Video Q and A Response - Engaging Fans

I recently approached Verla Lacy Powers, author of Child of Desire, about doing a video Q and A event for her facebook fans. It worked like this:

-Verla first put out a call for questions to her fans on facebook, explaining that their questions could be answered in a video response.

-After a week, we compiled the responses and picked 5 (the rest would be answered via facebook).

-Then we set a time and I filmed her responses.

-Finally, I edited together the first response in a tidy little package and we released it last night. We'll be releasing the other four video responses over the next couple of weeks.

This is an example of another way of using video content to market your book, in this case to engage with your fans. It's a way of developing a sense of connection, and building what you might call brand loyalty. By spreading out the release of the videos, we supply fans of Child of Desire with a stream of content; content they can share with their friends, helping promote the novel.

Check out the video below:

If you're interested in similar video content for your book, or in a book trailer, contact us today at collegiatefilms@gmail.com to get started!

Kansas City Writers Meetup Group: Self-Sufficiency

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of speaking to the Kansas City Writers Meetup Group at the Oak Park Library. I talked about the importance of video content in this day and age, the dos and don'ts of book trailers, and even what to look for in a production company (including pricing models).

The group was very welcoming and made my job a lot easier by willfully participating. It was a great experience and I'm currently seeking out more speaking engagements so I can do it again. But I don't normally use my blog for company news, I have facebook for that. So why am I writing?

I posited the question to this group of authors, "how do you define success?" I got a few different answers: best-sellers lists, financial stability, and self-sufficiency. It was this last one that really grabbed my attention. You see, the lady that suggested it said that she sees self-sufficiency as being able to take a book from conception to sale...by herself. And that's really the beauty of our times, isn't it? For the first time, authors have the resources to write, publish, and market their own content without relying on third-party publishers.

But can an independent author really compete with the big traditional publishers single-handedly? And should they?

Ultimately, the established publishers have a wealth of resources (both financial and human), to put their authors in the best position to rack up sales. Trying to employ all the little marketing techniques they use, while still finding time to write and have a life probably isn't practical. But that's where people like me come in. Collegiate Films is a small part of the effort to give the little guy a fighting chance. With our low-cost production model, we enable authors to more effectively market the content they've worked so hard to create, without breaking the bank. By doing so, we help close the gap, and give authors a hand in being self-sufficient.

Shoot us an email today to start your journey to self-sufficiency! collegiatefilms@gmail.com

Building the Book Teaser - Part Three

Today's post will be a very brief look at image composition.

Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a very well known compositional cheat sheet that goes a little something like this: take your image, now divide it into thirds vertically and horizontally with imaginary lines, so that it looks something like this:

The basic idea is just to avoid placing your subject in the center box, but most people will generally get more specific and say that you should line up your subject so that they reside in the intersection of two lines. A general rule for horizon lines is to place them on either the bottom or top third line (but you can play with this - i.e. if you have a really dramatic sky you want to showcase you could frame the horizon lower to capture more of the sky.

Diagonals

If you want to show motion in a frame or provide a sense of depth, diagonals can work to your advantage. Here's a clip from one of the original motion pictures, filmed by the Lumiere brothers in 1895, legend has it that audiences leapt from their chairs in fear that the train was actually coming toward them:

Type of Shot

Probably more important than your composition, your shot type will affect how your audience relates to the scene and should always be kept in mind. Here are some basic shot types:

Wide Shot - A wide shot captures the entirety of the scene and provides the viewer with a sense of geography, where characters are located relative to each other. Extremely wide shots are often used to communicate setting (e.g. a vast farm landscape or a giant oil drilling rig) before going into where the characters are interacting.

Medium Shot - A medium shot goes in closer on a particular subject (think waist up). This is more intimate than a wide shot but still allows for some geographical information.

Close-up - In a close-up, a certain feature or object takes up the entire frame. This is an extremely intimate form of shot and can be used to great emotional effect.

The important thing about these shot types is proximity, always keep in mind how your proximity to the subject affects the intimacy level with the viewer and if that level of intimacy is appropriate for that moment in the scene. For instance, if we haven't been introduced to a character yet, a close-up might not be appropriate. But if we introduce the character from a wider angle and then as the scene develops and we get emotionally closer to the character, getting physically closer with a close-up can work quite well for dramatic effect.

