Thomas Gale 26.9.11. A game trailer is a type of video advertisement used for promoting an upcoming...
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ASSIGNMENT 3: RESEARCHING MEDIA PRODUCTION – GAME TRAILERS Thomas Gale 26.9.11
Thomas Gale 26.9.11. A game trailer is a type of video advertisement used for promoting an upcoming videogame. These are included with the first public
A game trailer is a type of video advertisement used for
promoting an upcoming videogame. These are included with the first
public news of a new game as a demonstration of the product, and
usually more are released as development continues production right
up until its release, and maybe even after the release of the game
for additional advertisement. The purpose of a game trailer is to
persuade people into taking an interest in the game, and
considering a purchase. This is done via using the trailers to
highlight key points of the product that are unique, set it apart
from other products, and are worth both attention and a purchase.
These are accomplished through the use of pre-rendered animation,
actual gameplay, or a mixture of both. Other features include
voice- overs, music tied to whats shown, and other graphics and
text inserted into the video, such as the logo of the game and the
company who made it, to give a better idea of whats going on. 2009
trailer to the 2008 videogame Braid; already released on Xbox 360
and advertising the then-new PC port.
Slide 3
The trailer for Braid that I provided demonstrates a few of the
points that I discussed. It did the following: - Showed that it is
of the platformer gaming genre, using familiar elements that the
likes of Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog established,
including moving to the right to reach the end, jumping to reach
higher ground and cross chasms, item collecting, and the standard
method for defeating enemies in the genre, which is jumping on
their heads. - Highlighted the main features of the game, in Braids
case the reversal of time to undo mistakes while learning from them
without any consequences, an object that produces a bubble around
it it that slows things which are closer to the center down and has
a fading effect with distance, reversing time to produce a clone
that travels to where you were before the time reversal, and a
level where time seems to flow depending on which direction you
move in. - Included footage directly from the game, without using
any pre- rendered cutscenes to interfere with the actual gameplay
the trailer was trying to establish and advertise to the viewers. -
Only uses music that is featured in the game, utilizing three
different pieces of music to bridge together the various scenes
that are shown for a more powerful effect. It starts off with a
soft tune to highlight the usual platforming elements, uses a
dangerous tune to highight the time manipulation elements, and then
uses a neutral track to highlight the burning city and the title
logo of the game that fades onto the screen. - Uses breaks from the
gameplay with black screens and written dialogue without any
voice-overs to advertise the kind of personality that the game
boasts. One particular example from this is the break that occurs
between the normal platforming and the unique time elements of the
game: the viewer is given the message of What if you could learn
from mistakes during the showcase of normal platforming elements,
and is then given the message of but undo the consequences? after
the player character is killed by falling into a spike pit, before
then showing the time reversal mechanic and bringing them back to
life.
Slide 4
Game trailers are made through a variety of software, with each
different component of the trailer made with a different piece of
software. Despite the fact that most of the software that is used
by companies to produce the content for the trailer are their own
specially built ones, we can still get a general idea of what types
of software they might use to produce them - Gameplay and cutscenes
that are directly from the game are recorded with the programs used
to produce the game (professional videogame companies like
Nintendo, SEGA, and Capcom all use their own specially designed
tools), with most trailers using a debug mode version of the game
where the Heads-Up Display/HUD (elements such as life bars, extra
lives, score, collected items, and so on) is removed so that more
focus is drawn to the gameplay. - Music that is used will have
either been from the game, and produced in-house at the company
using live instruments with professional software such as Cakewalk
to record and edit the music, or using music produced by popular
bands/musicians, such as My Chemical Romance and Kele Okereke, to
draw more attention from the public in. - Graphics such as the game
title or the company logo will have been produced in either image
software such as Adobe Photoshop or in modelling software such as
Maya, depending on whether the logo is a still image or if it has a
3D edge to it.
