Candidate Authentication

I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.

Finlay Mander

25.02.2021: I created a feedback survey on freeonlinesurveys.com and have posted it into a digital art feedback discord server as this way the feedback is non bias but it also meets the appropriate target audience. I’m going to leave it a week and then check the feedback from it.

Product feedback survey.

The feedback I got was from a discord server I found advertised online, the server had text channels for getting feedback from different types of digital art. I asked if they would mind completing a survey for my school work, which they agreed to. A week later, a total of 6 people had taken part in the survey.

Before anyone was took part in the survey I asked them to watch a YouTube video I put together, which showed the renders of the finished product. The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/aerJdU4sOEs .

Once the participants had watched the video I put together highlighting my product, they were first asked to display their overall thoughts on the quality of my product through a five star rating. Out of the six participants the average rating was 4.5/5.

The second question I wanted to find out was if the colour schemes I created during my planning stage worked well in the product. I asked the participants the following statement “The colors in the environment work well together”. To find out what people thought, I used a bar chart to get a visual representation of this. As you can see on average the rating was 7.83/10. Showing that everyone somewhat agreed to the statement, some more than others.

Next I was interested in finding out what people thought of my skills and abilities when it comes to modelling and texturing assets. I did this by using two different pie charts. One for the models themselves and another for their textures.

This kind of response is what I was hoping for. Ideally I would’ve liked six out of six on both but it shows that modelling is my stronger skill and that there is room for improvement when it comes to me texturing the models to make them all work well together in a scene.

I was interested to find out if people could identify the theme of the product just from the short promotional render video I created. This was important as I hoped to display a 21st century post apocalyptic desert environment. In my feedback I had mixed responses, although most of the answers where on the right track. For instance, ‘abandoned city’,’maps of western video games’ and ‘video game sub-contexts’. It was interesting to see how different people interpreted my products theme whilst staying on the same line as each other.

After this question I was interested to see if my environment reminded anyone of any particular franchise. Whether its a movie, game or book. The replies were really interesting, to have my desert theme environment compared to Red Dead Redemption was really rewarding since I had looked at that games promotional art a lot on ArtStation and took inspiration from the assets used in that game to help build up a scene.

I wanted my work to meet the right criteria to be promoted and advertised. I asked the participants if the scene I had created could be used to promote an upcoming game. 100% of the participants agreed that the environment is at a standard to be advertised on steam (a digital market place).

Next I asked if my the promotional material I created for my product was fit for purpose. Again, 100% of participants agreed that it would be fit for purpose if advertised on a digital marketplace.

To end the survey, I wanted to make sure I could get as much feedback as possible.

The Participants

I wanted to out source the survey participants to avoid bias in the replies, this is why I looked online for a discord server for getting feedback on digital media. This way I could get honest, constructive responses from someone I dont personally know. From talking to them and looking around the other non English text channels on discord some of the survey participants are from all over the world, with some being from Russia, France and Spain. This is why I preferred to ask people from outside the classroom since it shows how a product could be perceived on a global level.

Candidate Authentication

I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.

Finlay Mander

Types of marketing material:

• Product brochures, a product brochure is a brochure used to promote or detail the features of a product.
• Destination guides, a destination guide offers basic information or instruction on holidays and destinations. A tour package to Hawaii may be presented in the form of a destination guide.
• Promotional fliers and leaflets, promotional fliers and leaflets are normally used to promote simple services. For instance, a transport service may promote itself by a one page leaflet that would outline schedules and costs.
• Conference, programs and registration forms, conference, programs and registration forms are marking materials that promote a specific event. These type of marketing materials are usually made available only to interested parties. For instance, a conference for star wars fans.
• Display materials, display materials are materials exhibited publicly, such as a Real Estate agency presenting a flyer of available houses or a board notifying the public of the sale of a property.
• Product support manuals, product support manuals detail the use of a product. An international alarm clock may come with a reference guide that explains how it is used.
• Advertising materials, advertising materials  materials aiming to attract public attention to a product or business. Advertising materials come in many forms including print, television, via the internet, radio and billboards. 
• Electronically, electronic marketing material is produced by electronic means. A new hotel may be advertised by a virtual tour.
• Websites, A web site is a set of interconnected Web pages, usually including a home page, prepared and maintained as a collection of information by a person, group, or organisation.
• Radio, radio is the transmission of programs for the public by radio broadcast.

Before I can create any marketing for my product, I had to take a look at what work I produced on the target audience for the Mad Max franchise since visually my environment took inspiration from the Mad Max films.

