What is a book trailer?

A book trailer is a video advertisement for a book which employs techniques similar to those of movie trailers to promote books and encourage readers. PowerPoint, PhotoStory and MovieMaker are some common programs that can be used to make book trailers. 

1. Go to the "examples" page and spend some time looking at book trailers. Most of these were made by students, some with Powerpoint and some with other programs. Some  use photos and clipart and others use video.  You can get ideas and try to figure out what makes a good book trailer. Try to figure out why some are more interesting than others.   

2. Go to the "Write a script" page and read the steps to making a script. Download and print the template. Now you can write your script for each slide and plan what kind of photo or clipart to use for each slide. Remember, your sentences will appear either on top of your pictures or in between pictures. Your sentences should be brief. See the examples.

3. Now the fun part...find some pictures to illustrate your script. On the "Find some pictures" page you will find links to some good sites for photos and clipart, plus instructions for how to save them, what format they need to be, etc. You will also find instructions for citing the pictures you find. This means that you must list where you got each picture. This information will be listed on a bibliography page at the end of your trailer.  You will call you bibliography page "Credits" and list where you got each image and where you got your music.

4. Now that you have your script and your pictures, go to "Start with PowerPoint" and start creating your trailer. There are step by step instructions if you need them, but feel free to experiment!