SOE, tell a story with your trailers

[Anderz]

Every battle is a story.

That is the angle I wish Planetside 2 would adopt for their marketing, particularly their trailers.

The current trailers simply do not tell a story; they're just a mish-mash of explosions and gunfights, few of which feel as though they belong to the same battle.

But ask any Planetside player "their story" and they'll be able to describe the time they defeated the odds, or the time they were completely outplayed; the epic moments where it all came together or it all fell apart. Hell, I've never even played PS1 and I know this to be true.

So why can't the trailers tell a story like this? A story the highlights the teamwork, the classes, the environment, the factions and the persistent world of Planetside 2.

A trailer, for instance, that begins by showing the calm before the storm, with nothing but the sound of crickets and far off gunfire.
Then the spec ops squad infiltrating in the dead of night, stealth killing any enemy spotters.
Then the tanks and ATVs as they roll in over the hill as the sun rises, leading the charge.
Then the defenders as they spawn in their tubes and run to man the walls.
Then the manned wall turrets bombarding the tanks and troops as they try to breach the walls.
Then the far-off team of snipers who take out the soldiers manning the turrets.
Then the defending MAXes as they hold down the main entrance, their gattling guns making mince meat of the incoming zerg horde.
Then the light assault squad who jump the walls and flank the MAXes in co-ordination with a gunship as it swoops down and finishes them off.
Then a Galaxy dropping in fresh reinforcements, only to be taken out suddenly by the last surviving enemy fighter.
Then the Anti-Air soldier who locks on to the fighters, taking them out.
Then the tanks roll into the base, cleaning up the last of the defenders.
Then the changing of the flags as day turns to night, the battlefield quiet once more.
Then zooms out to show another faction falling into formation behind the mountain ridge, preparing their own attack.
And keeps zooming out to show that this is but one of many battles taking place across Indar, and ultimately Auraxis.


I obviously came up with this on the spot, but I'm sure SOE could do better if they put some thought into it. Heck, they don't even have to do that; just read over the stories of PS1 players and go about recreating their battles in PS2. Anything other than a bunch of soldiers standing in a line and firing at the camera, which then cuts to a random explosion without any context as to who, what, where or why.

Edit: Here is an example of an EXCELLENT story-driven trailer:

Battlefield 2 Intro - YouTube


Ok, that's enough from me. Rant over.

[Bags]

Their latest one was the TR taking over a base~

[Reefpirate]

Their latest one was the TR taking over a base~

You stole my idea for a reply...

The TR arrived. There was much shooting on both sides. The TR took the base.

However, I do like the OP's idea for a story a lot better.

[Anderz]

Their latest one was the TR taking over a base~
No, it was randomly compiled footage involving TR soliders, and then a
"Facility Captured" logo to give it false context.

A story, be it in game or in film, requires an understanding of cinematic language; how to frame a shot, how one shot leads to another, how to define characters etc.
Whoever is directing and editing these trailers does not understand that at all.

Check out this excellent machinima for BF3 and you'll see what I mean

ONE - Battlefield 3 Machinima - YouTube

This guy gets it. In fact, he makes cinematic trailers for games as a job. Hire him.

The fact that, in PS2, you can customize your appearance also makes telling a story much easier as each player within these trailers can be individually identifiable from one shot to another, making the battle feel more personal and unique. There is so much potential here being wasted.

[Bags]

Kinda hard to fit that into a 40 second clip.

[zomg]

I would imagine them doing more "cinematic" trailers in the future since they do take much more effort and planning to execute nicely I think.

For some reason I immediately thought of the intro video to Steel Panthers 2 when I thought about a nice video showing (sort of) a "war story" thing. Although it's pieced together from multiple clips, you can still get the feel of the armies preparing and deploying troops and eventually entering combat and so on. Something similar in a style might work I think, to show the variety of roles and the execution of an operation

Steel Panthers 2 Game (SPWAW) Intro Movie - YouTube

[super pretendo]

You're right, but random gun fight's don't look compelling at all and mischaracterize the game. Nothing looks awesome in any of the gunshootin montage videos. Just reading a random wiki page about the maps or hex system is 100x more epic than generic shooting

[Anderz]

Kinda hard to fit that into a 40 second clip.

40 seconds is basically a TV spot. A trailer can be -- and often is -- around 2-3 minutes. That's plenty of time to tell a story.