Deciding marketing strategy

Since I am promoting an upcoming game through the screenshots of the environment I need to consider relevant promotion options. I’ve highlighted below a few of the potential marketing strategies.

Since I produced renders of my scene I feel as though it would be best if I promoted them as advertising materials to attract public attention for an upcoming game. Using this type of advertising, its important to chose websites which have good monthly traffic so that being on the trending tab has meaning and strengths, putting the work in front on everyone who visits the front page.

I did some research into finding out how I can measure how popular a website is or how many visitors a website gets each month or week. I used an online tool called https://app.neilpatel.com/ . This website allowed me to look at ArtStations organic monthly traffic and its monthly visitors. This information can be used as a way to understand how many people would see the art work uploaded for the up coming game whilst also being cost free.

https://app.neilpatel.com/en/traffic_analyzer/overview?lang=en&locId=2840&domain=artstation.com

The graph showcased 1 million visits in September 2020, then 1.1 million in October 2020, by November this number had increased by over a million, coming to a total of 2.3 million then flat lining at 2 million in December.

With these kind of numbers, advertising renders of environments for upcoming games is a great way to create a buzz about the game and start building a community/fanbase for it.

ArtStation also allows publishers to see how many views their work has accumulated, how many likes its received and also allows for people to comment on and share your work.

Likewise, promoting on other social outlets can be beneficial, however it attracts people from all different audiences, the problem with this is its rare on YouTube to see a reel of game environment renders being used as premature game promotion over using a teaser trailer. So if I were to upload a video compilation of my environment renders to YouTube, a place were this sort of video isn’t as likely to be promoted, talked about and positively perceived then I’m wasting my time. The reason for this is that people who are interested in the industry will use sites such as ArtStation to see the process behind the games, get inspiration and are genuinely interested in the industry or development company, where as YouTube is used differently.

This is evident in the views game trailers pull over videos highlighting environments and scenes of the same game on YouTube.

How Upcoming Games are Promoted on ArtStation.

A recently released game was Hitman 3 which came out on the 20th of January 2021 and a lot of promotional material for the scenes and environments of the game were uploaded to ArtStation. ArtStation – is the leading showcase platforms for games, films media & entertainment.

Hitman 3 showcase on ArtStation.

Since these are in essence just showcases of renders used to promote screenshots of in-game levels and points of interest. The type of marketing this falls under would be an advertising material displayed on a website. Since ArtStation has traffic from people who are primarily interested in the artistic side of games rather than just being a fan of a game. This unique traction held by ArtStation makes it one of the best places to promote upcoming games through this metric.

This type of promotional “art” doesn’t only serve the purpose of being used online, its entirely possible that this kind of simplistic game promotion could be used in public exhibits. For instance, at promotional event for Sony or Microsoft showcasing upcoming games. However, taking the state of the world right now into consideration digital advertising will be a lot predominate at the moment since conventions and events are postponed globally or held online in live streams digitally.

The advertisement on ArtStation can also gain traction my being on the trending tab or popular in certain categories at a given time.

Producing the right marketing for my environment:

With the examples I found for Hitman 3 there was the Hitman 3 logo in the corner, indicating what game the art is from.

From what I found on ArtStation it seems customary to have the logo of the game somewhere on the art work, so this is what I want to implement in my advertising.

First I needed to have a name for my ‘game’. To do this I went back over my mood boards that I created for inspiration in part 3 of this task. The dystopian future showed the desert as an empty life less place after a catastrophic event forcing everyone to leave. Creating an apocalypse. These kind of scenarios are known as “Doomsday” scenarios. So this is how I came up with the name for the game.

Although the logo appears basic, I feel as though in comparison to others it looks subtle and unimposing, not distracting the eye. I thought the nuclear explosion image was a nice touch as it ties into the theme of my game environment being post a ‘doomsday’ scenario.

Candidate Authentication

I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.

Finlay Mander

ON THIS PAGE: I have shown the creative process, through mind mapping my ideas, creating mood boards and sketches. There is also a proposal. I also made sure to document key stages throughout the 3D modelling stages for my assets, including the finished product.

Chosen media activity: I plan to create a 3D environment by using clips/screenshots taken from the films so that i can create my own mad max experience through the render.

GAME ENVIRONMENT MIND MAPS MAD MAX FURY ROAD:

MOOD BOARD

Sketch

For my sketch I want to create something which shows a modern building or location before and after an event similar to the one which took place in the mad max movies.

