They’re a cross between music videos and movie trailers, and they’re coming soon to an electronic device near you. Marc Milot, an Eagle Harbor resident and president of Radiator Music, says “transmedia” productions are the next hot item in the rapidly evolving and intensely competitive world of digital entertainment.
To tap into the that market, Milot is teaming with songwriter/producer Billy Hume to create a rock music-story video based on one of six paranormal romance novels written by bestselling author Alyssa Day of Jacksonville.
“The music industry is in turmoil,” Milot said. “We’re raising the YouTube generation now. There’s a huge potential in the young adult market.”
The 3-minute video, which includes scenes filmed at the old Clay County Jail in Green Cove Springs and at nearby Camp Chowenwaw Park, will appear on Day’s Web site, where it can be viewed by her legions of fans anywhere in the world.
Hume says the formula for transmedia’s success is based on simplicity. “You’re building on an audience that’s already there,” he said.
The video is scheduled to be released in early August, and also will be available on Milot’s Radiator Music Web site. Both sites will have links to iTunes, where the music can be downloaded through the band Grout, which performs the video’s featured song, “Every Time You Read My Mind.”
Milot and Hume — a Grammy Award nominee — wrote the song after being inspired by “Atlantis Rising,” Day’s first novel in a six-book series called “Warriors of Poseidon.” The stories draw from the lost civilization of Atlantis, but are set in modern times where steamy romance is mixed with vampires, humans, heroes and villains.
Milot’s video strays from Atlantis Rising far enough to contain an unscripted love scene filmed at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum, but the elaboration – produced under Day’s watchful eye – is what distinguishes transmedia productions from traditional music videos.
“Now we have a whole new way to tell a story,” Milot said. “This is more like a movie trailer; it’s where technicality meets creativity.”
Day, whose books have made their way to the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, said she was deeply moved by a scene filmed at the old jail in Green Cove Springs.
“It was the first image that came to my mind nearly five years ago, when I first created the world of Atlantis in my mind,” she wrote on her Web site. “A prince in chains. Who was he? Why was he captive? When I saw this on set, it actually brought me to tears.”
To that, Milot says mission accomplished.
“I was looking for creepy places where you film vampire lairs,” he said. “We totally immersed ourselves into her story world. It allowed the author to tell the story from another perspective.”
Milot worked with freelance cinematographer and director Johnny St. Ours of Charlottesville, Va., and photography director Andrew Howell of Apple Box Productions in Jacksonville to complete the project.
Howell said there was “instant chemistry” between himself and St. Ours, who recently produced and directed a Dave Matthews Band video.
“It was great,” Howell said. “He’s totally mellow.”
The video will be available online at www.alyssaday.com and www.radiatormusic.com.