Not So Innocent:
Book Trailers as Promotional Text and Anticipatory Stories

I have a challenge for you before you begin this article. Examine the columns shown below and consider the relationship between the two wordlists.

Penguin Young Readers Group uses these two sets of words in a 30-second YouTube book video trailer to promote the 2009 young adult novel After by Amy Efaw (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUCOBQf2GpQ ). As the trailer opens, each word in the first column moves into the white space of a static video frame to systematically form a uniform block arrangement that mimics a wordle. The block momentarily freezes while the frame expands to incorporate the still image of a slender young woman leaning against a wall. Then one by one, each of the original words disappears and is replaced by a new word from the second column. The new words appear at angles and cut across the frame to create a chaotic, non-rectangular arrangement of the words.

Meanwhile, the image of the young woman transforms to reveal that she is pregnant. When the chaos stops, the words sweep off the screen. The empty frame horizontally divides in half, white on top and black on the bottom. Now, the video tells viewers: “You’ve done the unthinkable.” The word unthinkable appears on the bottom half of the screen. The next frame asks: “What happens . . . after?” With dramatic pause, the word after is highlighted against the black background. The trailer concludes with a still image of the book cover, which incorporates the book title, author, the Penguin logo, and the book website: http:// www.after-book.com . Finally, in the YouTube video description box, Penguin’s July 24. 2009, message states: “On sale August 11, 2009,” letting consumers know when the new book will be released.

Just as movie producers commission trailers to advertise their new films, some book publishers and authors now commission online video trailers to promote young adult novels. According to Jerome Kramer, acting publisher at Kirkus Media (as cited by Maul, 2006a ), book trailers offer “a promotional campaign for books like nothing that’s ever been done” (p. 1). Unlike student-made book videos, which are examined in the context of digital booktalks ( Gunter & Kenny, 2008 ) and school literature response activities ( Kajder, 2008 ), studies of the promotional video campaigns for books appear rarely in the educational research literature. In this article, I investigate the impact of publishers’ promotional video trailers on prospective readers’ expectations for new young adult books. Further, I argue that book trailers are unique texts that include anything that is constructed through language, including silence ( Jones, 2008 ), and can be in any form—“written, oral, signed, electronic, pictorial, etc.” ( Bloome & Egan-Robertson, 1993, p. 311 ).

Video trailers for the books listed in Table 1will serve as the basis for this article in which I will first discuss the relevance of book trailers for today’s digitally enabled youth. Then, I will describe the major attributes of book trailers, proposing that they be viewed both as texts and cultural artifacts. Next, I connect the videos to Wolfgang Iser’s (1978) concept that readers develop horizons of expectation in response to text. Finally, I present the findings of three studies in which undergraduate college students respond to the promotional book trailers mentioned in Table 1.

Relevance

Digitally Enabled Youth

Today’s book trailer trend comes at a time when viewing online videos is a common practice among digitally enabled youth. YouTube (2010) reports that people view 2 billion online videos on YouTube per day, worldwide. Correspondingly, the Kaiser Foundation’s Generation M2 report ( Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010 ) shows that 70% of young people between the ages of 8 and 18 use the Internet on a typical day (p. 20). While online, these young people most frequently watch online videos, engage in social networking, and play computer games (p. 21).

Youth who view online videos likely share a cultural cognizance with them. Smagorinsky (2001) argues: “[T]exts are composed of signs that themselves are inscribed and codified as cultural artifacts and are read by people whose ways of encoding are conditioned by participation in cultural practice. . . . [R]eaders and texts share a cultural cognizance” (p. 146). As a result, promotional book video trailers are cultural artifacts within this global cultural practice of viewing online videos.

When social-networking Internet users enjoy online videos, they may post them to their MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter pages. Facebook alone has a growing audience of more than 400 million active users ( Facebook, 2010) , which demonstrates that social networking is a global cultural practice, too. Given these statistics, friend-to-friend video sharing of online book trailers could ignite interest in books, since people are most frequently motivated to read and/or buy books based on a friend’s recommendation ( Publisher’s Weekly, 2007) .

