The Book Trailer Manual

YouTube just improved its education/help center on this topic this week.

YouTube Copyright School video:

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YouTube Copyright Help Center

http://www.youtube.com/t/copyright_center

If one of your videos receives a copyright complaint, they will require you to attend their Copyright School and pass a quiz. A second violation will result in termination of the user.

For a recent librarians’ conference, I created a Book Trailer Rubric, to evaluate the effectiveness of a trailer. Download it here:

http://www.BookTrailerManual.com/BookTrailerRubric.pdf

This week, I’ll go through several videos and rate them using the rubric.

Evaluating Little Chicken, Big Day with the Book Trailer Rubric

So, how does Katie’s book trailer for Little Chicken, Big Day fare on our rubric?

• Visuals – videos of chicks against white background are stunningly simple and effective 4
• Text - Uses selected text from book: “Hold my hand/Stay close” Appropriate & effective 4
• Voice Over - Wow, great kids’ voices, taped at a local library 4
• Music - Simple guitar music is effective and in keeping with overall minimalism 4
• SFX - Not used/But not needed, either. No deduction for not using these.
• Original Concept – Because the book is creative and original, the book trailer is inevitably innovative and effective 4
• Appropriate for Book – yes. Evokes book well. Simple, one sentence description of plot 4
• Tone – Clean, simple, childlike. Evokes book well. 4
• Length and Pacing - Less than 1 minute, especially appropriate for a picture book. 4

Near perfection! Congratulations, Katie!

For a recent librarians’ conference, I created a Book Trailer Rubric, to evaluate the effectiveness of a trailer. Download it here:

http://www.BookTrailerManual.com/BookTrailerRubric.pdf

This week, I’ll go through several videos and rate them using the rubric.

Evaluating The Wayfinder with the Book Trailer Rubric

OK, we’ve looked at several book trailers this week and graded them with the rubric. Here’s my book trailer for The Wayfinder. How would you grade it?

*|YouTube:_LlJirZt2Tk|*

• Visuals –
• Text -
• Voice Over –
• Music -
• SFX -
• Original Concept –
• Appropriate for Book –
• Tone -
• Length and Pacing –

Be sure to visit my YouTube page and make comments or Subscrube to my videos (See the SUBSCRIBE button at the top of the video.)

For a recent librarians’ conference, I created a Book Trailer Rubric, to evaluate the effectiveness of a trailer. Download it here:

http://www.BookTrailerManual.com/BookTrailerRubric.pdf

This week, I’ll go through several videos and rate them using the rubric.

Evaluating Toastvertising with the Book Trailer Rubric

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• Visuals - book and toast 4
• Text – only the banner @ end 4
• Voice Over - GREAT script 4+
• Music – only Hawaiian music as a sound effect; doesn’t rely on mood/tone of music to carry the trailer. Because this is effective and appropriate for this video, it still gets a high score. 4
• SFX - Yes, effective: cheers, pong, Hawaiian music, crickets, bomb dropping, bus horn, lightning 4
• Original Concept – Oh, yes! 4
• Appropriate for Book – yes 4
• Tone - informative and fun 4
• Length and Pacing – perfect, no slow moments 4

For a recent librarians’ conference, I created a Book Trailer Rubric, to evaluate the effectiveness of a trailer. Download it here:

http://www.BookTrailerManual.com/BookTrailerRubric.pdf

This week, I’ll go through several videos and rate them using the rubric.

Evaluating 14 Cows for America with the Book Trailer Rubric

14 Cows for America, trailer by Analine Johnson.

• Visuals – Public domain still images, animated with zoom and scan. 4
• Text – Setting, info from book text. Nice that it doesn’t have full sentences on any one graphic, but paces it well. 4
• Voice Over – none. Some voice-over would have been effective. 2
• Music – insistent beat, piano music, appropriate and effective. 4
• SFX - none. While the music carries the trailer, some SFX could have been used. 2
• Original Concept – retelling of an original concept book, draws originality from book. 4
• Appropriate for Book – yes 4
• Tone – somber, emotional. 4
• Length and Pacing - good. 4

NOTICE: Copyright and Creative Commons notices scrolling at end; great example of how to do it right.

For a recent librarians’ conference, I created a Book Trailer Rubric, to evaluate the effectiveness of a trailer. Download it here:

http://www.BookTrailerManual.com/BookTrailerRubric.pdf

This week, I’ll go through several videos and rate them using the rubric.

Evaluating Shiver with the Book Trailer Rubric

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Creating a Book Trailer

This is the book trailer for my novel, The Wayfinder, which is now available in eBook or Paperback.

To create this trailer, I used:

• Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum
• Photos from iStockPhotos.com
• Sound track from iStockPhotos.com

Book Trailer Formats

One thing I learned doing THIS trailer is the importance of paying attention to the formats of the video. I produced a MPeg4 movie for Facebook and YouTube. (The nice thing about Vegas is it automatically optimizes for YouTube!) But I also did a higher quality movie in a MOV format that I’ll use to project as I speak at a conference. Be sure to backup your project files and save them in case you need a different format for something. Be sure to keep copies of all formats on your hard drive, and backed up on a DVD or flash.

What Makes These Memorable?

# “Book Trailer” uploads in the past week to YouTube.com – 584
By 9 am CDST, there were 46 uploads today alone.

So, in today’s crowded YouTube, what makes a trailer stand out?
Here are six to watch this week.

1. Food Illustrations: Toastvertising is still my all-time favorite trailer. But the use of blue rice and other nice foodies is interesting in this video, too. Interesting that they both mention Hawaii.
   
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2. Juxtaposition. OK, let’s throw in a nonfiction and a religious one at that. Here, the interesting thing is the juxtaposition of a white boy/black boy that aptly addresses the key issue of the book.
   
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3. Movement and Craft. The music here is catchy and moves. The visuals move. Keeping the eye and ear busy there’s just a chance you might catch a mind. Crafty video!
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4. Authentic Narrator. Well, the voice sounds authentic anyway. And she reveals so much of her, well, naive attitude toward life. What’s not to love? (NOTE: With a June 7, 2011 release date, it’s interesting that the trailer is out so early. When the three-weeks shelf life is over, what’s next?)
   *|YouTube:Rg_km4eUvuY|*
5. Great Movie Aesthetic. While I might prefer the YouTube aesthetic, when the big money is behind a book and its trailer, they do a great job. Love that Penguin has decided to “brand” videos with just a pic of the Penguin. Effective and simple.
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6. Another Great Movie Aesthetic. Of course, John Grisham gets the big-buck videos, too. *|YouTube:Y7P0h928UMI|*

What’s your favorite book trailer of the week?

How Much of the Plot Do you Need to Tell?

One of the common questions I see about book trailers is how much of the plot should you tell? Maybe none.

In this “hilarious” trailer, it’s just a sequence of kids trying to laugh an evil laugh. Yet, it made me want to know more about the book.

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OK, this is not a trailer, but it’s a fun video about books. It’s a great example of stop-action video. Imagine doing this and featuring YOUR book somewhere in the mix. Put it in unexpected places. Or put a photo frame, stuffed animal or something else that relates to your book here. Great fun.

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