Try to vary your type of shot and the angle you're shooting from.

In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams’ character, Mr. Keating, stands on his desk and asks his students “Why do I stand up here?” A student answers “to feel taller!” But Mr. Keating says “No!” and dings a bell with his toe. He goes on to tell the class “I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.” The students then file through taking turns standing on the desk and observing the classroom from a new perspective. I contend that there are two types of people, the type that take their turn on the desk and appreciate the view it offers but then step off, and the type that live to be on the desk and to explore life from a new angle. If you are an author, then I would imagine you fall into the latter category, constantly looking at life from a slightly different vantage point, trying to see something you haven't noticed before. Apply this to your camera work as you film your book trailer. Show us the world in a way we haven't seen it before. No rule of image composition is as important as that of being unique.

As always, feel free to comment below and please share with your friends. The next post in the series will talk about sound.

Finding Your Muse

Below is a great article from Brain Pickings reviewing a book on productivity for creative types. The key point is, “don’t wait for your muse to show up!” If you want to make money off your artistic pursuits, you cannot wait around for inspiration to strike. It will never be the ideal time to write your next novel or finish the one you’re working on. You have to force yourself to sit down and write something.

I was recently finishing up a short film and we had a screening coming up in about 12 hours but we weren’t finished with post-production. My composer was stuck on the final scene. Nothing he tried seemed to be working and he kept getting more and more frustrated. But he stuck with it. He kept making music until he found something that worked. It wasn’t a light bulb moment or a case of sifting the Internet and taking a stroll until something hit him. It was simply working through the problem, approaching it from angle after angle and not stopping till he found a fit. That kind of grit is what separates those that are successful and create engaging work from those that remain mere hobbyists.

I have this romantic notion that I keep coming back to, that our minds are constantly operating on a higher level of understanding than we are ever consciously aware of. I believe that creative insights, truly meaningful and original breakthroughs, come from breaking through that wall of consciousness and into that level of understanding, into our own thoughts. But you can’t get there through pedestrian observation; you have to hammer at it, work for it, and dig into the problem. You have to be your own muse.

Give the article a read, it makes some great points.

 Brain Pickings "Manage Your Day to Day"

Building the Book Teaser - Part Two

Production

The next few posts in this series will cover the basics of the two most integral parts of production: image and sound.

Image

Ideally, you’ll want to use a video camera that allows you to manually control the following features: focus, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance. Now this may sound a little snobbish, but you also want a video camera that shoots full 1080p HD footage. Content should be the main concern, but unfortunately these days if you want your video to be taken seriously it needs to be in HD. Let’s take a look at what each of the features I mentioned actually does.

Focus: This controls the vertical plane, in distance from the camera, that will be seen as in focus (or sharp). I recently talked with a lady whose friend did some filming for her on a professional video camera but she failed to adjust the focus. She was left with blurry, unusable footage. Without getting too much into boring details, you want to be focused on your subject, and there will be a little room in front of and behind where your lens is focused that will also be acceptably sharp; this space is called depth of field. A lot of different factors affect depth of field, but the one you need to know for basic video production is focal length. Focal length, put plainly, is how wide or zoomed in your lens is. If you have a DSLR camera, pick it up and look at your lens, somewhere you’ll notice a marking of millimeters (e.g. 50mm or a range such as 55-300mm), this indicates focal length. The lower the number, the wider-angle view (think looking at something just with your eyes), higher numbers will magnify the image (like using binoculars). At higher focal lengths, your depth of field will be shallower, meaning there is less room for error in focusing. You can use this to your advantage when setting up your shots. Frame your shot, then zoom all the way in on the part of your subject you want to be in focus, now adjust focus until that area is sharp, now zoom back out. Zooming does not change the focal distance so what’s in focus when you’re zoomed in will for sure be in focus when you zoom out. DO NOT FORGET TO FOCUS!

Aperture: Aperture is measured in f-stops, which are ratios of focal length (f) to the diameter of the lens opening. Basically, they are a relative indicator of how much light is being let into the lens, which will affect how bright your image is. Lower apertures let in more light and provide a shallower depth of field; higher apertures let in less light and provide a deeper depth of field. This is important for properly exposing your footage. If your footage is too bright (you’ll notice bright parts of the scene starting to bloom out and you’ll lose detail in those areas) you may want to stop down your aperture to let less light in. Ideally you want to be able to see details both in the shadows and the highlights of your scene, preserving the most detail possible. When you’re editing your footage, you can adjust your contrast levels to give it a more stylized look.