Familiarity & Novelty

In addition to valuing books recommended by friends, Mackey (1996) argues that young people may also value texts that appear in different formats because they seem more important and “the most worth attending to” (p. 20). This suggests that young consumers may think that a book they have seen in an online video trailer will provide a worthwhile reading experience because it is represented in both textual and digital media.

Consumers may also gravitate toward books that are promoted in a recognizable context. Video book trailers employ the familiar film trailer model to advertise new releases to prospective readers. Kernan (2004) , a film trailer scholar, observes that trailers offer “more of what you know and love” and affirm both the familiar and the novel (p. 43). Hale (2002) sees that chain bookstores take up this same ideology in creating displays that highlight familiar and desirable titles, thereby assuring customers that they will not be disappointed with their new book purchase.

Related to this merging of familiarity with novelty, Kirkus Reviews inaugurated the Teen Book Video Awards in 2006. Similar to the Academy Awards, the Teen Book Video Awards help to “promote great books where teens live online,” says Jerome Kramer of Kirkus Media ( Maul, 2006c, p. 1 ). For the 2009 contest, Random House challenged student filmmakers to produce motion picture book trailers for the following novels: Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn (released January 12, 2010); Fallen by Lauren Kate (released December 8, 2009); and The Maze Runner by James Dashner (released October 6, 2009). The contest mimicked popular television contests such as American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance with a familiar online voting process. During the month of October 2009, Internet users viewed the three book trailer finalists and voted for the winner at the following website: http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/ book_video/index.jsp .

The video book trailer for Fallen , created by filmmaker Benjamin Bliss, won the contest. On December 1, a week before Fallen was released, the novel was already #72 on Amazon.com’s best-selling teen book list, which included several books from the Twilight series. In addition, The Maze Runner was on Amazon. com’s top 100 teen booklist. While it is unclear whether the Teen Book Video Awards influenced buyers, the coincidence is suggestive.

Could online video trailers spark an interest in books in the same way that film adaptations do? A host of books have been adapted for movies over the last several years; among them are The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Curious George, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , the Harry Potter series, The Polar Express, Tuck Everlasting, Babe , and The Lord of the Rings . In looking at recent book sales after the movie releases, the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) Research and Development Committee (2006) notes: “If one judges by sales alone, it appears that movies can generate interest in books and vice versa” (p. 46). Ferguson (1998) observed that more than half of the youth in her survey of book buyers were inclined to purchase a book that corresponded with a movie they had recently seen. At the library, Sturm (2003) also saw a connection between movie releases and children’s library book selections. Given these findings, there is potential for video book trailers to influence reader preferences.

Trailer Attributes

Kernan (2004) observes that most film trailers share common attributes, which provide a familiar framework for viewers. These attributes include: a) an opening or closing address to the audience about the source text (e.g., young adult novel); b) an introduction of the main characters; and c) a selection of scenes from the source text or montages of “quickcut” action scenes (p. 9). The two types of book trailers examined in this article do, indeed, reflect these attributes. The first employs still and/or animated images, and usually includes text and a sound track. Actors and dialogue are usually absent, as in the trailers for After and Hunger Games . The second type most resembles movie trailers. Like the promotional videos for The Adoration of Jenna Fox, How I Live Now , and Very LeFreak , these book trailers include actors, live action scenes, and narration and/or dialogue.

Both types of book trailers in this article provide basic information about the novels. The trailers for Scholastic’s Hunger Games , Penguin’s After, Henry Holt’s Adoration of Jenna Fox , and Random House’s How I Live Now and Very LeFreak give closing addresses. Each shows the title, author, and book cover in the final frames of the trailer. A message about the release date and/or where the book can be purchased is also provided. Random House tells viewers Very LeFreak will be: “Available Everywhere Books Are Sold [in] January 2010.” Penguin, on the other hand, uses the YouTube video description box to inform viewers that After will be: “On Sale August 11, 2009.”

All but one of the five trailers, Hunger Games , introduces the main characters either in name or by sight. (The trailer for Hunger Games mentions “two teenage heroes.” The main character, Katniss, is identified in the YouTube description box for the video.) Penguin includes the main character’s name, Devon, in a large bold font as part of the first video wordlist. In the live action trailer for Very LeFreak , the main character is introduced in the opening scene by her laptop, which chimes “Good morning, Very. It’s time to get up. You’re looking hot today.” Very groans and tumbles out of bed to click the computer on her bed table. In the trailers for The Adoration of Jenna Fox and How I Live Now , the main character narrates the video as she appears in the scenes.

