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As part of our promotional material, we will create a documentary about Keeper’s Veil. This short video will include behind-the-scenes footage of our creative process, playtesting, and interviews with us, the developers. Following our previous blog post, this documentary must reflect our game’s themes and atmosphere so that our branding remains consistent and clear.
We plan to visit Hurst Point Lighthouse in Lymington; this is an amazing opportunity to shoot some real-life, B-roll footage that perfectly represents our game. We plan to film on an overcast day - perhaps after sunset - to encapsulate the feelings of anxiety and grief that are present in the game, as well as reflect its colour palette. An opening shot of the lighthouse in front of a darkening, grey sky, standing atop ragged rocks that are being crashed upon by the cold water would immediately set a foreboding tone. Alternatively, a first-person point of view of heavy boots walking down the uneven pier, eventually stopping at the lighthouse’s base where the camera pans up along its towering length, making it appear even taller.
In Keeper’s Veil, despite constant communication with others, you never actually see anyone face-to-face. Although we will not be able to fully replicate this in the documentary (as we must include some footage of ourselves) we can still somewhat simulate the game’s isolated feel by limiting the screen time of our faces. This inclusion of faces may still seem a stark contrast to Keeper’s Veil, to combat this, we will use voice-overs to smoothly transition between A-roll and B-roll footage and decorate our interviews with props – items also featured in the game’s lighthouse. This includes lanterns, fishing nets, bottles, candles, etc which can be found in local charity shops.
Another way we can bridge the gap between the atmosphere of Keeper’s Veil and real-life footage is to mimic some mechanics of the game. For example, footage of a hand fiddling with an old radio as if attempting to find the correct frequencies to tune into our interview; referencing our main mechanic of using a radio to communicate. Additionally, in relation to the letter-writing mechanic, we could include footage of someone writing out our interview questions in calligraphy on parchment.
In two months, we will be filming our interviews so in the meantime, as we develop Keeper’s Veil, we will gain a better understanding of how we wish to represent it through the documentary and build upon these initial ideas. As well as filming B-roll footage and purchasing set design items, we will also create a bank of questions we would like to answer during our interviews. These questions will give our audience an insight into us as developers and how Keeper’s Veil came to be. Once the documentary is complete it will be uploaded to our website, and we hope you give it a watch!