Behind the Scenes: How We Create a Video Trailer for Casper the Cat

With the fourth book in our award-winning children's series, The Incredible Adventures of Casper the Cat Who Got Lost in Africa, launching October 15th, we wanted to celebrate by producing a brand-new series video trailer.

But here's the fun part: these trailer aren't made in a big studio. They're created with a lean, modern creative tech stack that let's us punch well above our weight as an indie publisher. And honestly? I love the process - it's where my creative and tech sides meet.

Step 1: Original Artwork

It all starts with the beautiful illustrations from our artist Lekshmi Bose. Her warm, character-filled images of Casper, pangolins, elephants, giraffes, and now baboons give us the heart of the series. These are the anchors for every frame of the trailer.

Step 2: Runway - Animation

This is where the magic happens. Using Runway, we animate still illustrations from the books - a giraffe's neck bending, baboons bouncing, or Casper leaping. These short animated sequences bring the characters to life, transforming static art into dynamic motion. This is not an exact process and usually many attempts have to be made to get the right effect that I am looking for but it is a fun process that can generate some hilarious results.

Step 3: Canva - The Tool for Everything

Canva is a swiss army knife amongst apps and I use it everyday. Image manipulation, PDF editing, re-sizing images, video, audio, you name it. If it can be done - nine times out of ten you will find me doing it in Canva - I love the app - and it's Australian - how cool is that! While in the past I might have felt the need to use something more complex and intimidating like Photoshop for image manipulation or Final Cut Pro for video editing - I am pretty much able to do all I need within Canva. Granted, I am not generating Emmy award winning videos, but for our purposes (and budget) I highly recommend Canva - and if you haven't given it a try - you should! Let me know how you go!

Step 4: ChatGPT

The words matter as much as the visuals. With ChatGPT, I brainstorm and refine the storyboard, voiceover scripts, captions, and story beats. It helps me keep the message tight - balancing fun, heart, and education value without overloading the viewer. And I use it to assist in refining ad copy, hashtags, key words, SEO optimization - for me ChatGPT is an invaluable assistant.

Why it Matters

These trailers aren't just marketing assets - they're mini-adventures of their own. Kids get to see Casper's world in motion, parents and teachers see the educational value, and we get to show that indie publishing can be bold, creative, and professional.

Most of all, I love the process. It pushes my creative side into overdrive and proves that with the right tools, small teams can do big things. And that is kind of what Casper is all about!

Watch the Result

Check out our latest Casper series trailer, featuring Books 1 to 3 and closing with the teaser for Book 4; The Baboons, launching October 15th.

• Perfect for children aged 5 to 10.

• Available everywhere fine books are sold.