Trailers. In terms of marketing, they are one of the best, forward moving ways of advertising. They’re essentially adverts that you can upload straight onto the internet yourself. When it comes to book trailers, just as with movies, they are pretty important (okay, let’s face it. If you’re movie trailer is bad then you are pretty much done for, whereas at least with a book trailer, it may not be the end of the world unless you’re planning to be a best-seller). I’m not here to give advice on book trailers though, just to judge critic these book trailers and say what I think makes for a good trailer.
Some people like a friend of mine don’t even know that book trailers exist and that they are just wrong. I agree that a book should be judged by the writing, not by a snazzy trailer, but for those authors who do create them -or get others to do so- they had better do it well.
I can understand why she prefers simplicity. It can be good. Here are a couple of trailers I found a while ago:
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
These are two contrasting trailers for the same book, both created by harper teen, thererfore both official. Which one do you prefer and why? Personally, I prefer the first. I love the effects of the words shattering. It is a very good symbol for the book. This makes it more dramatic I also appreciate having a narrator instead of reading it myself. I know this sounds really lazy considering how much I actually like reading, but this allows me to focus on the special effects that have been implemented.
The Iron Knight
This was the trailer that I hyperlinked to my friend’s Facebook account to get her to watch it. She thought it was weird, but didn’t elaborate very much on it. Personally, I loved it. For a trailer like this one, where all of the characters are so on show, getting the right actor is crucial. For the most part, I rather liked the faery guys, but I wasn’t in love with Meghan’s portrayal. I think it’s because she doesn’t look enough the girl on the cover. I’m not sure. Something about a Summer princess being blonde and stereotypically pretty has always just irritated me somewhat. That’s why I just make myself forget. This trailer reminds me. Sorry Kagawa. I prefer Aisilin’s looks from Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely in that respect as she had dark hair- almost black- with gold strands of sunlight. I just thought it was more unique. Aesthetics aside, there were other things about this trailer to mention.
It had a bit of reading, but I think the pacing and typography and its effects was such that this was alright. Another issue is that the wrong kind of voice could have ruined an otherwise good trailer. It also allows watchers to concentrate more on the music, which was eerie at the beginning and magical throughout. The trailer got the message across and it definitely felt like a journey, what with the different images that are shown. Having re-watched it after reading it, I can now imagine that those stars as The End of The World. It was informative, without spoiling anything.
Also, I love how Grimalkin was included, all lazy and somehow wise at the same time. Please feel free to discuss what you thought, especially Mab. I hadn’t imagined her to look Asian, but they did it here, and she looks positively frosty. Perfect.
Divergent
This trailer is perhaps the most simplistic in some ways. Like the others, the use of graphics is very important, but people do not feature, and apart from the revolving and ever chaining faction symbol, it isn’t much of a moving picture. But it is effective because of the wide shot of the futuristic Chicago, and the special effects that it uses. The faction symbol catching fire at the end is marvellous because it links wonderfully with the US book cover. A more personal trailer, in the point of view of Tris might have been good, maybe better, if handled with care, but we do have is stellar on its own. And at only 45 seconds.
