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Are you interested in learning how to create a book trailer that looks as good as the clip
I just played.
This is Karen McKee, the Scientist Videographer.
And some of you may be familiar with iMovie and have seen some of the tutorials I’ve
done showing how to use this movie-editing application.
In addition to the regular movie-editing option, there is a second option to create movie trailers.
These are based on templates that resemble typical movie trailer styles.
And as you saw, these are great for creating brief videos about a trip, a project, or an
event.
But we’re going to use it to create a book trailer.
[music]
So let’s start at the beginning with how to get the app onto your mobile device.
I’m using an iPad, but you can also use an iPhone or a similar movie-editing app for
whatever device you own.
Most are inexpensive, easy to use, and work similarly.
So go to your app store and search for iMovie.
Once you find it, just download it.
I already have it.
So, I’m going to scroll to the app and tap it to open.
Note that your device must be in landscape orientation when making a movie.
In iMovie, tap the plus sign to create a new project.
Then select the movie trailer option.
Step one is to select from a list of templates.
These have different themes, pacing, and music.
What I’m going to do is recreate the mock book trailer I showed earlier, which was based
on the Adrenaline theme.
Once selected, we tap create trailer.
Once selected, you are presented with a screen like this.
On the left is your outline and storyboard, which I’ll come back to in a minute.
On the right is the viewer window in the upper panel and at the bottom is where your media
library will appear.
Step two is to customize the text in the outline.
Here, I’m going to put the name of the book where it says movie name.
So the Scientist Explorers.
For studio, you can put your book publisher or your company.
And I’ve already added Muddy Waders Productions.
And the next line allows you to switch out the logo style.
Dandelion is one; Trees is another one.
But I think I’m going to leave it on Galaxy.
Step three is to add video and photos.
For this, you want to select the storyboard view.
And so what you see on the left is a sequence of suggested scenes along with text.
And so let’s play a bit by tapping the play button at the bottom right of the viewer.
[music]
And so you can get an idea of how this is going to work even with the placeholders.
So now you want to add your media into the placeholders as well as change the text to
suit your story.
To change the text, all you do is tap the blue text box and a cursor appears as well
as your keyboard.
And I’ll change this to “they traveled into the wilderness”.
[typing]
And then you just go through and add whatever text is needed to tell your story.
Now for the fun part.
To add media, tap the placeholder, and your library will open.
At the bottom, select video, photo, or camera depending on what you want to add.
And let’s do video first.
So swipe your finger to scroll through your video clips.
And tap one to select it.
You can review it.
You can push the box to adjust the selection and play the entire thing by tapping the play
button to see the preview.
And when you are happy with it, you can then tap the arrow, which drops it right into the
placeholder.
Tap the placeholder again to make fine adjustments by scrubbing through your film clip until
you find the portion that you wish to add.
And you can review it by tapping the play button.
And then when you are finished, tap done.
You can also add photos.
Here’s my photo browser.
And we can pick a photo.
Ahh.
Let’s see that one, and that can then be adjusted by selecting the start, the beginning
of it.
And in the viewer window, you can reposition or you can pinch it to zoom in.
and then you select the ending and reposition that.
And so now its going to scan across adding a Ken Burns effect to that photo.
And I think I’ll add another film clip.
And tap it and adjust it to the section that I actually wanted, which is this one.
And that’s it.
If you wish, you can record new footage or photos that are dropped directly into your
project.
Select camera, and then either the still camera or the camcorder icon.
And then just tap the record button to begin the recording.
And that drops right into that placeholder.
So as you build your project, you can periodically review by tapping the play button.
[music]
And so now you can see how it’s beginning to come together.
Now all you do is continue adding media and modifying the text boxes until you’ve got
everything finished.
OK I have finished adding footage and images from my library.
So let’s see how it looks.
To play full screen, tap the play button on the bottom left of the viewer panel.
[music]
OK, I think you can see how easy this is going to be.
One issue though with the movie trailer templates is that you are locked into them, making modifications
difficult.
For example, you don’t want to have the movie credits screen in your book trailer.
So how do you delete that and add perhaps.
information about where to buy your book.
First, you want to save your trailer to your camera roll.
So go back to the main screen and tap the share icon.
Then select save.
And you can pick which export size you want, and I recommend one of the HD versions.
When you tap on it, your video then begins exporting.
This will take a few seconds to a minute.
OK now it is exported to my camera roll, and I’ll go back to my list of projects and
tap the plus sign again.
Except this time, I’ll pick movie instead of trailer.
And we get another set of templates.
And I’m going to select Simple.
Now tap create movie at the top right of the screen.
And you are prompted to tap video to insert media.
And at the top of the media library is the trailer we just saved.
Tap it and it drops into the timeline at the bottom.
To scrub to the beginning of the footage, tap the return button.
Now we can preview the footage in the viewer window by tapping the play button.
[music]
And it looks pretty good.
Let’s take a quick look at how to edit this footage.
One thing you likely want to remove is the bit at the end that is more appropriate for
a movie trailer.
How do you cut it?
First, tap the clip to select it.
And you know it’s selected when it’s outlined in yellow.
Then we are going to detach the audio.
Select audio, then detach.
You can see the detached audio track below the video track.
Now we can make adjustments to the video without affecting the original audio.
First let’s create an ending for the book trailer.
For this you can shoot a blank clip with the camera lens covered, or you can use another
clip or image, perhaps your book cover.
But let’s shoot a clip.
Tap the camera icon and then the record button.
tap it again to stop the record.
And then select use video.
The clip is dropped into your timeline.
Now all you need do is add text.
Tap the clip to select, then Title and opening title.
And to change the style, select the text icon, and you’re given a number of options.
And I think I will pick Reveal.
That will put the text in the center of the frame.
And now all I do is type in my text explaining where my book is available.
Now, we’re going to trim the main movie clip to delete the end credits.
Select that video track, then drag the yellow bar until you cut off those frames.
Now let’s see how that looks.
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Much better.
You should now have a good idea how to make edits to your trailer.
I’ll leave further details for you to explore on your own.
If you get lost, all you need do is tap the question mark, and everything is identified
for you.
Or if you need more help, you can go back to the main screen and select help, and the
instructions for iMovie will open up and you can search for whatever you need
to know.
So that’s how you can create an effective and professional-looking trailer for your
book.
And of course you can always build your book trailer from scratch in the movie editor instead
of using the movie trailer templates.
If you are interested in more tips and tutorials, please visit my website.
And also check out my ebook, The Scientist Videographer, which provides detailed information
and guidance for anyone wishing to add video to their communication toolbox.
This is Karen McKee, The Scientist Videographer.
Thanks for watching.
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