The First Shot of the Game Trailer
How do you pick the FIRST shot of your game's trailer?
You've probably heard the first 6 seconds of a video are critical to getting people to watch the rest (on TikTok it's more like the first 1-3 seconds!). I've written a few articles about the opening of a trailer like in this post on the definition of the cold open, and this one about a variety of opening story structures.
But let's break it down even further to the FIRST shot of the trailer, because it can be nerve wracking to pick the absolute first thing people see from your game (especially with an announce trailer).
A Basic Game Loop
Story Rich Setting
Gameplay Grab Bag
Dramatic Dialogue
Basic Game Loop Oner
The above trailer I made or Spelunky is a "Oner" (pronounced "Wun-er") which is a long take of a basic and complete game loop. Spelunky is great for this because the game plays fast, and frequently ends with the player's comical demise.
In this one shot the player: runs, grabs ledges, picks up a dog, collects money, grabs a treasure, triggers a trap, runs to avoid the trap, and gets flattened by a large boulder. In retrospect, it would've been better if I also showed the player whipping the bat, since whipping enemies is another key part of Spelunky's core loop.
The strength of a oner is long takes feel more "raw" than series of quickly edited together shots (which at worst can look like attempted obfuscation). I often see internet commenters express a desire for "raw" gameplay rather than trailers, and I think this is a happy medium.
If you're going this route, try to create a shot with three-act dramatic structure. In this shot, act 1 is the explorer in the mine, act 2 is them finding treasure they want and taking it, act 3 is them dealing with the consequences and dying in the attempt.
Set the scene
Establish the conflict
Reach a resolution
A bad version of this shot would be a random chunk of gameplay which is difficult to parse, doesn't show the core loop, and just leaves the audience confused.
Story Rich Setting
This is an opening shot which sets the scene by showing an environment that's very striking, pretty, or tells a story. It could be like the above example from my trailer for The Last Clockwinder which is the beautiful interior of a fantastical tree. The environment art of the game is SO pretty we decided it would be a great way to start. The shot could also be a gorgeous landscape of an open world, a snowy mountain, or the humble interior of a house.
These openings typically have little to no gameplay which is why it's is a risky way to go, because a lot of game trailer audiences want to see gameplay as soon as possible. Even the prettiest environment usually don't indicate game genre or anything related to gameplay. Some might hint at gameplay. For example, a shot of a kung fu "wooden man" implies it's a game where you fight people.
But as I explained in this post/video, pretty environment art doesn't help the player understand how they interact with the game. A shot of a military base could be for a first person shooter, tactical turn-based isometric game, realtime strategy game, or any other number of game genres. This is why I recommend showing player interaction AS SOON AS POSSIBLE if the opening shot is an empty environment with the player character nowhere in sight.
A bad version of this shot is a nondescript environment which feels like it belongs to many other games, not just that one game. If the opening is a series of camera moves through environments, you can expect people to get antsy and start skipping ahead.
Gameplay Grab Bag
This is the most brute force way to open a trailer, in a montage of quick shots of gameplay. In contrast to the Basic Game Loop Oner, you want this opening shot to be more bombastic and exciting. This opening shot should sum up what the player looks like somewhere in the middle to end of the game. For example, you don't want to show regular Mario just running through the Mushroom Kingdom, you want to show Super Mario with a cape, riding Yoshi and going through a gauntlet of obstacles.
It's important to make this shot very easy to read despite how much is happening in it. This opening should be like a really good screenshot which fully encompasses as many of the game's concepts as much as possible. Which, of course now I look at that opening shot of the trailer I made for Noita and wonder how much more I could've done with it :P
A bad version of this shot would also be confusing, possibly boring or very basic. Of the two, basic is preferable, because at least you can quickly move onto more layered shots of gameplay, but if you start confusing, you'll quickly lose your grip on the audience.
Dramatic Dialogue
If the game is heavily driven by spoken dialogue, it can be a good option to open with a dramatic scene like in the above trailer I made for episode 4 of The Long Dark. Ideally, this opening shot also tells a visual story or even shows gameplay. That particular scene shows the characters are in a prison, and based on the dialogue, it looks like the protagonist is the one behind bars.
The dialogue can either:
Describe the world premise
Establish the characters' current situation
Introduces a character
Present an interesting question
I'm sure there are more good types of dialogue, but these cover a lot of possibilities. If the dialogue is too random and confusing without context, you risk losing the audience before they even had a chance to engage. Good trailer dialogue either gives the audience story context, or invites them into a conversation.
The worst kind of trailer dialogue feels like when you're at a party where you only know one person, and you're listening in on their conversation about people you don't know (and your friend doesn't give you any context).
These opening shot types are not mutually exclusive. This trailer for *Planet of Lana* starts in a story rich setting, but is also a long take of gameplay with great dramatic structure. The opening shot of the trailer I made for Psychonauts 2 is also a shot which sets the scene. The Firewatch E3 trailer I made shows dialogue and also a basic game loop.
Look at your game's strengths, and use these as a starting point to find what is the best opening shot to hook your audience!
