing gig. And Monday I was completely drained of all creative energy.


 

For a few minutes at the beginning of the day I stared at my screen and couldn't think of a thing to do that didn't require creative energy. I could ALWAYS do marketing and work on X-tras for the blogs, podcast and website, but I'd already done a good amount of that the week before and I felt behind on my work for "Dark Ritual".


 

Then it hit me. I had all these files of lines for peripheral roles and extras that I needed to sift through and decide who I would use for which lines. Cut, paste, evaluate, repeat. Oh, the beautiful monotony of it all! It was just what I needed to be mindlessly productive and keep things moving forward for "Dark Ritual". In fact, I might still be in the mood for some more. See ya!


 

-Paeter Frandsen

Friday, October 12, 2007 He's Leading Me

This week Paeter finished the rough mix on another song and from here will either be picking up scenes again, or tackling another song. (Wherever the creative winds take him!)


The song completed this week uses the working title of "He's Leading Me" and is based on the classic hymn of similar name.


Michael Tully, as Raan, lends his vocal talents to the haunting melody(now in a dark minor key), while the track settles into an Eastern flavored groove.


This song has been something of a stylistic experiment and will continue to evolve as we get closer to our target release date in the first half of this coming Spring.


If you haven't checked out the new free downloads on our media page, don't forget to jump over to http://www.spiritblade.net/site.cfm/sbp/media and enjoy something different in your i-pod this weekend!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Updates! Updates!

First off, my apologies for not updating the website content more often. I'm still trying to find the right balance between working on current projects and supporting our currently available project.


 

I decided to spend my entire day yesterday working on the website, changing and adding a few things.


 

First, be sure and let all of your friends know that it's easier than ever to join the Spirit Blade experience! We've dropped the cost of the CD set from $15.00 to $11.99 (that includes taxes and shipping is still FREE!), and the digital download has gone from $10.00 to $7.99!


 

I've also rotated in some new material to the Media page that you can download for free! Part TWO of my "Spirit Blade Commentary" is now available, along with our first EVER interview with Randy Hesson, the voice of Vincent Craft!


 

If you missed the first part of my commentary, I've added it to the download section as well, along with the interview I had with Sean Anthony Roberts of "Dark Ritual". If you missed the podcast where we sat and talked about his character in "Dark Ritual", you'll want to check out this great interview.


 

And although it's been there for awhile, if you've never checked out my two-part interview with Michael Tully, the voice of Raan Galvaanik, you don't know what you're missing!


 

You can check out all these free downloads by going to the "Media" page at www.spiritblade.net, or just jump there right now at :http://www.spiritblade.net/site.cfm/sbp/media !


 

Catcha later!


 

-Paeter Frandsen

Friday, October 5, 2007 "Dark Ritual" Preview!

The week has been a good one. Scene 9 is finally complete and will be previewed on our podcast this weekend, so be sure that you don't miss it! It's one of the more complicated and intense sequences from "Dark Ritual" and we think everyone will really enjoy it.


After finishing scene 9, Paeter picked up work on one of the songs again, instead of moving immediately into work on the next scene.


Although we're not ready to give an accurate release date for "Dark Ritual", we expect to release it sometime in the second half of January or the first half of February. A digital release will come first and based on our funds and demand, a physical CD release will follow.


That's the latest! Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 27, 2007 Almost there!/Similitude of a Dream...

Scene 9 is almost complete! We were really hoping to premiere it on this weekend's podcast, but Paeter had to take some paying gigs in the second half of this week that will likely force us to delay until the following weekend.


On the upside, while earning some extra change as a substitute teacher, Paeter has been able to take a little bit of work with him. Not for Dark Ritual unfortunately, but Paeter has been able to continue script adaptation for "Similitude Of A Dream", Spirit Blade Productions' next big project after "Dark Ritual"!


It's in the infant stages of development, but "Similitude" will likely have a flavor very different from the Spirit Blade saga. We're not sure yet if we'll say it's "based on" or just "inspired by" John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", but at the very least, our story will aim to be faithful to the messages and life lessons found in the classic allegory. More as that project develops!


Have a great weekend and don't forget about our podcast! New episodes go up by end of day Saturday, every week!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 Fan Of The Week!

Okay, so we don't have a "Fan Of The Week" award here, but if we did, then this week it would go to Colin Snow! Colin's a regular listener of the podcast, and one of the most enthusiastic fans of Spirit Blade I've had the pleasure to interact with.


 

A few days ago, out of either boredom, insanity or just for the fun of it, he made some video recordings of himself singing along to some of his favorite songs. I was thrilled and flattered to learn that he included three Spirit Blade songs in his impromptu YouTube concert.


 

So be sure to check out Colin's energized performance and give him a big hand for being brave enough to turn on the camera, throw caution to the wind and just have some fun!


 

Deadly Game- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt52P7QQ31M


 

Soldiers- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS7ksr95Y0k


 

Destiny- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVHmXlxgvvA


 

The Reason (Studio Version)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYsl1puHol8


 

And for ALL of Colin's singing videos, go to http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ColinSnow


 

Enjoy!


 

-Paeter Frandsen

Friday, September 21, 2007 Catching Up/Next Book To Read?

This week has proven to be a great opportunity to catch up on scene mixing. A few delays in sound design and a couple paying gigs kept Paeter from staying on schedule last week, but this week was mostly free of distraction.


 

There are 37 scenes in total for "Dark Ritual" and today we begin work on scene 9. It's still too difficult to give an estimate on the project's completion date, as some scenes require very little effort and others require multiple days of work. These are usually action sequences, although this time around we're layering more foley into standard dialogue scenes as well.


 

Scene 9 is one of our larger action sequences for "Dark Ritual", but once completed, we plan to preview it on the podcast.


 

Speaking of which, if you're a podcast listener, or you've been following our weekly journey through The Gospel Of John, you may have noticed that in a few more weeks we will finish the 21st and final chapter of our current book and will be ready to pick up another book of the Bible and begin a new journey.


 

We'd like you to have some input on which book we look at next. Although we're interested in doing an Old Testament book at some point in the future, we'd like to stay in the New Testament for now.


 

At this point we're considering:


 

Galatians, the Apostle Paul's first letter, which focuses on teaching that salvation is not accomplished by being a "good enough person". (6 chapters long)


 

Acts, a history of how the first Christians started meeting together for worship and organized themselves into local churches. It also serves as an "origin story" for the Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament. Should we look at Acts, we would go through the first 14 chapters and then take a break to look at another book, possibily Galatians, since chronologically it falls right after the events in Acts chapter 14. If readers and listeners enjoy this pattern, we may consider continuing in this way through Acts, taking breaks when appropriate to read other books of the Bible chronologically. (28 chapters long)


 

Romans, a letter from Paul considered to be among the most complex material in the entire Bible. Incredibly packed with information, this book summarizes a great deal of Christian beliefs. We'll never be able to give each chapter the time and detailed study they deserve in our "chapter a week" format, but this letter is an incredibly valuable book for anyone to read that wants to look more deeply at the Christian faith. And don't worry, it's not near as intimidating as it sounds! (16 chapters long)


 

Matthew, an account of Jesus' life that is out of chronological order, instead placing emphasis on what he taught and his fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. (28 chapters long)

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