Helen Stringer's Blog - Posts Tagged "sci-fi"
Trailer Trials - Part One
"How can you have a trailer for a book?"
Well, exactly. A book is to be held and read, whereas a trailer is to tempt you into the theatre or to watch a TV show. But not any more. Now books have jumped onto the "In a world where..." bandwagon and book trailers are big business.
Do they work? The jury is still out on that one. The Wall Street Journal has gone on record stating that there is no evidence that trailers increase sales. There could be two reasons for that. The first and most obvious is that perhaps book readers aren't influenced by trailers. The second (and more likely, in my view) is that most of the trailers are dismal.
The bulk wouldn't get a passing grade in Film 101, let alone tempt someone to part with their hard-earned cash. Many appear to be made by the same company, if the recurrence of stock images is anything to go by, and the acting talent is...well, the less said about that the better. There are some that hit the nail on the head, of course, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Having said all that, about six months ago I decided that Paradigm would have a trailer. I also decided that I would do it myself. I've been to film school, so I'm familiar with film making. It would be easy - right? Not exactly. Making a trailer is very different from telling a complete story, and it had been a while since I'd shot and edited anything (understatement!), so I thought I'd better start with a teaser trailer.
First step: Adobe Creative Cloud. This gave me access to all the apps I'd need, particularly Premiere Pro and After Effects. I'd never used After Effects, so I started by experimenting with that. As I worked, I developed a concept and began to look for footage. There are many stock footage sites out there, but most of them are prohibitively expensive. Happily, I stumbled across Revostock, which is extremely reasonable. So inexpensive, in fact, that it gave me the latitude to experiment with different shots and graphics.
The second step was audio. Would there be a voice over? Text? Music? I experimented with voice overs but it didn't seem to work. Music presented a problem as well - unless you create it yourself, you will need clearances from both the composer and the distributor. In the end, I elected to go with a pulsing metallic heartbeat that eventually becomes a human heartbeat. Both sounds came from Revostock, though I had to speed up the machine sound to get the heartbeat effect.
The finished trailer is 58 seconds and you can see it here. Yes, I know my After Effects work leaves something to be desired, but it was my first attempt!
Once it was uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo I started thinking about the full length trailer. Um...and at this point I got a bit carried away.
Next time - Trailer Trials, part two. Featuring a cast of thousands, an RV, a junkyard, and nine hours stranded in the desert...
Well, exactly. A book is to be held and read, whereas a trailer is to tempt you into the theatre or to watch a TV show. But not any more. Now books have jumped onto the "In a world where..." bandwagon and book trailers are big business.
Do they work? The jury is still out on that one. The Wall Street Journal has gone on record stating that there is no evidence that trailers increase sales. There could be two reasons for that. The first and most obvious is that perhaps book readers aren't influenced by trailers. The second (and more likely, in my view) is that most of the trailers are dismal.
The bulk wouldn't get a passing grade in Film 101, let alone tempt someone to part with their hard-earned cash. Many appear to be made by the same company, if the recurrence of stock images is anything to go by, and the acting talent is...well, the less said about that the better. There are some that hit the nail on the head, of course, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Having said all that, about six months ago I decided that Paradigm would have a trailer. I also decided that I would do it myself. I've been to film school, so I'm familiar with film making. It would be easy - right? Not exactly. Making a trailer is very different from telling a complete story, and it had been a while since I'd shot and edited anything (understatement!), so I thought I'd better start with a teaser trailer.
First step: Adobe Creative Cloud. This gave me access to all the apps I'd need, particularly Premiere Pro and After Effects. I'd never used After Effects, so I started by experimenting with that. As I worked, I developed a concept and began to look for footage. There are many stock footage sites out there, but most of them are prohibitively expensive. Happily, I stumbled across Revostock, which is extremely reasonable. So inexpensive, in fact, that it gave me the latitude to experiment with different shots and graphics.
The second step was audio. Would there be a voice over? Text? Music? I experimented with voice overs but it didn't seem to work. Music presented a problem as well - unless you create it yourself, you will need clearances from both the composer and the distributor. In the end, I elected to go with a pulsing metallic heartbeat that eventually becomes a human heartbeat. Both sounds came from Revostock, though I had to speed up the machine sound to get the heartbeat effect.
The finished trailer is 58 seconds and you can see it here. Yes, I know my After Effects work leaves something to be desired, but it was my first attempt!
Once it was uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo I started thinking about the full length trailer. Um...and at this point I got a bit carried away.
Next time - Trailer Trials, part two. Featuring a cast of thousands, an RV, a junkyard, and nine hours stranded in the desert...
Signed Copies of Paradigm
A heartfelt "thank you" to everyone who entered the PARADIGM giveaway that ended last night! Congratulations to the people who will be getting signed copies of the book - I hope you enjoy it.
Far more people entered than I had anticipated, which was really lovely, but also left me feeling that an awful lot of people must be disappointed. I have therefore come up with an evil plan. Well...a plan, at any rate.
I have decided to offer signed copies of PARADIGM (with a dedication if you want) on my site at a really reasonable price. "What is really reasonable?" I hear you ask. Less than Amazon, is the reply.
Also, although the giveaway was limited to people in the US, UK and Canada, I will ship these copies anywhere in the world. (This will make the shipping charges for anyone outside the US a bit hefty, I'm afraid, but I'll do everything I can to keep them down.)
I'm ironing out the details and setting up the page on my site right now and will let you know when it's up and running! Hopefully in a few days.
Far more people entered than I had anticipated, which was really lovely, but also left me feeling that an awful lot of people must be disappointed. I have therefore come up with an evil plan. Well...a plan, at any rate.
I have decided to offer signed copies of PARADIGM (with a dedication if you want) on my site at a really reasonable price. "What is really reasonable?" I hear you ask. Less than Amazon, is the reply.
Also, although the giveaway was limited to people in the US, UK and Canada, I will ship these copies anywhere in the world. (This will make the shipping charges for anyone outside the US a bit hefty, I'm afraid, but I'll do everything I can to keep them down.)
I'm ironing out the details and setting up the page on my site right now and will let you know when it's up and running! Hopefully in a few days.
