Project Augustine - Post-Mortem
- Clement Chan
- Aug 23, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 8, 2020
In week 6 of the we were approached by the same design team we met at Synergy in Trimester 1 2019 and they wanted us to create all the sound assets for their project that will go forward into their final Trimester. Joe and I immediately agreed to take on the project as it was a space themed. The premise is that a team of astronauts crashed landed onto an unknown planet and the protagonist Luke, wakes up from a coma alone and tries to seek out the rest of his crew. Upon finding each of his crew he will go through the stages of grief and thus each encounter will be need music and sound effects to reflect the changes of his mental state. There will be dialogue as well for each of the encounters.
The Deliverable
During the weeks that led up the final deliverable Joe and I were able to record and have several people to thank for their assistance with vocal talents
ADR VO Talents
Quinn Kallisti - Luke
Will Smith - Harrison
Savanah Edwards - Marie
Erin Dayley - Computer AI Augustine
Pre-Production Planning
This time we got this right :D
Production Production Production!
After initial meeting with the team Trimester 5 team I got to work on the influences that they wanted us to reference from. Joe and I worked on our strengths and began to source different ideas for our sounds that we wanted to create. Joe went off to the wild (Mount Glorious) and began recording samples and I began to noodle away at my electric keyboard at home.
The sources that we were to reference for in this sample was that the beginning theme should sound like something from "Nausicaa Valley of the Wind" which is a Studio Ghibli anime production. Specifically they got feedback from their lecturers to use the opening theme song as inspiration.
Studio Ghibli. (2016)
And also wanted to have the open space feeling and mechanics from "No Mans Sky"
65daysofstatic. (2016)
Composition Composition Composition!
After composing and reworking some of the pieces we finally came to an agreement for the following pieces.
This theme was to reference from the Nausicaa theme heavily so there will be mainly just Piano, and forming a lower F-Minor chord while playing a melody above that purposefully misses the 3rd and 5th of the minor chord to keep the listener in suspense and anticipation. By composing in this way I found that the people will get a feeling that something is either incomplete and uncomfortable but somewhat familiar which fits with the foreshadowing theme since it is suppose to give a glimpse of what's to come.
This can incorporate a few synths and will resound in an opening like the song from the World of Warcraft "Forest of Elywnn" I used an Analogue synth VST in my DAW to create the low sub bass stabs that follow after the epic start of the song. I added a VST choir to give body to the crescendo in the start of the piece. Further in the piece I worked a harp but played in on the keyboard in free time to give it a mystic feel. After referencing the track from WoW it seemed to work after I incorporated the synth which worked better than expected and gave the new track a artificial feel which is what I wanted to represent the space theme of the game.
This is the first of the human conditions and will focus on getting the feeling of helplessness and confusion. I decided with only the piano to convey the emotions in the scene. The lone piano throughout the piece leaves the listener in a state of helplessness. I composed the piece in a "A-B-A" form in which the middle section of the piece slowly descends into the disjointed chords which was to represent the mental state spiraling into the abyss. Repeating the "A" section
In this track I worked with Will to create the feeling he wanted in this scene when Luke finds Marie. Luke is angry at his previous decisions which crashed the spaceship and thus the anger inside him is slowly building up but is not being released and is bottled up by Luke. To represent the swirling anger I used horns that would raise in volume and then disappear. To give that sense of pulsating anger I used an Analogue synth to make the throbbing baseline that exists throughout the track. The instruments are added on after the other to simulate the multiple angry emotions that are bottling up in Luke then suddenly stop when it reaches a crescendo.
After seeing the fate of his last team mate, Luke begins to drop into a pit of despair and begins to break down. This part of the game the player is led into the final state of emotions and thus I decided to use the string orchestra since when played in a slow drawn out way to represent sadness.
The final scene where Luke finally accepts his fate and therefore I decided to repeat the melodic motif from the menu theme and add a slow flute that slowly crescendo's which is the represent the final moment Luke reaches absolution in his emotional struggle and accepts his fate due circumstances. The ending of the piece is a resolution and therefore I intentionally ended the piece in the F-Major where before it was sitting in between minor and Major. This I found from feedback people felt a bit of peace after listening and is what I was going for.
Layering in the ADR
After putting the ADR into the track I mixed the track so that the music would not overpower the dialogue lines. To keep the volume consistent the background music I composed had to take a backseat and had to be EQ'd so that the frequecies in the music did not clash and leave room for the Voices to be heard.
What did I learn?
During this the key learning that I had was the following:
Managing talent and communication with people from different discipline
Composing is so much fun and I should continue to practice on composing in different music genres to create the same emotions
I explored the use of automation of EQ, Volume and other variables to add dynamics and interest to the composition
That I will need to compose more to practice my skills
Through genre analysis will help with my ability to use the right instruments a sounds that have suitable frequency content for the genre of games
I increased my technical skills through research and was able to create a more dynamic and interesting musical score for games
I learnt to balance frequencies in my composition to allow for dialogue and other in game elements
Overlaying the final mix with the ADR gave a whole new dimension to the composition and was completely different to a musical mix
What Could I do better Next time?
Get in early and write up the blogs early
Have a solid script that is confirmed before recording ADR with live talents. Any rework will be extra overhead in production that could kill a project.
Try to compose in more than one single genre to expand my musical composition skill
References:
Studio Ghibli. (2016). Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Soundtrack (Best Quality) [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/1rpXOgyazRo
65daysofstatic. (2016). No Man's Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe - Original Soundtrack [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/RRI-o9JDfCI
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