Is a Book Coming to Life the Death of the Book?
Paul Constant over at the Slog just posted a mesmerizing pro-book ad from the New Zealand Book Council, and noted, "I have to say, I can't stop looking at the pretty pictures long enough to listen to the words." Indeed--I can hardly make out the words at times, and I don't think it's just the Kiwi accent. I honestly can't sort out whether this thing makes books more or less appealing. Are they beautiful, mysterious objects, thick with the flesh of trees and the promise of words? Or are they flat and forgettable, dwarfed by the sensory wonders of animation and voices?
I think my provisional verdict is that the video does make me love books even more (like I needed any help!). I'm such a paper book fetishist that all that crackling and storytelling makes me want to pick one up right now and start reading. What's your reaction? Do you want to go read Fantastic Mr. Fox, or go watch Wes Anderson's new (and, to be honest, fantastically delicious) animated version? ("Both" is an okay answer.) --Tom
P.S. By the way, the book brought to life (or, rather, whose inner life is revealed) in the video is a real one: Maurice Gee's Going West.
Will on December 04, 2009 at 05:12 AM
I take the varying degrees of distortion and reverb on the narration, plus the fact that it often gets buried beneath the sound effects, to mean that you're not really supposed to follow it from beginning to end like the narrator in a regular commercial - it's just supposed to give you the impression that a book is being narrated and put the pretty pictures into context.
On the whole I'm not sure it's effective (I am an American, though) although it seems like selling books on TV will always be a bit problematic. It sure looks nice, though.
Valerie Wolfe on December 04, 2009 at 12:23 PM
It's beautiful but doesn't really tell me enough about the book so that I'm dying to get it. I agree with Will about the distortion and reverb, which were very effective. I liked the walking letters at the end very much. I find it interesting that Amazon features it in this blog but when you click on the book, there is not enough information to convince me to buy the book.