Both types of book trailers offer either a montage of quick-cut images or a selection of action scenes from the novel to pique audience interest. For example, in the trailer for The Hunger Games , the flickering image of a television screen with static reception is the background to the following text: Each year in the ruins of North America . . . 24 teenagers are forced to enter the Hunger Games. Only the winner survives. Every moment is televised . This merging of image and text foreshadows scenes from the novel and creates space for viewer interpretation.

In contrast, the book trailers for The Adoration of Jenna Fox, How I Live Now, Maze Runner , and Very LeFreak resemble blockbuster movie trailers presenting a montage of scenes from the source text. For example, the trailer for Maze Runner is like a movie trailer for a horror film. It features a strange, unforgiving setting called the Glade. Underscored with suspenseful music and eerie sounds, the trailer opens with the main character, Thomas, enclosed in what appears to be a concrete shaft in the ground. All Thomas knows is his name. In the next scene, Thomas meets other young men who are also trapped in the Glade. One of these men reports that the group has been waiting for Thomas to help them find an exit through the maze. In the final scene, Thomas says that he wants to be a “maze runner.” Then the camera turns to a bruised and bloodied young man chained to a table. The boy screams and bucks his body.

On the lighter side, the trailer for Very LeFreak presents like a movie trailer for a dramatic comedy. Very wakes to a computer greeting and moves through a series of daily events, each affected by her unabated use of technology. Her school administrator gives an ultimatum and, in the next scene, Very enters an electronic addicts’ rehabilitation center. Here, the electrical outlets are covered with wire cages, and group activities include chanting: “ Faces are better than Facebook. Why Twitter when you can talk ?” For today’s digitally connected teen, such a place could be awful. Very must persevere for 28 days without any of the things that, presumably, help her feel connected to other people. The viewer is left wondering if Very will last in the electronic detox program.

While the latter book videos resemble blockbuster film trailers, there is an important difference. Movie trailers commonly feature actual excerpts from the full-length films, which are the source texts. In contrast, book trailers “give filmmakers an opportunity to share their interpretations of unique stories,” says Susan Muirhead, the filmmaker of the book trailer for How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (cited from Maul, 2006b ). In book trailers, viewers see the filmmakers’ translation of young adult novels. Butler (1995) , in his discussion of film adaptations of books submits, says, “As with any conversion from one language to another, the most successful translation [of book to film] is never a strictly literal one” (p. 310). Similarly, the most successful translation of story elements into a promotional book trailer may not be literal. Panaou & Tsilimen (2010) argue that realistically speaking, it is not possible to maintain the very same subject and style of a source text in a translation. Rather, it becomes an interpretive re-contextualization of the source text ( Mackey, 2010 ). Consequently, book trailer viewers actually see a filmmaker’s personal response to a young adult novel, which is inevitably affected by the filmmaker’s past experiences and current interests ( Rosenblatt, 1978/1994 ).

Book Trailers as Anticipatory Stories

Soter (1999) suggests that in examining a text relative to its author (or a trailer relative to its filmmaker), the text is not so innocent. From this perspective, the rhetorical strategies an author/filmmaker uses to persuade readers are more transparent. According to Kernan (2004) , the film trailer is strategically designed to achieve the effects of “a unique form of narrative film exhibition, wherein promotional discourse and narrative pleasure are conjoined” (p. 1). This promotion– pleasure union also exists in book trailers, regardless of whether the video is live action, animation, still images, or a combination thereof.

Moreover, as a form of advertising, trailers are themselves little story adaptations of a bigger source text ( Kernan, 2004 ). These little stories are expected to foster anticipation and intrigue among viewers. Will Very survive the detox program in Very LeFreak ? Will Thomas solve the maze in Maze Runner ? What happens after Devon does the unthinkable in After ? Who is Jenna Fox, anyway? What are the Hunger Games and why does only one survive? As little stories, promotional trailers are infused with “a kind of pregnancy,” which prompts viewers to envision “imaginary (as-yet-unseen) film[s]” to satiate their curiosities ( Kernan. 2004, p. 13 ). Instead of the actual source text, we really want to read the idealized films or novels we envisioned in response to the trailer.