I chose to use a photo realistic render of a gas station so that when i sketch over it it doesn’t look as weird as if i were to use a real life image. I wanted to show the effects that abandonment would have. Because the original scene is set in a desert environment i first googled the types of plants found in a desert.

For this sketch I used the images above as inspiration for my scene. I combined the flowers from bottom left and the vine/long stem plants from the top left and middle. I will refer to these images when i am building my scene as the different cacti could come in useful for creating a variety of vegetation.

Existing Examples:

Since I plan on creating a 3D environment I will be using already existing examples a lot, mainly for inspiration but also so that i can see what works and what doesn’t before I have already modeled my environment, this is important as I will save me a massive amount of time wasted on trial and error in the early stages.

So far I have been using ArtStation and Pinterest to find existing examples. I prefer art station however, since its more geared towards game design and 3D environment renders.

When I was browsing ArtStation I wanted to find work which incorporated ideas from my mood boards.

The Proposal

My proposal is to create a 3D post apocalyptic desert environment inspired by the Mad Max franchise. I will be using the resources such as ArtStation like i have previously, although the resources I created for myself during this task, the mood boards and sketch will come in handing when referencing so that I can stay on track with my work.

Plan: Take screenshots of the development progress, add notes to journal whilst doing so.

First model: Barrel

Reference images:

Modelling process:

Because I took so many screenshots whilst modelling I decided it would be better if i just compilied them into a video with the final render as the outcome.

After I finished modelling the barrel I decided that it would be good if i could create a scene using just the barrels, similar to how assets would be displayed in asset stores.

Second model: Brick wall

Reference images:

Once created and textured I want to use this model more for creating backgrounds for other models. For instance when I created my barrel models I used a free 2D texture for the background, so instead of that I want to create a 3D brick wall to use for backgrounds.

Creating a 3D textured asset

First I needed to find a website which has good quality, free 3D textures (I needed ones which had diffuse textures,a normal and a displacement . After doing some research online and looking a feedback I came across a Reddit post which was talking about Texture Heaven. https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/amxdne/texture_haven_an_awesome_resource_for_artists_on/

As I mentioned earlier this asset was doing to have multiple uses, I plan to turn the wall into a building by modelling both a window a door next.

Brick wall render

Initially I thought that getting this brick wall effect would’ve been achieved by me having to individually model each brick or having to use subdivision. However, because the textures I downloaded had the diffuse, displacement and normal texture. I was able to created the 3D effect using these and a displacement modifier.

Environment creation

The plan:

I want to turn the brick to create the side of building, then from this build the scene outwards.

Creating the building:

Reference images:

3rd model: window

Since I was going to be using at least two windows, this meant that I couldn’t just model 1 and then copy and paste them since in my reference images all of the windows are unique in their damage. If however, i was modelling a modern building, copy and pasting windows would’ve been a good way to speed up time.

After my first render I learned that when i copied the original window i missed out on half of the model, therefore i had to make a small change to them until they looked good, through trial and error in between renders.

The render seen at the end of this video isn’t the final product, Im planning to have a “background” behind the windows so that it appears like cracked glass, giving the windows some more depth and realism, since right now they look like the window panes have been removed which isn’t the final look im going for.

I’m happy with how the window frame sits inside of the brick, almost like the bricks were built around the window.

Next asset: Crate

Reference images:

For this, I wanted to build the crate out of separate textured models, using the rectangles like pieces of wood to build the crates from scratch.

First i modeled the 3 separate planks, shown here.

I then used the planks to build up the shape of a crate from my reference images. I wanted them to overlap to look as tho they had all be assembled individually.

Once I was happy with the outcome of the model, I put them in my environment scene and displayed them so that they looked ‘natural’.

When I was creating the scene to make the render of just the crates I was experimenting with lighting to make the background have good contrast against my models. This got me interested in improving the lighting in my scene as whole since it can be hard to make out some of the assets in my renders.

next asset: fence

Reference images:

When looking over my scene, i noticed that the outside edges looked bare so i decided to fill the two buildings with a fence, created out of planks, similar to how i modeled the crates.

I found the textures for the fence panels online and made the blank rectangles appear as if they were naturally weathered down pieces of wood.

Here is what a segment of my environment looks like before any lighting through viewpoint shading using eevee render engine.

Now that I am happy with what i have modeled im going to implement lighting into my scene and

Since its an outside space, I am first going to try and see how using the sun tool would work.

As I predicted, because its an outside environment all I had to do was tweak some settings and angle the sun and it gave me the effect I was looking for.

