Making Trailers for Livestream Events
Let's talk about making trailers for livestream events. A frequent refrain I see in reaction to some of these events boil down to:
"This felt like an ad." or "This was nothing but marketing!"
Well duh, right? A livestream used to show trailers, announce new games, and provide platform updates is advertising. What else would it be, Captain Obvious?
It’s easy to roll your eyes at these comments, but I want to dive past what these people said, and into what they meant, and use this as a guide to know the best content to make for livestream events.
First of all, why do platforms like Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox put on live events? Why bother with all the song and dance when they can just upload the trailers to their YouTube channels? Firstly, it’s to create a big news beat so for a day or longer everyone is talking about that one thing. It’s literally an event! You create an event to build anticipation and shine a light on the cream of the crop; you’re ostensibly saying: “This is the good stuff! We hand picked things to feature, and everyone involved had to hit their deadlines for this special event!” Because of this, they should be treated as exceptional, and include content appropriately so.
Satoru Iwata (RIP) was a long time Nintendo game developer who became president, and was very popular in Nintendo Direct livestreams.
Next, what do people mean when they say something feels like advertising or when they felt marketed to? I think main reason people have these negative associations is because in the past someone tried to sell them something they didn't want, they felt something was falsely advertised, or they were treated like a faceless consumer. In other words, it feels bad when the seller is pushy, deceptive or impersonal. I think it's a good place to start then to not be pushy, be honest, and make the story as personal as possible (within reason).
It's a cliché to say "give people what they want," but I don't think we necessarily stop to think about this before deciding what marketing materials to create. So what does the livestream event audience want to see? Based on positive and negative reactions I've seen to different streams, I think people respond most positively to:
Sequel Announcements and Updates
First Looks
Deep Dives
Exclusives
The announcement of Hellblade 2 is the perfect example of something fans live for in big livestream events.
Sequel Announcements and Updates
By far the things most people want out of these events are reveals for sequels to the biggest games or new games from the most revered game studios. Nintendo has Super Mario, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros. and a lot more. PlayStation has Naughty Dog games, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and their other first party titles. Xbox has Halo, Gears of War, and now the works of studios like Ninja Theory and Double Fine.
These are generally the games which fall into the Star Wars trailer category where as long as they show up, they can do little to no wrong; people will talk about them regardless of the quality of the presentation. For example, on my weekly game trailer critique streams I've been pretty candid about how bad I think most of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trailers were, but also why that's not relevant because the fans just wanted to see how their favorite moments look in the new game.
Videos which work for this category include: trailers, cinematics, montages of random game footage, developer narrated explainer videos & walkthroughs, and even logos with no game footage. The logo reveals are probably the most indicative of just how loyal the fans are; they'll be a combination of overjoyed to know a sequel is coming, and disappointed they didn't see more.
People in this category of video and trailer making are the veteran stand up comedian playing to a loyal crowd. Yes, it's not ideal if the presentation is poor, but the audience is going to give you more leeway if some material isn't the strongest. Since people are so invested in seeing anything from games in this category, you can do virtually anything to satisfy them.
Let's face it, one of the Final Fantasy VII remake trailers could've been just a single shot of Cloud in his dress, and people would've loved it.
First Looks
This category is all about new game announcements. These games need to make a big splash; they need the indelible idea which leads people to say to their friends or social media feeds: "Did you see that game [with this unique thing]??" These games need to focus on a really strong announce trailer. All other categories of videos like walkthroughs or explainers run the risk of running out of marketing material too soon when used for a game reveal (depending on when the release date is).
The most successful new announcements in livestream events usually have either incredibly strong art direction, a really good hook, or make people laugh. For example, Cuphead was simply part of a montage of indie games coming to Xbox, and yet everyone was talking about it afterwards because of its art and animation. Untitled Goose Game wasn't revealed in a livestream, but I think it would've done incredibly well because of its hook of playing as a goose, and how funny the gameplay is to watch.
People announcing new games are like the new stand up comedian who might amaze the crowd if they're good enough, but they have to work extra hard because the crowd is mostly there to hear the headliner. If your material isn't absolutely stellar, the next best thing you can do is respect everyone's time. Get in and get out.
Cuphead didn't get revealed with a full trailer, but its art make a HUGE impression.
Deep Dives
These are the videos which have the developer or a narrator talking over footage of the game, and explaining its intricacies. I think these work best when someone developing the game does the voiceover. Professional narrators can send out alarm bells which scream advertising because of how impersonal and separated from the material they can be, especially when talking about the game's features. After all, if the game had the budget to hire a professional voiceover artist unrelated to the game, then surely it must be some sort of soulless corporate endeavor, right!? No, not necessarily, but it can feel that way, and people remember what they feel more than what they are told.
Deep dive walkthrough videos tend to be longer, so they rely on a loyal audience or a really really good game hook, because otherwise people will get bored watching something they don't care about which in their mind is delaying the stuff they really want to see. Games in the middle of their marketing campaign can be a good fit for this sort of explainer video. The game has already been teased, and people might even have a decent handle for how it plays, so the deep dive is an opportunity to show some "real gameplay." More than anything though, having the developer doing the talking I think is what is attractive about this sort of video.
People looooove hearing straight from their favorite game developers.
Exclusives
Another thing people love is when a highly anticipated game or a game they already love is coming to a new platform (especially Nintendo Switch). This sort of reveal is good to do in a montage of games, because the news is the platform release, not the game's hook. Sometimes these are summed up in a montage made by the event holders like. If you know your game's sole purpose of being in the event is to announce the platform release, my advice is to keep it as short as possible since the trailer might not necessarily need to reiterate things like the game's hook or story.
The exclusivity of being in a live event is another thing to consider when thinking about making trailers and videos for livestream events. I think these events are not the time to show another trailer which doesn't feel meaningfully different from trailers people might've already seen. Even if the most important thing for you is the opportunity to be seen by a whole lot of eyeballs, the video in the livestream will still exist alongside your other marketing videos. If the video repeats ideas from other videos, it makes the marketing feel stagnant, and it implicitly says that you didn't respect the audience's time enough to put in the effort.
People watching a livestream are expecting something exceptional because they set aside the time specifically to watch it. If the video isn't exceptional, the next best thing is to make it feel personal or more exclusive. This is one reason I think people like Nintendo Directs so much. Even if the trailers are often narrated by a professional voiceover artist, the videos are first presented by the game developers themselves.
I'm sorry Xbox people, I'm sure you're all very nice but I don't think people were very excited to hear anything you had to say.
This is another reason the Xbox Series X Gameplay Reveal event felt impersonal; the people presenting the videos were largely not faces recognized as the ones making the games. So it only makes sense that some people felt like the event was pure advertising (again, duh). It felt more like salesmen hawking their wares rather than a person who made something saying: "I worked really hard on this; I hope you like it!"
If you're still feeling uncertain about a video you're submitting for a livestream event, here are some things to consider:
Who is watching? (demographics etc.)
What do they want to see? (not just from you, from the event)
How do I respect their time?
How do I make them feel seen?
How will this video differentiate itself?
For those of you fortunate enough to get the opportunity to be part of some sort of event or livestream, I hope this helps you make a good impression for your game!
