In my last post, I went over the beginning steps of making a book trailer. Here’s how to finish it up.
Step 5
Open PowerPoint and start a making a slide show. Using your script, type in the text and insert the image from each line of your table. PowerPoint has some handy features, like backgrounds, and also lots of options for fonts, text color and size. Use text colors and fonts that are easy to read and go with your book cover. It may be me, but I find PowerPoint offers more than Movie Maker in the way of font choices and flexibility with the text.
When you are done, click Animations and look over to the upper right. Where it says “Advance slide” check the box that says “automatically after” and enter 5 seconds, then click “apply to all.” Then click “Slide show” and “from beginning” and watch your video.
Ask yourself if it flows well or the timing of certain slides needs to be adjusted either slower or faster. This is the time to tinker with it until you are satisfied. Make a note of about how long your video will be.
Note that most book trailers are between 90 and 120 seconds, so if you need to adjust yours, this is the time to do it.
Other than getting the timing down, don’t worry about transitions or other effects quite yet. All you want to do is get the timing down.
Step 6
Now it’s time to think about music. The same copyright rules apply to soundtracks. I’ve had the best success with iStockphoto.com for music, as it seems to be a little cheaper. Some others to check out include:
Royaltyfreemusic.com
Incomptech.com
Searching for music is the most time-consuming part of the process, in my opinion. Since you know approximately how long your video will be, that will help narrow your search down.
Most of the royalty free sites allow you to download a sample track for free so you can test it out before paying. The sample track comes with an audio watermark. Several times through the sample track you’ll hear the word “sample” or in the case of the site I used “istockphoto.com.” Even with that, you’ll be able to get an idea of how well the music fits your video.
To link the music to your slide show, go to your first slide and Insert>Sound. Select your sample music file, then click “automatically” when prompted.
Then select Animations and click on Custom Animations. A box should appear on the right of your screen with your sound file listed. Click on the name of your file. It should now be outlined in blue. To the right you’ll see a down arrow; click on it. In the drop down menu that appears, click on “Start with previous.”
Click the down arrow again and select “effect options.” In the box that pops up, check that “Start playing from beginning” is chosen. Select “stop playing after” and enter the number of slides in your slideshow and click ok.
Save your slideshow. Then click “slideshow” and “From beginning” and review your video. If you like how the music fits your images and text, then you’re ready to move. Take your time tweaking to get everything just right.
Once you are satisfied, buy your soundtrack.
Delete the test sound track from your slideshow. (Go to your first slide, click on the down arrow by your sound file name, and remove.) Then save the slideshow. Where it asks “save as type” select JPEG File Interchange Format. When prompted, select “every slide.” This will save each slide as if it were a photo.
Step 7
Now open Windows Movie Maker. Click on “add videos and photos” and add your files saved in the last step. Under Video tools, set the duration for each slide. This may be a little different from what you did in PowerPoint, as Movie Maker’s timing is not exactly the same. Under animations, play with the different ways slides can transition.
I personally like “pan and zoom” because it creates some motion rather than just having a still slide. Add your music, and then review your work. You may have to tinker awhile to get it just right.
If you added transitions and other effects while you were working in PowerPoint, you’ll notice that they are all gone and you’ll have to do them over.
Movie Maker also gives you the option for a title screen and credits, but those can be deleted if you prefer.
Once you are satisfied, save your movie and you’ve got yourself a book trailer!
In case you are interested, here’s mine.