There’s been an update regarding the deadline that the MA students told me last Friday. I’ve been told now that their hand in is on Thursday instead of Friday. This means we have to send the music/sound effects to them by Tuesday night. They said they require a day or so to implement the music into the game. Because of this I and Will have been in conversation, as he is back from tour now. We’re going to polish up the music tomorrow Monday the 14th and Tuesday the 15th and just concentrate hard and work long all-day hours at LCC.
Jingya said she doesn’t have much to do, so I’ll be also adding some sound effects for the game alongside her and Will.
I watched the first hour as indicated by Ingrid, and found the ideas around VR refreshing and it showed me ideas that I didn’t propose would be applicable to this medium.
It begins by speaking that it’s unregulated in VR. There have been aspects of research into how content should be produced for VR, the VR world in itself has ethics around enhanced virtual media. Including immersive media such as chatrooms.
With the explosion of XR content, the literature has been added and increased every year, is it is for the good or for the bad? How do we address the value of the content? The effect of the content on the consumer.
Harassment and sexual harassment in XR is possible, there are no laws. We’re free to do horrible things we want including horrible graphic acts. Murder, rape, theft, torture. Should we be free to create this content? I don’t think so.
There is also an ethical and moral perspective to VR. What happens in virtual reality is just as bad as in reality. And creators of VR content should try not to replicate the harm and stress that can happen in real life.
There have been experiments into the effect of VR on consumers and it’s been shown that people are just as likely to follow orders on VR as in reality. It doesn’t change whether or not it’s real-life or virtual. This does give the designer of the environment and experience to consider what they are making the consumer do in the VR environment.
Here are the ethical challenges of immersive media and how we can address them.
Misrepresentation
Creating experiences that mistakenly misrepresent reality. The idea that virtual reality can create ideas and false representations of real life, can this relate to a game as well? To present the game to its most realistic. I also question this to the other extreme, why does everything need to be represented accurately?
Bias
Stereotyping creates bias. Example GTA, and the stereotypes the game has. It creates false beliefs and if those people go into VR, they feel disenfranchised. It’s not something we want to keep making, we want to avoid this.
3. Psychological harm of others
Potential user trauma;
Improper behaviour in real life
Improper distance
VR can allow us to embrace empathy when we were able to experience the life of another person. But there is cognitive empathy and emotional empathy.
Accessibility to fully immersive experiences
VR content is designed with a user in mind that can see, hear and move without restrictions. We don’t anticipate how to make VR accessible, VR that can address these issues. So how do we create a VR experience for someone that can’t see very well in one eye? Or any other disability.
We met up for the fourth time, this time it was in person. I came with my laptop prepared to take notes of what was about to happen. Mingyu showed me the game’s current status a little playthrough and what sounds she needed from me.
Four songs.
Music list (loop music) 1. Game start scene 2. Computer scene. 3. computer opening animation. 4. Game status loop music.
I wrote some notes as well.
ambient sound before the screen zooms in.
Screen zooming in sound effect.
Video effect playing.
Typing noise sound effect.
Appearance when you finish.
Jingle.
Music goes into a computer screen. Music representing the engineer.
Zoom in screen.
A little bit longer for this scene.
Vintage synth. Science fiction tom and Jerry. Cupped. Cyber. Cuphead style.
Computer load in chime,/ like Windows XP
Flicker light sound effect
The camera changes into the log in stage. Type in password (change or not change music? Our choice)
Three rounds, at the moment. Loop music potentially is the same for each level.
End of the game, opening eyes.
Again these probably make more sense to me than anyone reading. But basically, I need to communicate with Will as soon as possible. He’s still on tour and it’s been a bit counterproductive towards the music accomplishments we need for the game. I’m unsure if I should start making some music but I’m not as capable as Will, this is something he does confidently. But perhaps I will attempt. I also saw Jingya speak with the other MA team members and communicate about what sound effects are left, after the meeting I spoke with Jingya and she said she only needs a few more and then she will be done. I do wonder if she is one hundred per cent sure, I think as Ingrid said there will be more sounds than the MA students anticipate.
