5 August 2022

Anatomy of a Book Trailer

Campbell’s Boy is a fictional account that resulted from a real-life story in a real-life location. The story is directly connected to my paternal ancestry line. As best I know, there was no oral passing down of this story. In fact, it seems to be a long forgotten and buried incident…or secret.

But I did have something. Old family 8mm films taken by a grandmother (the direct connection to this ancestral line) who loved preserving her family on film. Long before I knew about this story, I was rescuing these family films and converting to usable mediums.

In re-visiting the films, I discovered some footage from trips out West and, specifically, to California in the 1940s. Some clips were usable and I saw an opportunity: they became the basis for the Campbell’s Boy trailer.

I like how this has all come full circle in an unplanned way. That is, my paternal grandmother, the link to this story, has now played another part in this project by providing the core of the trailer. Hats off to Dorothy Gascon Shipe and her love of early 8mm filming…and gratitude to her also for connecting me to the story behind Campbell’s Boy. A story that has kept me fascinated for years now…

Special note:

I am so appreciative of my inhouse production team, Desmalu. They were very patient with me as we pulled this marvelous trailer together. Their talents amaze me. I owe them a lifetime of steak dinners at the restaurant of their choice.