Book Trailers 101

Upon completion of their guided reading novels, the Grade 8s were asked to create Book Trailers. Through active discussion, the students were able to brainstorm the prime use of such trailers: to promote, persuade and ultimately sell books. They also spoke of the importance of being able to grab their intended audience and persuade them to seek out the advertised novel and read it.

Mme Madeley shared a variety of samples in the library and the classes discussed strategies or ideas that were most effective, as well as the various elements that just didn’t seem to work. Thereafter, students were reminded to always refer to the Learning Goal and Success Criteria that has been elaborated during previous class periods with Mr. England:

Learning Intentions…

We are learning to create, through the use of media, an advertisement in the form of a Book Trailer to persuade a given audience to read our novel.

Success Criteria (Checklist)…

Theme/message of novel was clearly reflected throughout trailer
Events occur in correct order
Summarized correctly, without giving away the ending
Book trailer is engaging
Book trailer is persuasive
Used a variety of images, sounds (music) to help create an appropriate overall mood
Media presentation is impactful and thought provoking
Audience is fully engaged
Students are able to answer all questions

Students were introduced to iMovie on the iPads as a means of creating a Book Trailer. They were given time to “tinker” and learn the ins and outs, and unique features of iMovie. They were also asked to select the most appropriate theme for their own novel (iMovie includes many pre-loaded themes that are a great way to produce first productions).

Prior to creating their Book Trailer, the Grade 8s were asked to brainstorm… Mme Madeley also presented a variety of Storyboard templates as a means of organizing their thoughts and information. As the students noted in previous lessons, most notably when watching the sample trailers, there was not a lot of text; however, the words and phrases that were selected were both powerful and ever-lasting/unforgettable…

Similarly, Mme Madeley reminded the class that images and/or photos needed to be carefully selected and “legal”. Together, they visited the CreativeCommons website and worked their way through the search fields. Students were impressed, and gained a much better understanding of the role of such organizations. In this case, Creative Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure. Needless to say, the students found the planning to be quite the challenge!

The planning phase behind them, the Grade 8s ventured once again to the library and began creating their trailers… Although the students took advantage of the pre-loaded themes, many ventured out of the box, incorporating Mazo’s awesome Green Screen and iMac pods in the hopes of creating something even more memorable! In some cases, it was as simple as changing the music/accompaniment or adding powerful sound effects. Nevertheless, in other situations, the Grade 8s added action, adventure and personal content. If you look and listen carefully, you just may catch them in action.

Regardless of how they got there, I’m sure you will agree: the results are pretty impressive…

City of Ember

Hannah & Sam (8E) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrhhiHbe1Ks

Steal Away… to Freedom

Cedar & Makenna (8K) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gYUXmCSncQ

Alisha & William (8K) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLjPU1-9u-Q

End Of Days

Matthew & John (8E) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_pY7us3oPQ

Jacob & Julien (8E) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7anxOy24V2s

The Glory Field

Aiden C. & Austin (8K) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRCGTsx6nB8

Brendan & Kiyan (8K) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIP0cco9Qg