Researching a Media Product

1. Researching a Media Product Abbie Walker 26/9/2011 Angry Birds in Rio

2. What is a game trailer? • 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

3. How are games trailers created? • 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.

4. What is their purpose? • 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.

5. Where / how are the normally shown? • They are normally shown on : • 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. • 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. • 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. • 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. • Cinema – You would get to see some game trailers in the ad breaks.

6. Are they targeted to particular audiences, gender, age etc? • 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.

7. 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.

8. Describe how you would go about designing a gamer trailer to include style of music track • 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. 10 List of references used in the research • http://www.nick.co.uk/ • http://www.gametrailers.com/

12. Story Board Introducing the game name The age that the game is aimed at. The company that makes the game. The game menus

13. Story Board Just starting level one Shooting your first Red bird In mid air Just about to crash into the tower were The green pigs are Crash into the tower and got the green pig You’ve cleared the level so now you can Go onto level two.

14. Story Board menu for Level 2 Getting ready to shoot the bird The Red bird in mid air ready to land On the green pigs Crashing into the pigs you’ve cleared the level, now on to Level 1-3 You get 1000 each time you have Red birds left

15. Story board The Red Bird – the basic one The blue Bird – splits into 3 when you shoot it The green pigs – the ones that you have to get on every level

16. Story Board The Yellow Bird – when you touch it, it goes faster 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 The Black bird – when it lands in explodes on what it lands onto