Shutter Speed: Shutter speed is another part of the exposure formula. It refers to the length of time each frame of video is exposed for (how long light is allowed to hit the sensor) and is expressed as a fraction. Higher shutter speeds let in less light and cause less motion blur in the image (a good example of high shutter speeds is the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan, watch it to see how shutter speed affects motion). Lower shutter speeds let in more light and cause more motion blur, which can lend a dreamy feel to the footage if used properly. The general rule of thumb, for smooth motion, is to set the bottom number of your shutter speed at twice your frame rate (e.g. shutter speed of 1/48 at 24 frames per second).

ISO: ISO is a measure of the sensitivity of your cameras image sensor and constitutes the final component of the exposure formula. Higher numbers react more to light (which can be helpful in low light situations), but they also introduce digital noise into the image, which is not desirable. Lower numbers will produce less noise but require more light.

White Balance: This setting indicates the color that the camera interprets as white. It’s important to set this properly in each lighting setup you use so that your footage doesn’t have any weird color tints to it. Many cameras allow you to zoom in on a white piece of paper and press a button telling the camera to interpret that color as white, check your camera’s manual for specific instructions.

This is a very bare bones look at the key manual features on a camera but if you play around with them and see how they work, you’ll be well on your way to capturing a good-looking image. My next post will look at image composition and give some tips for keeping your video looking professional. If you have any questions, please share them in the comment section below.

Building the Book Teaser - Part One

Collegiate Films offers low prices and professional content, but we understand that some authors just can’t afford to hire someone to create video content for their book. These authors may decide to try the DIY route, but may not know where to start, and a poorly made teaser could be more detrimental than helpful. In light of this, I’ll be writing a series of posts focusing on video production techniques you can use to add some polish to your book trailer.

Let’s start from the beginning:

Pre-Production

In the filmmaking world, pre-production refers to all of the planning that goes into making a film or video. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! It is extremely important to be at least somewhat organized and have a roadmap of what you want the finished product to look like. We’re going to take a brief look at some different aspects of pre-production, starting with the most boring and working up to the fun creative parts.

Legal

Now’s a good time to start collecting the legal forms you’ll need for your video. Since you’re going to be using this video for marketing purposes, you need to make sure you’re legally covered to use whatever you may use in the video. This means having signed actor and location releases. An actor signs an actor release to show that they’ve agreed to let you use their image in your video, and will protect you from legal action that could result if you DON’T obtain proper permission. Similarly, a location release is signed by the owner of the property and states that you have their permission to film at that location and that the location can appear in your video. If you purchase rights to music or hire an original composer you’ll also need forms for that (but if you’re going the DIY route for this video you’ll probably want to stick to royalty free music). You should be able to find all of the above-mentioned forms here: http://www.filmcontracts.net/

Equipment

Equipment will not make or break your video, but it is important to have some basic necessities. First and foremost, you’ll want a camera. These days I would have to recommend a DSLR camera such as the Canon Rebel T3i, which can shoot 1080p HD video, and with a little bit of lighting, you can make it look quite professional. You can probably find a friend with one of these to borrow from. The downside to the DSLR route is that it makes audio much harder to record, so if you have access to a prosumer or professional level video camera with professional audio inputs, use that. As for audio equipment, ideally you want to use a microphone other than the one built into your camera. In-camera mics are usually very, very poor quality. A nice shotgun microphone – a microphone with a highly directional pick-up pattern that helps you avoid recording too much extraneous sound - would be the ideal solution (you’ll also need an XLR audio cable and something to run it to – either a field recorder, or using an adapter you can run it straight to your computer). The final piece of equipment I would label a necessity is a tripod. Nothing will make your video look unprofessional quite like shaky footage. Get a cheap tripod and lock down your camera.

Casting and Wardrobe

If you’ll be using actors in your video (or voice talent), you’ll need to find people that fit your vision of the characters and then deck them out in clothing to match. Thrift stores can be a great source of cost effective wardrobe! Professional actors will most likely not want to work for free, so if you plan to use them be sure to budget for that.

