For my final video story, my main focus was on touching up particular scenes to make the transitions more smooth. I also worked on the audio to make it blend more to the film. One spot of awareness that my attention was drawn to was the change in volume after the story climax. The voiceover becomes louder, unintentionally, and created an audio difference that didn’t serve a purpose. Next, I touched up the transition near the end of the story that was visually difficult and unappealing. As Aryn, the character in action, lets the flower fall to the floor, there is a lapse in scenes that does not linearly flow. Easing the transition between them reestablishes the flow of the film to make it connect entirely as a story, and it eliminates distraction.

The purpose of my story correlates with the purpose of my blog, to highlight and promote my young adult novels in the “Pages” series. With the second installment, “Within the Bindings”, soon to be released, I wanted my final project to serve a purpose that helped to bring the book to life. Many of my young adult author friends use book trailers to help promote their new works in its pre-publication stages, and it was a large help when releasing “Into the Pages” nearly two years ago. Seeing the work come together in a different creative front is very appealing to me, and it gives a further glimpse of the inside world of the novels. As the author, it gives me another platform to present the world of Enephelysia and the magic of the storyline. For the reader, it gives a summary of the suspense, the mystery, and the adventure of Amelia’s story.

Creating this film took a lot of “outside the box thinking”. Being at home, I found a way to create a makeshift studio in my room by hanging white sheets to enclose a filming area, and direct and manage the lighting. My sister helped by acting out the role of Amelia, and by talking through different ways to portray the scenes with little resources at hand. She knows the book better than anyone, making her the perfect consultant throughout the process. During the editing stage, the story was easy to craft together. I recorded the script separately, and accessed all other sounds used from https://freesound.org/.

While the story did change from the original story board to fit resources and adaptation, I am proud of the final product. It portrays my favorite scene of the series from two different points of view, combining both “Into the Pages” and “Within the Bindings”, to give just enough context to provide a sense of suspense ahead of the book release.

The updated storyboard can be found here:

I recently received my first copy of “Within the Bindings” in published form, marking a near end to the editing and formatting process. Therefore, there was no better opportunity to see my work firsthand than using it as inspiration for this project! Prior to releasing “Into the Pages”, I released a book trailer to kick off marketing and promotion. With the anticipated release date being the beginning of May, I decided to do the same for the sequel.

In this trailer I rewind to a critical scene of “Into the Pages” where Amelia, portrayed here by my sister, Brooke, comes to a cross roads between truth and lie, and fantasy and reality. Joined in the storytelling is the phantom of the novel, Nix, an ominous and hidden presence throughout the book kept hidden from the outside world by Myron and Aryn Beltran, Prince and Princess of Enephelysia, now telling her side of the story as the voiceover. As Amelia prepares and attends a ball held in her honor with Myron, Nix recalls the night from her perspective, remembering and voicing her disdain for Amelia and the obstacle she has become in Nix’s pursuit of freedom, life, and revenge.

The trailer rewinds to the first book to create suspense and remind the reader of all of the unanswered questions awaiting in the sequel, bringing to life the most intense scene of the story to heighten the stakes of the plot. For Amelia, her journey in “Within the Bindings” will be the difference between life or death.

During the process, I did stray from my storyboard. Overall, the original story remained the same, but some of the script was modified to become condensed and more fitting to the scenes. The changes were minuscule, such as removing more unimportant shots, and I don’t believe they had an overall effect on the outcome of the film.

To begin filming, my sister helped to create a make-shift studio by hanging white sheets in my room and arranging the lighting to create a dream0like effect that represented the recollection of memories from Nix’s point of view. I edited the clips by using the “i” and “o” keys to select desired shots, and used the fade and volume tools to blend all sound elements together so one sound was not overbearing over the others.

The sound effects used were found at freesound.org.

https://youtu.be/kePcA4DPEDM

http://youtu.be/3NJwKfQFDk8

Storyboard: Within the Bindings Book Trailer