Going on forth I need to attempt music, and edit/record more sound effects. The MA students want the assets by Thursday next week. We have our presentation on Wednesday so we need to get them done by then. I will update how it goes.
I am finding myself a tad frustrated with my group and our way of working. Not necessarily that anyone isn’t doing their work correctly or not working hard. But more so how I work well in groups is through in-person communication and working together and keeping communication frequently. I have found myself falling into the organiser/leader role which I have no problem with, but I do find myself on fallen ears at times. Creating and planning, following up on people asking how they’re going? If I can help in any way.
I find I myself don’t work well in meeting up once a week the everyone going away and doing work then meeting up again. I prefer the continuous process of commutation. Not a ton but a slight meeting or message here and there. Communicating how they’re going with their work.
I want to try to find some way to meet in the middle as I understand this more of a preference. Some teams barely speak and get the job done but this isn’t like me.
I also find myself perhaps needing some information about game design sounds, so I’ll be taking out these books from the library to give myself some more knowledge on the subject.
Aaron Marks’ complete guide to game audio: for composers, sound designers, musicians and game developers
The essential guide to game audio [electronic resource]: the theory and practice of sound for games / Steve Horowitz.
Game sound: an introduction to the history, theory, and practice of video game music and sound design / Karen Collins.
Group genius: the creative power of collaboration / Keith Sawyer.
Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation / Richard Sennett.
After the tutorial we had a little chat on our Whatsapp group and reflected on the feedback and how much time we had left. We knew we had a meeting booked for Friday and decided to allow some time to create and from Friday move like a well-organised machine to finalise the project. At this point we have a few sound effects, some recorded sound unedited and a few songs to use in the game.
We’re going to make sure we take a more forward role in the sound for the game, we felt perhaps we were waiting for them to tell us. But we want to take charge and give our opinion and our creative input into the sound rather than just do what they want.
So the plan is from Friday to go full steam ahead. And analyse exactly what we need to do in our opinion as well as theirs and see what the game needs as we feel after what Ingrid said about there being more sounds we will though than the MA students anticipate this is something we want to get down.
The first video was an animation in space of two astronauts wandering around, communicating and driving around in a space station. The sounds used to fit the application work really well. I enjoyed the communication element, instead of using speech they used distorted bit-crushed sounds to showcase the communication between the astronauts. As well as this the foley sounds of driving, walking around. worked as well, and the panning helped to create a sense of space successfully.
The second was a VR game? It made you walk around a space station and I felt the footstep sounds really gave a cold feeling of isolation that helped make the space station feel in a vacuum. The reverberation in particular worked well. As well as this the game created a pretend sequencer and the sounds were cool, space sound effects that fit the theme well. And the voice acting as well as edited to sound very much like a robot.
The last was a platform game, similar to things I used to play on a website called Newsgrounds. I really liked the aesthetic drawing style they used. Once the button was pressed this amazing LO-FI sort of hip hop music started playing which fit the game really well. The aesthetic of the art is similar to the musical style and it really has impressed me.
The essay begins by speaking on the spirit of place. How places need certain characteristics to bring artists and tourists to locations. And why we find these places beautiful or picturesque isn’t really easy to pinpoint. And how modernism has changed our cities and society to only associate places such as natural landmarks or remarkable built forms as beautiful locations.
It also speaks about the sense of place and how that relates to the spirit of a place, how a sense of place comes from numerous things. Sight, smell taste, touch, memories, experiences. And also the geographical environment, the local materials used in the buildings situate the sense of place in the area. And modernism has ruined this, the idea to replace everything old with something new, using cement and steel. Things that you have no idea where they came from can ruin a sense of place. Postmodernity has dismissed this approach and celebrates diversity.
It also speaks on that in a virtual environment one can create anything, any building beyond the limits of real life. Planning permission, neighbours. Population increases are out of the book and the creator becomes like a god in this situation. Also what virtual reality offers is different to other media, paintings are only experienced with sight, and digital media, imagination and sight. And virtual worlds encompass predominantly all of the senses.
It also speaks that virtual reality is definitely real if some people choose it to be. The spaces of real-life can be replicated to the utmost reality. How do we deal with this? What places can we recreate or imagine and design in the world? What should we design and what shouldn’t we?
