Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Happy New Year with Story Videos




Happy New Year!!

We're at the end of the year and before we wind down the holiday season, I've been thinking about how we promote our books. I love pictures and words, so I've been doing what I want call "Story Videos."


What is a story video? you ask.

It's an idea I came up with when I decided to make audio stories with pictures and sound effects--including the four episodes for "A Naughty Christmas Carol."

You'd think it would be easy: write a short 5 to 7 minute story epsiode for my theme about a naughty christmas carol, then record the voiceover, take some pictures to reflect the characters and settings, go through my sound effects (I have a collection of more than a 1,000 sound effects!), add some royalty free music and poof!

Like magic you have a story video...

Oh, my, what fools we writers be.

Writing then rewriting the stories was the easy part.

Recording my voiceover...how many takes?

Sound effects? Have you tried to find the right grandfather clock chime to fit what's in your mind?

Compose pictures for the video: we're not talking one or two shots; I took hundreds of pix for my Naughty Christmas Carol videos before I narrowed them down to a few pictures.

Have you ever tried to cajole a Christmas Doll to have attitude in her picture?

At least she sat still for her photo session!

Have a wonderful 2011!

6 comments:

Wynter said...

You did a great job! Have a wonderful new year.

Michelle Polaris said...

All of that hard work. I hadn't thought about it but we surely appreciated the effort. Happy New Year!

Brenda said...

I envy anyone that takes the time to do all that work for promotion. Good job and great success for the New Year!

Jina Bacarr said...

Thank you, Wynter! Quite a job. I also changed servers and redesigned my website during the holiday...if only Santa's elves were around to help all year.

Have a Happy New Year!

Jina Bacarr said...

Super, Michelle! Yes, it's a lot of work but a learning process for the next one...

Happy New Year to you, too!

Jina Bacarr said...

When it comes to promotion, Brenda, the best advice from the pundits is to do what you like to do. I enjoy making the videos--even if they do drive me crazy. If I hear Sugar Plum Fairies one more time...

Much success to you, too, this New Year!