[Anderz]

I would imagine them doing more "cinematic" trailers in the future since they do take much more effort and planning to execute nicely I think.

For some reason I immediately thought of the intro video to Steel Panthers 2 when I thought about a nice video showing (sort of) a "war story" thing. Although it's pieced together from multiple clips, you can still get the feel of the armies preparing and deploying troops and eventually entering combat and so on. Something similar in a style might work I think, to show the variety of roles and the execution of an operation

Steel Panthers 2 Game (SPWAW) Intro Movie - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSjkY8sEKxs)

Nice example; another is the intro to BF2, which always got me pumped for a round.

Battlefield 2 Intro - YouTube

[zomg]

Nice example; another is the intro to BF2, which always got me pumped for a round.

Battlefield 2 Intro - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUFJDVlxKZw)

Yeah that one is definitely a good example of how to do it well. Not to forget the Battlefield theme being the prime example of an epic theme song :D

[Dreamcast]

Im starting to hate the soldiers standing in the open with no cover shooting at each other trailers....I mean srsly?


This last trailer wasn't as bad as the first so they are getting better.

I would love for soldiers to take a little bit more cover and be more spread out.

I know they want to show big battles but thats not the way you do it.


It looks like a futuristic 1800 war where soldiers just stand in the open and shoot.

[Nemises]

..well, lets face it, that's semi realistic for what 90% of the masses will be doing anyways :P

Having said that, I agree with the OP in terms of the SOE official video media being pretty un exciting / un inspiring...not that I would know how to do it either.

[Anderz]

Yeah that one is definitely a good example of how to do it well. Not to forget the Battlefield theme being the prime example of an epic theme song :D

The best theme. Me and my friends hum along to it regularly when drunk :D

[Dreamcast]

I am assuming battlefield 1942.....Because thats the best intro out of all the battlefields.

[Anderz]

I am assuming battlefield 1942.....Because thats the best intro out of all the battlefields.

True, but it's not in-game footage. The point of this post is show that SOE don't need to hire a CGI team to make an engaging trailer when they have everything they need already.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Kinda hard to fit that into a 40 second clip.

^What the dirty NC said. Except that's it's less than 40 seconds because you have the SOE logo and such at both ends.

Also they won't be able to make anything proper until beta starts just because they can't get the man power out in order to get good footage. They're basically stuck with about maybe 2 squads worth of people to make trailers.

[Anderz]

^What the dirty NC said. Except that's it's less than 40 seconds because you have the SOE logo and such at both ends.

Also they won't be able to make anything proper until beta starts just because they can't get the man power out in order to get good footage. They're basically stuck with about maybe 2 squads worth of people to make trailers.
Again, let me point you to the BF2 intro video (it's in the OP).
Scale is something you can fake. You storyboard it and shoot it like a movie, recycling extras and characters, staging each shot. Right now, it appears they're just saying "OK, everyone start shooting and I'll just fly around the battle and see what happens."

Also, 40 seconds is about 1/3 of the regular length of a normal trailer. The BF2 trailer is under three minutes, and it could be shorter and still be as exciting and engaging as hell.

[AThreatToYou]

You can't beat the best of the best, why even try?
302 Found
and pretty much any other old n classy game trailer.

Okay, really old CGI aside, this game doesn't need a trailer because it has very little story. Telling a "Battlefield" story would be nice and all, but when people start talking directors and stuff it starts to sound wasteful.

[Bags]

^What the dirty NC said. Except that's it's less than 40 seconds because you have the SOE logo and such at both ends.

Also they won't be able to make anything proper until beta starts just because they can't get the man power out in order to get good footage. They're basically stuck with about maybe 2 squads worth of people to make trailers.

Nah, it's 48 with the intro/outro.

[Anderz]

You can't beat the best of the best, why even try?
302 Found (http://youtu.be/at9hxU864Fg)
and pretty much any other old n classy game trailer.

Okay, really old CGI aside, this game doesn't need a trailer because it has very little story. Telling a "Battlefield" story would be nice and all, but when people start talking directors and stuff it starts to sound wasteful.

A story isn't always just a "once upon a time, Steve went to Auraxis...", it also can be any series of events told in some sort of structured order that charts an particular event.

But judging from the trailers, Planetside 2 currently looks like a rather monotonous clusterfuck where everyone just shoots in whatever direction they're facing.

