Book Trailer Project: Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

To start off our next unit in humanities we were introduced to our driving question,“How do Authors use text to teach us about ourselves”. To get answers and insight for our driving question we got to choose from a selection of books, one to read in small groups. Simon Vs. The Homo sapiens agenda was the book I chose to read for this project.

Along with finding answers for our driving question our main project was to create a movie trailer for the book we had chosen. To make our trailer we had to do extensive planning of just about everything, the sences, music, actors, voiceovers you name it. The planning was a crucial part in the making of this trailer it actually helped a lot when we got down to filming and editing. To begin our planning we brainstormed what we thought were the key elements of a movie trailer ie. fast shots and good music. We then started to get the sences we wanted to be in the trailer and put them together into a storyboard. After that we wrote a script and started to film our trailer.

A big challenge we had while making our trailer was finding copyright free music that fit the tone and aesthetic of out trailer. Our first draft included a song that fit into the video perfectly but it was a copyrighted song so we had to keep looking.

Eventually after scouring the internet we found music that fit the tone and style of the video, but we still prefer the first song.

Going back into our driving question and getting insight and answers on it. After a few chapters of reading Simon vs the Homo sapiens agenda I felt that I was getting some insight and thoughts on how authours used their text to teach us more about ourselves. By the end of the book I had a solid answer, authors use their text, characters and storylines to connect with the readers. They use these elements to teach lessons and truths to the readers. I can now say that with confidence and I can back up my answer with evidence. For example In Simon vs the Homo sapiens agenda the authour Becky Albertalli was using Simons sexuality to get other LGBTQ+ to relate and connect, she was showing them that they aren’t alone.

Overall I’m really proud of how our final video turned out, especially of how well the clips and audio fit together. The scenes we picked to put in our trailer really worked and told the story they needed to tell within the trailer. I learned a lot about how movie trailers capture an entire movie into just a small snapshot of a video. I also gained a lot of good knowlage of the necessity of planning and how it actual helps when executing the projects and assignments.