Researching a Media Product
Abbie Walker
26/9/2011
Angry Birds in Rio
What is a game trailer?
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A game trailer is like an advert for a new game that is coming out. This is one of the main ways that game makers show that
there is a new game coming out soon. it is to show their game which is coming out and to get as many people to watch it
like on the TV or internet. Most people will watch a game trailer on the TV rather than the internet or reading from a
magazine because millions of people have a TV.
Dirt 3 Official Trailer - Pixel Enemy
How are games trailers created?
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They are made by the company that is making the game. They use various shots and images to make game play footage. If
it’s a really big game they might get someone in to direct it. They are also made in house so by the games company its self or
its out sourced so the games company pays some else to make it for them. These are some of the things that you might see
in the game trailer. For example :
New levels
New characters
New weapons
New landscapes
New cars
New Teams
Make the game harder
Show new challenges
They pick the best parts of the game to show in the trailer, but only enough to tempt you to buy the game.
What is their purpose?
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To show you what the game is about
to show you about the graphics
introduce the characters
they show you the environment
The type of game play
Getting people to want to buy the game
To get more customers.
Where / how are the normally shown?
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They are normally shown on :
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TV - If the video game has violence in such as Call of Duty then it would be shown after 9pm as little kids wouldn’t be
watching. So if a game such as Sonic would be shown at times when kids are watching because they are its target audience.
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The internet – They might be shown on a games website like nickelodeon which kids aged 5-12 might watch and they will
have game trailers such as Spongebob and other shows. If you go on a website like game trailer website there will be lots of
different kids of game trailer adverts but for more of the older age, as they are more likely to go on that website. You can
also watch game trailers on YouTube.
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In game magazines - If you have a Xbox you might buy their magazine, and read about a new game that’s coming out or you
might get a free demo with it. More older people will buy this as they are quite expensive and they will have more money.
For younger people you might buy a magazine which tells you about a new game that’s coming out.
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At game convention – If your really into games you might go to one of these, to play a new game that is coming out before
anyone else and play against other people, people might also go to this to give back feedback about the game to make it
better for the game that is coming out or to see the game trailer.
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Cinema – You would get to see some game trailers in the ad breaks.
Are they targeted to particular audiences, gender, age
etc?
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Yes because the company that is making the game, want to get the right target audience, for example the company that
makes Call of duty or Modern warfare would want to be targeting at males maybe 16+ and a company that makes Fifa
would be targeting the game at people that like football, mostly males and any age group.
Do they fit into certain genre’s or styles, can they be
categorised?
Yes because if it was just a normal trailer say for a website or something then the images and graphics would be more
clear and better than one that is made for a game trailer or game. This is because the ones on the website that are showing
a clip of something they have made, they would have more time and take more care than those about games because they have
more time and want to a certain audience. The types of game trailers are Cinematic, Cinematic + game play ones which are combined
and just game play. Some trailers that are made are made in the games company its self and some are made out source so somebody
makes the game trailers for the games company.
Describe how you would go about designing a gamer
trailer to include style of music track
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Describe what game you are going to make the trailer for then you have to research the game so you know as much about it
as you can, or you may have to do some research because you might not have played that game before. You can do the
research by looking on the internet on the game website, you could do a questionnaire and give that to people and ask them
what their favorite parts of the game is or the best and easiest thing you could is just play the game yourself. After you have
described what game you doing and researched it next you need to do a storyboard for you game trailer. A story board is
collecting still images of the game and putting them into order of what your trailer is going to be. The last thing you would
be need to do is chose so music for your trailer.
10 List of references used in the research
• http://www.nick.co.uk/
• http://www.gametrailers.com/
Story Board
The age that the game
is aimed at.
The company that makes the
game.
The game menus
Introducing the game name
Story Board
Just starting level one
Just about to crash into the tower were
The green pigs are
Shooting your first Red bird
Crash into the tower and got the green pig
In mid air
You’ve cleared the level so now you can
Go onto level two.
Story Board
menu for Level 2
Crashing into the pigs
Getting ready to shoot the bird
You get 1000 each time you have Red birds left
The Red bird in mid air ready to land
On the green pigs
you’ve cleared the level, now on to
Level 1-3
Story board
The Red Bird – the basic one
The green pigs – the ones that you have to get on every level
The blue Bird – splits into 3 when you shoot it
Story Board
The Yellow Bird – when you touch it, it goes faster
The Black bird – when it lands in explodes on what it lands onto
The white Bird – drops eggs when you touch
In the air
The Mighty Eagle is something that you have
to buy but helps you complete the level that you are on