This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Filling in the Storyboard
With the outline personalized, you can move on to the storyboard.
Click the Storyboard tab.
The storyboard contains placeholders that describe the types of clips to add, how long those clips should be, and an appropriate clip order. Playing the trailer first without adding any clips is good way to get a sense of what you’re creating.
- At the top of the storyboard, skim to the start of the BOW WOW FILMS title.
Press the Spacebar to play the trailer.
The trailer includes titles, music, and all the placeholders you need to create a complete coming attraction. All you need to do is select your best clips to match the placeholder descriptions.
Halfway through the trailer, press the Spacebar to stop. Then scroll the storyboard to the top.
The first placeholder is highlighted yellow to give you an indication of the type of clip you need to find. In this case, you want a 2.7-second landscape clip. Clips with a shorter duration will not work. In the browser is a 10.2-second scenic clip, so you’ll use that.
In the browser, skim over the first clip (the scenery clip) and move your pointer over it.
When the pointer moves over the clip, a yellow selection highlight moves with it. This yellow highlight indicates how much of the clip will be used once you click the mouse.
Adding clips for trailers works a bit differently than adding clips to a movie because the placeholder predefines the length of the clip. So all that is left for you is to decide where the clip will start.
Skim along the scenic clip in the browser until somewhere in the middle of the filmstrip.
Click the mouse button to add this to the trailer.
The placeholder is filled in with the selected clip, and the yellow highlight moves to the second placeholder in the storyboard.
This next placeholder requires a clip of Nima. This is the first time she’ll appear in the trailer, so the clip should clearly introduce her.
Skim over the second clip (Nima sitting on gravel). Towards the end of this clip is a nice point where she turns her head from left to right (your left to right, not hers).
Skim to the point where Nima starts to turn, and then click to add this clip to the trailer.
This next placeholder in the storyboard is highlighted. This is where the next clip you add will be placed. From the title under the placeholder, it is looking for another a clip of Nima.
Skim over the third clip of Nima laying down, yawning.
Skim so the yellow outline is located at the end of this clip.
This is a video of Nima yawning—another perfect introductory clip because it’s a classic pose of hers (and every dog). It’s also a much more close-up clip than the one of her sitting on the gravel.
Click to add the third clip to the trailer.
This is a good place to pause and view the trailer so far.
- Skim to the start of the Bow Wow Films title at the top of the storyboard.
- Press the Spacebar to play the trailer.
After the third clip plays, press the Spacebar to stop playback and get ready to add more clips.
The next placeholder suggests a medium shot. Traditionally in moviemaking a medium shot is usually framed so the bottom of the shot begins at the knees or waist of the subject. How does that translate when the subject is a dog? It’s anyone’s guess. The beauty of the trailer is that these placeholders are just suggestions. You can follow them loosely and still end up with a fun movie. The fourth clip in the browser is just Nima sniffing around, which will work, but the fifth placeholder is looking for another landscape, which you don’t have. So you’ll just fill in the placeholders by going in the order they appear in the browser.
Click anywhere in the middle of the fourth clip (Nima sniffing around).
Click anywhere in the middle of the fifth clip (Nima standing on the red patio).
Add the sixth clip (Nima testing the water) by clicking the start of the clip.
Use the next two beach clips for the next two medium placeholders by aligning the end of the yellow selection outline with the end of the clips.
The ninth placeholder asks for an action clip. Click the next clip at the beginning (Nima running across the floor).
Add the remaining clips in the browser by clicking at the start of each one, beginning with the close-up of Nima gnawing on a toy and ending with the shot of Nima being playful on the gravel.
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Your exciting adventure trailer is complete, and you can skim to the beginning and play it to see what you’ve created. It’s a fun movie to watch and really simple to create, but you can still make some changes to improve it.