Sci-Fi Foley and Music Post-mortem

Project Recap

Week 7 (Preparation and Ideation)

• During this week we ideated on the possible themes and ideas that we could use to sci-fi trailer work for in the future. After searching YouTube we decided to look at the

Week 8

• During this week we delivered the pitch to the client and outlined the project to create a reimagined intro scene for “HALO 4”. The pitch went well and was greenlit afterwards for the project to go ahead

Week 9

• During this week we listened to an endless amount of sci-fi inspired music and finally settled on using a track called “A New Dimension” by Revolt Production Music as our reference track. The track was broken down (Tear down) and analysed for its tempo and the sonic content to understand its musical composition and production techniques used. We learnt that the reference track used a varied amount of synth instruments overlayed with an acoustic piano and strings. The choices of these instruments gave a sense of the amalgamation of machine and human elements since a synth is mechanically precise whereas the acoustic instruments gave the human element. The sound effects were also broken down and sonically analysed for the spaceships from the original video. The key sounds for the space ship were identified and the method in which to make the sounds was further found to be Wave table synthesis to create the engine noises, Granular synthesis for the space ambience sounds.

Week 10

• The team split up into two directions where one sound engineer focused on the creation of the SFX while the other sound engineer worked on the musical composition for main track.

• The engineer in charge of the SFX design was unfamiliar with using Logic as their primary tool most of the time the majority of the week was spent upskilling themselves on techniques for the sound design with a VST plugin. This same problem was also encountered by the second engineer as he was only familiar with using pre-sets in the VSTs and needed to learn more in-depth knowledge regarding granular synthesis to create the lush background sounds needed for the space theme. The Music was composed entirely in CUBASE which was the DAW of choice for the second engineer.

Week 11

• This week was spent touching up the sounds and bouncing the music composition and the SFX into their separate WAV files that are to be finally mixed in a ProTools session since this was common DAW that both engineers knew how to use. The final mix was done in two separate audio sessions. Due to miscalculation in timing no mixing studios were available in week 11 and thus the final mix down was finished in a home studio during the Easter long weekend. The mix was finished and completed on Easter Saturday.

Week 12

• The final product demo was presented on time during Monday session and gathered feedback. Feedback was generally positive with some insightful suggestions such as adding a bit more orchestral strings to increase the emotional impact as well as backing off on the melodic sounds a bit to allow for some room for the other instruments and sound effects.

Project progression with regards to timeline

Sci-Fi Project GANNT chart

According to the project followed well with the project time line and we were able to complete the project on time. The only hiccup to the whole project was the weekly reporting to the project lead. in future we should really update the project more regularly.

What was the final outcome?

We were successful in completing the project and have the final assets were completed on time.

What made the project successful?

The following items were identified to have made the project successful was partially due to the fact that the team members have worked together before on an earlier project. This allowed the team to work cohesively as a group. There was regular communication between the team members in weekly meetups and also online via online messenger services thus any problems that arose were quickly solved. The project plan and scope was mapped out in detail therefore the final deliverable was clear to all parties involved. Working on the project we did at one stage wanted to add dialogue to the script but deemed it was going beyond the scope of the project and was omitted.

What where the challenges faced?

Since the project was scoped out to use as many synth based instruments it required a deeper knowledge and understanding of the how some sounds are made. The sound effects engineer tasked with the SFX needed to upskill his knowledge in wave table synthesis in Logic to be able to create signature sounds for engines, turbines and flybys that existed in the intro scene. Also for the engineer tasked with making the BGM he needed to upskill in his knowledge regarding granular synthesis to create the lush music textures to create an atmosphere of anticipation.

What were the lessons learned?

As sound engineers we learned more in depth knowledge regarding sound design with analogue, wavetable, granular synthesizers and how each one can be useful for certain elements. Prior to taking on the project both engineers were only adept at using pre-sets inside the VST plugins but did not know exactly how the pre-sets were created. After completing this project both engineers gain a deeper understanding of using custom samples and designing a sound from scratch to meet a design brief.

What could be done differently in future?

For this project we would not just map out the scope but also take into consideration of the time involved in learning a new synthesizer and plugin to create the sound. As a group we underestimated the time required to upskill and acquire new synth knowledge. In future more time will be allocated to fully understand new concepts and will share this knowledge more openly within in the project group.