Audio for Video Games

A blog for all my audio for video games coursework and labs

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Introvert Extrovert Contrast Video Audio for Computer Games GDPM 2014

Audio for Computer Games Assignment 1 - A video to demonstrate contrast, using visual and audio contrasts. This video depicts the life of two GDPM students, ...

This was originally posted to my Blackboard Blog, but since I have been using this as my main blog for the class I have re-posted it here for easier access.

So after 2 days of editing, I've finally finished my first video assignment which was a video on Contrast.

I had several ideas for this video, but decided to go with my initial idea, which was my view on student life thus far in terms of the social aspects. With that in mind, I decided to film an introvert/extrovert video.

The initial challenge for me was deciding how best to portray both of these contrasting personality traits, and within 15 seconds! Luckily I managed to get a lot of good footage for both (with the help from a few of my fellow students) which I was able to then edit and mix together for a reasonably made 15 second video. If given more time, I would have liked to have added more to the video, and clean it up somewhat. But I am still happy with the end result.

The most challenging part of making this video, was perhaps attempting to put the story together in my head, before realising it during editing. I believe that if I had drawn up simple story boards, I would have been able to work faster and more efficiently, and seen any potential problems that may have arose from mixing scenes together much earlier than during the final editing stage.

You will notice when the video loads, it initially says it is 16 seconds long, however when loaded reverts back to it's true running time of 15 seconds.

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This was originally posted on my Blackboard Blog but since I have been using this more than that for my work I have decided to re-post it here.

We were tasked with using visual characterization using sound and images.

What follows is a collection of images with accompanying audio that represent what I see when I look at the images in an attempt to Characterize them.

This song from the film Napoleon Dynamite fits perfectly with this image, especially from 25seconds onwards. It gives off a whimsical, fun, carefree vibe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rmMZzm9796s

This image conveys to me a sense of chaotic control over a situation or someone and I feel that this song by SikTh represents exactly that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K-BzWuc16GE

This comes across as a pretty trippy, surreal image to me and the audio segment compliments the visuals exactly how I would imagine it in an audio format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zrS7n0JTMiU

Immediately after seeing this image I thought of the Mars Attacks Theme Song. I believe this represents the image exactly how anyone would imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CBomQh0np6w

To me the image represents someone helping another through a dark point in their lives literally or metaphorically, and I feel the audio I piece represents these ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E6MSkG5txAA

I saw this image and immediately thought of two things, The Warriors and the band Anthrax. I couldn’t decide which best suited until playing the theme of the film and some Antrax songs over the image and I settled on Antisocial by Anthrax.

I feel the thrashy sound of the instruments and the lyrics themselves sum up the punky, criminal image perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y_kGKhrOD2w

The audio is a representation of the thoughts running through the astronauts head and how surreal it would feel to be out there on another planet away from Earth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KtaMTIQuwA8

The audio represents the emotions, mixed feelings, and thoughts of self doubt one holds deep inside themselves away from everyone else, that you can only guess at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YnhGCO99bOQ

This image gave me some trouble, then it struck me. This is the Angry Chair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg4dkiKTVMg

I decided to choose this song as I feel it represents a mixture of emotions portrayed by this image such as; loneliness, emptiness, or desperation, a feeling of time running out for nature and for man, but with a small incline of hope remains as the sun rises on a new day. All of which the song itself portrays perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQvM4EM0lO8

Reflections on the task:

This was a task I had a lot of fun doing, some images proved challenging however most came naturally to me as soon as I saw them.

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Coursework Assignment 1: Zombies!!! Board Game Advert - Write Up & Reflections

Zombies!!! Board Game Advert Reflections

We were tasked with creating a 30 second video advert for a board game of our choice, implementing various visual and audio sound-fx during the editing process.

I chose to film my advert on the board game Zombies!!!; I had a rough idea from the outset how I would like to film the advert. Envisioning various outdoor scenes and live action scenes to represent the game-play and players, however this proved to be a greater task than I had first imagined due to the necessary lighting, and weather conditions required, timing for actors to be available for recording and of course, the unpredictability of the public during filming.

Due to these various factors I decided it was best to film indoors to enable more control over the filming process and to have the board game more prominently shown in the video, for this change of direction I focused on filming a comical style of horror advert with the feel of a low budget B-Movie horror film, the idea came to me from watching several of these types of films and from the music videos of Rob Zombie, one of which I used intro music from for the backing track to my video.

I gave my actors direction asking them to play the game and have a good time, secondly I gave the zombie actors a free run at how they believe a zombie would act. Once filming was done, I created various zombie groans and board game sound fx using a microphone and manipulated them in Audacity.

