Where to Put Logos in a Game Trailer
A video I made on TikTok about logos in game trailers blew up when I reposted it on Twitter this past week. It was a VERY blunt way of saying why not to start your game trailer with studio logos when you have no brand recognition (this post adds onto the first one I wrote about logos) I received a lot of comments from people who agreed with me and said they habitually skip the beginning of game trailers because they've learned most don't show gameplay until somewhere in the middle (this included game developers!)
I also received some pushback for a handful of reasons:
You can't build a brand without showing your logo
Logos on the end slate won't be seen by most people since very few watch until the end
Logos at the beginning give people time to get situated
If a trailer starts with game footage, people might miss the first shot or two
People who won't sit through some logos aren't customers I want; they probably weren't very interested in the first place.
Developers should be proud of their hard work and stamp their name on it
This was Supergiant Games' logo when they first revealed Bastion.
Building a Brand
This topic is far beyond the scope of one post, but yes, the logo's place in a trailer is ONE part of building the brand of the developer and the publisher. I'm no expert on branding, but I feel like the games themselves are a much bigger part of building the brand because in order to build a brand you have to create feelings and ideas people associate with it.
For example, Annapurna Interactive's brand is all about very high quality artsy indie games. Devolver Digital is known largely for hard hitting indie games with very action-y gameplay. Supergiant Games is known for their rich narratives, amazingly beautiful art direction, voice acting, phenomenal music, and often in an isometric camera angle. These associations were built up over multiple games over many years.
These are the exception to the rule; the vast majority of developers are still on their first game and even fewer are on their second or more. I would never recommend removing studio logos entirely, but I do recognize that end slates aren't always seen, so at the end of this post I have a few ways I recommend for putting your logo towards the beginning of the trailer.
Another way to quickly shuffle through logos is to put multiple on one screen.
Pull in the Audience
Very few people in the replies to my original tweet mentioned enjoying logos, but they were there. The impression I got was they like to settle into watching the trailer and they can't do that if it starts too abruptly.
I often watch videos people post of their live reactions to trailers I've made, and there have been times where I clearly see them miss the first few seconds because they weren't paying attention whether because they pressed play during the middle of their video introduction or during a livestream they were paying attention to something else as the trailer started.
I'm not in favor of using a logo as the buffer zone for the viewer's attention to get situated, but I might start building a beat or two into the first shot of my trailers before the primary action occurs just so I can be more sure they're looking at what I want them to.
I'm Not Interested in Those People
To a degree I understand this sentiment of: "If they're too impatient to watch my logos, I don't want them!" This summons images of someone who doesn't appreciate the people who make games, leaves the movie theater as soon as the end credits start, and says entitled things like: "Well why don't you just add [difficult to implement thing] to the game!??"
But I think there are myriad reasons people might be impatient or not have the time to watch an extended segment of logos at the beginning of a trailer. Maybe they're a busy parent, maybe they have limited screen time allotted to them, maybe their bandwidth or data plan is super limited; there are a lot of possible reasons other than them being some impatient, entitled gamer. I think it's dangerous to paint people with too broad a brush based off of one assumption.
Time is one of the most valuable things a person can give to another and that is what someone is doing when they bother to click and watch your trailer. This is why I think it's important to respect that time by giving them what they want as quickly as possible. It doesn't necessarily mean starting every trailer with explosions and frenetic editing; it just means taking a first step towards informing the audience what the game is all about (unfortunately, most logos screens don't do that.)
Also, the argument: "They probably weren't very interested in the first place" doesn't really hold water for me, because of course they're not interested! They have little to no reason to be interested until they see some of the game. The way I see it, they already took the first step by clicking, and the trailer needs to take the next by giving them what they want.
For the 2nd game and beyond, a card mentioning the previous game is most effective since the logo and brand might still not be very recognizable.
Put Your Name on it
The argument here is that developers have put in a lot of hard work into their game, and the least people can do is acknowledge that hard work by sitting through some logos in the trailer. This is a wonderful idea and I wish more people respected the work of game developers, but unfortunately I think this is a lot to hope for.
Again, I'm not suggesting complete removal of your studio and/or publisher logo; far from it. I'm simply suggesting if you have little to no brand recognition, it should not be the first thing people see, because it might trigger a desire to skip the beginning of the trailer.
So without further ado, here are my recommendations for integrating a studio and/or publisher logo to the beginning of the trailer!
Get in and Get Out
If logos are going to be the first thing people see, put them on for no more than 1 second each. Mike Rose from indie publisher No More Robots mentioned the retention graphs for their trailers showed no difference between trailers with logos at the beginning and ones without. This is very heartening!
I still think a lot of people are so used to boring logo sequences that seeing any logos at all will make them reflexively reach for the skip-ahead buttons, but if they're only 1 second each it's possible the gameplay will start before they can skip ahead. I prefer not showing logos at the beginning so then they never have cause to skip ahead at all.
I think of the cold open as a small sample before the bigger meal.
Sandwich
This is my preferred method where the trailer starts with a cold open sequencewhich shows gameplay, then there's a quick run of logos, and then the gameplay resumes. This is my way of respecting the time of the viewer by getting to the good part first. As an editor this also lets me create a short and fun opening sequence, gives the audience a bit of a break during the logos, and then lets me dive into the main body of the trailer.
Integration
Inserting a logo into a game trailer is a lot easier than it is for movies because it can be a relatively simple matter of swapping out a texture or putting an object into the 3D space of the game. In a trailer for the game Moving Out, they included the title of the game on the side of a truck so you could see both the logo and communicate some gameplay concepts. This is an example with the game's title logo, but I could easily see this being done with a developer and/or publisher logo. This way, they get to put their stamp on the trailer, and the impatient viewer is still receiving some gameplay concepts.
From the beginning of one trailer for Moving Out.
Custom Theming
A variant of this is when logos are customized to fit the theme or setting of the game. For example, the Naughty Dog logo for Uncharted 2 was a custom made version with ice and snow. Back in the day, LucasArts had many custom versions of their logo to match each game, and Double Fine Productions continued this tradition with their own two-headed baby logo. This custom approach can only really be used effectively when the company already has good brand recognition, because otherwise people will assume the logo being shown is the default for the company.
If there is no brand recognition, then the music, sound, and/or voiceover which plays with the logo can serve a similar purpose of setting the scene of the game rather than filling up space. For example, this trailer I made for Empire of Sin has voiceover of a character saying: "It's showtime!" underneath the logos. Supergiant Game's Reveal for Transistor used its amazing music, and sci-fi themed motion graphics to situate the audience before showing any footage from the game.
Double Fine Productions customizes its logo for each game release!
I had no idea I'd still be talking this much about logos after three years of writing about trailers, but clearly it's just one of the many tools there are many many ways to use in order to market a game or the people making it. I do wish the one video of mine which went viral wasn't the one where I was being the most abrasive, but it exposed me to many ideas and opinions I might've otherwise never seen. Hopefully this gives you a game plan for how to integrate logos into your trailer, and if it helped please share it with others!
