Teaching Children to Ask Permission for Music Files and Other Lost Causes

Teaching Children to Ask Permission for Music Files and Other Lost Causes

: catvalente; August 6th, 2010

Today I am in Boston, at

emilytheslayer 's library, teaching kids how to make book trailers as sort-of book reports for school. Yay, iMovie skills!

Have no fear, there will be trailers for Habitation of the Blessed, Deathless, and Fairyland. I'm getting ready to shoot the Prester John/Habitation ones even now--for there will be TWO videos, one a trailer, and one awesome thing which may or may not involve my old He Man action figures, I'm not telling.

But today is teaching other people how to do it, and then home to spend time with

babymonkey and

mishamish before they move back to Cleveland on Monday. It will feel like an awfully big and empty house without them--I'll miss them so.

Now I go to read slush. Pray for my soul, and tell my mother I love her.

( 15 comments — Write On My Skin )

otterdance

2010-08-06 03:28 pm (UTC)

I'd love to see one of your book trailers. I've been thinking of doing that, too, but have no idea where to start.

firynze

2010-08-06 04:32 pm (UTC)

Ditto that. I'd love to market my authors' books with trailers, but...where do you even begin?!

catvalente

2010-08-06 05:22 pm (UTC)

The Palimpsest trailer is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWmyamLrMKo

I did all that myself. Just get imovie, start experimenting. Even if you don't realize it you've watched thousands of trailers in your life--you know how they're organized. Watch other book trailers, go and do likewise. It's not really that hard.

firynze

2010-08-06 07:06 pm (UTC)

A lot of it for me is finding the footage and music and whatnot that's appropriate...I don't know how to go about that! I have plenty of ideas for trailers, it's the capacity to put the shoot together and then set everything to audio that baffles and bewilders me!

catvalente

2010-08-06 07:14 pm (UTC)

Google? Wiki free images? Find indie artists and email them for permission to use songs?

firynze

2010-08-06 07:19 pm (UTC)

I have some very talented photographer friends, and can do a lot of that myself...I'd just somehow convinced myself that a trailer needed moving images. But your gorgeous trailer had depth and motion using stills...

catvalente

2010-08-06 07:22 pm (UTC)

*shrug* It doesn't, obviously. Look at the number of views on that trailer. But...borrow a smartphone and take some footage? Use vintage footage?

firynze

2010-08-06 07:24 pm (UTC)

I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time on Shorpy coming up...!

catvalente

2010-08-06 05:24 pm (UTC)

The Palimpsest trailer I did is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWmyamLrMKo

You start with a camera and imovie--experiment, have fun, just try making something.

otterdance

2010-08-06 05:34 pm (UTC)

That is lovely! Did you have to get rights to music and images? Given the title of this thread, I'm guess yes? Does it cost?

Edited at 2010-08-06 05:36 pm (UTC)

catvalente

2010-08-06 05:58 pm (UTC)

The music is SJ Tucker, who is a friend of mine and has done albums based on my books--easy permission. I got permission from as many of the photographers as I could, some of the images are either old or offered for free online. I tried to keep it all as legal as possible.

csecooney

2010-08-06 03:36 pm (UTC)

Gimme yo mama's email and I'll pass along the message. As for your soul, well... Once it leaves your left ear, I'm afraid there's little we can do for it.

talekyn

2010-08-06 04:47 pm (UTC)

I hope the workshop goes well. It's been suggested I try to do such a thing for my own book (THE FIRFLAKE: A Christmas Story) but I'm so technologically illiterate it isn't funny. Still, I should look into it.