Finalized Advert 1

This is the final TV advert of the video game. This version is the longer and more detailed version. It would be played occasionally on television, because of it's length.

Finalized Advert 2

This is the secondary final TV advert of the video game. This version is a much shorter 'teaser trailer'. It would be played on television more often, as it is much shorter and more cost efficient to broadcast.

Final Magazine Advert

This the final image that I have produced for my video game advert that could be used in a magazine. It will be displayed as a double-page spread.

Final Video Game Packaging

This is the final image that I have produced to show what my video game's packaging would look like. Due to file corruption, only the front of the game packaging has been saved.

Location for Filmshoot

To organise filming for the advert, I  asked my father if we would be allowed to use one of his fields for the day so that we could get a brilliant setting for the advert (one of his fields is featured in the image above). He agreed that we could use any of the fields that weren't being used for growing crops or paddocks that contained horses. Even with a limited number of places to film, it is good that we found somewhere to actually film the advert.

I decided to film the advert at this particular location because it suited the style of many other fantasy style games. For example, many different fantasy styled games tend to display a vast amount of different landscape shots for their scenery. Here, I would be able to try and re-create this effect by using a large and versatile area of land that is out in the open. It would make it very flexible for editing in different background images (i.e. placing a medieval castle on a large hill in the background, etc.).

Casting for the Video Game TV Advert

For my video game adverts, I decided to create it in the form of a 'live action' advert. I chose to do this because animating a TV advert would require skills that I do not know. I decided that the best way for me to create an advert was through the use of live action. This type of filming is where real actors are used, usually to act out the scene from an animation. For example, if a live action film is produced based off of a children's cartoon, this means that real life actors will play the roles of the cartoon characters.

Because I decided that the video game advert should include a live action cast, I have selected people from my class to help me in the filming aspect of the production. These are all the people who I have chosen to help with the project:

Main Actress - Charlotte Grant
 Charlotte will be playing the main role in the advert. She will be the female character who faces up against the monster depicted in the storyboard.

Second Actor - Thomas Coad (me)
I will be the socondary actor who will appear in the advert, alongside Charlotte.

TV Advert Storyboard

To plan out what the advert should look like, I have designed a story-board that lists roughly what the shot will look like.

The background images used in the fifth panel will be created using Adobe After Effects. This is the program that I will be using to create the majority of the special effects for the adverts. Depending on what type of background is shown in that particular shot, the background objects may differ (i.e. if the shot is of a grassy hill, I may create the illusion of an old building being there, if the background is of a rocky mountain, I may create the illusion of a cave being there, etc).

The creature that appears in the fifth panel of this section of the storyboard will also be created in After Effects. I thought that having a monster that is ceated in the form of a natural disaster may make the game feel more realistic to the target audience. This style of monster also goes against the conventions of a fantasy genre, as most enemies in fantasy games are usually based off of mythology or fictional creatures. By having a tornado as an enemy in this advert, it can make the setting seem more real to the audience, but also more surreal, as the tornado is displayed in the advert as a living creature.

The forth panel in this section is a common shot used in many video game adverts. It is used because it creates the feeling of suspense, as the heroes are about to fight the monster, but also leaves the audience guessing as to what happenes next, because the scene is left as a cliffhanger.

Other Video Game Trailers

These are other video game adverts that I have found during my research. I can use these to show examples of the common conventions used in these types of adverts.


Advert 1


Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning - Launch Trailer from Nuuvem on Vimeo.



This is the first video game advertisement that I have found to display the common conventions of an action/fantasy style video game. This is one of the more important advertisements that I analysed, as it's genre is very similar to my own video game. This means that I can analyse the advert for ideas of costumes, film locations, etc.


Advert 2



This is the second video that I found during my research. It shows different conventions that are similar to my own project in terms of game play, as my game is also in a 2D style.


Advert 3


A.R.E.S. : Extinction Agenda Gameplay Teaser from Nenin Ananbanchachai on Vimeo.



This is the third advert that I decided to analyse in relation to my own game ideas. This is because this game relates to the idea of having side-scrolling elements.


Advert 4



This is the forth advert that I have analysed in relation to my own project. This is a game that is very similar to my own game in all the styles of game play elements (i.e. a side-scrolling "beat 'em up" style of gameplay). The game in this advert is the most relevant to my game idea out of all four of these other adverts.


Advert 5



This is the fifth advert that I have found during my research into other video game adverts. I chose to analyse this advert because it contains live action footage using real people.

Budgeting for the TV Video Game Advertisement

Budgeting is a very important aspect of advertising, as it is a good idea to try and save money when filming and producing the final product. One reason for this is that general advertising can be very expensive. From my research, I have found that the price of advertising can be very variable. The price of the advert all depends on what channel it will be shown on, how long the advertisement is, what time the advert will be shown at and what TV shows will the advert be viewed between. From my research, I have found that it can cost around £10,000 to show an advert on Channel 4 at around 2pm. However, showing the advert on the same channel at 4pm can cost around 25-30 thousand. This cost can increase to hundreds of thousands of pounds if the advert is shown on TV around 5-8pm on the same channel.

For the props, equipment and location cost, I have made a list of all the major items that I used and how much I paid for them.

Filming location - permission from local farmer to use his field for filming purposes (free)
Actors - help from classmates (free) 

Canon EOS 600D Digital Camera - Borrowed from college (free) 

Tripod - Borrowed from college (free) 

Knight's costume - Rented from local costume shop (£20 for the week) 

Knight's weapon - Borrowed from a friend (free) 

Mage's costume - Borrowed from a friend (free) 

Adobe After Effects Editing Software/Final Cut Pro Film Editing Software - Using college program (free) 

If I were to pay for all of the props, locations, actors and equipment, the prices would be much more expensive. These are the estimated prices that it would cost to shoot the film in a real life senario.

Filming location - roughly £750 per week

Actors - roughly £50

Canon EOS 600D Digital Camera - roughly £300 per day

Tripod - roughly £45 per day

Knight's costume - £20 per week

Mage's costume - roughly £15 per week

Adobe After Effects Software - £499.99 (price from official Adobe website)

Final Cut Pro Editing Software - £550 (price from official Apple website)

Camera Shot Types

For my project, I made a short film with some classmates which shows several different shot types that are commonly used in advertisements. I will probably use a lot of these different camera shots in my own filming, as they closely follow the conventions of advertisement.

Looking into game packaging templates

3For the packaging on my video game, I had to analyse the layout so that I could get a better idea of how to organise the content on both the front and back. Many video games sold on CD-ROMs today have a 'Games for Windows' logo as a banner (usually at the top of the game packaging). This symbolises that they are to be used on a Windows computer. Here is an example of a game's frontal packaging with this banner.

This banner is also used to set it apart from other console packaging. For example, a game for the Nintendo Wii will have a different logo compared to that of the packaging on Sony Playstation games. Below is a template of the 'Games for Windows' packaging that I used in my own planning.

Using this base template to create my packaging is a good idea because it allowed me to take into account what changes I needed to make. For example, I had to make sure that the game title was a bit further down from the very top otherwise it will be hidden by the 'Games for Windows' banner.