It touches that virtual reality environments can never be authentic as authentic means to be real and that’s something virtual reality could never be, as well as this it speaks on that what they can be, is accurate reproductions of real places.
Finally, it ends with the thoughts around a sense of place in a virtual environment, how this will come from the participants in the world. The players the millions of people that connect online will create and add a living feeling to these virtual worlds.
We had our group tutorial with Ingrid and present our work. I showed the music I and Will have been working on alongside my electromagnetic recordings. As well as this Jingya showed the sound effects she has been making and editing to video. We discussed the process of working with the MA students how we have chosen our roles. Using each other’s strengths to maximise usefulness. I also spoke on how Will is currently on tour which has made it difficult to create the musical assets for the game. Will is the only member in the group that has musical abilities so we’ve been a bit setback by this. Will is extremely talented and when he returns I’m sure we will be able to quickly complete the musical components. Ingrid also spoke on making sure we have work ready to present for Wednesday and to make sure we receive a copy from the MA students. As well as to understand that because our group were slow with the development that when we have the next meeting we will have more things to create sound for than they assume. Examples transition sound effects. She also spoke to think about sound in its difference to picture, that game students often think very much more about the visuals and how sound can help those, but to as well think about what sound can do beyond replicating sounds for what’s being shown. A great piece of advice there for us as currently, that’s all we’re doing so we are very much waiting on the interface and art to be in the game to finish the product.
I rented out a small electromagnetic microphone to record some sounds for the robot game we are working on currently. I was attempting to think of sounds that would suit the aesthetic of the artwork presented and the theme of the game. I thought that electronic sounds recorded with this microphone pickup is perfect for these sorts of sounds and I went around the house exploring the electromagnetic space within.
I recorded numerous applicants around the house and a few sounded amazing. I recorded myself turning the washing machine on and off and the sound is made with a modulated pitch going up and down is perfect for this game. As well as other sounds that fit in perfectly. I’m going now to edit and add reverberation for the game and create a few stock sounds for the MA students to use in their game and to receive feedback on.
Lindsay is an award-winning British composer combining traditional practices with experimental techniques. She utilises her skills as a performer and her experience with music technology to create visceral, emotional and enigmatic scores for all genres of visual media. She recently scored the feature documentary Adventures of Joan Collins; the independent drama Things Unsaid; and the HBO/BBC documentary The Mystery of D.B. Cooper with Tim Atack. Her music for Mudlarks starring Mirren Mack (Sex Education) was recently nominated for Best Score at the British Short Film Awards. Her advertising work includes the British Airways ‘Take Off to the People and Places You Love’ campaign, Rightmove’s ‘The Renter’ and Hewlett Packard’s ‘Orchestra’, winning Bronze at the 2021 LIA Awards. She is currently working on a television drama series set to be broadcast next year; an upcoming documentary for the BBC; and her next EP of original material.
Mudlarks
I watched the tease for Mudlarks as I couldn’t find a link for it anywhere to watch the whole thing. The music used in this short trailer I assume is Lindsay’s work. It’s very haunting and I find it suits the theme of the film very well which is dark. drones enter towards the end as the clip gets darker themed. A song which began peaceful ends in a chaotic noise enhanced piece. I enjoy this work.
British Airways Advertising Campaign
I felt it was interesting to see a visiting practitioner that is in the commercial field of sound design and scoring. I felt I wanted to listen to her production work and analyse or see what she does differently to her more artistic film work. Short but sweet this piece was a remix of the song British Airways uses usually in their adverts and other video clips. I found she did a great job on this and it’s nice to see other artists doing side hustles.
Post Lecture Reflection
Lindsay grew up playing the viola in an orchestra, singing in bands. Playing bass as a kid and a teenager. She studied music technology as her undergraduate. She then went on to do an MA for film and tv. Graduated in 2017 and started working as an assistant for other composers. The misery of DB Cooper, mudlarks and lines are things she’s recently composed.
From assisting she’s gone on to music editing. She’s always been working as a composer or trying to get into that. Doing short films, documentaries etc.
