Table of Contents
We constantly advocate for a Game Trailer that inspires sentiments rather than simply gives data. There are game trailers that provide bullet points such as the number of modes, game mechanics, and amount of content, all of which are intercut with game footage. Other trailers, on the other hand, tell a tale and elicit emotions such as laughter, excitement, anxiety, curiosity, amazement, fear, and more.
What can game trailers do to evoke these emotions?
- Music
- Show, Don’t Tell
- Sound Design
- Voiceover
- Editing
Music
This is most likely why editors will always consider music to be the most significant aspect of a trailer. Really good music may set a specific tone, emotion, atmosphere, speed, and energy, among other things. This is why choosing or producing music for a trailer requires extreme caution. Because it’s designed to be more of a background element, some music tracks may function well when heard in-game.
In a trailer, though, music is typically the protagonist. Consider the children’s choir version of Radiohead’s “Creep” in the trailer for The Social Network, the music in the Gears of War “Madworld” video, or the soothing piano music in the Dead Island trailer.
What is the appropriate mood and tone for your game? If you can incorporate that into a music track with a dramatic beginning, middle, and end, you’ll have a better chance of having the viewer feel something while watching.
>>>Read more: How to Make a Cinematic Trailer: 5 Amazing Tips for Cutting Your Own Trailer
Show, Don’t Tell
The more information in the trailer, the less room the audience has to draw their own conclusions. If we have to constantly pay attention to what is being said, we won’t be able to comprehend what we’ve heard.
The viewers want to interact with the teaser by watching clips and developing conclusions. If your narrator keeps stating things like, “In this game, you do this, then this, then you’ll want to do this, which means you can do this…!” There’s no place to think, extrapolate, or conjecture when watching the footage.
This is one of the main reasons why we prefer to let the game video speak for itself rather than relying on voiceover (unless the game is really cinematic and conversation is an important part of the tale).
We are not saying you shouldn’t utilize narration or have characters talk about themselves; just make sure there’s enough room in the trailer for people to breathe and ponder before you offer them fresh information. Alternatively, limit the number of ideas in a trailer and focus on just a handful.
The idea of the game Tunic is “show, don’t tell,” therefore it only made natural to apply the same philosophy to the trailer. Watch the trailer Here!
>>>Read more: Top 9 Mistakes You Are Making with Indie Game Trailers
Sound Design
The sound may quickly create a genre, tell a story, flesh out a game’s mood, and draw attention to visuals. You can be amused, tense, elated, nostalgic, cringe, anticipatory, and amazed by a terrific sound effect.
Voiceover
Nothing beats finding the perfect voice for a trailer narrator or a character. The accent can transport you to a different corner of the world. A voice can be peaceful, seductive, friendly, witty, corporate, adorable, authoritative, obnoxious, aggressive, condescending, mysterious, enigmatic, frightening, and so much more!
A well-done voiceover, like music, can offer your trailer a tremendous level of specificity. Many game trailers feel like “Guy announcing game features,” when they may be so specific that they become the trailer’s hook or just add detail and nuance to the game environment.
If you’re going to use voiceover in your game trailer, choose and direct carefully, especially if the content is going to be very straightforward and bullet point-y rather than creating a story.
>>>Read more: 3 things to know to evoke emotion in the audience
Editing
Editing is, of course, a big component of creating a specific mood in a trailer. Pace, rhythm, timing, juxtaposing, directing, holding attention, releasing energy, and much more are all important aspects of editing. Do you want to instill a sense of frantic haste in your audience? Perhaps your game is more of a relaxing slice-of-life story. It might be combative and hard-hitting. It could even be so thick with tension that it can be cut with a knife.
Many game trailers simply chop shots together with little to no regard for pacing, rhythm, or time (another reason to use good music to define the mood and speed; it’s like a cheat sheet on how to pace the editing). It may appear as if a new shot was added out of necessity rather than an editorial design.
Conclusion
As you can see, you have a plethora of tools at your disposal, and that’s without even considering what game footage to shoot and present in the game trailer. These are the connective tissue, the secret sauce, and the minor elements that build up to a big picture. It’s the difference between a storyteller who engages you and one who simply tells you what happened.
When you’re new to video editing and struggle to get clips on a timeline, this is undoubtedly an overwhelming lot of information to take in. However, if you can create a trailer that truly moves the viewer, that’s what they’ll remember.
–
Animost – Vietnam 3D Animation Studio
hello@animost.com