Events

Click the link below to see our upcoming regional events.

• Upcoming SCBWI SF Events

Mark these dates on your calendar!

April 9, 4 – 6 pm – Multiculturalism

Panelists:

Abigail Samoun, editor from recently closed Tricycle Press and

Coretta Scott King Award, Newbery Honor and National Book Award Finalist, author Rita Williams-Garcia (via Skype)

We live in a culturally rich place. We want our kid’s literature to be representative and inclusive. We also want to be authentic in our art. How can we represent cultures to which we do not belong? How can art help? When does art hurt? How can we tell the difference in our own art? Can we?

Abigail Samoun has worked in children’s publishing for over a decade. During that time she’s edited board books, picture, middle-grade, and early young-adult novels for Tricycle Press, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Little, Brown. These include the SCBWI Golden Kite winner George Hogglesberry: Grade SChool Alien; the 2008 Pura Belpre Honor Winner, What Can You Do with a Rebozo?; the Smithsonian Notable young adult novel Shifty; and the New York Public Library Ezra Jack Keats award-winner, Yesterday I Had the Blues. Abigail also edited the middle grade series Edgar & Ellen which has sold over a quarter of a million copies worldwide and launched a cartoon series on Nickelodeon.

May 14, 4 – 6 pm – OOPS (Out of Print Salon) – Now including Tricycle Books

MC: Steve Marra

Sometimes New York makes a mistake. Whether by simple – yet careless – oversight, unfortunate release timing, or the rapid fluctuations of editorial staff, the publishing industry occasionally allows an otherwise, fabulous, groundbreaking and/or delightful book (or entire imprint) to go out of print (or close).

Perhaps you are the author of that book.

Here is your chance to make your case to the world. Make a book trailer, under 60 seconds, promoting your Out Of Print Star. Trailers will be shown, salon-style, this afternoon, MC’ed by Steve Marra, professional filmmaker. The audience in attendance will vote on favorites, and the top voted trailers will be featured on our website (scbwisf.org.) Who knows, maybe NY will see the err of it’s ways. Note: All Tricycle books, out of print, or not, are eligible for this salon. (Professionally produced trailers are ineligible for this salon.)

A Quick FAQ re: Book Trailers from our MC, Steve Marra:

What are “good” formats?

Any mac format created via imovie and/or final cut. Any PC format such at Windows Movie maker. Stay way from any software that creates anything proprietary.

What are some good software programs to use when editing?

Any brand name product is fine….Mac imovie and/or Windows Movie Maker are fine.

Given a choice, Mac products are hands down winner.

When should I use “fancy effects?”

I tell my film class, no special effects until you can tell a story! Tempting to have lightening bold coming out of someone’s head and make them sound like a chipmunk, but resist!

The question to always ask….does doing this advance the storyline?

Should I use voice over? Text effects on the frames?

Voice over is wonderful way to narrate a video, speak slowly, use an external mic and not depend on onboard computer mic. Can be challenging keeping audio and video in sync. If you do not know about stripping out audio from a video track and laying an audio track over new video…I suggest keep it simple and do not attempt to do a Voice Over, instead just record your audio as part of your video. Keep it simple!

What should I consider when filming?

Digital footage is “free.” Typically the ratio of what is filmed to what makes it into film is 10:1.

Have fun..even if you don’t use the footage in this film, you might in some other film.

Unless there is reason not to, use a tripod.

What should I consider when editing?

Create a film that you would like and hope for the best, keep it simple.

How long should each shot be?

Without going into the details of non destructive linear editing…film at least 10 seconds per shot knowing you will tend to cut this down to 3 to 5 seconds.

What should I consider if I am on camera myself?

Relax and enjoy participating in a video. Everyone wishes they looked and sounded differently, relax and breathe and you’ll be fine.

For filming, better to not wear stripes, polka dots, etc, etc. Solid colors tend to work best. An ironed crisp shirt probably looks the most professional.

Speak slowly, speak slower than you think sounds right. Try to keep your answers short and to the point. If I think your answer/response is getting longish, I’ll let you know and we can try again. This is not to say your answer/response is not wonderful, it is more a reflection of the attention span of people watching the finished video. Their attention span tends to be brief.

It is fine to stop and start over….the video will be edited and we can make adjustments for starts and stops. A complete stop is best.

You can do as many takes as needed.

If you are sitting during filming, try to stay still, try not to fidget with your hands. If standing, same thing goes. Most people find sitting to be more comfortable for filming.

Look at the camera. To viewers it will look like you are talking directly to them.

You’re ready… lights, camera, action.