In the spirit of the “Yes We Can” feeling that’s running strong this morning, let’s take a look at three young filmmakers who can say, “Yes We Did!” I’m talking about Jessika Pilkes, Renee Baltsen, and Ben Cox, whose book trailers made them the finalists from this past year’s Teen Book Video Awards.
Every year Random House Kids books and the Kirkus Review team up to host and produce the Teen Book Video Awards. And what are these? Well, it asks students to create a trailer for a young adult book. But if you’re thinking that this means sitting through a lot of low value productions, think again. These entries are skillfully produced and edited to the point that you’d be forgiven if you thought the trailers were for films.
Now, if you read, or have read, much YA fiction, then you know that there is a high level of fantasy running through the uber-genre. To the best of my knowledge, there always has been. From the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm to Harry Potter and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books, the fantastical is ever present throughout. So it should come as no surprise that the three finalists in the Teen Book Video Awards are all for fantasy titles.
Check out the videos for the past year’s finalists (2008) below as well as an overview of the contest and quick interviews with each video writer/director.
Trailer for The Forest of Hands and Teeth conceived and directed by Jessika Pilkes:
[even more after the jump]
Trailer for Persistence of Memory conceived and directed by Renee Baltsen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ykTIxnZcw
Trailer for Parties & Potions conceived and directed by Ben Cox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr6VsNEjd2g
Filmmaker Interviews and an overview of the program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE-atVSxV04
SPOILER ALERT! I'm about to tell you who won. Not that it's much of a spoiler at this point, I mean, the award has already been awarded, but just in case you aren't ready to find out - read no further!
Okay? I warned you.
The winner of the competition was Ben Cox and his book trailer for Parties & Potions. But seriously, congrats to all of the finalists; these videos were incredibly well done.
YES WE CAN!