Afterwards I gathered all my scenes and audio clips in Premiere Pro and cut all the necessary clips together into one video. I then reduced the frame rate to 12fps and increased the speed of the video to around 132%, followed by adding in black and white with a mixture of sepia tones to the video sequence, and then finally adding scratch effects to the video in order to give it the look and feel of a low budget B-Movie horror film.

There were several challenges when editing the video such as the length of which the video was to be but as I poured through the video segments it became apparent which scenes fit best with style of the advert I was going for and those that didn't.

The next problem was adding the audio to the video in time with the sequences after I had cut the video down proved to be a challenging but fun experience. Editing sound in Audacity proved to be a small learning curve but after several hours with the program I managed to get the sounds I was looking for, feedback from my lecturers indicated I was best using Adobe Audition to edit my sounds in future projects.

After the feedback session, along with using Audition for my sound editing, I was advised to increase the volume of the voice over so that it would not clash with the rest of the sounds in the video.

Once all the video aspects were complete and the audio was added to the video, I then exported the finished video into a Quicktime.mov format, followed by uploading the video to YouTube.

Ultimately I am happy with my efforts and I feel like I have learned a lot during the whole process, not only from my own experiences filming and editing, but also in the efforts of the other students in my class which has inspired me to do more and hopefully even better in my next project.

The following are links to sites/videos which helped me create my video:

For the old film look I used the following YouTube video tutorial:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMfYP-6D1y4

http://rustystasiuk.deviantart.com/art/Premiere-Pro-Old-Film-Grain-299974974

This sites helped me in general areas of the editing process and finished cut:-

http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/premiere-pro-tips/

http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/pro-tip-exporting-a-finished-video-from-premiere-pro/

The following YouTube link is to the music video for the song Dragula by Rob Zombie which I heavily influenced my video concept and for which I used the opening sequence for the soundtrack to my video:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqQuihD0hoI

The following images and links are from films which influenced my video greatly:-

Shadow of the Vampire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAn5uLNMmjk

Nosferatu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyzubFvBsA

Night of The Living Dead (1968):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pElSu_ECJGM

Planet Terror:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCFQtc6BzyM

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Visit Original Link

We were tasked with creating a Music Concrete style song from various audio excerpts and foley sounds that were created by students.

This is my interpretation of Music Concrete.

Reflections on the task:

This was one of the more interesting and challenging tasks we were given as Music Concrete is something I've never encountered before, but after I played around with some ideas for a while things started to take form and I found it to be a fun and often amusing experience.

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Please note this is NOT my submitted piece of work for grading but an experiment with sound effects on my final submitted piece which is below this blog entry:

This is the Final Cut of my Zombies!!! Board Game Advert with an added storm sound effect placed into the background for a more dramatic effect.

I’m happy with how the effect has turned out, however I am a little unsure as to whether it would be a better submission with the storm effects or without, so I have chosen NOT to submit this piece as my final graded piece of work.

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Please note this is my final submitted piece of work for my Coursework Assignment Task 1:

This is the Final Cut of my Zombies!!! Board Game Advert which will be used as my final graded submission piece for my Coursework 1 hand in.

Following on from the feedback I received from my tutors and fellow students during my presentation I took the following actions:

I increased the level of the audio in the voice-over segments of the video as well as that of the Scream, Zombie attack and groans mainly due to the fact that once I increased the voice-over segments the other audio segments were lacking in clarity and volume as well.

Afterwards I added in a few extra effects to the Zombie groans in order to stop them sounding like they were cutting off abruptly during the video.

Ultimately I am happy with my efforts and I feel like I have learned a lot during the whole process, not only from my own experiences filming and editing, but also in the efforts of the other students in my class which has inspired me to do more and hopefully even better in my next project.

Here is the final piece uploaded to YouTube:

Watch “Zombies!!! Final Cut with Voice Over Vol Increas…” on YouTube Zombies!!! Final Cut with Voice Over Vol Increas…: http://youtu.be/4utPzAEtg9c

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Examples of Good/Bad Editing, Montage, and Multiple Narrative Threads in Television.

Example of Good/Bad Editing:

We were tasked with coming up with an example of good or bad editing in film, and how that editing is able to drive the narrative of the film forward.

For this I have chosen the Baptism Murders Scene from film The Godfather:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CDlBLvc3YE

This follows a collection of inter-cut sequences that shows Micheal Corleone being baptized in Church and renouncing all Evil, whilst his henchmen are simultaneously removing all opposition to the Corleone family under orders from Micheal and securing his seat of power.

This creates an interesting and unforgettable juxtaposition through the opposing inter-cut scenes, which, through the power of association, helps to show the viewer Micheal Corleone's baptism as The Godfather, in the blood of his enemies.

