In this four-and-a-half-minute video for Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, the camera never cuts away from economist Richard McKenzie as he explains—well, not why popcorn costs so much (he’s saving that for the book) but why the medium-sized bag has more popcorn in it than the large-sized tub, even though it costs a dollar less. And granted, the video probably could use a few cutaway shots—closeups on the containers is the most obvious possibility—and maybe McKenzie could be a bit more at ease in front of the camera, to match the naturalness of his writing.
But, all those quibbles aside, I think this video comes very close to “getting” one of the most important elements of a successful book trailer, which is that a consistent style of visual storytelling matters as much as the textual story you’re telling. The static shot “works” for the majority of this video because it contains all the information we need to understand what McKenzie is trying to tell us: the three containers of popcorn, the price differentials, and the demonstration of the disparity between the medium and large portions. Some additional shot selection might offer a way to emphasize those elements, true, but they’re laid out straightforwardly enough. It’s only at the end, when McKenzie is trying to discuss what else he’s put into his book—including discussions of gender imbalance in wages and the longterm impact of the 9/11 attacks—that the popcorn becomes distracting. Still, this is definitely a case where I’d rather see too little editing in a book trailer than too much.