Our publisher asked each author to create a short video about their book — a kind of trailer that highlights what’s inside.
Artisan suggested hiring a small film and editing crew, but true to our DIY spirit we treated it as a creative challenge and did most of the work ourselves. We made an outline, wrote a brief script, and hired a local videographer to shoot (who also happens to be our brother-in-law). We edited the footage in Final Cut Pro back in March. With the book release a couple months away (November 6th, Election Day), we can finally share the finished trailer.
We had to finish the video early because the publisher needed it for a spring sales conference in March. After returning from Hawaii the pressure was on to shoot and finish everything quickly. Fortunately, most projects were already completed when we photographed the book over three weeks in February, so shooting the video and arranging a few impromptu vignettes only took a day and was actually a lot of fun.
We’d submitted the outline for all the book’s projects about a year before the video shoot, so seeing them together in a polished visual format — well before any final book proofs — felt surreal. It was a lot like baking a cake for a year and finally getting to taste it.
The oddest part was recording our slightly nerdy voiceover while sitting in a closet using our phones, then layering it into the edit. To set the scene, imagine Burger playing the role of “Supervisor” as we recorded.
For readers who can’t watch the video at work, here are a few stills from the trailer (there are many more project glimpses in the video):
We’re relieved to reveal some of the book’s projects now, even if it’s just a preview. The full book will be available soon, and pre-orders are open, so all those surprises will be out in the open before long.
Have you ever scripted and produced a short video? It’s surprisingly enjoyable. The clothesline idea was John’s, and we love how it let us sneak in extra project shots. Previewing about 15 projects in just over a minute felt fast and fun — which is right in our wheelhouse. We admit we’re terrible at keeping secrets.