[LM_NET] Thank you and Hit: Book Trailers - Long

[Suzanne McRae <crlibrary@YAHOO.COM>]

Hi LM_NET,
 
Thanks so much for all the great advice and help I received from this listserv.  
Some of you requested a hit so here it is...
 
 
Book Trailers
 
Check with Naomi Bates out of Northwest ISD in Justin, TX.  She has a blog (can't 
remember the address--would need to Google it).  She talks about how to do book 
trailers for her middle school library.  She is very tech savvy and would be very 
willing to help.  She posts all the time on LM_NET.  
 
I think there may be someone else who is a resource, but I can't remember the 
name.  If I do, I will e-mail you back.
 
 
You can try Animoto.com. You can select images and music that support the book for 
a 30-second video. (There are no time limits on Educators' accounts.) Pro: Kids can 
do it too, and it is very easy. Downside: You can add text, but not voice to the 
video that is produced, and there is not much control over the order in which your 
images are presented. You can also record your trailer with a camcorder and edit it 
in MovieMaker. (I strongly recommend having your students storyboard their trailers 
before filming). This is better if you want more control, but is also much more 
time consuming. Both methods will produce a product that can be placed on your 
school's website or blog for maximum exposure to your patrons and community. I hope 
this helps!
 
What kind of computer systems do you run? I worked with an English teacher this 
year to have her classes create simple book trailers using iPhoto, Flickr,  and 
Keynote. You can see some examples on my web site.

http://web.me.com/marsharedd/ReddBlog/Book_Blog/Book_Blog.html

If you are a Mac shop and would like more information on how we did these, let me 
know.
 

Try animoto.com. I've used Microsoft Photostory too. Both very easy to use. Good 
luck!
 
 
Smilebox is just the ap that lets me link to the trailer so I don't have to have a 
copy of it stored on the web site slowing it down. Good luck.
 
http://www.colquitt.k12.ga.us/twether/booktrailerproject.htm
 
There are some resources on our page above.  "Generic Quick Start" will get you 
started.  Here is a link to some of our completed projects:
 
http://www.colquitt.k12.ga.us/cchsmedia/cchsdigitalbooktalks.htm
 
 
Hi Suzanne,
I would recommend that you get started with a free website, One True Media. There 
aren't a lot of bells and whistles and you're only allowed one audio track, but 
it's as easy to put together as a PowerPoint.
http://www.onetruemedia.com
 
Windows Movie Maker (free for PC's)  is an option if you have PC's, just search in 
Google for it and download it for free. IMovie is an option for Macs. These two 
choices give you more creative freedom, but require more time to learn for you and 
your students if you haven't used them before.
Our students and their teachers love making booktrailers.
 
 
Hi,
Not sure what you need in the way of direction, but I used Windows Movie Maker to 
make mine.  if you aren't familiar with a video editing program, you should start 
there.  I haven't used imovie on our mac yet, but my daughter tells me it's easier 
than movie maker.   You can view them at 
http://www.matsuk12.us/17462011694359840/podcasts/browse.asp?A=399&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=66308
 .  I purchased some music from digitaljuice.com, but ended up using their free 
sample music for the ones on my podcast page.  A lot of my pictures are from the 
internet with citations at the end of the video (incorrectly cited as 
well....urgh!  I'll do better next time!).  My 5th grade students did 
booktalk/commercials where they video taped themselves and added cover art, etc in 
the final mix.  I haven't posted them, as I'm still sorting out internet 
permission forms in cum files in the office.
 
Try animoto! Great tool.
 
I did a project which had kids recommend their favorite book to incoming 6th 
graders.  We watched a few on this website, 
http://bookjunkysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/eggs-by-jerry-spinelli-book-trailer.html
and then I used Microsoft photostory to create the trailers. Photostory is really 
easy to use and edit the trailer.  I had the kids create a BME(Beginning, Middle, 
and End) using a table with bullets to include only the salient parts of the book 
without giving away the ending. They then used the BME to find pictures that 
illustrated the snippets in their BME.  They saved these in their picture file and 
then imported them into Photostory.  It is really a lot of fun.  The kids can 
create music right in photostory, as well.  I will be happy to share with you the 
ones that my kids made and their BME's on the book.  We are just finishing.  It 
was a great project. I would be happy to answer any of your questions.
 
Last summer I wrote the process on how I create digital trailers using
moviemaker.  You can view that in the archives.  I now teach other
librarians and teachers across the state how to create these in 6 hour
workshops.  And since then, there has been added bonuses.  You can now
very easily create one using Animoto, which allow educators as free
account.  There are pluses and minuses to using this product, as well as
those using moviemaker.  I tend to use MM because it produces a more
quality video vs. cookiecutter type ones animoto provides.  BUT....the
time it takes to make one through animoto is much much less that using
MM.  It's what you prefer.  Typically, it takes about seven hours to
create a trailer using MM, but it will take you at least an hour to find
the images and attribute them if you use animoto.  
Another question I get asked frequently is how I come up with the
"blurbs."  This is mostly a consciously creative thing, and if you have
the knack, trailers will be so simple to "narrate."  It does take
practice though...just like teaching kids how to paraphrase in a
research paper <wink> 
So this summer I'm showing participants how to do both, but with more
emphasis on MM, since animoto is drop and play basically.  Wish you were
in Texas!!  
Also, look at my new trailer I created for Eternal by Cynthia Lietech
Smith on my blog:
www.naomibates.blogspot.com
 
**What age? How complicated do you want to make it?

We did a simple one last year to promote the Iowa Teen Award books students had 
read. We provide an intro and a four slide PPT template. We had put the book cover 
on one of the slides and explained that they were to complete the other three to 
include 1)a "tease" or why someone should read the book, 2)enough facts about it to 
make it interesting without telling too much, and 3)some personal testimonial 
statements.

There are some humps to get over (what to do with kids who haven't read one of the 
ITA books? Do it on another book they HAVE read. What to do with kids who can't or 
won't do the work? Pair them with someone who will. etc.) But in general it works 
well, takes only two days of class time, and allows us to run them on a computer in 
the library near the circ desk to promote reading good books.
 
I am so excited that you are doing this.  I am starting this up in the fall with 
my reading classes.  Have you ever worked with microsoft photostory or movie 
maker?  Movie maker is a bit more complex than photostory for first time users.  
You probably will get a reply from Naomi Bates.  I have learned everything from 
her, she is the greatest.  If you want at detailed step I have one linked on my 
school library webpage.  Give me till the end of the day and I will have it up and 
working.  Please let me know how this goes with your campus.  I am using these 
book trailers as a replacement for AR.  Also,  I have  a flat screen I purchased 
that sits in the library and continuously runs downloaded book trailers.  I can't 
wait to start showing the kids works.
 
I am allowed to lurk on the LM loop and I saw your post. I have made several 
trailers, both for my books and for fellow authors.
 I use Windows Movie Maker and either my own graphics/video clips or those found 
on free sites. The music I use also comes from free sites. 
 There are tutorials at these sites:
 http://www.ehow.com/how_4511563_book-trailer-easy-free.html  Here I would use a 
good photo editing program rather than Power Point, but that is a matter of 
preference.
 http://www.squidoo.com/booktrailers (Good link to a tutorial there)
 The most important tip in my opinion is to keep it short—not more than a minute 
and a half—if possible.  Watch the sound level and quality and make sure text 
remains on screen long enough to be read—short spurts rather than long passages 
are best.  
 
 

 
Suzanne McRae 
Library Media Specialist
Soundview Campus, Bronx, NY
crlibrary@yahoo.com 


      

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