Pull in the Audience
Very few people in the replies to my original tweet mentioned enjoying logos, but they were there. The impression I got was they like to settle into watching the trailer and they can't do that if it starts too abruptly.
I often watch videos people post of their live reactions to trailers I've made, and there have been times where I clearly see them miss the first few seconds because they weren't paying attention whether because they pressed play during the middle of their video introduction or during a livestream they were paying attention to something else as the trailer started.
I'm not in favor of using a logo as the buffer zone for the viewer's attention to get situated, but I might start building a beat or two into the first shot of my trailers before the primary action occurs just so I can be more sure they're looking at what I want them to.
I'm Not Interested in Those People
To a degree I understand this sentiment of: "If they're too impatient to watch my logos, I don't want them!" This summons images of someone who doesn't appreciate the people who make games, leaves the movie theater as soon as the end credits start, and says entitled things like: "Well why don't you just add [difficult to implement thing] to the game!??"
But I think there are myriad reasons people might be impatient or not have the time to watch an extended segment of logos at the beginning of a trailer. Maybe they're a busy parent, maybe they have limited screen time allotted to them, maybe their bandwidth or data plan is super limited; there are a lot of possible reasons other than them being some impatient, entitled gamer. I think it's dangerous to paint people with too broad a brush based off of one assumption.
Time is one of the most valuable things a person can give to another and that is what someone is doing when they bother to click and watch your trailer. This is why I think it's important to respect that time by giving them what they want as quickly as possible. It doesn't necessarily mean starting every trailer with explosions and frenetic editing; it just means taking a first step towards informing the audience what the game is all about (unfortunately, most logos screens don't do that.)
Also, the argument: "They probably weren't very interested in the first place" doesn't really hold water for me, because of course they're not interested! They have little to no reason to be interested until they see some of the game. The way I see it, they already took the first step by clicking, and the trailer needs to take the next by giving them what they want.
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