The Cumberland Post

The Cumberland Post
My Backyard, Six Miles from the Cumberland River

Monday, February 28, 2011

Blood Country Video Book Trailers

More storms expected around 4 a.m. Joyce and I may have to go down to our family room/basement and seek refuge in our steel storm shelter. 

I've neglected both my blog and the others that I regularly read this week. I missed those regular reads and will catch up soon; I hope you noticed my absence too, and I'll be visiting you guys this week. I promise. 

I've been busy with first one thing and then another. I just put up a post on my CountryDirt blog that explains where part of that time went and there's another post on there you might also want to check out that gives quotes from three reviews the book has received so far. 

I indicated earlier that I wouldn't be soliciting here except to show you the book video trailers when they were ready. I've completed 2 video trailers to promote Blood Country; one is 133 seconds long, the other is 67 seconds. As part of the book's promotional/advertising campaign, these will be posted on YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, etc.

Here's what the longer video (with more plot details) looks like.


And this is the short trailer, with fewer details and slightly different wording.



This was my first experience using the Windows Movie Maker software that came with my Gateway. A big part of the time I spent was in learning and getting familiar with the process. My wife Joyce offered suggestions and criticism about the music and the selection and order of the photos. 

The music track, which is called "Badass" (a great title, I think), and the license to use it was purchased from Royalty-FreeMusic.com. The photos and usage license were purchased from a great site called dreamstime.com. You can spend hours on this site setting up searches and looking through the available photos. You buy credits and use them when purchasing the selected photos. The photos I used cost $25 total, very reasonable for a project like this. 

I welcome comments or questions about the videos; making them was a lot of fun, and I hope to put some more together in the future.

------------End of Country Dirt Post-----------

If any of you all that check in here from time to time have advice and/or criticism regarding the video, I'm open to any observations you might make. I was in a writer's group for nearly 20 years and developed a fairly thick skin. I think it's a necessity if you plan on learning and improving as a writer. 

4 comments:

  1. Dan, good job on the promo's. The background music creates excitement rather than using
    "I got tears in my ears from layin down and cryin over you" type country music. "Blood Country" has all of the elements that make it a great read. Folks are going to enjoy it.

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  2. Excellent job, Dan! Ain't it amazin' how slick and professional one can be these days? A 60-second spot like you just did prolly would have cost $50~60K 20 years ago... or less time than that.

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  3. Ed, Thanks. I had a good "tears in beer" type of song that I considered, but in the end felt like this one did a better job of selling the book.

    Buck, Thanks. You're right about the cost of those video spots. The price has definitely come down. Way down!

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  4. Excellent job on the promo Dan! Kept my attention. All the best of success to you on this venture mate!

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