Writing

This is what you do best, right? Here are some things to think about when writing out a script for your video:

·      Keep it short – people have short attention spans and you’re not a video professional, keep it short       and sweet and it’ll be better for everyone. I’d recommend 30 seconds if you’re doing it yourself.

·      Remember you’re selling something – what is it about your book that will connect with people and how can you communicate that to them?

·      Don’t mimic the book jacket, but leave them wanting more – your trailer should offer something to readers that they can’t get just from reading a synopsis. You can communicate tone, pace, character, story, etc. just remember not to give it all away. Entice your readers. I like to draw inspiration from the first few pages of a book. As an author you spend a lot of time making sure your reader will be hooked from the get go, try incorporating that hook into your video.

·      Be realistic – if you can’t afford a professionally produced video, you probably can’t afford Michael Bay style explosions. Think about what you have available to you and try to work with that.

·      This isn’t a movie trailer – you’re selling a book, not a movie. Your voice and story are far more important than flashy visuals. Voice-over reading of passages, simple titles, and appropriate music are the best tools at your disposal as an author, not a filmmaker, making a book teaser.

Drawing

This may not be your best talent, but drawing out each shot you see in your head, even if you just use stick figures, can help you see how the visual grammar of the finished piece will fit together. This is called storyboarding and you can find storyboarding templates here: http://www.printablepaper.net/preview/storyboard-letter-16to9-2x3

Scheduling

Grab a calendar and figure out when you, your actors, and your equipment are all available. This part can be tricky. Make sure to give people plenty of advanced notice and follow up with them as the day gets closer. Also give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. In video production, things will go wrong, you don’t want to run out of time to shoot and have nothing you can use.

This was a fairly simple and boiled down description of preproduction but I hope you found it useful. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comment section below and I’ll do my best to answer them. Keep an eye out for Part Two where we’ll be discussing the actual production process!

Collegiate Films: A New Approach to Book Marketing

What drives us to read? Is it the language, the percussive play of vowels and consonants? Is it the dazzling imagery the words generate in our minds? Or is it simply for the pure joy of escaping to a world not quite our own; one of reflection, grandeur, excitement? Whatever it may be, something about the written word has the power to grab us by our very soul and delight, enlighten, and inspire. Collegiate Films is focused on capturing and conveying that power to a modern audience.

Who Are We?

Collegiate Films is owned and operated by Michael Powers, a Kansas native currently attending the University of Kansas, majoring in Film and Media Studies with a Minor in Business. Michael founded the company late in 2012 as a way to further develop his skills and creative portfolio, as well as to fuel his lifelong love of literature and hopefully make a little money to help pay for school. With digital technology pushing down the price of video production, and a large pool of talent to draw crewmembers from, we are able to offer professional quality products at ramen noodle prices (figuratively).

Book Marketing in the Digital Age

The mission of Collegiate Films is simple: to help our clients reach their target markets. Who are you writing for? How can we best expose them to your book and get them reading it? Nobody knows better who the book was written for and what its strengths are than you, the author! This idea is at the core of our approach to creating marketing media for your book.

We are NOT trying to sell a movie; we’re trying to sell a book. Thus, it shouldn’t be about showing off flashy animation and fancy camera moves, it should be about showing off your words, your story, your characters! The production quality will be there, something professional and visually engaging, but the primary focus for us is working with you to CO-create something congruent with your artistic vision. We will not cut you off from the process while we retreat to an editing bay and throw together a cookie cutter video for your book. You slaved in the writing chair for months on end; you deserve our respect as an artist and inclusion in the process.

             

Most importantly, book marketing shouldn’t end with the creation of a promo video. We can help you get your video out there and seen, but we can also help you create other content. With the pervasiveness of the Internet, we now live in an increasingly participatory culture. People don’t just want to consume art, they want to engage in a dialogue about it, expand on it, delve beyond the confines of the book and further explore the world you’ve created. By using social media such as Twitter and Facebook we can help you produce Q&A videos where you answer readers’ questions, character profiles that expand on back stories, and even video reviews where readers can have the chance to tell what they liked about your book. By creating participatory content, we can help create a fan culture around your book that people will want to be a part of.

Be sure to check back often for updates on our current projects and for more ideas on how to market your book in the digital age.  If you're interested in partnering with Collegiate Films to create content for your book, or just want more information on our services, please contact us as collegiatefilms@gmail.com. We look forward to connecting with you!