Making VN Trailers

[Katy133]

Can anyone give me any tips on making a trailer for a visual novel I've made?

I'm specifically wondering about:

- What (free, online) programs I can use for screen recording?
- Can that screen recorder also record any music/sound effects/voice acting that my VN plays as I'm recording?
- What kind of VN trailers have made you interested in playing that VN?
- General tips: What a VN should include.

[Biomass]

FRAPS works pretty well for screen recording, it's been awhile since I used them so I don't know if they are still around. They use to have a free trial.

For making trailers you'll probably want something like Adobe Premier or Sony Creation Studio. These are not free by any means. I'm sure there are some cheaper variants out there but I haven't looked. Basically you want to be able to edit video streams and frames directly instead of merely relying on screen grabs.

Another alternative is Flash animation if you have any background doing that. You can mock up some pretty nice animations and even fake screen grabs if you're good.

A good trailer usually showcases some of your best art, without giving away everything. It will usually present all of the core characters, and some sort of background on them to get people interested, but don't give away any mysteries. Catchy music is probably a must. Also, cryptic text and poetry is pretty common.

The good news is you have no shortage of examples to draw from.

[Sakai]

Good to see that question being asked, had same thoughts on how to make a trailer.

[Katy133]

I made an example of a VN trailer (I used Windows Live Movie Maker, and I animated the characters using photoshop):

[Biomass]

You lost me at "the sites". Those words need some clarification. It is as if you suddenly injected the word "elephant" into your montage without any explanation. It seems you have all the basics down though.

[Katy133]

You lost me at "the sites". Those words need some clarification. It is as if you suddenly injected the word "elephant" into your montage without any explanation. It seems you have all the basics down though.

Sorry about that. >< I started the trailer with the "on a journey" motif, so I just guessed the audience would think of "sites" as in "seeing the sites on a road trip". I should be more clearer next time I make VN trailer. That was on me. Thanks for the tip. (:

[EightHeadedDragon]

I would say try to entice your audience with a small but potent sample of what your game is going to be about, and what they might expect when they play it. Before I had even a tenth of the resources I needed for my project, I threw together a trailer to rally the call for art and sound.



The near-final product looked pretty different (and I think the trailer got more attention than the beta release, which was far more polished...) from the original pitch, but it got the message across of what I was hoping to do.

Funnily enough though, my next project is a more conventional sort of VN and for that one I have no idea how I'm going to make the trailer.

[Vin Howard]

Well here are the trailers used by the two most commercially successful EVN's (as far as I know); might give you an idea

[Rosstin2]

Nice thread! It's hard to make a trailer for a VN, glad to see some resources.

[Allegra Hughes]

Do trailers need to show case the actual game? I'm used to trailers from KEY such as Clannad, or Rewrite. etc

[Vin Howard]

Do trailers need to show case the actual game? I'm used to trailers from KEY such as Clannad, or Rewrite. etc

None-gameplay trailers are best if you want to hype something people already know about. But the problem is the the lack of knowledge in the West of what exactly is a VN.

Thus a gameplay trailer clearing showing the gameplay experience and what to expect would make for a best first trailer. Out of all the trailers I have seen on this topic, I would have to say the one posted by "EightHeadedDragon" is the best.

[Asceai]

OPs and trailers are kind of different, although sometimes you can use an OP as a trailer.

If you ship it with the game itself it's an OP, if not it's probably a trailer. If it doesn't make sense to ship it with the game it's a trailer.

There's no reason you can't do both, of course.