Race Track Trailer

So after many weeks of working, I finished my race track level. Recently, we just got to filming it, and below you can see the trailer I made for my level:

I really enjoyed working on this assignment. Everything from set dressing to lighting was fun to do and a really helpful lesson in a lot of different things!

Race Trailer Analysis: Forza Horizon 2

I looked at several race trailers for this analysis, and compared them to one another before I decided to analyze this one:

This trailer has many things that I think it does well. One being the use of establishing shots to tell the player where and when they will be racing. I looked at about seven race game trailers, some of which were in a list of the best race game(s) or race game trailer(s) of (insert year), and almost all of them did not have establishing shots. Granted, since it's a racing game, it's more about the player vs. player aspect, but it's good to know where in the world you are when you're playing a game of any kind. I'm a story-driven gamer, so I'm more interested in my single-player experience (how everything looks, the story, level of detail) rather than my multiplayer experience.


Second, the introduction of USPS is clear or intriguing. Below is a list of what and why they are used effectively in this trailer:

• In the trailer there is mention of dramatic weather, but before the text even tells us that, it shows us with a shot of the sky going from daylight with minimal clouds to dark and gloomy rain clouds. Funnily enough, the lyrics of the song also mirror this, if you listen to them. This is important because it gives a fresh look/experience to each level you play, and probably won't be the same each time you do. It is possible the dramatic weather adds to the difficulty of gameplay as well.
  
  
  
  
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• The trailer shows us environment interactivity. Basically, in the context of a racing game, the player can run into something in the environment; and in the trailer's case, it's a fence and a stack of wooden platforms...each of which are subsequently destroyed during the process. This tells the player that the track is not necessarily closed to them. They can go almost anywhere so long as it's programmed in.
  
  
  
  
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• Player vs. Player & Player vs. Environment. Obviously, as a racing game, it's already going to be player vs. player, but sometimes it's exciting and refreshing to have the environment also trying to challenge the player in new or different ways. Inclement weather is a nice start, but there's a hint in the trailer that other things, like planes crashing or coming close to the track, could help bring about new obstacles/challenges the player(s) must overcome/face.
  
  
  
  
  
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• There are over 200 cars. 200! I don't think I've ever played a racing game with that many cars in it, or seen/heard of one before having that many. The trailer even explicitly tells us this through text. This is a very big selling point for a racing game because the main focus is the cars you're racing. You have the chance to not only play whatever (to some minimal limitations) car you want, but you can customize it to your desired look as well. You want a hot pink and black Mclaren P1? You could probably do that in this game. Eat your heart out, car/race addicts.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Attention to detail. I don't think I can stress how important this is in a game. The more you think about how something works or looks in real life and you implement it into your game, the more you bring that world to life for the player(s) in it. Although it might not mean anything in the long run, the cars' windshield wipers actually move up and down when there's inclement weather. Granted, most racing games probably have that in them today, but showing that in the trailer shows that they put time and thought into this game.
  
  

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(This one's tough to see, but it's the fire that spits out of the car's exhaust pipes -- some actually do this in real life -- and yes, it's on purpose.)

And these are just from looking at it from the game design perspective. If we look at film language, the trailer does a good job at a few other things I'd like to mention:

1. Cutting on Action -- this trailer almost always keeps the player's view in the center of the screen, or really close to it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially in a racing game, because your focus is almost entirely on the center of the screen to begin with when you're playing it. I would also say it works for the trailer because what else would we be looking at other than the awesomely modeled cars (and the world they're in)? There's literally a car in almost every shot of this trailer so they can emphasize just how many different cars they have.
   
   
2. Medium to Close Up shots -- I've already mentioned it above, but I'll say it again. The focus of a racing game, at least in my opinion, has always been about the cars. The level is important, because it's where you're going to be racing, but I would have to say the focus is more about the cars than the levels. This trailer shows us as many medium to close-up shots so we can look at these cars and get excited for the chance to race them.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Establishing Shots -- I already said it, but this was one of the better race trailers I looked at simply because it gives us establishing shots of the game itself. Personally, I don't like FPS or Racing games solely because a lot of them are only about that particular concept -- shooting or racing, with minimal to no story (that or story is obviously secondary). I'm a story driven gamer; I like narrative, and even if this game is only about racing, I would still want to play it because of the beautiful shots of the level.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   It's like taking a chocolate cake, and then putting another chocolate cake on top of that one. Now you have more cake and more chocolate. Basically, you have more to look at, enjoy, and experience while playing the game if they put the same amount of effort and love into the level that they did the cars you're racing. It's important!