This is step three in a series of instructions for creating a book trailer. If you’ve not read the previous two steps, you may want to do so before proceeding.

OK, now you’ve got the core message for your book trailer written and the key elements outlined. The next step is to gather or create the visuals for your book trailer. If at all possible, let pictures tell your story. In fact, it is helpful to make a storyboard, which shows the complete sequence of scenes that will comprise your trailer (easily done with post it notes or PowerPoint, as I describe in my book). Either sketch out or use a photo to illustrate each scene and indicate how many seconds will be spent on each one. By estimating the time for each scene, you can more easily keep your trailer within your target time limit.

If you watched my book trailer, you’ll see that most scenes lasted no more than one or two seconds. I was aiming for a fast-paced trailer that accelerated over time. What times you set will depend on the pacing you are going for (more than five seconds per scene, however, will make your trailer seem to drag). Important point to keep in mind: Even though you are describing a book, which may be read at a leisurely pace, your trailer should be designed differently—to satisfy the expectations of a video viewer, rather than a book reader. By this I mean that the content (what the book is about) should appeal to the book reader, but the way the information is delivered should meet the expectations of a video viewer (brief with mostly visual elements, constant movement and addition of new information, and appropriate music carefully keyed to the visual elements—to name a few). See my book for more detailed information about what video viewers expect.

The media you use will depend on a number of factors, including your book’s topic as well as your abilities. You can use video clips, still images, animations, or graphics to serve as visuals in your trailer. The big question is where do you get those media you want to use? In my case, I had a whole library of film clips and images I had shot during years of scientific research. My problem was deciding which ones to use. Authors of textbooks may also have a good library of images they’ve acquired about their topic. However, most authors will not have a lot of visual media at hand and will have two options: to go out and shoot whatever video or still images they need or use media from an outside source.

The latter option may appear to be the easiest approach, but let me caution you to use only media (images, music) for which you hold the copyright (or have gotten permission/paid a fee to the copyright holder) or use media in the public domain (and even this can be tricky). There are many misconceptions about copyright and “fair use”. Just because you can download it does not mean you are legally justified in using it.  But this is a good rule of thumb: Assume that anything on the Internet is copyright protected unless evidence to the contrary can be found. I devote an entire chapter in my book to copyright as it relates to video.

Your best option is to create your own content. Take your smartphone, iPad, or camera out and shoot whatever you need. If you’ve seen something online that you like, try to duplicate it with your own footage or still images. Collar some friends, relatives, or co-workers and get them to help you recreate a scene or action from your book. Use your imagination and have fun!

Once you’ve captured all the media necessary to tell your story, the next step will be to create the trailer. In the next post, I’ll provide a video tutorial that will walk you through the process of compiling your media into a book trailer using a powerful, but inexpensive movie-editing app for mobile devices.