trailer acts as more of an official statement. Marla
Fitzsimmons, marketing manager at publisher Fellow
Traveller, notes that, “Just as the creative approach to the
trailer differs from game to game, when we release the
trailer also depends on the state a game is in.”
Announcement opportunities like E3 introduce further
complications, meaning a team might need to use footage
that’s more raw or from a purpose-built level instead of
the game per-se to meet the deadline.
While some studios prefer (or can only afford) a single
trailer, others use a multiple trailer approach. A series of
trailers over time can help maintain interest in a project,
or allow the developers to
show elements of the game
off in more depth. A
publisher may also have the
budget to commission
several trailers that focus on
different aspects and thus
appeal to different potential
player bases. “With indie
games one trailer is often enough to summarize what’s
compelling about a game,” Fellow Traveller’s Managing
Director Chris Wright says, which is reassuring news for
those who don’t have the content or budget for more.
SHOWING AND TELLING
Fellow Traveller commissions editors such as Derek Lieu
to make their trailers. Editors can request custom game
builds from developers to help with the process, allowing
for different camera angles, letting them switch from day
to night instantly, letting them zoom in on the action and
so on. Lieu used one such build to let him showcase
particular interactions in his trailer for Where the Goats
Are, a narrative game by Lambic Studios. Not all games
are easily showcased, though. “For a platformer or an FPS
you can easily show what the gameplay looks like,” says
Wright. Text-heavy games are harder to show and less
interesting to watch so you need to go beyond game
footage. “We may use voiceover to substitute text or focus
on the overarching plot,” adds Wright.
After all the work that goes into a trailer, it has
worryingly little time to make an impression on its
audience. On his blog Derek Lieu warns against logos at
the beginning, since a viewer’s attention wanes after as
little as five seconds. Yet the
time it may take to portray a
game through its trailer
once again varies. An indie
game reveal might have a
one minute trailer, a big
budget title may stretch into
the five minute range.
Ulimately the point is not to
reach an arbitrary timestamp, it’s to interest you in the
project and then deliver key information such as a release
date or a call to action like “Wishlist on Steam now”.
Fitzsimmons summarizes why the trailer is the most
important game marketing asset. “The job of a trailer is
to communicate a pitch, which for us is often no more
than a single sentence—a specific feeling we want to
convey, or the thing that makes a game unique,” she says.
Francis agrees, “After I’ve put my best foot forward and
showed you what it is we have to offer, all that’s left for
me to ask is ‘Do you want it?’.”
Malindy HetfeldFAR LEFT: Images
alone are not enough
to explain how Heat
Signature functions.LEFT: Recompile’s
player character
and environment
make it instantly
recognizable.A CASE STUDY What makes the trailer for Sekiro so engaging?
THE DRAMATIC CURVE
Action is followed by this shot that leads
to a description of the plot.MANY ENEMIES
A montage full of quick cuts shows you
many different bosses in action.INTERESTING TRANSITIONS
To not fade to black too often, the trailer
uses watercolor-inspired transitions.THE COLD OPEN
The trailer immediately opens on the
action using a variety of camera angles.A VIEWER’S ATTENTION WANES
AFTER AS LITTLE AS
FIVE SECONDS