RM Brand Self Help Series

Book Trailers (Part 2): The Script

Now that you’ve written the book, got your artist working on the cover, you want to create a book trailer. Rather than go into the “why” part, I’m just going to dive right in.

A book trailer ought to entice your audience to read your book. Much like a movie trailer, you want to focus only on the main characters and plot.

Watch Movie Trailers

Although there are a few good book trailers out there, movie trailers still do a better job of enticing people into theatres. And since your aim is to hook readers to buy your book, this is one place to start. Go to your favorite movie trailers website (I use http://trailers.apple.com/) and start watching trailers to stories similar to yours or that have similar themes. While you’re watching them, look for how text is presented or words were used, jot down a few notes as you go (remember, you can always stop or repeated video as you go).  Afterwards, make a list of movies you love and watch their trailers (you can Google the movie title and find the trailer that way). Again, jot down what you liked most from that trailer. While you’re doing all of this, keep your skill set in mind. Don’t expect to do feature film if you’re not even familiar with PowerPoint. If you like specific special effects, you will most likely find a how-to on the web if you take the time to search for it. I mostly used Video Copilot’s tutorials for most of my effects. Since I am writing this for individuals with experience in After Effects or similar software, I won’t go into what you need to learn as it has a very high learning curve. As I’ve mentioned before, I suggest you head over to Andrew Kramer’s website here to learn more if you are interested.

Warning: Do not be tempted to start buying images yet! First work out the script, then buy the images. Otherwise you will waste money on images, sounds or movie segments you won’t use. In a later post I will tell you where to find images at a reasonable price, along with music, audio and video segments.

1. Dialogue or Twists

It helps to narrow down pieces of dialogue or twists in the story that can either be added as text, sound bites and/or images during the trailer.  

2. In The Beginning…

How do you want to begin your trailer? This is the introduction to the story. Did you want to start off with a question, a phrase, quote, or maybe a thought-provoking image that swells with a chord of music? You’re setting things up, so you want to make sure to show the audience the subject of the story. I struggled with this, so I watched a few trailers and found the one that I really liked, I Am Number Four.

3. Hit Them Where It Counts

The middle of your trailer should consist of narrative (either text or audio*) that tells the audience was is going to happen. It would be the “what is” part of the Duarte formula, with you working up towards the “would could be.” Use images, text and music to build tension towards the big finale. Remember, this is a teaser to hook the audience. So use enough information to whet their appetite without giving everything away.

*You can add audio narratives with Sonokinetic’s TrailerVoice. My next trailer for By Virtues’ Design will include it.  

4. End With A Bang

Some have suggested ending your trailer with a cliff hanger, with everything else leading up to that cliffhanger. I’ve done something similar with The Shaman’s Beacon. The theme of your story should give you some inspiration. The music at this point ought to end with a dramatic end (a drum-hit or crash or even heart beat or flat-line sound).

5. Where and When To Buy

Make sure to put a few seconds (10 ought to be enough) to display where to purchase the book. It should include a website as well. When you are ready to upload the video to YouTube of Vimeo, you can add URLs to the description as well.

6. Storyboard the Trailer

There are plenty of templates out there to help you storyboard your script. I created my own with 3x5 cards with a simple concept and related phrase. I then taped it to my hallway wall, which got no lack of commentary from my peanut gallery loving family. You don’t have to tape it to a wall, but I prefer to see it in quasi action. Hence the wall. Plus, it’s easier to picture the movie if its spread all before you.

Be prepared to write, rewrite, and get stuck. It took me forever to do my trailer because I was doing everything from scratch, including the special effects. I now buy my templates from Videohive. This lets me focus on the script and less on the special effects.

Optional: Splash

I added a splash to the beginning of my video for Red Sage Publishing, along with an introduction to the author. You don’t have to have this, but I did it as a courtesy to Red Sage Publishing.

On my next installment, I'll go over the Storyboard process, how to conceptualize an idea into a graphic, text or music. 

Other Resources on Book Trailers

http://leannareneebooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/leannas-do-it-yourself-guide-to-book.html

http://katenoble.com/blog/2011/05/how-to-make-a-book-trailer-for-5/

The Shaman's Beacon

Buy now at Red Sage Publishing

Yee-haw!
Announcing the release of The Shaman's Beacon, now on sale at Red Sage Publishing, available in ebook format for all electronic devices.

What's Inside
A high-heeled workaholic meets a cowboy while on vacation in Wyoming and learns that not only is her new boyfriend hairy behind the ears, he’s being hunted by werewolf trappers bent on turning him into a designer handbag and her into an accessory.

The Story Behind The Story
Clayton McIntyre was the answer to a burning question, “What would a loving and nurturing werewolf be like?” Male werewolves are generally violent, aggressive, and severe. Clayton is the antithesis of the stereotypical werewolf. Sure, he can be a mean hombre when provoked, but his good nature and gentle manner heals even the deepest wounds of the heart. That’s precisely what Linda needs. 

As a pack shaman, Clayton gets all the perks of being an alpha without the worries that come with it. That gives him the freedom to practice his craft unabated. He doesn’t limit his treatments to weres only. He reaches out to all with a level of humanity rarely seen in humans or immortals. That’s because he sees the best in people, especially the woman he loves. Things don’t generally faze him, except when Linda decides to take on the pack’s enemies. That brings out the wolf, which leads him to hurt her worse than anything anyone has ever done. It’ll take more than shamanic healing to get her to forgive him and even more to forgive himself. This book is about the healing power of love and what it takes inside each of us to find it.

