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Sakurai reveals the process of how Smash Bros. Ultimate's character reveal trailers are made

As you might suspect, it's a lot of work
by rawmeatcowboy
10 July 2019
GN Version 5.0

Smash Bros' fighter reveal trailers are some of the most exciting trailers the game industry has. It's always fun seeing which character is going to join the roster next, and Smash Bros. Ultimate's fighter reveal trailers have been some of the best yet. Wondering how those trailers come together? Masahiro Sakurai shares some insight on the process in his latest Famitsu feature. Check out a summary of details below, courtesy of PushDustin.

- the reason behind these trailers is to first provide something that fans will enjoy, and to create some buzz
- all of the fighter reveal trailers have both CG animation and gameplay
- Sakurai himself writes the script for the trailers
- Sakurai writes each scene and where it'll be cut, and he includes a lot of details in his scripts
- he also writes what music will be used, and what will be said
- when the trailer cuts to gameplay, Sakurai simply notes that 'there will be game play here'
- since the Wii U/3DS days, Sakurai has been working with a company called Digital Frontier to put together these trailers
- Yohei Shimozawa of Digital Frontier has directed many of trailers
- Digital Frontier hears a detailed explanation of how the CG parts of the trailer should be made
- from there, they make a storyboard
- if the storyboard is approved, then they create a 'video storyboard' to get the timing/tempo down
- after adjusting things like music/sound, work is done on updating the character models and the scenery
- if character models were just imported into the CG movie, they wouldn't feel right
- after that, work is done on the animation, camera, etc.
- blur and post effects are added as well
- Sakurai checks in at every step
- Sakurai says he's very thankful for the work that Digital Frontier has done, as Sakurai is very busy working on the game itself
- Shimozawa expresses gratitude for being chosen to work on the trailers, as well as all the love the trailers get

[Link]