Saturday, January 16, 2010

Trailers

Attempting to write a script for a book trailer is as bad as writing a blurb. Or maybe it's harder, since with a trailer you need to match the words to images. And also find short, punchy micro-sentences that can easily be read in a second or two.

I'm trying to make a trailer for Mad, Bad & Dangerous, and most of what I can come up with is...blah. And Kett isn't blah. Kett is argh. Literally.

Some of the images I've found are perfect, like this one I bought from dreamstime.com, which is absolutely perfect for Kett. It's also from the same model/shoot as the picture used for the cover, which works out beautifully.



But then an image, or sequence, that encapsulates the actual tone of the book? That it's about love, and sex, and damaged people, and fighting, and family, but mostly about sex? See, that's a bit harder. Finding the right soundtrack is equally difficult, especially when I keep thinking, "Yeah, but what I really want is Florence & The Machine."

I may be some time.

4 comments:

  1. But Florence and the Machine costs, right?

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  2. Well, I'm pretty sure she doesn't give rights away for nothing.

    Unless you're the BBC, who seem to be using her on every advert I see.

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  3. Joe Konrath has the best post on book trailers I've ever read. Knowing your sense of humor, you'll enjoy this:
    http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2008/08/fuzzy-navel-book-trailer.html

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  4. Ha, that's a great post! And he's right, it's the wrong sort of medium for advertising a book. I've occasionally seen ads on TV for books and they've looked out of place.

    But then I've learned that in several areas, the opinion of authors differs from that of the buying public! My publishers certainly seem keen on the book trailer idea (Samhain will even put them on the book's info page on their website).

    So for now I'm doing them on-the-cheap (which means no Florence, because triple Brit-nominated artists don't give away rights) and seeing if they help. Call me weird, but I actually enjoy making them!

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