Slide 5
On the other hand, this trailer for Sonic Generations takes a
different approach from what the Braid trailer chose to do. It is
full of content besides gameplay and written dialogue, and
features; - Information about the game being the anniversary
celebration title for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, explaining
why it is using levels from past games in the series and both the
current and original incarnations of the title character in terms
of both appearance and gameplay styles. - An equal showcase of both
gameplay styles that the game boasts to show they have been split
evenly, as well as levels that had not been showcased in other
trailers and press releases prior to this trailer. - Glimpses of
pre-rendered animation that will be in the final game in the form
of movies/cutscenes. - Written, pop-up graphics made specifically
for the trailer that have been added over the gameplay; a
particularly amazing example is at 0:30, where they seamlessly
blend with the action going on. - Music by popular musician Kele
Okereke that wont actually feature in the game, and is used purely
to attract more public attention towards the product. Trailer to
the upcoming 2011 videogame Sonic Generations; advertising its
upcoming release on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo 3DS.
Slide 6
Game trailers are primarily shown via online distribution in
this day and age. Professional videogame reviewing sites such as
IGN and Gamespot are usually given the trailers to put up for
people to see, before the company that produced the title uploads
it to their own services such as the companys website, a website
made specifically for the game, and/or the YouTube account of that
company. Some trailers are adapted into TV commercials close to the
games release, along with quotes from reviewers and the score the
game was given by them. The very first announcement of a videogame
(which can take place on the companys website, a press conference,
a convention, and so on) may include a trailer as well, though some
companies opt to only tease what the game will be with a few
screenshots, the title logo, or a strange, cryptic comment that
contains a hidden message teasing whats to come.
Slide 7
Game trailers can only really advertise the game for what it
is, and thus only appeal to the audience the product is for. If the
game is centered on a rather hardcore setting, like a shooter that
focuses on wanton destruction and killing to move forward, then it
will only appeal to the more hardcore gamers that are generally
males in their teenager and adult years, and thus only be aimed at
that specific demograph of people. 2008 trailer to the 2009
videogame Sims; advertising the then-upcoming PC and Mac releases.
Trailers like this one for Sims 3, for example, dont make
themselves stand out as anything more than what it is; a real-life
simulator where you control the lives of the people you create. It
doesn't try to appeal to the demographs for people that are into
platformers or into shooters and so on, and only tells the truth of
the game rather than lying to try and draw audiences than what it
currently has in. Its true purpose is to appeal to its demograph,
and show that it is simply a larger expansion over Sims 2 without
detracting from the core gameplay.
Slide 8
Game trailers can be put into different categories, even though
there arent too many to categorize them as. Trailers range from
revealers that contain a minimal amount of content to give a very
quick glimpse at the future content (Reveals), to teasers that are
small in size and only features small pieces of pre- rendered
graphics and imagery (Teasers), to normal trailers that just give a
very brief look at whats coming and what to expect from the product
(Trailer). All of these trailers can boast different styles to
them; the trailers for Braid and Sonic Generations that I presented
earlier are good examples of two distinct styles of trailers.
Braids trailer focuses on the strong, deep feeling that Braid gives
to players through its use of only written dialogue to narrate the
game, which the cryptic comments about freely traversing through
time without any consequences add to and force the player to sit
down and think what they could truly mean. While having an
interesting and catching gameplay style, more attention is
specifically drawn to its unique idea of making the player really
think about what the game is trying to symbolize and enforce
thoughts about. Sonic Generations trailer focuses on celebrating
the anniversary of the franchise, and showcasing its
nostalgia-driven excitement for seeing stages from past games
re-envisioned with the newer technology they use, and boasting
entirely new layouts and design elements to make them feel fresh
while also feeling familiar to what they are at the core. It only
offers narrative to establish the minor story the game has and the
content its revisiting from past years, and otherwise has a larger
focus on the nostalgia the games using as its main selling point.
All in all, it really comes down to what the product is about. If
the game is really serious with its setting and story, then a
trailer for it cant really be made to try and make it stand out as
more comical humor driven.
