I have been wanting to add several things to my editing portfolio for a while now. One such item is video games trailers. It took me a while to find the opportunity but it finally happened after I posted some free services on a reddit sub. The team from Islantiles reached out, and I recently started working on their trailer. This lead me to start looking for some good information on what makes a good game trailer, inevitably leading to Derek Lieu’s website and youtube channel. Derek is a reference for game trailers editing, and his youtube channel with its Video Game Trailer Academy series should basically be the starting point for any aspiring game trailer editor.

This article is not a review of Derek’s work or his channel, but rather a note that I can go back to when starting to work on a trailer, or any social media video edit for that matter. If you check out my video editing portfolio, you will notice that there are a lot of giveaway videos as of late. Those all have an introduction, a development and a resolution. However, I feel like I could improve upon them by using a tighter, more focused template. In that spirit, here is a very basic template used by Derek for his video game trailers that make for a great starting point:

Here is the template as well as the attached questions for each part:

Exciting Opening (cold open)

1. what section of the game is the most visually striking?
2. what player verbs are the most kinetic?
3. what joke in the game is short and funny?

Introduction of Ideas

1. what are the first things that the player learns to do?
2. what player verbs are fundamental to the game loop?
3. how do these verbs build upon each other?
4. what is happening in the story?
5. who are the characters and what do they want?

Building on Ideas (escalation)

1. what is an area where things increase in difficulty?
2. what section of the game tests the player’s ability?
3. what complications occur in the story?
4. what goes wrong for the protagonist?

Montage of the Coolest Stuff (climax)

1. what are the most impressive visuals in the game?
2. what parts of the game contrast the most from each other?
3. what looks like the most difficult part of the game?
4. what story beat creates uncertainty for the character’s future?
5. what unsolved story setup will be enticing to see more of?
6. what mysterious things will inspire curiosity?

One More Thing… (button)

1. what is a funny way to end the trailer?
2. what is an impressive thing not in the body of the trailer?
3. what is something fans expected to see in the trailer and will keep watching just in case it shows up?

Those are all the sections and questions discussed in the video above. I know that I will use them not only for my video game trailers editing jobs, but also for more general editing too, and I think that those will be useful for you too.

Make sure to check out Derek Lieu’s website, it’s shock full of wonderful information.