FINAL OUTCOME:

Candidate Authentication

I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.

Finlay Mander

PART 1:

The Mad Max franchise is available in nearly every form of media. The Mad Max brand has made sure that it follows a specific color theme in its artwork. Whilst its main merchandise (the toys) is produced through high quality, already established brands, both Hot Wheels and Funk Pops are multi million dollar toy makers with both companies having collectible items ranging between $2500 – $10,000. Clearly the brand puts emphasis on putting its hundred million movie productions appear the other aspect of the franchise.

One of the reasons why Mad Max films were so successful was due to how it portrayed the scenes and environments in the movie, especially in Mad Max Fury Road, the most recent film.

Mad Max 1979 Environment VS Mad Max 2015 Environment

The original Mad Max poster in 1979 uses hand drawn design to incorporate the colours together. It comes across like a cel shaded game, for example the borderlands series. The Borderlands franchise is known for having its game appear hand drawn or “cartoonish”.

The original Mad Max film was released during 1979 on a smaller budget than the most recent installment but I find the evolution between the two environments interesting as it shows it could be seen as the circumstances of the universe worsening. For instance the mountains seen here.

Could be the same mountains in the photo from Mad Max Fury Road just after the severity of drought and an increased strain on resources.

The cars are also quite similar, just now the one in Fury Road has been weathered down and has evidence of botched repair efforts.

I would be interested in creating an environment highlighting the change between the Mad Max Universe in the beginning and by the earliest release (Fury Road).

In essence, the basic design approach for the Mad Max poster from the 1970s is portrayed in the Borderlands promotional art and game play, with the only difference being the difference in the technology itself. For example, now the development process for producing the image on the right is a lot easier than when the original image would’ve been hand drawn and printed.

The change in the environments got me intrigued into seeing abandoned buildings or how environments can change overtime. I’ve created some mood boards highlighting this kind of environmental change.

Proposal

My proposal is to create an environment for an upcoming game using the inspiration from scenes and promotional art from all of the Mad Max films. However, I dont want to limit myself to just taking ideas from the films since I have already mentioned that its a very established brand, there is a lot of inspiration opportunity.

Once I’ve created the environment I can use the images to promote an upcoming game, animation etc.

PART 2:

When analyzing the audience for my chosen production, I firstly needed to look into the target audience for Mad Max films as this will directly correlate to who will see my poster, appeal to it and look out for it.

Using the skills learned in the audience identification task (task 2). I broke down the target audience for Mad Max and turned it into a bubble graph.

The films in question grossed $375 million worldwide against its $150–185 million budget. So it only barely just doubled its cost in profit, having such big actors present.

Audience profile report:

The film Mad Max Fury Road is 4th installment in the franchise. Fury Road appeals to both men and women (above the age of 15.) However, because the films theme is based in an apocalyptic society placed in a desert landscape where humanity is broken down and everyone has broken out into fighting for the need to survive. Because of this it was naturally harder for the film to initially appeal to women in today society. Yet George Miller, the director made sure that film goes deeper than just your average Hollywood apocalyptic action film. The film explores aspects of modern feminism. In the film there are five women who have sought the aid of the main female protagonist to escape warlord Immortan Joe. Throughout the movie the female prisoners develop as characters since they are no longer held captive by their captor. As they get further away from Immortan Joe they begin to fend for themselves, appearing as if they could take the lead of main character at any point in the film. With the themes of the movie in mind someones political view could make them to decide whether or not they will watch the film due to what the director chose to explore with the female characters. Since the film chooses to explore these certain themes a viewers geographical location could effect if they can or would choose to watch it. For instance, both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are countries where women are forced to rely on male guardianship, without it they cannot travel, marry or access higher education. So with a movie where women escape a man and eventually earn their freedom, isn’t likely to be too popular in a country where this isn’t prohibited by the law. A persons interests could entice them to watch the film, for instance a study done in Australia looked if the films audience members would like a car similar to those seen in the film and if they are interested in cars. In conclusion, Mad Max Fury Road can be appealing to a lot of different audience members, so its surprising to find out that with its $150-185 million budget, it only managed to gross only $375 million total world wide.

sources used : https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/worst-places-woman-yemen-congo-saudi-arabia/ / https://collider.com/mad-max-fury-road-feminism-furiosa/ / https://www.dcm2.co.uk/uploads/documents/Mad_Max_Fury_Road.pdf / http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6420-automotive-attitudes-of-mad-max-fury-road-cinema-goers-june-2015-201508252344

Candidate Authentication

I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.

