The next trailers I will be analysing are for the RPG/Adventure games, Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. These were released for the Nintendo DS, March 2011.
The first trailer I will be analysing is a TV advertisement for the games. This trailer is very different from the others I have analysed in the fact that is uses celebrities; in this case a well known band, to advertise their game. This advertisement has been shown on TV and is one minute in length.
The advertisement starts with a young lady introducing herself. She states and ‘you’re here with-‘. From the very onset of the trailer, it addresses the audience, by stating ‘you’re’ instead of ‘i’m’ this is done to draw your interest in the advertisement. She points and the camera (seemingly handheld) moves to follow, where the band all shout in unison ‘One Direction!’. This advert is clearly aimed at teenage males and in particular fans of the band and fans of the Pokemon franchise.
The young lady shown at the beginning then goes on to say ‘ and we’re here to talk about-‘ in which the band follow up with, ‘Pokemon!’. From just 7 seconds into the advert, you already know what it is going to be about. This will attract fans to the advert and serves to keep them interested throughout the entire 1 minuite.
A series of shots of the band, with some people dressed in Pokemon costumes are shown, whilst a recording of them cheering is played, this is non diegetic as it would not have corresponded to the clips shown. The band members are shown having fun and kicking a football around with these characters. The characters, especially Pikachu, work as a semiotic to the audience and serve the purpose of attracting existing Pokemon fans. Oshawott, Snivy and Tepig, three of the dressed up Pokemon characters are new and by featuring them in this video, they are introducing them to their fans.
The advert serves as a sort of interview for One Direction, whilst endorsing the games. The band is asked what they like about Pokemon, the band members give their reasons and some hand held footage along with some game play, filmed for a DS is shown. Both these entice people into wanting to get the game, the fact that a well known band is endorsing it and saying different things they like about the game, make it sound interesting and cool to viewers. They are asked what their favourite thing about Pokemon is and two different band members’ answer, both highlighting very different and fun aspects of the game play, battling and collecting. This is done to help appeal to people who are interested in that sort of game play.
Lots of footage of the band members having fun whilst playing the game is shown. Some of this has been edited to be in black and white, relating to the games. By showing footage of the members having fun, it connotates to the audience that by buying these games, they too are going to have that sort of fun (Association).
A bit of comedy is used when they are asked what Pokemon they think one of the band members looks like. This gives them the chance to introduce yet another new Pokemon, ‘Pansear’ and the use of comedy appeals to the emotions of the audience.
All of the footage shown is filmed from a Nintendo DSi XL handheld console. This is a recent console to be released and by filming off the console instead of having pre-filmed clips, they are advertising the console to their audience as well.
Finally, an ending visual is shown, featuring the covers of the game, the DSi and One Dimension logo and the signatures of the band members. These all serve as iconography and will be recognisable to the audience. The game box art will tell viewers what to look out for in stores. A voice over with a slogan, ‘Explore, Collect and Battle with Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, Only on Nintendo DS’ is played. Once again, this enforces the main aspects of the game, but also gives the title of the new games and the platform they are playable on. All of these are important to viewers wishing to buy the game or interested in playing.
The Pokemon copyright information is shown below in small, this is done because it is not relevant to the audience.
The second Pokemon Black and White trailer I will be analysing is another TV trailer. This one however, is more set on game play and information about the game, rather than celebrity endorsement. It is only 33 seconds in length and would therefore, more likely be played on TV more often than the one shown above (due to it being cheaper to show).
Unfortunately embedding has been disabled by the uploader of this video, so you will need to click through to the video on youtube, rather than watch it embedded as done with my previous video deconstructions.
This trailer is mainly about showcasing the graphics and game play of the Pokemon Black and White games. From the very beginning of the trailer, it starts out with upbeat music from within the games, playing. Players of previous Pokemon games will recognise this music as it is a re-mastered version of the music that plays at the beginning of each game. The first piece of footage shown in this trailer is of the Sky Arrow Bridge. This footage show cases the improved perspective and 3d environments of these new games, already showing new features to attract old players of the Pokemon series. This is followed by a triple battle scene, triple battles are another new feature to the Pokemon black and white games so this serves as another way to draw back old players. By showing scenes like these, the trailer is both appealing to old fans and people who haven’t played the games before but are interested in the graphic quality or game play. The clip that plays after this, once again, introduces ‘Snivy’, ‘Tepig’ and ‘Oshawott’ the three new starter Pokemon in the game’s by showing all three of them being selected during game play. Most of the game play footage shown showcases either the new Pokemon or the new region the game is set in.
The voice over that plays throughout these clips makes sure to use language that creates interest, makes it seem action packed and invites old players back. Words like ‘New’, ‘Never before seen’ and ‘Ultimate’ draw attention and make the game seem good. The voice over refers to the viewers as ‘you’, ‘you can assemble your ultimate team’, by addressing the audience directly in this way, it helps draw them in and encourages them to buy the game. From then onwards, as the game play is shown, the commentary, instead of addressing the audience by using the word ‘you’, it becomes more like an order, ‘take on Team Plasma’ and ‘Uncover the secret of the legendary Pokemon’. The commentary now changes to things the audience could be doing if they bought and played this video game.
The tag line for these games is shown, in black and white to correspond to the game titles, ‘start from a new beginning’, this has been edited to zoom out and connotates that you will be playing this game and starting your journey soon.
The box art for these games is then shown, along with the website address (for viewers interested to learn more) and the ESRB rating, Pokemon Company logo and Nintendo DS logo. All of these are used as iconography, viewers will recognise and be able to relate to these. The E rating applies it can be played by people of all ages, though the primary target audience for these games is 12 – 15 year old males.
Finally, the advertisement ends with information about downloadable content in the game, in the form of the Pokemon Victini, ‘The FIRST fire and psychic Pokemon’. Victini is used as an advertising point for fans, but also encourages people to buy the game in the first month of the release, whilst Victini is available for download.
Now I have analysed three sets of trailers, I feel it is important to take a step back and research more into the companies dominating the institution, along with legal restraints for both games and advertising. I will then move on to analyse three sets of box art for video games, before establishing the main common conventions throughout all of my deconstructions and thinking about how I can apply these to my final product.
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