Novel Marketing: A EMS3O Culminating

DUE: January 17th

There are a number of ways to market a novel, and a number of different strategies to attempt.

Look up a few different ways to publicize a new book.  Sometimes it`s also important to be aware of why things don`t work.

For your culminating assignment you will need to create:
Two posters
One video
One review
One additional media piece

Each of these pieces will be part of a larger "Media Campaign" for a novel of your choice.

Step One:
Choose your favourite book (or a book you'd like to work with for this assignment.  It doesn't have to be your favourite - but since you'll be doing a lot with / for it, it's probably best you like the book.  Or that you've, at least, read it.)

Step Two: The First Poster
For your first poster, you need to create a marketing poster that you could picture being used in the TTC.  Think of those posters they have beside the subway door - and create an image that would garner attention for your text.  This should be a Splash Poster (which you'll remember from the earlier assignment.)

You may use whatever software you think is best in the creation of this poster.

Here are a few examples (some are better than others):


 

Step Three: The Second Poster
This poster will be something a "street team" could use to plaster the town.  Remember - this is something that must be dirt cheap to make - so think black and white, easy to photocopy.  You will want something grungy with an urban slant to it to make it appeal to the people in the selected neighbourhoods.

Think about Zines when you create this image.  This style of advertisement is very popular with concert promoters.  There's no reason why it couldn't work just as well for book publicizing.

Here are some examples:

 




Step Four: The Movie
Here is where your video editing skills are put to the test.  You need to make a book trailer.  What is a book trailer?  It's like a movie trailer - but for a book.  You need to use video to try and garner attention for your chosen novel.

There are a number of examples that can be found by googling "Book Trailer" or looking that phrase up on YouTube.  A few noteworthy example are linked below:

Lemony Snicket - 13 Words
Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess - Instructions Book Trailer
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Boo - A Day in the Life of the World's Cutest Dog


Step Five: A Book Review
Remember your training and you will make it through this.  You will need to think back to the movie review you wrote, and then apply those skills to novels.  Feel free to check out professional book reviews in order to get a feeling for the tone you should take in your review:

New York Times
Globe and Mail
The Guardian


Step Six: Another Media Piece
Having read through the various examples of book publicity you will - no doubt - have a few good ideas as to what else you could create.  Here are a few ideas:

• An interactive fiction piece that mirrors your book
• A documentary based around your book
• A video acting out part of your book
• A photo essay based around your book
• A podcast
• A Facebook media campaign
• Author Interview

Step Seven: Putting it All Together

The final step is to compile all of this wonderful material.  I would suggest creating a blog specifically for your book - but there are some other online ways you can compile all of your work.

You will need to upload your finished video(s) to YouTube in order to have them stream live from your blog.

That's all.  Not much to it, right?  You got this covered.  Off you go.  Be wonderful.

Rubrics

Posters

Knowledge	Thinking	Communication	Application
- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - information is correct - learned inkscape and photoshop techniques are used in poster - no more than two images from the scott_shop.psd file are used in your finished product - poster shows an understanding of the required elements for movie posters	- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - at least two images - not found in scott_shop.psd - are used in your finished product - images and text are integrated in such a way as they compliment each other	- poster is of acceptable size (no smaller than W750 x H1000). - text is used in an effective way to communicate ideas - images are used in an effective way to communicate ideas - images attract and audience, and not cluttered	- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - posters could feature in a professional advertising campaign

Video

Knowledge	Thinking	Communication	Application
- assignment guidelines are adhered to - information is correct - video editing techniques evident in video	- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - Key elements depicted in video	- video is used in an effective way to communicate ideas - audio is clear and easy to understand - visuals are clear	- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - video could feature in a professional advertising campaign

Review

Knowledge	Thinking	Communication	Application
- assignment guidelines are adhered to - information is correct - all elements of a film review are present in final product	- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - Key elements explored in review	- review is used in an effective way to communicate ideas - no unintentional spelling / grammatical errors - information is presented through smooth transitions	- all required elements are present - assignment guidelines are adhered to - review could feature in a professional advertising campaign

Additional Piece
The additional piece will be based whatever rubric it is closest to (video, image, or written.)

Collected Medium

Knowledge	Thinking	Communication	Application
- An understanding of online portfolio creation is demonstrated - all elements are compiled together in an effective manner	- digital portfolio contains all required elements - digital portfolio could be e-mailed or shared to easily publicize your book	- images, texts, backgrounds, and graphics are used in an appropriate manner to garner attention rather than distract -no unintentional spelling / grammatical errors	- advertising campaign is fully realized and capable of being used for a professional campaign

Family Documentary

Family Documentary
It’s time to put your video editing skills to use, for the power of good.  Over the course of this year you have watched a couple of documentaries, all the while knowing the time would come when you had to create one for yourself.

