With a thrill of excitement yesterday I watched my very own video on YouTube.
For my first book, In the Wake of the Coup, I put together a Powerpoint presentation for the launch.
For my second novel, The Seaweed Cage, I was determined to produce a video to help promote it.
Some video footage in the can, I viewed it on iMovie (urrrgh! — lots to learn) but selected clips I could use. Then I produced stills to drip inklings of the story. Over the years I have put together many Powerpoint presentations, using numerous photographs, so that part of the process wasn’t difficult.
Linking video and stills, deciding on the length of the clips, inserting transitions, title and end shots and adding wording, was fairly time-consuming but enormously enjoyable. Slowly I began to see the video coming together, though it meant replaying the footage over and over, making minor adjustments until it seemed to work as one.
What was new was adding sounds effects and music, and working out how that could be done whilst preserving the sound on the video clips. With the house to myself one afternoon I set to, the room reverberating with hoots, honks, bangs and a library of music in short, medium and long blasts.
The book I had purchased to help me on my way seemed a little vague on this aspect, though I thought it was probably just my lack of knowledge. So best thing was to get stuck in and experiment. By the time my adding and deleting, shifting, shortening and lengthening and further adding and sound tweaking were finished, I began to understand what the book had been telling me.
So here is the finished result. Would be great to have your feedback.
And if anyone else is thinking of going down the video route, go for it.
I am me. For more click image.
jingsandthings 
Hi Dorothy, I just watched the video and was impressed with the finished product. I really liked the music that you used. It was very dramatic but when the music cuts out the footage seemed out of place. For the most part I was intrigued by the story line. I’m assuming it’s a murder mystery involving politics but I’m not sure how the ship is involved. I couldn’t have put together a video like that. I’ve only done power points with slide shows.
Thanks, Carol. Lots still to learn about putting everything together, but it was fun doing it. Practice makes perfect, as they say, so I’ll need to take more video to experiment with.
I agree, the music agrees with the plot you have presented. Love the stills you used too except the romance once, a “steamy” photo would have been better. Not overt but something that excites the imagination. LOL Sex sell books, that’s why I said that. Look at 50 Shades. It is not even a great book.
Thanks, Bebs. The romance aspect is part of the story, but not a major part, and I’m sure I couldn’t describe it as steamy. But I take your point. Didn’t read 50 Shades — so not quite sure why it became such a hit. Bit of a fluke, I think. Cheers.
Way to go!
It’s always good to try new avenues of expression. Video has become so important these days, that I just wanted to have a go. Thanks for your encouragement.
Very catchy! Love the stills, the music and the sound effects. “The secret of life, Brian, is…” 😀 Well done!
Thank you. Lots still to learn. It’s quite a challenging thing to do as there are so many different elements. Thinking of a theme for a follow-up.
I used to study film back in HS, IB HL, so I know how much time and effort go into this.
I´m impressed!
Lovely of you to say so. One of the challenges for a total novice was how to portray something of a plot without the use of people. The trailer for a film has larger than life characters. But I had no images of the characters in my book. Also, a subject such as politics is difficult to convey, hence using the barbed wire. But I like the way such challenges prompt lateral thinking and make you more creative.
Oh, I am very impressed with this as your first attempt at video. I thought the images were well chosen, as was the music. The barbed wire was grabbed my attention. I liked your tasteful choice of image to convey the romance part. What I love about reading your blog is that you convey your creative process, your impressions when you travel, your thoughts in a clear, interesting way that makes me feel I know you. What I love most of all is your BRAVERY in sharing this with the world.
What lovely comments. Thank you. Video is so much a part of the information and entertainment world now that I decided I just had to have a shot myself. Imagery means a lot to me. If I’m creating characters I see them, they become real people and I use many of the sights I’ve seen, and smelt and felt in my writing.
Video I found challenging — so many differing aspects, and how to portray something like politics and romance without any images of people. I’ve been thinking about this and have a few ideas floating around that I would like to experiment with.
As for being brave…for some reason I felt much more apprehensive about publishing than about putting the video on YouTube. Don’t know why, but nothing ventured…