If you watch enough book trailers, you may get the general impression that there’s a form to be followed. Then, you watch one that breaks those forms and works anyway.
The general idea of a book trailer is to provide readers with enough sense of character and plot or plot and character to interest them in the book. It’s like a hook—in fact, it is a hook—but not in the sense that most authors are used to.
The reason you want to give a sense of both characters and plot is because 1) characters are who we care about and 2) plot is why we care. In other words, characters are who we root for and plot gives characters something to fight for and is the stage where they fight for it.
I’m not sure what the plot is for the above trailer. But I definitely know what the conflict is, at least the internal conflict. The character (Juliet, or the me/I speaking) is conflicted between being cursed/gifted, and that’s just a start. I can assume the plot has to do with her winning her freedom from “them,” but that might be backstory. Either way, it works, because the internal conflict is enough to intrigue me.
Breaking conventions is always a risk, but when done well it can reap some pretty nifty rewards, like interesting a reader who might not otherwise consider your material. After all, I wasn’t looking for teen fiction, but I think I’m going to have to give this one a try.
Definitely intriguing and very professionally done. I immediately started imagining all sorts of plots to go with the trailer and now I’m curious to find out which, if any, actually fits the reality.