Last Stand: Fallen Sky Teaser

Overview:

Johnny Sheng, Trigger Airsoft's graphic designer and CMS manager, recommended me to create a teaser for the company's upcoming event, Last Stand. Do I know anything about airsoft? No, not a single thing, aside from being live-action Call of Duty. However, I knew I was eager to help Trigger Airsoft promote their event. With the help from Johnny, long-time airsoft player, I knew we could make the client's vision come to life.

• After speaking with Ken and Monica, the owners of Trigger Airsoft, I was given the following requirements for the video:

• 1) The teaser must be 1 minute or less.
• 2) The script provided must be used and shown in the teaser.
• 3) All materials and assets used had to be copyright-free (aside from in-house graphics), and I was required to source and find the materials on the internet.
• 4) The clients asked for the ending to include their sponsors, along with their signature company video outro.

No specific theme was provided, except for the requirement for it to be story-driven, suspenseful, and engaging. Aside from the above requirements, I had free reign on the direction of the video.

Problem

The challenge was to capture a person's attention within the first 8 seconds of the video and to make them excited enough to reserve tickets. Additionally, the video needed to relate to people who are just getting into the sport, which meant less jargon and a more story-driven teaser.

Team

• The two of us worked together on this project:

• 1) Kayla Tran: Video editor
• 2) Johnny Sheng: Graphic designer

Johnny, who has been playing airsoft for over a decade, helped me in finding assets, brainstorming the teaser's storyline, and supplying any required Trigger Airsoft media. I also took time to review Trigger Airsoft's current YouTube videos to understand how they represent their brand. Their product teasers were presented in a live action, using glitch effects to create a sleek, cool style.

Brainstorm Process

We were inspired by cinematic show openings, such as The Punisher and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. Their video styles were modern, suspenseful, and thrilling. The soundtrack used for these openings was also important as they indicated the timing of the storyline in terms of the buildup, climax, and resolution.

After discussing ideas, we created a storyboard in Figma to get a sense of how the story should unfold alongside the given script.

We found copyright-free assets from Canva and Adobe Stock, along with the soundtrack from YouTube. Johnny's airsoft knowledge ensured I picked appropriate stock footage that made sense for the sport.

Overcoming Obstacles

The video was created in Adobe After Effects. I compiled all the footage scenes based on the storyboard, but I encountered a challenge when the storyline didn't flow as I had imagined. The stock footage looked cheesy, and the script didn't match the assets I had chosen.

I wanted to produce something Trigger Airsoft would be proud of to represent on their channel, so I started from scratch. I found inspiration from The Walking Dead's opening, which used cinematic, grungy visuals to tie their visuals together. I reorganized a few clips with this suspenseful style in mind, like a puzzle.

Before moving on, I sent the clients a prerendered version for their input and feedback. They said it was a perfect capture of what they had hoped it would turn out.

Solution

With their approval, I completed the entire video using a grungy, suspenseful approach for the teaser. I improved it by refining the transitions between scenes and combining glitch effects, similar to Trigger Airsoft's video style.

After rendering the final video, I uploaded it to YouTube. However, the thumbnail they had chosen left a lot of black space as it didn't meet YouTube's image specifications. Therefore, I edited the thumbnail in Adobe Photoshop and offered to replace it for the clients. They were pleased that I took the initiative to do so. You can view the video directly on YouTube here!

What I Learned

Sometimes the outcome may not turn out as planned or imagined, and that's okay. I am relieved that I worked on this project early and scrapped the first design as soon as I realized it wasn't coming together. If I hadn't planned the project's scope and design in the first place, I would have been worse off.

Additionally, I used to think that I only enjoyed digital design. However, through this project, I discovered my strong interest in video editing. I have been dedicating time to learning motion graphics as well!