We looked at:

• How many seconds are normally between cuts
• Different shot types, and why they’re used
• How backgrounds are often staged for filming
• The different between talking heads and additional footage

Instructions:
You must find a willing family member – surely there will be many who care about your academic success, and interest – to regale you with a personal experience or key moment from their life.  You will be creating a short documentary around this moment in their life.  Keep in mind the elements that contribute to a successful documentary that we studies in class.

Requirements:

• At least five minutes in length
• Must include a number of shot types, where appropriate (long, close, etc.)
• Must include an establishing shot of the setting (Extreme long shot)
• Must include both talking heads and appropriate additional footage
• Must document a key moment or experience in your subject’s life
• Background / Film locations must express characteristics of the subject
• Appropriate soundtracks that do not detract from the spoken elements
• These may be instrumental, and quiet – or used during additional footage

Knowledge	Thinking	Communication	Application
Assignment guidelines adhered to. Video editing knowledge is evidenced in final product. Elements of successful documentaries evident in final product.	Assignment guidelines adhered to. Key element is tied into additional footage, and audio tracks used in final product. Filming locations are appropriate to subject matter.	Audio is well balanced; voices are always clear Additional footage complements spoken elements Documentary follows a clear narrative path	Assignment guidelines adhered to. Well-crafted documentary created as final product Video ready to be shared with the world (uploaded to YouTube, properly encoded on hard drive, etc.)
R     1     2     3     4	R     1     2     3     4	R     1     2     3     4	R     1     2     3     4

Due: December 13

Big Assignment: Making a Mini-Movie

You've learned to use Adobe Premier in the following ways:

• Embed clips and video files
• Create smaller clips from larger video files
• Add audio files (this works the same for small sound effects)
• Fade out video
• Fade in video
• Fade between two video tracks
• Add titles
• Use transitions

Essentially you're expert movie makers right now.  Everything they do to edit "real movies" you can now do.  How fantastic is that?

Your assignment - which must be completed and handed in - must fulfill the following criteria.

[   ] Choose a theme (cartoons, Dr. Who, or soccer) and add a soundtrack that fits the theme

[   ]  Use at least three video files 

[   ]  [   ]  Create at least fifteen smaller clips from the larger clips

[   ]  Fade between two clips

[   ]  Use three appropriate transitions that don't distract

[   ]  Add sound effects where appropriate (http://www.mediacollege.com/downloads/sound-effects/)

[   ]  [   ]  [   ]  Create an entertaining and engaging video that follows a narrative path.

You can find the clips at: 1058-PickUp\[TEACHER]\Video Files

Note: Your video must be at least 3 minutes long.

Adobe Premiere: Working with Clips

Today we learn how to use video clips, instead of just still images.  We are, after all, using a video editing software.  It would be remiss of us to not explore the video capabilities.

Step one is to create a new file (your screen may look different, depending on which version of Premiere Elements you're using.)  Be sure to give it a good name.  And set the SAVE IN directory to your desktop, or to your USB key.  If you do not do this, you will have a very hard time logging off.  If you save to a USB key you'll have no problem logging off.  If you save to Desktop it's easy to erase the overflow files that prevent logging off.

Be warned, saving to your desktop will make terrible things happen that prevent you from being able to log off normally.  You'll need to Cold Boot your machine at the end of class (hold the power button until the whole machine shuts down, then press it again, to start it booting up for the next class.)

There are ways to delete the temporary files, and log off normally.  If you can figure that out, I encourage you in that behaviour.

Next you need to figure out where your video clips are (they're added the same way that you added photographs, previously, and they'll be in the same area.  Then you need to check out your Timeline.  You want to be editing in "ADVANCED / EXPERT mode" where you can see the video bar, the audio bar, and other such things.  If it looks like a few giant images - that's not ideal.  Fix it.

Head to the SCHOOL/PICKUP/[TEACHER]/STREET FIGHTER CLIPS/ directory and copy those files to your computer.  You can then import them into Premier.

The first thing you should do is drag the "Blow by Blow" trailer into your timeline.  It's the one with the live action people, and the only one with audio.  But we're about to fix that.

Once it's in your timeline you will be able to see the video and the audio tracks, locked together.  When you move one, the other moves...  This keeps the audio synched up.  This is a good thing.  If you want audio.

Right Click on the clip, and select "Unlink Audio".  This allows you to move the audio file, while keeping the video file in the same place.  Or the other way around.  Try this now.

Now click on the audio.  We don't want it anyway.  It's obnoxious.  Once you've clicked on the audio, to select it, hit the delete key.  Bye audio!

Now use the zoom sliders to make the video clip fill your timeline.

Now we want to extract a small clip from this video.  Specifically the clip of Cammy White looking confused at Guile (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme.)

This clip begins around timestamp 0:32.  This means at the 32 second mark.  First you want to move your "red selector" to that moment.  Use the arrow keys for specific frame by frame selection.  You want the first image with Cammy.  00:32:28.

Next hover your mouse over the LEFT MOST part of the clip.  Your cursor will turn into a <-[ icon.  The red line will act as a "snap to" point.  Drag the leftmost portion, until it matches up with the red line.  Then release the mouse button.

