Tell, Show, Repeat - The 2nd Easiest Game Trailer to Make
What is the second easiest style of game trailer to make?
I previously covered the simplest most barebones trailer you can cut for your game in this post. This was for developers early in their career, with no one looking at what they're doing, who want to get their Steam page up as soon as possible. This is not a hype trailer for social media, YouTube, or livestream events, this is an informational just-show-me-gameplay montage intended for people browsing Steam. Indie game marketing expert Chris Zukowski often cites Steam's own statistic that games which launch their page at least 6 months before launch have a better chance in the long run. So this is why I wrote this post.
But what's the NEXT step up for making a game trailer? Especially for someone with little to no video editing experience?
I fully know not everyone (especially busy game developers) possess the time needed to finely hone and craft their video editing skills. So it's my goal to present multiple frameworks for game trailers of increasing complexity. This way, people at all skill levels can make viable trailers and then move onto the next if they feel ready.
Frankly, I'd rather new editors bite off as much as they can chew and succeed with a less ambitious trailer than take on the entirety of my knowledge and make a very poorly executed one which tried to use every advanced editing trick in the book.
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Tell, Show, Repeat
After the simple Steam trailer, I recommend the template mentioned in this blog post and video called Tell, Show, Repeat.
Most everything I cover in my post about the Simplest Trailer to Make For Your Steam Page still applies.
Show the game loop
Show variety
Make each shot clear and easy to understand
The difference here is the trailer has title cards which point out the story points, goals, and features of the game. This template might actually be EASIER than the Simple Steam Trailer, because title cards which bluntly TELL and EXPLAIN what is happening reduce the burden on you as the editor and capture artist to make clear edits and well captured shots.
The Basic Framework
Intro with game footage which establishes the genre
Show a title card explaining a core pillar of the game
Show gameplay footage which corresponds to that title card
Repeat
End with a montage of cool stuff
Even within this framework there are multiple levels of difficulty for how you write your title cards. The easiest way to do this is to write title cards which heavily focus on the game's features. This is easier because it requires little to no writing skill. These are what I call bullet point trailers which feel like the video equivalent of reading a bunch of bullet points listed on the game's Steam page. This method is the driest, least compelling way to talk about your game; as a sum of its parts which sounds exactly like a lot of other games.
For example, let's look at the game Desta: The Memories Between, for which I made the launch trailer. My trailer is driven by the game's narration, character dialogue, and gameplay. Through this, it's (hopefully) understood the character Desta is returning home to their home town, and the game is a turn-based tactical action game with the people Desta knows from their past. This is me showing, not telling you the story.
I don’t know what tier of difficulty I’d consider this trailer at, but I’ll get to explaining it eventually!
Features-Based Title Cards
The much easier, but possibly less effective way to make this trailer would be to include title cards that point out the raw features of the game, as if you were selling the game on features alone:
THROW A BALL TO DEFEAT OPPONENTS
IN A TURN-BASED TACTICAL GAME
CUSTOMIZE YOUR TEAM
LEVEL UP YOUR SKILLS
GAIN NEW ABILITIES
FIGHT BOSS BATTLES
IN A SINGLE-PLAYER STORY CAMPAIGN
TOLD IN [X] NUMBER OF CHAPTERS
After each of these title cards you'd cut in gameplay which showed each of these concepts, then end with a montage of cool stuff. Very simple, and to the point, and doesn't require a lot of creative thinking for what to show. Mind you, this is also, a VERY VERY boring way to talk about the game. This is because this copy could be used to describe tens of thousands of games, and has no differentiators that makes the game unique. But it is a way to make a game trailer, however dry and dull.
WARNING FLASHING LIGHTS TO THOSE PRONE TO SEIZURES! One of the first game trailers I ever made (as a fan trailer)
Title cards aren’t terribly interesting, but they gave me prompts for different player verbs to show.
Show the Dream, Not the Job
The next-level way to make a Tell, Show, Repeat game trailer is to write copy which goes a step above the raw features and focuses the high level pillars and goals of the game. Rather than highlighting what the player does in Desta: The Memories Between, we focus on what Desta, the character is trying to achieve. The weakness of Feature-Based Title Cards is they're player-centric, and when you boil down our experiences as players in games, they all sound pretty similar. You press certain buttons, you get new stuff, numbers get higher as you go, you press more buttons.
When focusing on the character, the title cards are more specific to the game. It still might be necessary to point out some "game-y" elements with title cards, because again, I'm trying to make this as easy a trailer to put together as possible. A version of the title cards for this approach might be something like:
CONFRONT YOUR PAST
RECONNECT WITH YOUR FRIENDS
FACE YOUR FEARS
IN A TURN-BASED TACTICAL ADVENTURE
These title cards are stronger because they're more specific to Desta: The Memories Between and mostly about the character's experience. I'm sure someone could write something better if they spent more than a couple minutes on it, but at least it has more specificity.
The trade off is: it's not as apparent what gameplay to show after these title cards. This is why this is a next-level tier within the greater framework of Tell, Show, Repeat. That said, title cards which tell the audience what is happening still SIGNIFICALY lighten the burden of the editor and capture artist to evoke and show these ideas through careful selection of gameplay, dialogue, and well captured gameplay.
Give yourself a smaller burden if you’re an inexperienced editor
Conclusion
If editing game trailers is giving you a tough time, it's ok to start with something simpler like a trailer which just says what's in the game, and the shows footage that matches. There's room to grow even within this simple framework. Again, this is arguably an easier approach than even what I described as The Simplest Trailer to Make For Your Steam Page, and this is exactly where I started.
If you don't believe me, take a look at the first game trailer I made 15 years ago. I was fresh out of my assistant editor job at a movie trailer house and trying to prove myself by making it super "cutty" and creating my own motion graphics.
I was very much riffing off what I thought all game trailers did and showed. Frankly, a ton still do this.
I cringe looking back at this.
Are the title cards interesting? Absolutely not.
Does it look like it's compensating for something? 100 Percent.
Does it get the job done? Yes.
Final summary for this approach:
Establish the game genre with a some quick, but understandable gameplay
Show a title card describing something
Show gameplay corresponding to that title card
Repeat a few times
End with a montage of cool stuff
Tier 1: Write features-based, player-centric title cards
Tier 2: Write story and/or design-based, character-centric title cards
You can make a great trailer within this framework, for example this trailer for BPM: Bullets Per Minute, this Kandria Kickstarter Trailer works well too. If you need more inspiration, go to GameTrailerDatabase.com and I have a tag “Title Card Feature List” which fits this bill. There are more within “Title Card” related tags which might also help!
Good luck!!!
