Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games

Game Title PlanetSide 2 Cinematic Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41QFL4QB3NE

Provide detailed descriptions from chosen examples that establish… Clearly state what production technique(s) you think have been used to create specific soundtrack elements

Setting

Between 0:10 and 0:15 we can hear various radio commands going on, things like radio malfunctioning, various people speaking about ETA’s etc. This can tell us that we are either in a quite modern era of the game or something futuristic. For the 5 seconds between 0:15 and 0:20 there is a commentator saying: ‘Whatever Gods once were, have long forsaken this place’ suggesting something very bad is happening to the point where people are losing their beliefs. We can also hear gunshots which can suggest that it is war related. From then on for about 5 seconds we can hear the radio again, people speaking on it and the commentator speaking about things like: Death etc., the radio and the commentator both interrupt each other from second to second which can suggest that whatever is happening, it is happening fast and they are in a hurry. The occasional gunshots, screams and explosions further suggest that there is a battle. Then between 0:25 to 0:30 we can hear screams such as: Incoming! etc. which is kind of dulled out, this can suggest to us that the character is shook by the events. Then the same voices continue with: ‘Cmon!’ suggesting that they are pushing something, i.e. attacking something. Radio interrupts again but this time it says: ‘Waiting for marker’ at 0:35 which can suggest that the radio is on a plane or a spaceship which is waiting for some kind of flare to be able to drop troops. This explains to us the setting further more since we now know that our character needs to drop this marker to get additional troops/supplies here. All of this can explain the setting in either 2 ways, that the setting is definitely a war setting, but it is either happening in modern or futuristic times. After the initial 40 seconds we don’t really get that much of sounds to guide us. The music takes over as the main sound for the rest of the clip until the end. The music is very dramatic, very deep and gives a sense of something important happening within. We can also hear occasional screams, planes whizzing past, gunshots and explosions but nothing to make the setting more distinct. At the end of the clip, at about 1:55, we can hear a massive explosion and then the radio saying in a very cheerful

I think the gunshot noises were recreated with real guns being used on a shooting gallery and recorded as a directional sound and then edited to sound grander. The screaming was done by basically recording someone screaming. The radio was probably done by using various tools, starting with recording some basic dialog being spoken by someone and recorded as a directional sound and then being taken into a studio to add special effects, eliminate background noise etc. Music would of course be done through the steps of a standard music creation and it would be directed by the cinematic producer to let the music team know what kind of soundtrack they need to create to make a specific feeling.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games

manner: ‘Breach, breach, the fortress is breached!’ suggesting that the character did something to make it so, we can also hear a lot of air whizzing past and a slide at the end suggesting that the character fell from somewhere high. Then the narrator proceeds to saying: ‘But a war will not determine who’s right, only, who’s left’, immediately after a very dramatic music kicks in as the character places the ‘marker’ , we know it since the radio proceeds onto saying: ‘Marker is set, drop, drop, drop, go, go, deploy’. Then we hear a stabbing noise at about 2:35 and every sound gets really dulled out suggesting that our character was suddenly hurt by something, then we hear a sound of something hitting the ground. The clip then ends with, again, the same kind of music, very deep and dramatic sounding. All of this can give us the sense of a setting in a world that is consumed by war, involves dramas, action, people losing their beliefs etc.

Mood The mood is mostly set by the music however other sound assets do come into play. For example the screams (probably of the wounded) explosions, gunshots etc. set the mood of the general scene to be a very brutal and merciless war, the music adds to it by adding the extra sense of ‘importance’ which gives us the mood of a war that is very terrible but very important and grand nonetheless.

The music has been created through standard ways of someone or a team creating a music according to assignment specifications

Game genre

Again, things like gunshots, screams, explosions, radio stutters can tell us that the genre is definitely war related, so possibly an FPS or something similar to it like a strategy game or a military simulator. There isn’t really that much sound to exactly tell us what genre we are dealing with, but gives us clues in different ways, for example, when it says: ‘Awaiting for marker’ we can probably think that the troops are dropping from the orbit, rather than planes, as if they were in planes they probably wouldn’t need a very specific ‘marker’. This therefore can lead us to the idea of a game genre being Sci-Fi because of the addition of possible spaceships etc.

Other sounds, apart from the screaming, gunshots etc., such as explosions could have been recorded in a controlled environment, recording real explosions, or recording something and then making it sound like an explosion through software apps. Such things like a plastic bag exploding recording can be turned into an explosion after quite a lot of tuning with the depth etc.

Narrative

The narrative is conducted in very short lines and there isn’t much of it, the main narrator is probably the main character that we follow in the cinematic, he speaks only about things related to war, how terrible it is, what its results are etc. Nothing in regards to the story of what is currently happening is provided. The narrative is very deep in its meaning though and tries to explain a very deep topic which adds a very specific and complex layer to the sound design. There are also some radio

The reader simply read out the text that was probably given to him on paper and tried to read it in a way so that it would require as little or no editing before being able to be used for the cinematic.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games

commands added into the mix to add that ‘roughness’ of soldiers communicating in a very quick manner to exchange information as fast as possible. Things like the narrative between 0:15 and 0:20, the commentator saying: ‘Whatever Gods once were, have long forsaken this place’ shows us how desperate the war can be and therefore gives us a deeper incentive onto the matter.