Music for Game Trailers
A trailer is built around hit points; the three-act shape is only the frame, and silence does the lifting.
Related
Picture first, then music
A game trailer is not scored by writing an epic and laying it against the edit. The editor marks the moments that must land: the logo, the turn of a character, the release date. The music is organised around those points and everything else gets out of their way. A generation tool can supply scale but not placement; placement is done in the DAW against timecode.
Three acts, not three songs
A ninety-second trailer follows the same three acts as a full trailer: establish, accumulate, release. The difference is compression. The setup lasts fifteen seconds or so, accumulation works by adding layers rather than developing melody, and the release usually states the theme in full exactly once. The acts are joined by a drop-out or a held silence, not by a hard cut. Write them as three separate pieces and the joins will show.
Timeline
Ninety seconds is the example; timings shift with the cut, the jobs do not.
| Time | Section | What the music does | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:15 | Establish | One motif, a little ambience | Full orchestra on the first frame |
| 0:15–0:45 | Accumulate | Add layers and pulse, leave half a beat open | One new layer every four bars, like stairs |
| 0:45–1:00 | Turn | Pull the low end, or go silent | Silence too brief to register |
| 1:00–1:15 | Release | State the theme, land on the logo | Hit arrives after the picture |
| 1:15–1:30 | Close | Short tail, leave reverb, prepare the loop | Tail bleeds into the next spot |
Cutting versions
One trailer usually ships at ninety, sixty, thirty and fifteen seconds, plus a vertical cut and a social pre-roll. The method is not to scale the long version down but to protect the logo hit and the theme statement, then remove the setup. A thirty-second cut often keeps one accumulation and one release; fifteen seconds keeps the release and the close. Export each version separately with the same tempo and key so a platform can swap them. Put hit point timecodes in the file name or the delivery notes.
When the release is already full
The usual failure is a release that is already full. If brass and drums run for the whole cut, the audience is numb by the logo and the hit stops hitting. The second fault is a riser that always climbs for four bars, predictable after one viewing. The third is fear of silence, which leaves every section equally dense. Generated material arrives with intros and fades, so cut them cleanly and keep tails out of the next shot.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Along the same line
Sources
- 游戏预告片剪辑与配乐制作的公开访谈，讨论 hit point 与版本裁切。
- 影视与交互配乐教材中关于三段式结构、留白与主题呈现的章节。
- 发行平台对预告片音频交付的公开规范，涉及响度与文件格式。