Finlay Mander

Selected Target Audience : The Revenant

Audience summary:

The audience for The Revenant is predominately male, due to the themes of the film and its character portrayal. The film has an age rating of 15+, however in Task 2 I predicted that the films target audience is likely between the ages of 20-30. This is due to nature of the film and its long run time, meaning its more of a commitment to watch as not the entire film is action/fighting.

The creative process:

This is the process which transforms an idea into its final form through a series of thoughts and actions. The creative process includes problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Ideas for creative production:

• Commercial Art, such as a display window.
• Advertising, TV commercials, print ads, digital ads, displays and billboards.
• Media, video production or photography
• Game Design, physical or digital
• Graphic Design, visual design, such as a logo, sign or magazine cover.

Mind Map:

I started by looking at advertising opportunities which are available to the selected audience.

Mood Boards:

Sketches:

Proposal:

For my proposal is for a movie poster. I want it to serve the purpose to present the theme of the movie without giving too much away.I’m going to ensure that my design doesn’t appear too cluttered but at the same time I want to avoid having too much or little text. Keeping in mind the locations of where movie posters usually end up, its important that they’re memorable or unique as they’re in high traffic areas such as; billboards, bus stops, train stations and inside and outside of cinemas. I will make my production unique by using color to create energy and attract the eye, I will also experiment with a limited color pallet and bold lines to see what works best.

Existing examples:

AUDIENCE PROFILES

• Age
• Gender
• Political persuasion
• Job
• Opinions
• Hobbies
• Disposable Income
• Interests
• geographical Location
• Linked products/ correlations

The Revenant – Target Audience

I feel like The Revenant is most likely preferred by men because the film contains lots of action/violence and this is favored by men. The story line of the movie is based on one mans survival through nature, weather conditions and other men. Because of this i feel like it would also make the film appeal more to men due to its resemblance of the ‘alpha male’.

However, I wouldn’t like to limit the audience of the film to only being male. Women also seem to like this film, if not equally the same amount as men, I think this might be a result of how The Revenant was filmed, for instance its shot in a very cinematic way, with beautiful scenery, I feel like this would appeal to women more than men.

The film has an age rating of fifteen, this is on the grounds that it contains sexual content, violence, profanity and frightening scenes. I think the films target audience is definitely more geared towards the younger generation (20-30) because of the influence of life around them, for instance; social media, video games and other films aimed at the same generation.

In my opinion, financial status wouldn’t really have much of an impact on the films target audience, this is mainly because The Revenant does not go into detail on those things nor does it really mention them.

Although i dont think the film is aimed at people who live in a specific location, i believe that where you live would impact your feelings towards the film, however i could imagine that people who live in cites or in heavily developed areas (far away from the countryside) may find the film captivating solely because of it use of scenery and landscapes. The cast also has some big names on it such as ,Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Will Poulter. This is important as all 3 of these actors have either played big roles in successful western movies or series – this is an important note as fans of their other works may want to watch the new Leonardo DiCaprio film for example.

The movie was one of the most popular films released in 2016, despite it being released in January, the movie grossed over 533 million USD worldwide. The trailer has amassed almost 25 million views (as of 8th of October) having 71 thousand likes and only two thousand dislikes.

When looking at what The Revenant covers, one of its primary themes is the different jobs in the film and their portrayal. Both Fur trappers and soldiers take up most of the screen time so therefore i can see people who may share similar jobs being interested to see how its developed over time or are just interested in the history of the occupation.

Iron Harvest – Target Audience

I feel like because the game is situated in an alternate reality in the time period after the first World War, the plot is going to naturally be geared towards people intrigued by the history of the first world war meaning that its going to have a higher male player count most likely. Yet due to the PEGI rating being 16+ its going to most likely have an adult audience.

However, the game has an in-depth story whilst emerging the player inside a real time strategy game play. With gaming being predominately focuses and targeted towards men its not improbable that the age group will be 18-30 when it comes to Iron Harvest players. Yet as i mentioned earlier, the story telling aspect of the game being such a key focus by the development team i can see it being appealing to other audiences, such as, people who play novellas.

When taking someones financial situation into consideration, the game being a new release (January 2020). It has a high price take of nearly £50 for the base game. Which i believe may limit the games community to those who are familiar in RTS games but the game might struggle branching out to other mainstream gaming communities, like sandbox games or MOBAS.

