A brief, compelling video on your Leap Motion App Store profile is a great way to grab people’s attention and promote your app. In this post, we’re going to highlight our best practices for app trailers and demos, along with some real examples (and exceptions) from the App Store.

Short and sweet. Keep your trailer as short as possible, while conveying the full story of what makes your app unique and exciting. Most developers will find that 1 minute or less is ideal.

For specialized or niche audiences, some developers will find longer videos necessary. Clocking in at 2:04, AeroMIDI’s video shows professional musicians how they can configure 3D cube structures to trigger notes.

Make an entrance. Include an intro splash screen or animation to introduce the name of your app, the developer/studio, and an indication that the app has been designed for the Leap Motion Controller (e.g. “Created for the Leap Motion Controller”). You can use our developer marketing assets while following our branding guidelines.

Show application interactions. What’s the goal of your software, and what will your users be doing? Your trailer should reveal the story of your app along with the fundamental interactions that your users will experience.

Keep it in perspective. Make sure to include shots with both hands and the computer screen in view, so that your audience can imagine themselves using the app. This has the added advantage of introducing new users to your app’s key interactions.

The Boom Ball Adventures trailer has a distinctive intro, shows key interactions, and includes the “Available for Leap Motion” badge. It doesn’t include shots of people playing the app, but the gloved hands within the app already demonstrate the key interaction – point and move your hand around. Plus, it’s a sequel, and the trailer for Boom Ball does feature hands.

Show the big picture. Your trailer should reveal quick views into different modes (or levels if applicable) so that people can see how the experience of the app progresses and what users will experience.

Highlight key features. Show the essential actions, characters, or tools that define your software and distinguish it from the crowd.

The trailer for Blue Estate Prologue does a great job of showing the characters, features, and scenes that make the game distinctive, fun, and darkly funny. Since the game is built around a simple interaction – just point – showing the user playing would take away from the trailer’s cinematic experience.

Keep it current. When submitting your trailer video for your app profile, be sure to remove any “Coming Soon” messages. When people see your trailer in the App Store, it’s because they’re just about to download it.

Do you have any great tips for making app videos? (Pierre Semaan’s advice on the old developer forums still holds true!) Post your ideas and thoughts in the comments section.

Update 9/12/2014: The Airspace Store is now simply called the Leap Motion App Store.