You have now shortened your clip.  See how it takes up less room in the timeline?  The red line will still be set at 0:32:28, but now the image is different.  That's because you have shortened the clip.  In now BEGINS at the Cammy face, rather than having that be deep into the clip.  Move the red line to the front of the clip for proof.

Now we only want the clip of her face, so move the red line to the point where she disappears.  0:1:27.  You only want the - just under two second - clip.  Once the Asian man's face comes in, you need to go back a frame.

Grab the RIGHT MOST part of the clip, and drag it to the red line.  You now have a short clip of Cammy looking shocked.

Even though you have changed the amount of the clip being shown, you can still gain access to the sound, and the rest of the clip.  All you have to do is select the Blow by Blow clip from the media organizer, drag it onto the timeline, and the full thing is back again - along side the smaller clip of Cammy.

So, you should now drag the clip in, unlink and delete the audio, and shorten this to a clip of Guile talking like a fool.

To do this, we will look at another way to shorten clips.

Double click on the video clip, and it will open it up in a smaller window.

The little purple bar selects how much of the clip is shown.  Find the clip of Guile talking that starts right after the Asian man's face.  Drag the purple slider to begin at that point.  End it right before the screen goes black for a frame, and the people start to freak out.

You should now have two short clips.

Move the Guile clip to player before Cammy.  Leave a space between the two.  Then drag the clip VS SCREEN.avi into the gap.  Right clip in the space between VS SCREEN and cammy, and select "Delete and Close Gap."  This will ensure the video is seamless.

When you play this video you will now have a full scene of Guile talking, then the VS screen, then Cammy looking shocked.

After this, drag in clips of Cammy fighting.  Shorten them and put them together in such a way as it shows a compelling fight scene.  Chung Li Cammy.avi fits the VS screen.  Use that file.

At the very end, you don't want the video to just end.  You want it to fade to black.

Right click on the clip, go to fade, and select Fade Out Video.

Notice how the yellow line now has two anchor points, and slants down?  You can move those around to determine how quickly they scene fades out, and when the fading starts / stops.

You have now completed the task of creating a video using a number of clips, and selecting various parts of a clip.  Very good for you.  There's really only one thing left to do...  Explore multiple video tracks.

Scroll up in your timeline and you'll notice there's a VIDEO 2 track.  If you put a clip there, you it will override the clip below.  Trust me on this.

Move the Chung li cammy file there.  See how it still fades out?  Drag CAMMYFIGHT.AVI onto video 1 under the chung li fight.  When you watch it now, see how rather than fading to black, it fades into the clip below it?

Fade the last clip to black, and you're done. Way to go.  You're awesome!

Note... everything you did with video, you can do with audio.  Merging, moving, blending, fading, etc.

This will show an example of what your finished product should look like: http://youtu.be/yVedi5s8UwM

Good luck.

Personal Slideshow

Assignment:

• You are to create a slideshow using pictures you have taken, or pictures of you.  
• All the images must adhere to a common theme of your choosing (my life, vacation, family, friends, etc.)
• You must have at least 20 images in your slideshow.
• You must have a background song (MP3) that is relevant to the theme of the slideshow you have created.  The song can not be a file included with Premier.
• You must include "Titles" introducing your slideshow, declaring the theme.

Rubric:

• [   ] At least 20 images.
• [   ] Images fit a theme.
• [   ] Titles introduce slideshow.
• [   ] Music is present.
• [   ] Music fits the theme of the slideshow.
• [   ] [   ] Additional features of Premier used (transitions, effects, etc.) in a non-distracting manner.
• [   ] [   ] [   ] All Assignment criteria adhered to.

Self-Directed Learning: Adobe Premiere (Pro/Elements)

In the Digital Era creation is a key component to success.  You will not have someone to teach you how to use each new tool you need to discover.  Luckily you also live in the era of the Internet.  Perhaps this will be looked back upon as the golden era of the internet.

It is up to you to discover how to create a picture-based slide show using Adobe Premiere (Pro or Elements - depending on what version you have installed on your machine.)

If you know how to find online tutorials, you're free to do that now.

[ Otherwise here is a quick primer explaining the wonders of the internet to you ]

If you absolutely, positively, can not figure it out on your own then you might want to try here.

Note: You may want to check out YouTube for audio/visual tutorials.
Second Note: Your tutorial may not be 100% accurate due to version differences.  But, the tool set is mostly universal, and your knowledge of Photoshop and Inkscape should give you a leg up.

Requirements:
Use 25 of the 70+ images below.
Add an audio file (MP3 or otherwise) of your choosing.

Add an introductory title sequence reading "Vacation Slideshow" before the images begin.

Image:












































































Extension Ideas:
When you have completed the 25 photo slide show

• Try using a greater amount of images
• Explore a variety of transition effects
• Use a number of different filters and special effects
• Learn how to use different titles
• Cross fade two or more sound files, using various audio tracks
• Explore the addition and deletion of tracks