This is a bit different than a book tour. The trailer tour goes something like this: there are six stops on the tour. Each stop will feature a guest post or interview from Michelle and at the end of the tour, the trailer for Last Chance will be revealed! So be sure to keep up with the tour by checking out Michelle's website where you can find the tour schedule and links to catch the reveal. I'm excited to not only see the trailer, but for the release of this book!
You can check out The Last Keeper's trailer here
Curious what it takes to make a book trailer? Below is Michelle's guest post about finding the perfect way to word things and the pictures to go along with it....
Scripts and Pictures
There are really only three stages to
making a book trailer. Find the pictures, find the music, and put it all
together along with some words. But as with the rest of life, things are rarely
that simple.
I normally start with the words, and with
Last Chance’s trailer I went through three incarnations of the final wording.
The first attempt sat for a long time, staring at me from the computer,
screaming that it was missing something.
Here’s what I first came up with:
When
the Keepers’ records are stolen, Serenity is left with only one choice...
Move
Everyone
But
they're already behind, and soon it becomes all too clear how high a price must
be paid for the theft.
Forced
to turn to their enemies for help, they're facing a greater threat than ever
before.
But
even asking for help can't bring back those who have been lost.
For me, there was something missing from this
attempt. It covered some of the things that happen in the book, but it was
missing the pow that I wanted from the trailer. So I walked away from it, left
it to stew, and came back at it with fresh eyes.
When I came back, I realised my mistake.
All the sentences were too long. For a trailer, it needs to be easy to read and
understand, and long sentences don’t work. Not when the trailer is just over a
minute in length. After scrapping everything I’d written in the first attempt,
I started on the second attempt. This turned out a lot better, but wasn’t quite
right, however, the third attempt was only minor variations on attempt two.
Changes in the order, the flow, a word or two here and there. Little things
that added up to exactly what I wanted.
Once the words were complete, the pictures
came next. What did I want for each set of words? What picture would be the perfect
representation of what I wanted the trailer to say?
The first of these pictures was the
easiest. The Last Keeper’s book cover.
Simple. Easy.
Everything else… that’s what I complicated
things.
There are many sites on the internet where you can get cheap pictures for book trailers. (I would like to point out that using google isn’t a great idea due to copyright laws. If you’re going to do it properly, it’s best to own the rights to the pictures) Now these sites offer a great range of pictures, and you purchase the rights to them, then use them as you like. Except that none of them had the pictures I wanted. They had ones that were close, but none that were spot on. So I made up my mind to repeat The Last Keeper’s book trailer and take the pictures myself.
Two problems arose in this. The first being
that I’m not a professional photographer. My version of photography is point
and click, and click, and click, and then click until there’s not room left on
the memory card. Second being that my camera just isn’t good enough to take
professional pictures.
Both of these are easy to overcome. I could
either buy a new camera capable of taking the pictures, or ask someone I knew
had both of the above skills.
Enter Paul Greathead, taker of all my
pictures. I set them up, directed them, did costumes and make-up and hair, and
he took the pictures. Now, professional pictures don’t come cheap, but if you
know someone who has the skills and is willing to help out then it can be well
worth it.
The end result is one I am completely in
love with. But it wasn’t all point and click.
Check back on the blog tour tomorrow for
Editing and Music!
About Michelle Birbeck
Michelle has been reading and writing her whole
life. Her earliest memory of books was when she was five and decided to try and
teach her fish how to read by putting her Beatrix Potter books in the fish tank
with them.
Since then her love of books has grown, and now she
is writing her own and looking forward to seeing them on her shelves, though
they won’t be going anywhere near the fish tank.
When she’s not writing, she’s dressmaking or
reading or plotting another story to write.
Where to find Michelle:
The Last Keeper is available from:
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