Book Trailers - for HS students: Home

Step 1: Read a book

Step 2: Outline information about the book (info below)

Step 3: Make a VISUAL plan – How will you present your book? What images will you show? In what order? What words will you say or show on the screen? You need a plan – Use a StoryBoard handout to sketch out your plan (see tab 2 for ideas and tab 3 for how-to StoryBoard)

Step 4: Collect what you need – images, a song or two for your sound track, etc. – Save these to your documents folder AND back it up on your Google drive. (see tab 4)

Step 5: Edit it all together into a new video (see tab 6: MovieMaker Info)

Simpson Street Free Press reporters produce book trailers during summer program

What IS a Book Trailer?

A book trailer is like a movie preview, but for a book! It should be interesting to your audience (other teenagers) and the purpose of the video is to promote or “sell” your book to others. Why should people choose your book? What makes it worth reading?

What should you include in your book trailer?

• The book title
• author’s name
• the genre (fiction or nonfiction) (AND fantasy, mystery, science fiction, historical fiction, adventure, realistic fiction, etc.)
• a description of at least one main character
• the problem the main character has to overcome (the main conflict) DO NOT explain if the character is successful at solving this problem!
• summarize a few details about the action of the novel (3-4 sentences; NO SPOILERS!)
• What was your favorite part of the book, or a connection you personally made to the story or characters?
• at least THREE descriptive adjectives to describe the book (not a vague “interesting”)
• What books are similar to this one (“If you liked x, y, z, then you’ll like this book!”)?
• What would be a good song, or good music to play with your book trailer?
• What could be a tagline for your book?
• Armageddon (1998) "Earth. It was fun while it lasted."
• Dumb and Dumber (1994) "For Harry and Llyod, every day is a no-brainer."
• Finding Nemo (2003) "There are 3.7 trillion fish in the ocean. they're looking for one."
• I Am Legend (2007) "The last man on Earth is not alone."
• The Matrix (1999) "Reality is a thing of the past."
• Office Space (1999) "Work sucks."
• Alien vs. Predator (2004) "Whoever wins, we lose."

• Don't forget to include your credits (at the end):

    Your name(s): __________________________________________
    The year you made this trailer: 2013
    Our school name: La Follette High School
    +Source(s) for the photos & audio you used, name of the song and singer, etc.

• Last, but not least, keep a time limit in mind. MOST book trailers are 30 sec. to 2 min. in length.