My first attempt at creating a promotional video.
Some tech talk about what went into making this video: (I’m typing and thinking as I go here, so forgive me if I ramble or go off on tangents for what might seem like days.)
First, I wrote a book. This is for the first of my Nate Silver, Vampire, Hunter series. There are currently 3 books in that series. I find that the only advertising for the second and third book that works is that the first book is awesome.
A couple years later, yesterday, I decided I needed to move to video advertising.
The first thing in the video is a post card. This postcard is what drives the beginning of the book and shows up on page one of the novel.
I went out and did some image searches for the backs of postcards and found a postcard from 1985 with a cancelled stamp.
Using Photoshop, I cropped everything but the stamp and the words “POST CARD”. I then stretched the edge of the remaining image back out to fill in the size of the post card.
Then I blurred it and smeared it around so it didn’t look like five pixels stretched out across a canvas.
Now, with the background of the postcard in place, I started on the stamp. This postcard was mailed from Los Angeles in 1985 so the stamp represents that. The stamp is entirely fabricated in Photoshop using text and circle fills to get the outline.
The line up the middle is just a line of text turned sideways.
The Hallows in the corner was the word Hallows written with a couple spaces where the A would go and then an anarchy image pasted over it.
I tried handwriting the message and address but it didn’t come out well, so I used a corsiva font.
And the end result is the postcard – no there is not another side to that.
For the next bit I used DAZ3d software.
I already am very fluent in the use of 3D modeling tools, and I have models I’ve created for the major characters.
I placed those all on a virtual stage at four corners and manipulated the materials to create a black and white look. That’s all 3d rendered.
You can tell because if you watch closely, the light and shadows move from one side to the other as the camera approaches each figure. All of the movement in those
black and white people shots is just the camera sliding around the stage.
Adobe Premiere, which I had never touched before yesterday, helped with putting it all together.
The text scrolls are from Premiere as well.
I had a different ending with just the book title on the screen, but changed it to the book’s cover in the second try.
I contemplated adding music, but it took me a long time for listen to lots of free-to-use music only to not find anything I felt would fit.
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