Kernan’s (2004) observation that trailers prompt audiences to envision stories before their public release dates correlates with Wolfgang Iser’s (1978) reader response theory. According to Iser (1978) , gaps in a text create “blanks which the reader is to fill in” (p. 169). Bressler (2007) explains that when the text does not provide readers enough information about a character, the setting, an event or relationship, or other story elements, readers must fill in these “gaps” using their own knowledge base. As a result, readers create what Iser calls horizons of expectations (cited from Bressler. 2007, p. 85 ). Readers’ horizons of expectations for a source text expand and contract according to the depth of the gaps of the film or book trailers. When readers begin to fill in the gaps with an idealized storyline, the promotional value of the trailer rises because readers will likely see the film or read the book to confirm their expectations surrounding the source text. Once they engage with the source text, readers will frequently modify their horizons of expectations to accommodate the conflict, shifts, and changes that occur in the story ( Bressler, 2007 ).

The Studies

The following set of studies examines college students’ horizons of expectations in response to the publisher’s promotional video trailers for the young adult novels After by Amy Efaw, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Maze Runner by James Dasner, and Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn. The first study considers After and Very LeFreak . The second study focuses on the four other novels. Three groups of students who were enrolled in my undergraduate classes in adolescent and young adult literature at a large Midwest university participated in the studies as part of the course curriculum.

Methodology

Group A consisted of 4 men and 12 women who consented to participate in the first study during winter term 2010. With the exception of two women, who were older than 30, the students in Group A were in their early twenties and of European American descent. Two groups participated in the second study. Group B included the Group A students along with 8 additional women and 2 additional men, for a total of 26 participants. One woman in Group B was of African American descent, while the other participants were of European American descent. Group C consisted of 15 women and 8 men who participated during spring term 2010. In Group C, 2 of the men and 2 of the women were older than 30. The other students were in their early twenties. Two women were of African American descent while the other participants were of European American descent.

As a class activity, I required that students in my adolescent literature courses view the publishers’ book trailers on YouTube at least twice and write a response to each of the trailers. In the first study, I simply asked Group A students: What do you think the book is going to be about? In the second study, I asked Group B and C students to address the following set of questions in their responses: What do you think the book is going to be about? Would you be interested in reading the book? What do you think are the most significant aspects of the promotional video trailer? The data I present in this article reflects only the responses of participants who had not read the selected book.

Data Analysis

I coded the participants’ responses to the book trailers and categorized them in terms of comments regarding characters, setting, plot overview, significant events, genre/story descriptors, connections to other texts, anticipated future reading experiences, and aesthetic qualities of the online video. Table 2 shows the results of the first study. Table 3 shows the results of the coding for participants’ responses to the book trailers in the second study.

Results: Study I

After . As Table 2 demonstrates, the horizon of expectations of the 30-second text-based trailer for After varies among the participants. Thirteen participants think the main character is a girl who became pregnant, while 2 think the protagonist is a boy who gets his girlfriend pregnant. Half of the participants comment that the lead character is a good student. Three expect different murder scenarios, and 4 anticipate that the story will, in part, occur at a jail or a detention center. Other participants foresee that themes related to emotional struggle are part of the book.

Very LeFreak . In contrast to the result for After , the horizon of expectations for the 1-minute/53-second live action trailer for Very LeFreak are more uniform. For example, all of the participants agree that the story is about Very. Eleven participants (68%) anticipate that technology will be a major theme in the story. Half expect that Very’s addiction to electronics will cause her to go to a rehabilitation/ camp program. None of the participants in this first study, however, indicate a preference for either reading or avoiding After and Very LeFreak , based on the promotional book trailers.

Table 2. In Study 1, 16 participants responded to 2 book trailers. Their comments were coded and grouped by category, listed by row. The “Comments” column shows the number of participants who share common expectations. For example, 2 participants expect that the lead character in After is male and gets his girlfriend pregnant. In contrast, all 16 participants expect that Very is the lead in Very LeFreak .