Book Trailer - City of Ember

Creating a book trailer was an exciting, fun project I just completed in my recent Multimedia Tools in Education course. I created a book trailer in Movie Maker about The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. This assignment really stretched my creative thinking. It forced me to think like students and what would hook them into getting excited to read a book. With that in mind I used enticing music and images to capture their attention. I also included verbiage that would peak their interest with a desire to want to find out more.

There are some challenges in creating book trailers, but probably the biggest two are coming up with the appropriate message and images. Since it is a trailer you are creating a visual representation of the book you are trying to interest a student to a particular book. It is imperative you draft a proper script, have appropriate graphics to go along with the book. Of course there are technical challenges that always come up. It is important you use the right software, have adequate audio, and enough bandwidth when streaming or playing back your recording. 

Book trailers are an excellent way to not only for a teacher to promote a book, but for students to demonstrate their comprehension of a book read. I think students would love to use this platform as an alternative to a book report. They are engaging, informational, and creative. They are definitely a fantastic tool to add to your multimedia use in the classroom.