She worked on a feature documentary, Mystery of D.B. Cooper. A feature-length documentary she worked on. Directed by John Dower. The documentary was about the obsessions on the crime, not who D.B. Cooper was but around the culture of this obsession of the crime, rather than being a detective and figuring out what happened. The story was told with archival clips and reenactments of characters of first-person testimonials. A few people were interviewed, the flight crew, the people who thought they knew who actually did it. It has an overarching 1970s vibe, The director wanted quirky Fargo to the score. Some 1970s music, some modern. Most of the scores were written in the box. With sample libraries, alongside Logic Pro X.
She started the score with stereotypical of 70s stuff, wah wah guitar. Heist movie-style music with flute and more, as well as modern score. When creating a score she starts with mapping out points in the footage she wanted to mark. Example shot of the plane. The rest of the queue she just follows the points she wants to hit, which will enhance the story on.
She also decided to put a key change, which is a well-known technique. You repeat the same material but a minor third higher than the previous key to create a sense of urgency to show that something different is happening without creating something new in the compostion.
One of the characters in this documentary Jerry Thomas was specifically interesting to her compositionally as he didn’t have any interest in the real identity of DB Cooper. He believed that he had died and never survived the crash from falling out of a plane. And the music was directly different to the other characters because of this. She originally created a slower tune with more going on. She then shows us version two, which is more plucked and playful. The director didn’t want you to feel sorry for Jerry but to understand the isolation he has and the director wanted it to feel more isolating instead of quirky.
She says she uses video sync instead of importing sounds into her logic project. She doesn’t use templates to create her scores, she prefers starting from blank and building up as she goes along. She really enjoys the one or two day process of finding all the sounds she wants to use. And think of interesting or creative sounds that fit characters. So she creates things and ideas as she goes along.
She used the flute to highlight points in the doc when D.B. Cooper came in. Harking to that 70s vibe in a different way. Sounds you can reuse, and sounds to use as themes as well, so if she uses a certain synth for one character she wouldn’t use it for another.
When the re-recording mixer, mixes the project. She delivers their mix of the song, and then submits groups of stems for the mixing engineer. She also likes to ask for an AIF file from the editor as she can see what they’ve done on the audio.
Mudlarks is the next project. Two girls who are homeless and living on the side of the Thames, and have a tent underneath a bridge. They work in shifts to protect the tent and go out and work to find money to survive. One girl is mute and the other is called damsel. One doesn’t come home one night and she’s is torn between going to find her friend or protecting their home. The director and Lindsay spoke a lot on how the score should amplify their friendship and also have a sense of worry and fear, where has she gone? The girl who stayed isn’t the strong one, and you’re not shown what happens to damsel so the music is there to fill in the gaps.
The violin and guitar were the main melodic instruments. She originally wrote something folkier and a lot faster but she wanted to strip it back a bit and wanted to add more mystery, who is this girl what does she do? So the main melodic instrument alongside the piano textures and the vocal textures. Gestured ideas aswell that come in at a specific moment. She created this piano texture that felt shimmery. She also used the original demo the director had created as the imagination for what he wanted her to produce. They wanted a bedroom style vibe of the music
She then showed us her project for the song, she got a friend of hers to play the guitar parts and they used the really long introduction until the lead up where the girls are dancing to change the warmth around a new day, the friendliness that they have together. The first part is dark and mysterious and the introduction to the other girl is warmer and lighter with the music. They rely on each other to survive. She added some viola and violin and she used the original drum programming from garage band and enhanced it a little bit more. And also electric guitar to make it edgier in the chorus.
Working in film and tv in the last five years, and then the covid pandemic and she had no other jobs so she started making music, she thought she would try and see what would happen. She created a few songs and decided to make three instrumental tracks and one vocal. She found herself really enjoying it, and is palling a series of EPs in this format. Each track had a theme during the lockdown, She had her own studio, her own space whereas when she was in London she was working in her bedroom and never leaving that space. She was thinking about how an exile could be a good thing. She not in these four walls for every act.
I found Lindsays lecture really useful at showcasing the possibilities of how to acquire a job in your selected field when you graduate university. The Q&A was insightful into the process of locating an entry level job and how to navigate the process.
