Feeling completely lost about how to even START making a game trailer?
Unsure what parts of your game
to put in your trailer?
Concerned your game trailer isn't communicating the right things?
You need a quick and comprehensive, step-by-step process that works every time.
• Find the hooks and strengths of your game
• Uncover your game's emotional experience
• Connect with your desired audience
• Develop a critical eye for trailer editing
• Create an actionable direction for your trailer
• Plan a multiple trailer campaign
From the Instructor
A good trailer is your most important marketing tool; it's a quick, engaging way to show your game. It leads to wishlists, purchases, community, and team morale.
From my experience with teams of all sizes I know it's difficult to make a trailer for something you’re so close to. it's hard to uncover what players want and need to know
I’ve refined my process across dozens of trailers for both AAA and indie titles so it’s flexible enough to reliably adapt to any game.
This course is my process to make great work in a timely fashion.
How this works
Step-by-step lectures and exercises to teach you how to show your game’s strengths and hooks, structure the trailer, and more!
- 40+ video lessons to do at your own pace
- 30+ page comprehensive workbook
- Exercises to find your trailer’s creative concept
- Learn to analyze trailers critically
- Insights and advice from industry experts
-
Exclusive Alumni Community
Testimonial
"The workbook alone has been an incredible tool. [It] helped me think in ways I hadn't, and really pushed me to visualize all that could be shown off in the games.
On all my edits, a lot of things seem to fall into place because of how it's taught me to approach different games, and ways to showcase them.
-Matt Strack, Multimedia Specialist - Raven Software
Sample Class
Watch and analyze trailers like a professional editor
Your Instructor
Derek Lieu is a professional game trailer editor with over 10 years of experience. He's worked on trailers for the games: Among Us, Half-Life: Alyx, Spelunky 2, Dead Cells, Subnautica, The Long Dark, Firewatch, Manifold Garden, Katana ZERO, Noita, Ooblets, BattleBlock Theater, and many more!
He got his start as an assistant in the movie trailer industry at Giaronomo Productions who produced trailers for The Matrix Trilogy. Later, he worked at Hammer Creative editing trailers for games such as LEGO Dimensions and Mortal Kombat X.
Derek has given industry talks about making game trailers at GDC, PAX, Gamedevs of Color, Disco:MTL, and was selected as one of the instructors for GDC’s Masterclass program.
Who this is for
Game Developers
Make your game look great without taking up
too much valuable development time
Video Editors
Get client work with game developers,
and make their games look great!
Marketers
Learn about the trailer making to better market games and collaborate with editors
Complete Course Curriculum
- EXERCISE - Finding the game's hooks and anchors (3:59)
- EXERCISE - Turning features into benefits (4:16)
- EXERCISE - Conveying feeling and tone (1:44)
- EXERCISE - The game's messaging (2:27)
- EXERCISE - Setting goals and takeaways (1:50)
- EXERCISE - Picking review quotes (2:21)
- EXERCISE - The call to action (1:36)
- EXERCISE - Gathering inspiration (0:57)
- EXERCISE - Tying it all together (2:18)
- Introduction to Story Trailers (0:39)
- Writing From Scratch - Overview (2:29)
- Writing From Scratch - Summarizing (2:28)
- Writing From Scratch - Gameplay Integration (3:21)
- Editing From Dialogue - Overview (0:57)
- Editing From Dialogue - Story Beat Discovery (4:16)
- Editing From Dialogue - Paper Editing (3:37)
- Editing From Dialogue - Reconstitution (3:06)
- Checking your story script (2:07)
Testimonial
Just picked up the workbook and the first thing I thought was "good GOD does Derek Lieu know his craft"
So much about being a professional - in my experience - is about knowing which questions to ask when. I've been editing for probably 12 years, and I can honestly say if you'd said, "Give me all the questions I should ask when making a game trailer," I would not have been able to come up with 38 pages worth.
-Edward Newton, formerly of Theorists Inc and Star Trek.com
Ready to Make a Great Game Trailer?
Get started in just a couple hours
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this material available anywhere for free?
If you aggregate and re-order most of my free posts and videos, you could cover quite a lot of the material in this course, but this is the most step-by-step set of lessons I've ever made about game trailers.
Do I need to know how to use video editing software to take this?
Nope! This course covers the planning and creative conception phases which occur before editing and capture.
Will this course teach me how to edit?
This doesn't get into the nitty gritty details of video editing such as pacing, software, eyetrace, etc. But the sections on trailer structure and storytelling which will make you a better trailer editor,
Does this course teach game capture?
The course does not get into specifics about how to do game capture, but it teaches what to look out for during the capture process.
The creative direction you land upon will facilitate your capture work or collaboration with game capture artists.
For more about game capture please watch my free GDC talk!
What level of experience do I need to take this course?
This course should work for people at all levels of experience from beginners to experts! It does not require technical expertise in game development or video editing, but some basic familiarity with industry terms will help.
How long is the course?
It will depend on how quickly you make your way through the videos and exercises, but the videos combined runtime is roughly 2 hours long.
How long do I have access to the course?
You have lifetime access to the course and any updates I make to it in the future!
What if I am unhappy with the course?
If you're not satisfied with the course, please reach out to me within 30 days.
Will I be able to chat with you directly in the course?
The course+consultation bundle gives you access to a 1 on 1 consulting call with me where I will personally look over your work and give it a thorough critique.
Otherwise, you will have your fellow students to interact with via the private VGTA Alumni Circle Community.
If I purchase the consultation bundle, can I schedule the consultation at a later time?
Yes! There's no set window where you need to book the consultation once you've purchased.
Are there subtitles?
There are English subtitles available for all videos!
Let's keep in touch!
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