In my opinion, with that i grasped from the representation of Germany in the games trailer, it displays them as the antagonists of the game, or at least what mission was shown in the trailer. The soldiers in the trailer wore uniforms similar to those worn by the Germans in World War One, or the design has clearly been inspired by it. Because of this the game might not be as successful in Germany because of what they’ve seen in the trailer, making them interpret the game negatively. In the trailer, the opening scene shows the soldiers invading a town and shooting the villagers dead. With this kind of representation it gives off negative connotations towards the actions of Germany in the first World War, even though the game is set in an alternate reality.

Since its release date at the start of this year, its earned itself a lot of positive and high stared reviews on online review sites or markets on steam, and having a 92% recommendation on Google and a page of 4 or 5 star reviews. The game itself is very unique therefore i believe that the lock down in March may have boosted the games success as people needed something new to play once they’d got bored of their other games in their library.

The Iron Harvest official cinematic was featured on IGN, IGN, being a massive influence in gaming media whilst also being a massive YouTube channel with over 14 million subscribers it was going to have some traction. The trailer dropped the 29th of July this year and so far as earned close to one million views with 30 thousand likes and only 500 dislikes.

Battlefield V War in the Pacific – Target Audience

Being arguably one of the greatest names in current gaming industry, EA’s newest chapter in Battlefield 5 explores the War in the Pacific which took place near the end of the second World War. The trailer provides a cinematic experience but also focuses on what the player can expect and will experience, they know what their player base wants to see, making it very clear that the developers know their target audience and how to promote new in game content.

With the market of first person shooters being very competitive, Battlefield manages to appeal to both younger and older generations of players due to how long the franchise has been around. With its first game (Battlefield 1942) being released in 2002 the game has seen nearly two decades of success and has built its thriving community upon it. Meaning that, if you’ve been around since the beginning or just now getting involved you can jump right in a learn the latest game just as the veterans do. I believe that Battlefield manages to retains its player base due to all the various styles of play the game promotes, such as driving a tank, piloting a fighter jet or getting involved on the ground in first person combat.

Even if multiplayer games aren’t appealing to parts of the audience its captivating campaigns provides hours of content and replay ability for players whenever the next game releases.

Since its a first person shooter its gameplay is more geared to males due to most of them growing up with previous Battlefield games or Call of Duty games when playing video games was only really targeted towards boys.

Unlike previous Battlefield games having the requirement for players to buy the Premium pass to get new updates and maps. Battlefield 5 has structured their game around a free content pass. Meaning that once the base game has been brought by the player then they can expect new chapters to be released every few months, such as the War in the Pacific chapter in this case. Therefore, this kind of content release means that once the player has the game they’re not expected to pay more for new updates unlike its competitors. This means that someone with a less disposable income can get the same experience as every other player. This is a good stride for games in general as having to pay for content that should be expected can cause lots of negative publicity about game developers if it seems like they’re creating cash grabs.

When the trailer dropped last year fans saw it as rejuvenating their game, it took Battlefield 5 back to its roots. Taking players back to the same map the very first game took place on, just bigger and better. It was a shining light for fans showing that there is hope for what was left for Battlefield 5s lifecycle. Since the announcement trailer for chapter 5 its earned over 11.3 million views since uploaded, November 2019. Yet the trailer has also achieved a higher like to dislike ratio than the original Battlefield 5 announcement trailer. The original game trailer faced a lot of backlash from the community due to how it approached its World War Two setting. Having fans react this negatively to how the game wasn’t historically accurate shows that a predominate amount of the community finds realism important due to the immersion it can provide.

Chapter 5 has over 250 thousand likes to 13 thousand dislikes. Comparing this to Battlefields 5 release trailers like to dislike ratio of 335 thousand likes to 560 thousand dislikes. In the comment section of chapter 5 you can see fan wishing that this was how the was originally presented, portraying battles of the second world war in reality.

Furthermore, when I was researching into the community’s feedback to the trailer I came across a reaction video where the creator got their Dad to react to both the Battlefield 5 announcement trailer and then the War in the Pacific trailer and even though he doesn’t play the game and probably isn’t the target demographic he still preferred the second trailer, showing appreciation for the historical accuracy. This supports the claim that most people prefer historical accuracy to immerse them in the games experience rather than just photo realistic graphics.