While I'm sure the game will play like that for some, for many of us, it's a deeply tactical game. And war tactics are essentially a storyboard for an upcomming battle, which once played out, becomes a story.

See what I'm saying? Planetside 2 needs to give the battle that kind of context. So when something explodes, you know who fired the shot (i.e. an attacking tank) and why (to take out the AA gun killing all the gunships). This gives the action meaning, and makes the player feel important in the scheme of things.

[Jikkan]

Rockpapershotgun pretty much nailed it:

Right then. Happily, PlanetSide 2 is shaping up to be one of the least one-dimensional shooters out there – much as this trailer would like us to believe otherwise. I mean, yeah, I know it focuses on a ground assault, but – as a general rule – there are times when infantry stop to reload, make key tactical decisions, and, you know, breathe.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/20/try-to-find-a-bullet-free-moment-in-this-planetside-trailer/

[maddoggg]

Considering that bc2 had squad stories trailers(and the squads were much smaller and the battles had less meaning)i dont see why ps2 cant have some awsome story driver trailers.

[Synapse]

All these battlefield videos....Tribes 2 did it better....but yeah, SOE's crew feels like it's being marketed by interns.

Tribes 2 Offical Game Play Video / Trailer - YouTube

[Seradin]

Literally as i was reading your post i was thinking a good example would be the Battlefield 2 trailer :P Well played Sir!

[Kyros]

It's been stated by multiple parties that "While the game looks AMAZING, the trailers are just awful." However I'm sure that once the game is actually out and we get our hands on it, we'll see lots of lovely fan made videos.

[Anderz]

It's been stated by multiple parties that "While the game looks AMAZING, the trailers are just awful." However I'm sure that once the game is actually out and we get our hands on it, we'll see lots of lovely fan made videos.

Yeah, hardly an original post in that regard, but I am trying to be constructive. As a bit of a filmmaker, I can see where they're going wrong with the trailers, and thought I'd weigh in on how they could go about it differently.

[KingArty]

Gotta agree with this. Sick of the non-stop, free-for-all feel of the trailers. It betrays the tactical, team-based gameplay.

[Bittermen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_s6Symcceg

Granted it's not gameplay... but SOE show this game is about TEAMWORK!


Not some zerg rush bullshit.

[PoisonTaco]

The Battlefield 2142 intro is one of my favorites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4wEAO07hM

[Graywolves]

They need to fire Micheal Bay and make real trailers.

[The Kush]

Yea we need to see more spec ops and teamwork in these videos. I'd be more then happy to give you some help soe ;) it's not that difficult come on guys

[Toppopia]

What i am waiting for is a video that shows the grand workings of good co-ordination and teamwork.

Example:

*A battle raging in a tower or small base.*

*Shows a squad of soldiers holding out against a larger force.*

*Zooms out to show a commander looking at a tactical map, kind of like the Endwar trailer*

*Then you hear the squad leader start talking*

SL: "This is delta 1-5, we are at gird Romeo, Papa, 2-6, we need immediate air support asap."

*Shows the commander scroll the map to show a symbol of an aircraft, as he selects it and gives them a waypoint, it zooms in to show the aircraft flying over the terrain.*

Aircraft: "This is Eagle 6 to Delta 1-5, we are in bound to your position, ETA 1 minute."

*Then an enemy aircraft group comes into range, and a air battle ensues*

Aircraft: "This is Eagle 6, all bombers (air to ground aircraft) break off and continue towards the target, we will hold them off.*

*Shows the bombers breaking off to continue to the enemy force.*

SL: This is Delta 1-5, where the h**l is our air support, we can't hold for much longer!"

*The view looks up to see silhouettes in the distance*

Aircraft: "This is Eagle 6, commencing strafing run"

*Enemy force dies after some fighting, show something at the end to show the battle was won, like zooming back to the commanders map to show that the zone is now green for friendly but showing hundreds of enemies closing in from all sides, to show that the battle is never over or something like that*

Just a quick thought of something cool, not too well thought out, but would be cool to see something like this, something that shows the full tactics of the game.

[Gandhi]

Well since this is turning into a bit of a drool over great intros

Descent: Freespace - Intro Movie - YouTube

In terms of trailers I don't think you can do much better than CCP. Something like this could even work for PS2:
EVE Online: Inferno Trailer - YouTube