The Montage:

A powerful tool often used in film editing is the montage. A montage is most often used in action films, sports films, or comedic parody films.

One of my favourite film montages has to be from Captain America The First Avenger, when the Allies led by Captain America start fighting back against The Red Skull and his Hydra Army. Resulting in crippling blows to Hydra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUKEs3G_uHY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SWA2UAu-HE

(I could not find the complete scene in HD, but I believe the above covers the whole montage scene.)

This montage actually parodies an earlier montage in the film where Captain America is considered to be a joke, or gimmick by his fellow soldiers and superior officers and so is relegated to propaganda shows across America to promote War Bonds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxRKwKJI_uI

Combined these montages help drive the narrative of the film and the story of Captain America rising from nothing to become a Hero.

An Example of Multiple Narrative Threads in a Television Series:

Lastly, we were tasked with discussing a Television Series with multiple narrative threads. There are many examples of this on television today, but one that stands out to me is that of The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead uses multiple narrative threads to tell the story of several survivors associated with various groups all vying for survival during the Zombie Apocalypse.

The series makes use of the narrative threads by telling the story from the view point of several main characters, and often belonging to the differing factions or groups and how they perceive not only the world around them, but each other.

This allows the viewer to get a better insight into the people living in this harsh environment whilst attempting to give a better sense of the world around them from the viewpoint of these characters, this way the show often attempts to dispel a sense of right and wrong, good versus evil style of black and white storytelling.

However, this often slows the pace of the show down and leaving viewers feeling bored as it can detract from the sense of fear and survival in a harsh unforgiving environment the show is trying to portray.

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Walk of Terror

We were tasked with editing a clip of a walk through the woods into something creepy/terrifying using various audio and visual effects. This is my attempt at...

This is my attempt at bringing fear/terror/creepiness to a walk through the woods. I chose to overlap the two clips and add in various audio to create a surreal and creepy video.

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Coursework 1: Video Presentation and Feedback Reflections

After presenting my video to the class and my lecturers, which was a nerve wracking experience initially I feel I received mostly positive feedback with the comedic style of the video coming across nicely, however both the students and lecturers did note that the voice over segments of the audio were a little low in volume which made some parts hard to understand. I did notice this myself, but only after the finished video was uploaded and played through speakers in class, which I was not using at the time of editing, so for future reference if using headphones to edit sound - test on the speakers afterwards. Fortunately I will now be able to go back and edit my video and increase the volume of the voice over and I may or may not add in extra sound effects for my final graded submission piece.

With this feedback in mind I intend to amplify the volume of the voice over to make it clearer using Adobe Audition which I was advised to make use of for this particular task, and hopefully when watching the video the audio will be loud enough to be made out clearly for any who watch it in time for the final hand in date.

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Zombies!!! Board Game Advert

We were tasked with creating a 30 second video advert for a boar game for our Audio for Computer Games class, making use of various video/audio fx. This is m...

The video is finally finished and uploaded to YouTube! I feel I've managed to capture the old B-Movie horror vibe well in the video, in no small part to the acting and sound fx I gathered from those who helped me in creating my video. I also made use of a great tutorial to create a vintage look to videos in Premiere Pro which added greatly to the overall look of the video.

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Photoshop edit of an unused title for my video

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Coursework 1: Change of Plan

So after several run throughs of my live action zombie advert mostly in note form with a few story boards, I was ready to video, however when I went to video the weather had taken a turn for the worst that week, and also my actors availability for the times at which I intended to video had also proved to be a hassle for everyone involved.

Due to this I had decided to film indoors, in my halls where all my actors actually stayed with the exception of 1. When filming the camera had died several times due to uncharged batteries, however during the 4 hours it took to film I had went from trying to create a serious style of advert to a more comical style in the vain of the sometimes terrible B-Movie horror films, with a major influencing factor coming from the music videos of Rob Zombie which were often filmed in this style cutting various clips from these films into his music videos.

With this in mind I had set out to create this style of advert.

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Coursework 1: 30s board game advert - Initial Ideas

We were tasked with creating a board game advert, which was to last 30 seconds in length, or as close to that as we could possibly get, implementing various video and sound effects in the video.

My original plan was to use Cluedo as my game of choice and have the actors in the video dress as the characters from the game, and use various props and locations to represent the gameplay.

However, after several run throughs of this idea, and not having the actual game to show in the video, I decided to scrap this idea and use a game I had available to me: Zombies!!!

For Zombies!!!, I intended to use outdoor scenes, and actors moving around the city of Dundee mostly at night to represent the gameplay of the game in a live action style.