Tuesday, June 8: Surprise Witness
SHORT STORY TRAILERS
by Douglas Grant Johnson, R. T. Lawton, and Stephen Ross
Most of you have probably heard of “book trailers”—short animations on the web meant to advertise books in the same manner that “Coming Attractions” advertise movies in theaters. Our good friend R. T. Lawton, whose “Mystery Masterclass” column from August of 2007 you can find here, has been in correspondence with our own Rob Lopresti, on the subject of short story trailers. R.T. says he first encountered them by AHMM contributor and filmmaker Douglas Grant Johnson, and was inspired to try making his his own. So here are four short story trailers for stories appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, the first by Doug, the middle two by R.T., and the last (recommended by R.T.) by another guest columnist here at CB, our Kiwi buddy Stephen Ross.
What do you think?
My take: they are all interesting and seem like way too much work, but I don’t think any of them would convince me to read a story I wasn’t going to read anyway. That’s how I feel about book trailers, too. But maybe that’s just me.
Ah, but they’re so much fun to make. And besides, as an excuse for not writing, they trouble the conscience a whole lot less. Note: a year or so ago, I made one for my story “The Graycats” (AHMM March 2009)and for some reason it’s still up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5usWUJTajM
As someone who has had trailers made for her last three novels, I don’t think they are worth the time, effort and expense. . . yet I’ll probably continue to make them. Why? It’s fun to use a different side of my creativity in working with my sig other to develop them. That said, while I love my trailers, I doubt they sell books and I really doubt they will sell short stories. I enjoyed the trailers above in and of themselves–they’re well done and entertaining. But would they inspire me to read a story? Uh uh. However, the authors’ names are now stuck in my head and that is always a good thing. . .
I spent a couple of weekends on mine and it was a heap of fun. The only expense was time. I was inspired to make a trailer when I saw Doug’s one. I got some immediate ideas in my head and went for it. In my case, I don’t think a trailer would work for every story. A story is a story on the page, and a trailer being audio and visual brings aspects to a story that may not suit it — in the end it’s a trailer for a bunch of words, not a movie. Like I said, I had fun, and I’d do it again given a good idea. I like the experimentation of it; mixing images, text, and music — I used to write and direct movies (when I was 12, on 8mm), so it’s an extension of that, I guess.
Loved ’em! They must’ve been as much fun to make as to watch! I’ve found You Tube to be incredibly addictive!
All right, I’ve taken the plunge. It’s not on on YouTube yet (I’m having some trouble uploading it, which should be corrected soon), but you can see it here.
My trailer for “Ten Thousand Cold Nights” (AHMM Nov 2010) is now available on YouTube here.
Stephen, Doug, James– great trailers!