For my first TV trailer analysis, I will be deconstructing is the trailer for Okamiden, an action adventure game for the Nintendo DS and also the sequel to the game Okami, a Wii/Playstation 2 game released in 2007. Okamiden is a fairly recent game, released in Japan in September of 2010 and then in North America, Europe and Australia March 2011.
The trailer begins with the Pegi logo, Pegi stands for Pan European Game Information and it is well recognised when looking at game trailers or packaging within the UK and other European countries. This game is rated a 12 which denotates its intended age group. This image is followed by the Nintendo DS and Capcom logo. These both work as iconography. The DS logo is well known by the majority of people, gamer or non gamer, and the Capcom logo, although less known to the general public is well known for game developing within the industry.
Similarly to the Portal 2 TV spot advertisement, the majority of the trailer is animated specifically for use as a trailer. This trailer shows the main character, Chibiterasu, jumping onto the screen. The style this character is drawn in is recognisable to players of the original Okami game as it is very unique. Chibiterasu walks over to a Nintendo DS Lite system and nudges it with her nose. Displaying the DS console serves, again as iconography within the advertisement, due to the fact that it is widely recognised.
Kuni, another main character in the game, flies out of the DS and is hoisted onto the back of Chibiterasu. Kuni lifts his sword into the air, and the previously white background becomes red and white, non diegetic music from the game plays. This music is another thing that original Okami players will recognise as it is very specific and oriental sounding. The music from the original Okami game is used within this trailer, possible to gain attention of previous fans.
Both Chibiterasu and Kuni jump into the DS console and a spinning, Japan, rising sun circulates in the background whilst in the foreground, within a screen made of brush strokes, shots of game play are shown. The use of brush strokes and the rising sun constructs a representation and culture reference of the place this game is set (Nippon, Japan) and clearly connotates this region to the audience by use of graphics and music.
Finally, after game play footage (used to gain audience interest in buying the game) has been shown, a visual showing the logo, box art and some merchandise is shown. A gong is played as this is shown, again, referencing back to the region of Japan, as this is a Japanese instrument. By displaying the logo and box art, the advert aims for viewers to look for this game in shops.
This ending screen also specifies the release dates for both the UK and other places in Europe. The Capcom and Nintendo DS logo’s are once again, shown below this. The Official Okami Facebook page is shown, this is used to entice viewers to check out their page, ‘like’ it and read more information about the game. Because Facebook is an easy to use website and many teenagers have it, Capcom is using this to appeal to their target audience, but also harnessing new technologies to advertise with. Small print is shown at the very bottom, this is small due to it having no relevance to the viewer, only copyright information.
This advertisement, although having the Pegi rating at the beginning, does not construct a very good target audience representation. This game is aimed at 14-18 year olds, however, the advertisement is made to look appealing to very young children, due to the cute graphics and inviting music.
The second Okamiden trailer I will be looking at, is its teaser trailer. Unfortunately this trailer was never released in English. However, with it having no dialogue and mostly being game footage, I will be analysing it anyway.
This advert is a teaser trailer and was released long before the game was released. It has a target audience of 14-18 year olds, although this does not reflect well from the style of the graphics and game play, the game shows no connotations of age rating.
The trailer starts with brush strokes drawing a frame for a faded out picture of Amaterasu, the main character of the original Okami game. From the very start of this advert, Iconography is used, both the brush strokes and Amaterasu are recognisable to players of the original game, therefore by adding these to the beginning of the trailer, it is attracting existing Okami fans to the game.
The text used at the beginning is most likely explaining how the new game follows on from the original Okami. This new game is set 9 months after the ending of the original and Chibiterasu is the daughter of Amaterasu. This text does not last very long and the soundtrack of the plains in the original Okami is played. The background is very simply animated and game footage is played within the brush stroke box. Lots of footage is shown, mostly of cut scenes and other exciting parts of the game. The video shows some of the brush techniques used within the game (techniques such as cut and how to guide Kumi across area’s you cannot walk, on using the brush).
As the footage changes to a battle scene, the music becomes fast paced and more sinister to match the action within the game play. The background also changes, from a calm, blue, simply animated back drop to a swirling red animated fire. There are no transitions or special effects used within this trailer and jump cuts are the only thing used to switch between different game play clips.
Finally, the trailer ends with a re-generation of a cherry blossom tree. This is well known from the first game of Okami and both the music and scene will be recognised, as well as the graphic’s style. Finally it ends with the Okamiden logo and a jingle of oriental drums and instruments, this jingle was used in the original game and therefore will be another thing to attract players of the original game.
Similarly to the Portal 2 teaser trailer I analysed, this advertisement was released long before the final stages of production for the game, only shows game play and does not have a specifically animated trailer unlike the TV advertisement.
My next task will be to look at another set of trailers intended for TV. By looking at a variety of different adverts, it will help me better know some of the conventions commonly used within this form of advertising and help me to apply these well when it is time for me to make my final product.
Some excellent work, what would be useful now would be a section on institutions and distribution (e.g. who are the leading companies, what stages go into production, how much does it cost to create & distribute a game, where are the adverts positioned & why these choices are made (e.g. are adverts on TV at certain times, for example on children's channels when a certain age group is going to be watching). You could then follow this up with legal restraints.
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