As game adverts go I'm breaking convention a bit. From my experience app games don't use TV ads to promote their games, although there are a few exceptions as shown with the textual analysis posts I've done.
Instead I'm taking a leaf from a certain film company that I'm fairly sure you know. Those of you that have been to see films at the cinema may have seen teaser trailers for movies made by Disney Pixar.
Remember this showing as a trailer when you were at the cinema?
Pixar commonly has these shown when one of their earlier movies is showing in cinema, and also includes them inside the their film DVDs. The trailers are usually only about a minute long, and they're not made from actual film footage.
The video above, for Pixar's film The Incredibles is the one I like the most. When I envision my idea for the task, this is what always comes into my head. It contains two key elements that I'm interested in. The first is that it's an entertaining piece to watch, the second and more important part is that through the different shots, action, dialogue and setting of the trailer, you are shown exactly what sort of film The Incredibles is. It's these two things that I want my main initial game trailer to contain.
I've noticed through the various adverts that I've seen on youtube, at the cinema, and through streaming sites, that this approach is fairly common, both for upcoming films and upcoming games. A good game example is the World of Warcraft series, which with every new expansion pack Blizzard Entertainment reveals, they also include a Cinematic promotional video for the pack.
These trailers aren't reflective of what actually takes place within the game. No such Cinematics are present in the actual game, and the footage shown doesn't actually happen. The video is there for promotion and that's it. Gameplay trailers, showing the new environment and new mechanics come later to further advertise the game, but the first trailer is the key piece in drawing attention and interest from the public.
I can say that I also got into playing World of Warcraft, thanks initially to the promotional trailer for Mists of Pandaria, which came on randomly as youtube advert, although the game had been recommended to me by friends who already played the game.
That in its own right is proof that these adverts do their job. Normally I skip youtube ads. It's rare for me to be impressed enough with an advert to keep watching it until its end. When it does happen though, I commonly end up following through and either buying or downloading what I see.
What's my plan for tackling this task then? These examples and explanations are my way of explaining that, so you understand where I'm coming from. My plan is to follow the same route with my trailer as initial promotional cinematic adverts the games and films like Pixar and World of Warcraft use.
I'm going to create a short cinematic that showcases the setting, concept, and character for my game, but also has entertainment value to accompany it.
You can look forward to my next post in this process, where I'll cover how I'm actually going to do this. That will be the Development Stage, which should come soon. Until then stay updated!
Incredibles trailer - original youtube uploader
World Of Warcraft trailer - original youtube uploader
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