Posted on 2013-Jan-26
Life Imitates Art and Vice Versa
Those who work in the arts must possess the ability to convey meaning and convince their audience what they are witnessing. Authors are artists in this sense whose duty is connecting the dots in a logical argument and emotional experience to formulate stories to facilitate their readers enjoyment of the pages. Once the well-documented stories are written in a professional layout with paragraphs and punctuation, mass distribution is the one stop method for success. Unfortunately, in today’s world where artists compete against one another with commercial arts, achieving higher discoverability does require an out-of-the-box presentational appeal.
“Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Oscar Wilde
Writing and Motion Pictures
If words paint the clearest pictures of what go through people physically and psychologically, moving pictures can better concretize description for the audience to comprehend the presentation as quickest as possible. While writing emphatically discusses the notion of detailed discussion, watching motion pictures similarly stimulates visual impression for the audience to create mental familiarity with the setting and characterization. Both elements can stretch their imagination as long as the storytellers keep our attention focused.
“I like writing. It keeps my mind off grim subjects. It’s therapeutic in the same way a patient in an institution is given finger paints.” Woody Allen
Book Trailers
Book trailers have become the center of my attention lately. Why? I am a movie addict who quickly invests emotion into the portrayal of actors. With book trailers, I admire the new method of book promotion that brings more depth to the story. Amazon includes book trailers in their article about book merchandising tips. According to Amazon, self-publishers tend to favor the use of trailers to promote their book. Uploading them straight to Author Pages is not difficult. Personally, I admit that I watched some in the past out of curiosity. Unfortunately, with linear narration coupled with a few slides and emotionless dictation, I was fast turned off from the story plot.
Home Video to Create Cinematic Impression
If you do not have $8 million, you might not be able to hire an Oscar-winning director from last year to direct your trailers. Readers expect the trailers to capture the vital essence of the book. In reality, you might have to save your budget to come up with an extraordinary effort to bring your eBook to life. After watching Gary Grossman’s trailer, I got a sense of disorientation viewing deaths as simplified phenomenon. The reality-style video reminds me of the candid camera success of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity 1, 2, 3, 4. The latter quadrilogy titles have garnered incredible gross income north of $700 million just to show the audience of when weird things happen in a trapped setting. In Grossman’s trailer, the claustrophobic tension is fierce by the time the character found no way out of his eventual fallacy. His narration runs parallel to the fast-paced action as the camera gave us a quick tour of the setting. The original score that accompanies storytelling builds up the emotion. Instead of having the end credits show how many producers work for the clip, online bookstores and author’s website appear to highlight the presence of the book that has inspired the trailer.
In the forum that discusses how ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ screenplay is being worked out, fans of the book took to the comment section to relinquish their passion so enthusiastically. Although there is one negative comment hurling attack at the book, most of them fan the flame of approval. To watch the unprecedented creepiness that surrounds the peculiar children, click here. Apparently, not only the trailer attracts the passionate readers, moviegoers can become the new and supporting voices—echoing the story plot without reading the book. Regardless of the criticism, the comments can add value to the book as they effectively promote discoverability.
Lifelike Description
No matter how you tell your story, lifelike description can always help to communicate with your audience one way or another. Based on the two trailers, although high-cost investment might seem unavoidable, the feedback from the public audience is worth the attempt. In Grossman’s trailer, 44,305 people have viewed the protagonist’s despair caused by poison is heightened to the extent that there is no way out. In Miss Peregrine’s, one child’s curiosity is responded by tales of children’s mysterious stories so intricately that bedtime story is worth everybody’s attention. Over 240,505 visitors have watched the trailer. Despite the cinematic effects, your innate creativity can play a significant role in determining what elements of reality through motion pictures to present promote your book according to your budget. You might want to research the low-cost production online and come up with your own unorthodox presentation. What matters at the end of the day is to let your art imitate life as being represented in your fiction.
Label: Marketing
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