The Art of Game Trailers

The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
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The Art of
Game Trailers
A behind the scenes look at industry standards and trade secrets
C a pA n d C u t . c o m
By Jac k Da l ry m p l e
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About Jack Dalrymple
¤ 
Lead Video Editor, Technical Director at WB Games’ Turbine Studio for 10 years
¤ 
Built and managed one of the first live HD game capture studios in the world
¤ 
Over 265 trailers and marketing videos with over 9 million views online
¤ 
Founder of Cap And Cut, a Boston based trailer house and creative design studio The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Types of Marketing videos
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Pitch Videos: 60 – 120 seconds (30 second cutdown)
¤  Ingame Cutscenes: 15 – 30 seconds
¤  Developer Diaries: 180 – 240 seconds
¤  Viral Videos: 30 – 45 seconds
¤  Teasers: 15 – 30 seconds
¤  Trailers: 90 – 150 seconds
¤ 
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
The Evolution of the Trailer
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Cuts Per Minute
As time goes on
there is a
consistent rise
in the number of
cuts per minute
in trailers, due
to the increase
in audiences
ability to quickly
c o n s u m e
content.
Interactive Source: http://www.wired.com/2013/06/online-trailers-cuts/
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
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Making a Game Trailer
From Preproduction to Compression
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
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The Story Arc
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
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The Trailer Arc
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Preproduction (Before Shooting)
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1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
Develop script around features/limitations
Make a storyboard or a shot sheet
Get tech into the game and loadfiles built
Get a solid build and lock it
Ingame location scouting
Ingame character creation
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Production (Filming)
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Setup
¤ 
Use best graphics card
¤ 
Fraps Settings: 30fps, Full-size
¤ 
Game Resolution: 1920x1080, Music: Off, SFX: On
¤ 
Test first clip and verify audio is recording and resolution is correct!!!
Shooting
¤ 
Move smoothly when operating camera
¤ 
Cover all shots from multiple angles
¤ 
If using actors: “No jumping!”
¤ 
Check shots off shot sheet
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Postproduction (Editing)
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Research sample trailers
¤  Find placeholder or final music
¤  Cut trailer to music
¤  Use “FPO” slugs
¤  Develop/buy/steal titles and logo stings
¤  Expect to have some pickup shots
¤  Do mographs last or inside of downtime
¤ 
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Presentation is everything
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Quality is king
Video is the Face of Your Game
The trailer or marketing video will
likely be the only interaction the
audience has with your game, So
show it off in it’s best light.
9 out of the top 10 YouTube videos per year
are high quality & professionally produced.
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Shot killers
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X  Clipping
X  LOD’d deco
X  Bad or flickering textures
X  Horizontal tearing
X  Bad or repeat animations
X  Bad angle or composition
X  Sudden camera movement changes
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Tricks For Editing
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1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
Find the right music
Get best shots on the timeline
Open with hits and dips to black
Use 3 acts with varied pacing in action
Use flash frames for action transitions
Exploit the rise at the climax
Never resolve the story
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
Editing
5%
Finding
Music
95%
E d i to r ’ s H u m o r
CapAndCut.com
Cheat when po$$ible
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Music
audiojungle.net
¤  premiumbeat.com
¤  musicbakery.com
¤  freestockmusic.com
¤ 
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
Titles and Logo Stings
videohive.net
¤  pond5.com
¤  revostock.com
¤  motionvfx.com
¤ 
CapAndCut.com
Compression Settings for Upload
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Premier Export Settings
Format: H.264
Preset: HD 1080P 29.97
Checkbox Both Export Video and Export Audio
Just Above Export Button
Checkbox Use Maximum Render Quality
Video
Audio
Basic Video Settings:
Width: 1,920
Height: 1,080
Frame Rate: 29.97
Field Order: Progressive
Aspect: Square Pixels (1.0)
TV Standard: NTSC
Profile: High
Level: 5.1
Checkbox Render at Maximum Depth
Basic Audio Settings:
Audio Codec: AAC
Sample Rate: 48000 Hz
Channels: Stereo
Audio Quality: High
Bitrate Settings:
Bitrate Encoding: VBR, 2 pass
Target Bitrate [Mbps]: 20
Maximum Bitrate [Mbps]: 35
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
Bitrate Settings:
Bitrate [kbps]: 320
Advanced Settings:
Precedence: Bitrate
Note: Make a version with Video Target Bitrate [Mbps]: 14 and
Audio Bitrate [kbps]: 192 for the Press Kit.
CapAndCut.com
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So Now What?
The Press Kit, PR and Marketing
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
Press kit checklist
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q 
Screenshots – 6 to 12 screenshots of the best of the best of gameplay.
q 
Video - Embedded YouTube and links to hires download.
q 
Playable Demo – A must have to request press coverage. q 
q 
q 
Past Press Coverage - Every time someone writes a favorable blurb about your game, update
your kit.
Game Info sheet - One page about the game and the team. Fact Sheet - Links to your website, dev blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as your
email address.
q 
Logos and Awards – Tastefully use your logo and if you get awards add them.
q 
Use presskit()
Partial Source: http://gamedev.tutsplus.com/articles/business-articles/promoting-your-indie-game-checklist/
The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com
PR and Marketing Resources
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q 
Marketing Your Indie Game: http://is.gd/Rt0pxo
q 
An Indie Game Developer's Marketing Checklist: http://is.gd/a6217g q 
How to Format a Press Release: http://is.gd/wAWHxM q 
How to Annoy a Games Journalist with a Press Release: http://is.gd/r361Q2 q 
Free Press Release Distribution Sites: http://is.gd/AoXK8O q 
TIG Forums Topic: Press Release Distribution Services: http://is.gd/35Sx0c q 
20 Tips for Indie Game Developers Using Social Media: http://is.gd/UCjs9C
q 
PixelProspector.com's The Big List of Indie Game Marketing: http://is.gd/cfd16B q 
Market Your Indie Game on a $0 Budget (Presentation): http://is.gd/C2K5oI q 
Using YouTube to Market Your Indie Game (Presentation): http://is.gd/gl3HRD
q 
Developers: Stop Being Shit - Indie Game Marketing (Presentation): http://is.gd/S0EG9X The Art of Game Trailers • By Jack Dalrymple
CapAndCut.com