When taking what the trailer portrays it doesn’t show a victory of the battle, leaving it up to when the players play as both sides to decide the outcome. Meaning that I cant see someone’s geographical location coming into consideration as the trailer depicts both the Americans and Japanese as being heroic. This is seen when the pilot flies into the missile, saving everyone on the ground. And then when the Japanese soldier used the katana. As I stated before, I cant see anyone from the relevant sides not wanting to play since the trailer shows balanced representation. Unlike with the previous Iron Harvest trailer where the soldiers in the German inspired uniforms could be seen as the antagonist/ ‘bad guys’.

Trailer characteristics
Art Style
Animation
Game-play
Responsiveness
Narrative
Color
Style

Audio
Music
SFX
Foley
Voice
Interactivity
User Experience
Accessibility

Contents
Culture
Ethics
Social Issues
Representation
Religion
Politics
Historical Events

(1)Selected Trailer – The Revenant

The director of the movie described the theme of his film being primarily based on survival and spirit which rose through physical pain, he told the actors they were “going to be in pain and that he planned to film it”. He made sure he had them immersed in the wilderness, he had them surrounded by it. This was because any false moment would cause everything to fall apart.

The opening scene begins with a character frantically running through a forest, the camera angle is low to the ground and is ahead of the man running, rifle in hand, you can tell from that he is running from someone or something,as he’s seemingly checking behind himself as he sprints. This suspense is then built upon as the footage is pieced with the drums beating in increasing tempo, the music gives the scene a deeper sense of emotion, preparing the audience for the action which is coming as the suspension builds. It then cuts to horses riding into what seems like an attack on a camp or base. Its only as the drums come to an end that we hear the first voice line of the trailer. It’s the character from the opening scene yelling “get the boat, move!”. This dialog alone infers that this character is in command of his men as they all follow his order, running towards the last boat left during the ambush. As the camera focuses on the boat we can see and hear rifles and bows firing at each other. If you pay enough attention to detail, then its clear that the men carrying bags and bundles of furs onto the boats as the scramble aboard.

The colour pallet throughout the trailer doesn’t really change, it consists of dark browns, green and grays with the only bright colours being either the snow, sky or campfires. This was mostly down to the time the film was set (early 19th century) and the location it was set in. The costumes the men are wearing seem to be all the same colour. Brown. Whether this is because of the nature of their job being fur trappers or the muddy forests they camp in.

The events of the movie take place in 1823, in Montana and South Dakota. We know that the movie is inspired by real events, as mentioned in the final part of the trailer. The movie is based upon the story of Hugh Glass, an American fur trapper and explorer in the early 19th century. The territory was inhabited by indigenous people, and the French and English, it had very little laws and rules. This land became the interest for the fur trapping trade, which was a massive sauce of income, it worked as the ‘pre gold-rush’ in a lot of ways.
The premise of the film is revenge, it follows Glass 1500 miles through the wilderness in pursuit of the men who left him for dead after he was mauled within an inch of his life by a bear.

One of the most notorious and memorable scenes in the movie the when Hugh Glass is attacked by the grizzly bear, the scene is intense and violet, but worse than that this is an event which happened to the real-life protagonist. The scene was done entirely through stunt men and CGI, the actor was strapped to a harness attached to cables and yank around. The sound for the bear was created initially with real bear sounds and then combined with other animal noises and the mother bear was voice acted by the sound designer from The Revenant. He claims to of taken over 200 takes of him making grunts and roars for the mother bear, having on two being used.

The Revenant trailer highlights the difference in culture between the Natives and the European fur trappers, the trailer also does a good job portraying some of the conflicts. This is apparent in the first scene when the Natives attack the fur trappers camp site by the river.

Representation plays a key part in the entire movie, yet its used heavily in the trailer to make the Native Americans seem like that’s who the audience should have a hatred towards as they attacked the campsite in the first scene of the trailer and the movie. This was a dangerous move as first impressions last and it could’ve easily been perceived as another American movie portraying the Native Americans as violet and aggressive during the 19th century colonization of the North America. Though as the trailer progresses we see that the original emotions felt by the audience are shifted towards John Fitzgerald, one of the men who left him for dead.

(2) Selected Trailer – Iron Harvest Official Cinematic

Opening Scene

The trailer opens with a wide shot of a 20th century farming town, surrounded by a dense forest. This gave of the illusion that it was a peaceful town preparing for a harvest, as the name “Iron Harvest” would suggest.

