The Bewitching Novels – Motion Graphics

I’ve been working on putting together a trailer for The Bewitching novels I’ve written. I think trailers for books are great promotional tools. They give a nice, quick look at what the book is about for the audience, and according to stats people are more likely to check out a video than they are to read posts on social media. Since I’d like to do more filmmaking moving forward, it also gives me a chance to work on that while helping to promote what I’ve written. It’s kind of a win-win situation, although it also takes up a lot more time to handle both.

With that said, a few weeks back I was finally able to shoot footage for the trailer and started piecing it together. Since I used a voice-over for the majority of the sequences, I found with the editing I was a bit short on footage when putting it together. A few seconds on video can feel like forever if not edited properly. It’s now time to put in some filler scenes that go along with it.

I was inspired by the opening sequences of Supernatural where they have footage, then the motion graphic sequence with the title, before jumping back into another short scene to set up the show. I thought it was kind of a nice way to set things up, and in the trailer for The Bewitching there’s a nice point where it goes from voice-over to the actress speaking where such a cut works.

For a bit over a week, I’ve worked on editing a motion graphic sequence together in After Effects with the same idea presented in Supernatural. After 2-3 different attempts that I thought looked pretty bad, I finally got one I liked. Then I added in the sound effects. I put some low background music in it too, but took it out as I thought it might be a little too much. I hate that about video editing, or even photography. There’s always the ‘less is more’ saying, but sometimes it’s not enough. Trying to find that balance between keeping it simple, but not too simple is a huge challenge for me.

Otherwise though, I’m pretty happy with the sequence. There’s still a lot of work to do before the trailer’s complete. Besides the fill scenes, basic color correcting, adding the special effects, the final grading, and having to green screen some things in along with the fillers that could take a few more weeks. Oh, did I mention I downloaded Davinci Resolve and have to learn that too? Color correcting and grading in AE is just too much of a pain in the rear, and Davinci Resolve was designed for working with colors.

Between that, and editing an interview I did for Fit and Fashionable with the actresses from 2 Italian Chicks, along with adding another chapter to the Bewitching books as soon as possible, I think I’ve got my work cut out for me. If only I had a Tardis…