It’s not so Painful, and It’s Looking Better
Welcome back. You’ve persevered this week, and have all of your slides made. Things are looking up, and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. You should. Getting this far is a lot of hard work with some blood, sweat, and tears mixed in to make it all come together.
Now, we’re going to start arranging your slides. Open your movie (film) making software, and start importing your images. Don’t worry about what order they are in, right now we just need them all in one place.
I recommend using the video software that comes with your computer, like Microsoft Movie Maker because you can make the trailer as long as you need to without worrying over membership fees you might incur to get longer clips from the online video makers. Also, I think it gives you a little more flexibility. At least, compared with my experience on animoto.com it does.
Once you have all of your slides imported, go ahead and arrange them into the order you’re thinking of. For mine, the first 6 slides would look like this:
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I think you can see how the tale is developing in the slides. Once you have the slides in order, then it is time to think about what music you want to use. This is another critical step in your process. I prefer to use instrumental only, though some have successfully used music with lyrics. This is a personal choice. Just be aware that anything with lyrics will distract your audience from the words you are going to be adding. So, think about that when you make your choice.
A couple of good places that I have been referred to for royalty free music are:
Be sure to read their requirements for the pieces you choose to use.
Some only require you to provide proper credit, others may require a small fee to use the music. I’ve been very luck to find all of my music on incompetech, which has helped me preserve the overall feel of the trailers, which adds to my brand.
Once you have selected your music and downloaded it, it’s time to import it into your developing video. I’m not sure how Mac’s do this, but with Windows Movie Maker, it’s a simple add music. Your slides should automatically have a display time now. Click through them, and make sure that you have at LEAST a five second view time on each of them. Anything less, and your readers probably won’t be able to read your text, or they’ll ignore the images. You don’t want either of these cases to happen.
I’m going to sign off, and let you take a break before we tackle the last finiky bits of your trailer. Next time we’ll get into adding the text that I know you’ve been dying to add, and ensuring everything is timed appropriately.
In the meantime, until the next time (Sunday 26th April), happy writing!
Kat
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
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Thanks Viv 😀
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I have the slides made. Was worrying about music. Thanks for the resources!
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Glad I could pass along the information. Had a couple of friends point me at these sites. Up until then I was hunting in the dark myself.
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Great post, Chris & Kat! Shared on all my sites 🙂
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Thanks for the share. Glad you are finding it helpful. And, as I’m still learning – well, you can see that in the titles. ::Grins::
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Awesome! Thanks for this instruction. 🙂
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You’re welcome, and thank Chris for hosting this. Feel free to experiment. This is just what I’ve figured out so far through my own efforts. I’m sure there are more tips and tricks, but this will at least provide a foundation.
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I l.o.v.e. all the great things one can accomplish on her / his own with this lovely technology at our fingertips. 🙂
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It just takes a little courage to explore, a willingness to make a mess, and the ability to remember where the “esc” key is, so you can nuke your way out of a blind corner and start over.
Oh, and definitely a solid memory of where you hid that save file THIS time.
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Ha ha ha. That’s an important memory to have. 😀
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I’ve had more than a few times I’ve had to re-save a project because it didn’t go where I thought I sent it. Tracking those down after the fact is a nightmare.
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I know that too. Been there myself. 😦
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Part three of this How To make your own book promo.. or you can get the Ape to make one for you for a very reasonable cost…
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Many thanks for the share AND the promo Sally – Gentle Furry Hugs 😀
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To tell the truth… Though I’ve enjoyed the experience, and learning new things, I think next time I try this, I’ll let someone with more knowledge do it. Doing it yourself can be kind of time consuming.
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Thanks again, Chris and Kat.
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Welcome, Connie. Thanks for reading, and coming back.
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