Following on from the enthusiasm and creative efforts of the schools that created film trailers for the Book Award shortlisted books in previous years, we included the opportunity for schools to take part in this competition again for the BIG Book Award 2020.  This competition gives children (and their teachers!) the opportunity to develop dramatic, film making and editorial skills in interpreting a story.

Entry criteria:

• Schools were invited to create a film trailer that inspires other children to read one of the shortlisted books.
• Each school submitted up to 3 film trailers.
• Each film trailer must be no longer than 2 minutes in duration.

The winning entries:

Judges had to consider the following criteria when making their final decision:

• Accuracy (Is the film true to the story? Does the film create the right mood? Do the scene, costumes, and characters fit the story?)
• Creativity (level of creativity in angles, shots, animation, illustration etc; where different techniques are used to create a desired effect)
• Performance (How strong are the performances, if any?)
• Does it draw you in? (How much does it make you want to read the book?)

There was a record breaking number of entries this time, all of which were hugely entertaining, well put together and full of dramatic quality!  However, the judges finally settled on the following winner and three runners up.  We hope you enjoy them…

Take a look at this video tutorial on how to get the most out of producing film trailers. This tutorial had been been produced by Aaron Child from Painted Life Productions in partnership with pupils from Mount Pleasant Primary School.