Book Description
Linda Menendez vacations to Lander, Wyoming and meets Clayton McIntyre, a Texas cowboy who insists he’s a werewolf. He’s a shaman too, complete with a talisman. She ain’t buying it, until that woo-woo turns into whoa-whoa when she sees a wolf being skinned alive. And not just any old wolf, a werewolf. Despite the implications of that, she won’t sit idly by while their corpses are dumped around the small town in Wyoming she’s fallen in love with. She’ll fight back no matter what it takes, but Clayton doesn’t like that one bit. He’ll hog tie her to keep her safe. But then who will keep him safe? 

Clayton recognizes his true mate, Linda, the moment they meet. The picture she carries around is him in wolf form, though she refuses to believe it. He mates with her, bonding her to him, and takes her on a shamanic journey to help her accept who she is and the truth about him. But Linda is one very stubborn woman, especially when she decides to take on the pack’s enemies, including a militia led by a fanatic half-blood intent on skinning weres into extinction. No matter how much Clayton tries to convince her that she can trust him, the woman keeps putting herself in harm’s way. If he can’t get her to slow down she’ll end up in the scrap pile right along with him.

Have A Taste
Linda applied more raspberry lip gloss.

“Why you putting that junk on?” Clayton waited for her to catch up and put his arm around her.

She dropped the lip gloss back into her purse and snapped it closed. “Think of it as a deterrent.” After they crossed the side entrance a strong waft of dung hit her. She grimaced.

Her date, however, wasn’t fazed. He led her past several rodeo crews and asked, “You hinting that I’m a bad kisser?”

“God no!” That was a little louder than she was going for, enough to get the attention of some cowboys working with a bull. She leaned closer to Clayton. “You’re the reason mothers warn their daughters about men.”

He chuckled and took her hand.

Clayton led her past a group of men who were preparing a bareback bronc rigging on a palomino while the rider was securing his gripping glove before his ride. They stopped and the men shook his hand one by one. He introduced her to them as ‘my girl from Los Angeles.’ They all offered her a warm greeting. Clayton might as well have announced she was his wife the way they were so happy for him, as though she signified some important event in his life. They seemed to know something she didn’t and it was disconcerting.

An older Native American woman with a chambray button shirt called out his name from another chute. He turned and that brilliant smile spread over his face when he saw who it was. She gestured to Linda and spread her hands inquiringly. He drew Linda close to him and shouted, ‘my girl.’ Damn, he sounded so happy and proud.

Linda’s felt her cheeks flush when a few people turned to look at her. She elbowed him, which felt like hitting a brick wall.

Clayton bent down and gave her a kiss that nearly knocked her feet out from under her. 

The lip gloss was an absolute failure.

Want To Talk About It?

I'm all over the place, me, my shelf, and likes. I do occasionally enjoy a tweet and for you couch potatoes out there, I do have a boob-tube channel. So don't be shy! Let's chew the fat with Bubba for a while.


All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce any portion of the work mentioned above from The Shaman's Beacon in any form whatsoever in any country whatsoever is forbidden.

Creating A Book Trailer: Introduction

Some of you might be wondering how I put my latest book trailer together. I work as a graphic artist in a civil engineering company, mostly doing layout and some minor special effects. So I have intermediate knowledge on Adobe products, enough to do color correction, enhancements, and illustrations. This made it much easier to learn other Adobe software, specifically Premier and After Effects.

I was first introduced to After Effects when I began making machinima videos like Edge of Remorse (still my favorite of all time), which led me to seek out tutorials on creating special effects. I found Video Copilot (VC) on the net and was wow'd (yes, pun intended) by their professional tutorials. I began acquiring their products over time, but eventually the day job took over my life and I had to put my dream of becoming the greatest machinima designer in the world  on hold.

Several years later, I realized I needed to create a book trailer for my upcoming releases. So I went back to VC's web site where I absorbed as much knowledge as I could. Eventually, I created the book trailer you see for The Shaman's Beacon. I still wish I could spend more time on it, but that wouldn't be practical. I'm no After Effects expert by any means, but I tried in my most limited way came up with a script, storyboard, and ultimately compiled the images and scenes until I could put it all together in Adobe Premier, where I added sound effects and a few additional musical tracks.

I can't teach you everything I've learned for the past five years, but you can learn them yourself at Andrew Kramer's website, which I highly recommend. His products are so popular they have been used in Star Trek, Transformers 3, music videos, and even in Terry Goodkind's promo materials (book trailers, etc.).

Below I've compiled some awesome samples and/or behind the scene documentaries to whet your appetite.

The following video is an excellent behind the scenes look at how VC put their Demon Orb product video together, including how they created the special effects. Great stuff!




After using VC's products for years and learning from his many tutorials I still have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. BUT, I know enough to be dangerous. If you haven't already, be sure to watch The Shaman's Beacon book trailer here.

There are many throughout the entertainment industry who use VC's products, including the folks that put together Terry Goodkind's latest book trailer, The Omen Machine. Take a look and those of you who are familiar with Andrew's work will see and hear it below.



Below includes music from VC's Pro Scores. Optical Flares was most likely used as well. Trapcode Particular was also used (the little floating particles) which add a very nice effect.



The big thing here is to try, try and retry until you get what you want. There are countless tutorials out there and you can even buy pre-made templates for After Effects (like from CreativeLabs). You do have to have After Effects, but once you do the sky is the limit. That's the hard part--What do you put in your trailer?

My next post will go over script writing and storyboarding.

The Books, the Web, and All Things In Between

I've got a few things to share with you all. First, I've finalized my book trailer. Take a look and be sure to "Like" the video if you enjoyed it.

The novel is due for release September 1, 2011. You can pre-order the book now here.



I also launched my new web site The Hen House. There you'll find what's coming and some quirky things about me. It's a work in progress and no doubt will grow as more books are published.

I'm currently working on the next novel, By Virtues' Design, that is due for release October 15, 2011. The book cover is done, which I will post soon.