To accompany this wide shot of the town, audio begins to play of a child singing as they’re playing with their toys in the grass. A gradual suspense begins to build as the music changes from peaceful to dark and eery, indicating that something bad is going to happen. The trees start swaying as if something inside the woods is ploughing through them, something unknown. When suddenly and explosion fills the street, covering it in a shroud of smoke, a group of soldiers emerge and begin to open fire on the civilians. Panicked the child runs into the forest but as the soldiers move closer to his position the music grows louder and louder – becoming more intense with each step they take. Sound plays a massive roll within the opening minute as its used to deceive the audience initially yet later places them right on the edge of their seat as they hopelessly watch.

As the boy runs deeper into the forest the audience begin to fear more and more for his safety as just a few scenes prior to this we saw most of the town get obliterated by the enemy fire and artillery, showing just how ruthless and relentless the soldiers seem to be.

The music cuts, as the boy bumps into resistance fighters, judging by their uniforms, who signal for him to be quite whilst also comforting him.

Foreshadowing is also present in the trailer as the child was playing with two different types of robots, pretending as if they were fighting each other, this scene happens later on in the trailer when the boy is saved and the battle commences, just as things are looking rough for his saviours the real life version of his toy appears Infront of him as it prepares to run into battle, buying them enough time to escape.

The screen cuts to black as a tree falls on top of the camera shot as the boys screams fade.

When the next shot appears, the boy is alone with his toy in a clearing having made it out of the forest. Its only when the audience see the fear in his eyes that the camera changes to the final cinematic shot that we see giant towering machines, way bigger than any seen before, patrol across a field, leaving it up to the audience to judge whether it’s over – or just beginning of an invasion. Either way the shot portrays just how hopeless the boy is compared to this diesel fueled monster.

Putting the trailer into context

Iron Harvest is an alternative take on the history of the 1920s, taking inspiration from this time of industry change and progression, the fiction characters find themselves in the aftermath of the great war (World War One). Huge machines created to serve humanity, have only lifted warfare to another level and the “war to end all wars” has ended nothing.
When taking a closer look at the enemy soldiers who attacked in the trailer its clear that the developers planned to portray them as German soldiers. This becomes more apparent if the uniforms are compared.

The Iron Harvest trailer represents the soldiers who are in German inspired uniforms, as being the aggressor and rendering them the enemy in the minds of the audience. This is much like the Germans in many WW1 films and games. Because of this it also makes the allies out as the saviors, as when they saved the fleeing little boy from the beginning.

(3) Selected Trailer – Battlefield V War in the Pacific.

The entire trailer is captured within game engine, it takes the player through some of the most iconic battles in the Pacific theatre as both American and Japanese forces. The trailer highlights all the different possible plays to play the game, whether you prefer the FPS ground based combat, driving tanks and boats or getting involved in dogfights above the island. All four ways to play the game come into one to create the ultimate battlefield experience. The trailer is used to hype up the games newest free content, adding new weapons, vehicles , character models and most importantly maps to fight on.

The beginning segment of the trailer shows both sides preparing to go into battle, we see the American landing craft moving in as the Japanese forces move out to defend the islands. Immediately the trailer spirals into the chaos of war with explosions, gun fire and screaming as they crawl up the beaches in land.

The game-play trailer makes sure to capture the vibrant colors of the pacific. The map developed by Dice is packed with color. The sea is crystal clear with cloudless skies, this is contrasted against the dark grey landing craft and battle ships, the vegetation is a blend of both bright green and dark greens with the occasional colored shrub. This gives of the illusion that the islands seem like the ultimate paradise. By the time the battle is underway the skies have darkened with smoke, gunfire and fire covering the landscape, creating a massive contrast. With the music from before being masked by the sounds of battle.

Color Schemes

Although Battlefield is a game centered around the players experience and enjoyment, when it decides to set it newest installment in a historical time period it intends to be as historically accurate as possible – of course some things are stretched to keep the original statement true.
Set in 1945 Iwo Jima, an island in Japan, everything from the weaponry to the uniforms seem to be correct, when comparing images taken to screenshots from in game and the trailer.

Battlefield trailers are renowned for its use of music, the music in the War in the Pacific trailer fits it perfectly, the slow build up fit seamlessly with the shots of the soldiers preparing for battle. Then as the song breaks into the chorus the game play and fighting kicks off.

Even though the game play seen in this trailer is minimal it captures what the player will be experiencing by showing the point of view of the foot soldiers and the pilots, as seen here

Historical events

The trailer showcases the battles on Iwo jima in 1945 near the end of the second world war, this is when the United States Marine Corps and Navy landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during.

A key historical photo was also taken during the final stages of the battle, its a photograph of six United States Marines raising the US flag atop Mount Suribachi.