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Starting work on a trailer
🕑 Added 2020-09-22 23:47:00 +0000 UTCI'm still working on the succubus retopology. All of those asymmetrical laces on her clothing is taking forever to do cleanly. The low poly only needs another day or two of full work to finish... I hope.
Now that the proof of concept is complete and relatively stable I'm going to put some time into marketing and promoting Feign. The idea is to make a quick teaser trailer to showcase the game. Something that's only 30 to 45 seconds long, hits the high points, and doesn't drag on. Also to not sink so much time into the trailer that it slows down the actual game development. I think as long as I stick to gameplay shots of content that is already there or that I'm currently working on anyway that will be the most efficient way of handling things.
With that in mind I started doing research on trailers and how to make them. I have no idea how to actually do any of this so it's a huge learning experience and it should be fun too. So first thing is first:
How To Make A Blockbuster Movie Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAOdjqyG37A
I really like this video and how it breaks down the formula of blockbuster movie trailers. Super simple, straightforward, and fun to watch even though it's just white text on a black background.
From there I started looking at a number of different trailers and trying to break them down. Looking for those formula elements from the last video.
Mad Max: Fury Road - Official Theatrical Teaser Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWNWi-ZWL3c
Fury Road hits almost all of the elements from the blockbuster formula trailer and also has a really impactful visual style. I grabbed about a 30 second sequence of shots and tried to look at what the shots are actually doing. Most of these, with the voice over, establish the scene and mood, then introduce the bad guys, then the protagonist, then a sweet action shot, then the reveal of the Big Bad Guy. So within 30 seconds they've set the stage for the entire narrative and shown off some awesome visuals.
Skyrim Live Action Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1AenlOEXao
The Skyrim live action trailer follows most of the same formula. Establish scene and mood, introduce the protagonist, and then the Big Bad. The action and shots also build over the course of the trailer along with the music. The ending also leaves the viewer hanging "Oh, wow I really want to see what happens next..." sort of feeling.
INMOST - Release Date Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbhPtXP-LE4
Finally I grabbed one of the trailers for Inmost, which when I watched this trailer I knew nothing about the game and hadn't ever heard of it before but the trailer really made the game look cool and it stuck out in my mind. The audio cues timed up to the shots, the overall pacing of those shots, the content I just think they did a really great job with this. I also like that it's only 45 seconds, communicates the feeling and tone of the game and then ends before the viewer gets bored.
I dug a bit more into the breakdown of this video and started putting time stamps and highlight notes over each shot. I think this is a good target for the Feign trailer for timing and content.
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Those are my initial notes. I'm still reading and watching tutorials and trying to absorb as much as I can before I jump into actually recording content and putting things together. And again I've never done this before so I'm not even remotely an expert. If anyone has any thoughts, ideas, or feedback let me know!
