The Great Gatsby — book video sample

About the book

Nick Carraway rents a small house on Long Island next to the mansion of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire whose lavish parties hide a single-minded hope: to win back Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald's short novel is about wealth, reinvention and the cost of chasing a dream that may never have existed.

Public domain: Published in the United States in 1925, it entered the US public domain on 1 January 2021. Copyright rules differ by country — check your own. Source text: Project Gutenberg #64317.

Why it works as a short video

Gatsby is visual by nature: green light across the bay, jazz-age parties, yellow cars, faded glamour. Its themes — money, longing, starting over — still drive engagement on BookTok, and its short length makes it easy to sample.

5 hook lines you could use

1. He threw the biggest parties in New York — for one guest who never came.
2. The most famous green light in literature is just a dock light. Here's why it matters.
3. Everyone at his parties had a theory about him. None of them were right.
4. A self-made millionaire, a married woman, and one summer that ruins everything.
5. If your book club only reads one 1920s novel, make it this one.

Open with one of these on screen in the first second, then cut straight to the story. More on hooks in How to make a book trailer.

3 video ideas for this classic

• A 'party invitation' trailer: gold-and-black visuals, the line 'You're invited to Gatsby's' and a reveal of the empty mansion at dawn.
• Character POV series: one 20-second clip each for Nick, Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan, voiced in first person.
• Then-vs-now: pair a quote about money or status with a modern caption to show why the book still lands.

Make your own version

1. Find the text in our public-domain library or upload your own book.
2. Pick the number of episodes and let the AI plan the series.
3. Watch the free 1-episode preview, then download or share.

Writing your own book in a similar genre? See Literary Fiction book trailers, Historical Fiction book trailers, Romance book trailers, or BookTok video ideas by genre.

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