Slide 9
The game trailer I am choosing to design for this part of the
task is focused around a recent story idea. I have talked about
this on the blog for this college year in an off-hand comment
regarding my choice of steampunk for some of the previous work, and
had posted up a variety of ideas for it on my deviantART gallery
along with a rough sketch (that was poorly scanned, to boot) of
some of the concepts. Also worth noting is that in the last two
days of the Mr. Watt enrichment task, I simply exchanged my
characters with the Mr. Watt characters and wrote out a quick,
rough story to fit the Mr. Watt characters into it. This was all
due to a lack of ideas and inspiration for what to do with them and
actually have something for the task. The idea of the trailer will
be to highlight: - The 2D platforming style of the game, inspired
by amazingly inspirational and creative titles such as Braid,
Limbo, Super Meat Boy, and Toki Tori; all of which have been
praised for their unique takes on the 2D platforming genre after
years of Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog clones. - The
alternate-Victorian steampunk look and feeling, which is my own
personal highlight and what I feel would make this game
particularly special. - The games strong emphasis of the single
Action button that causes a majority of the action in the world
alongside the Jump button, and allows for immense interactivity
with the world around you. - Its use of physics-based mechanics so
that, for example, box objects can be grabbed and pulled up a
slope, then released and sent flying forward with the momentum it
would be carrying. - The comically exaggerated deaths that occur
from failure, such as pushing the box up the slope as opposed to
pulling it up from the other side, and releasing the buttons; this
results in the box knocking the character over as it slides down,
and running over them and crushing them. It does not feature any
sort of gore or natural violence to it.
Slide 10
Action: Pan across Victorian London Rooftops during daylight
Description: Shows London before the events of the prologue, along
with all the steam-powered airships and other noticeable technology
gaps that exist due to the Victorians vision of 20 th century
technology being realized. Sound: Cheerful, gives a sense of world
peace and prosperity Action: Pan across a dystopian Victorian
London during night Description: Shows London after the events of
the prologue in its state of disrepair from the worldwide-scale
earthquake strike. Sound: Dangerous, dark, gives a sense of the
world being in ruins and facing a dark age
Slide 11
Action: Pan across Victorian rooftops and showing a character
vaulting over chimney tops Description: Gives the first view of
what one of the characters in the game will be, and going by the
action that they are doing, indicates they are likely to be the
main playable character. Sound: See previous Action: Gameplay of
character doing normal platforming Description: Demonstrates the
basic gameplay element of using the Jump button to travel across
obstacles, over pits, and so forth. Sound: See previous
Slide 12
Action: Gameplay of character doing actions Description:
Demonstrates the basic gameplay element of using the Action button
to interact with the world, such as pulling on the sides of
moveable boxes to drag and move them to where you choose to. Sound:
See previous Action: Gameplay of character accessing alternate
routes through the level and hidden objects Description:
Demonstrates the ability to access different ways through the game
by utilizing Jumping and Actions to build new ways forward. These
will include things such as a box being pushed over a steam vent,
waiting until steam starts pouring outside the bottom of the box,
and then pushing the box off and letting a burst of steam propel
the character into the air. Sound: See previous
Slide 13
Action: Gameplay of the character dying and time jumping back
Description: Demonstrates what happens when the player fails and
does something that would typically lose a life in a normal
platformer, instead forcing time to reverse back to before the
unfortunate fate. Sound: Briefly pauses with the death, then plays
a brief reversed version of the tune from before during the time
reversal Action: Montage of various other gameplay moments
Description: Provides more quickly alternating looks at the kind of
gameplay that will come up, and then switches to a shot of the main
character standing to the side of a chimney, as a large airship
looms overhead while releasing a massive amount of black steam from
its various engine outputs at the bottom. Sound: Audio starts to
take on a slightly more dramatic tone with the newer gameplay
footage, and deepens with the shot of the character and
airship
Slide 14
Action: Far-away shot of Londons clock Tower Description: The
shots of the clock face are made closer and closer with each second
that passes, with the clock just about to strike the next hour.
Screen fades to black on the very last second, before the loud
noise that comes up. Sound: Audio grows quieter and sound of the
clock gets louder as it draws closer towards it Action: Release of
steam over black screen, logo appears after steam fades
Description: As the clock strikes the hour with the black screen, a
portion of steam with a hissing sound is released and fades to
reveal the logo of the product. There is a line after Re at first,
but rotates to reveal a W shape, and then keeps rotating back into
a line, then a M, and loops until the end. Sound: Sound of steam
hissing, and small gears churning in time with the rotating
letter
Slide 15
All original information, videos, and images located at;
http://www.youtube.com/ http://uk.ign.com/
http://mattepainting.org/ http://www.aidan.co.uk/
http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/ http://critical-gaming.squarespace.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page