I've been waiting to share this video for a long time. Other than writing the book this was my favorite part of the process and believe me I have a lot more in store for you guys. I wanted to think outside of the box with this project and not follow the traditional way of marketing a book. Don't follow the flow, be the flow.
With the help of some of my innovative friends I decided to do a book trailer that would display a few scenes that relate to the stories in the book. This is only part 1 and part 2 will come next week. But even with two videos I still couldn't cover all of the aspects. A Lesson Learned is 16 chapters totaling 293 pages. I didn't have a huge budget, so I paid a videographer to shoot the scenes and I did all the editing. I wasn't a novice to this, I learned how to edit videos in college. I contacted my friend Jennifer who got me in contact with Videographer Lu Lu out of Atlanta. She did her job and gave me some input on acting, but the entire video was edited by me. I did the transistions added the heartbeat and gunshot audio, applied the typing sounds and screen reader. I printed out the college magazine on the living room table. and designed the rating screen at the beginning of the video and the credit screen at the end.
Lu Lu and I only shot the scenes where you see me, but the other scenes are stock footage that I purchased and videos I found on YouTube. I didn't want to blatantly steal somebody else's work, so I reached out to each individual and they gave me their blessing to use the videos. God is good. I didn't know these people from anything, but when I sent my synopsis they gave me the green light. I was especially nervous about the sorority footage, but Alexandria Deal from Delta Sigma Theta Inc. at The University of Texas at San Antonio and Videographer Kiona Robinson of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and Event MC Chaz Ogbu who shot the Howard University graduation footage were truly a blessing and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
The basketball footage you see is of NBA basketball player Josh Howard who went to Wake Forest University and was drafted to the Dallas Mavericks. Josh has a story in my book titled Draft Day which is very interesting. Kanye rapping "from the streets to the league" when he goes up and dunks the ball wasn't a coincidence lol. Me wearing the HBCU Grad hat wasn't a coincidence either, shout out to my alma mater Johnson C. Smith University. I put a lot of time and effort into this video and I hope you all enjoy it. Part 2 is coming next week! Don't forget to order your copy today!