I mentioned a couple of days ago about how much I loved making Book Trailers. I don’t make as many as I should, but when I do I’m always happy with the end result.
I’ve used all of the programs mentioned in the short video above and my favorites are Animoto and iMovie. The only drawback to Animoto is that you can always tell when it is an Animoto trailer. It just has a look about it and the logo appears at the end of every video.
When I plan a Book Trailer the first thing I do is create a list of the pictures that I want to find. I use a couple of different websites to find royalty-free photos. One is the Flickr Free Use photos. If I don’t find anything there I go to FlickrCC. I try to avoid using Google Images whenever I can, but I have when I couldn’t come up with anything else.
After I have my pictures, I decide what order they need to go in and the text that should be included in the Book Trailer. I try to keep the text easy to read so I choose a font as simple as possible while keeping it fun to look at, too. I try not to be too wordy so the person watching can read all the text on each slide.
For music I always use FreePlay Music. There are so many choices categorized by music style and feel.
If you don’t have time to create a Book Trailer there are many already available that you can watch. Book Trailers for All is a website attempting to compile Book Trailers from all around the Internet so people can go to one place and find whatever they need. The lady who created the site has the trailers grouped by grade level and also a link to Official Trailers that have been created by Publishers. She also provides resources to help people create their own Book Trailers. I would say the most important thing for you to do if you are just starting out making Book Trailers is to just play around. Experiment and don’t get upset if things don’t work the first time.
Some of the Book Trailers I’ve created are on my blog and some are on my YouTube Channel.
What are the programs you like to use? Do you have any advice for people just starting out? Leave a comment if you do.
