I wasn't able to look for a soundtrack for my animation as I didn't think it would be complete on time. I didn't want anyone putting the time in for an unfinished piece of work. What I might do however is to see if someone wants to compose a soundtrack for me after the deadline. It will probably be easier this way as everything will be timed out and no changes will need to be made to the animation.
What I have done is sourced sounds from the BBC Sound Library just so that it helps my animation along. I realise that there are a few sound effects that I'm missing but I wasn't able to find these at a short notice. The soundtrack that I have included will probably just be for temporary purposes, I found it from Soundtrack Pro and just thought it would be better to have a simple sound over the whole animation as without it, I found it quite bland.
I've had to match up the dialogue to the rendered out shots in Final Cut Pro, it's as close as I can get it, but think in some areas it's a bit missed timed. I think next time I'll make sure that both my animation clip and dialogue starts at the same time in order to make it sync up perfectly.
Showing posts with label Sound. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sound. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Sound within Unity
As sound plays a major part in any game, it is crucial that I include it within my game level. I tried to get sounds that would compliment my overall style and theme of the game but also add to the atmosphere that I wanted to achieve. I wanted something that would seem 'alien-like' / not of this world, hold some sort of mysterious quality to it but be slightly upbeat in the way of being suited towards a family game. I obtained my sounds from Soundtrack Pro and FindSounds.com. From Soundtrack Pro I was able to get some ambient music which would play in the background and from FindSounds I got my sound effects like the water and fire. I combined two different sounds together within Audacity that I had got form Soundtrack Pro, this ended up being the sound that would play as you would approach the mushroom tree. I found it quite fitting and it suited the style and feel I was going for.
Within Unity you can attach different sounds to either different objects or an empty game object. From here you can then edit the distance of when you can begin to hear the sound and when it starts fading away. Looping your sound will make sure that it will carry on playing from the beginning when finished so with ambient music it is always essential that this box is ticked as otherwise when the music stops it will take away the immersion from the game.
There are two different types of sound, 3D or 2D. 3D sound will move with the player, you can hear sound from the left and right, whereas 2D sound is static and doesn't have this affect. 3D sound is more realistic but it would depend on what you would want it for. I had problems to begin with as some of my 3D sound would distort as you would jump up and down, however I found out that this was due to the doppler level, so by dropping this down to 0 it took away the distortion. The doppler level is quite useful as the closer you get to the object the louder the sound will become and the further away you get, the quieter it will be. As I couldn't use this will my 3D sound I had to try and replicate this the best I could using the rolloff mode. I could adjust the distance of when the sound would begin and end so this was similar to the doppler level in some ways. With 2D sound, none of these settings are available so you do not have the same amount of control over it as you would with a 3D sound.
From the final crit, I got feedback saying the sound fits in and works well with my game level which I was hoping it would. There wasn't any criticism so I think I will keep it how it is and work more on the other parts of my game level from the feedback I obtained.
Within Unity you can attach different sounds to either different objects or an empty game object. From here you can then edit the distance of when you can begin to hear the sound and when it starts fading away. Looping your sound will make sure that it will carry on playing from the beginning when finished so with ambient music it is always essential that this box is ticked as otherwise when the music stops it will take away the immersion from the game.There are two different types of sound, 3D or 2D. 3D sound will move with the player, you can hear sound from the left and right, whereas 2D sound is static and doesn't have this affect. 3D sound is more realistic but it would depend on what you would want it for. I had problems to begin with as some of my 3D sound would distort as you would jump up and down, however I found out that this was due to the doppler level, so by dropping this down to 0 it took away the distortion. The doppler level is quite useful as the closer you get to the object the louder the sound will become and the further away you get, the quieter it will be. As I couldn't use this will my 3D sound I had to try and replicate this the best I could using the rolloff mode. I could adjust the distance of when the sound would begin and end so this was similar to the doppler level in some ways. With 2D sound, none of these settings are available so you do not have the same amount of control over it as you would with a 3D sound.
From the final crit, I got feedback saying the sound fits in and works well with my game level which I was hoping it would. There wasn't any criticism so I think I will keep it how it is and work more on the other parts of my game level from the feedback I obtained.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Sound Design
Sound design plays a big part in any game as it helps give the player feedback to what is actually happen on screen. It also helps immerse the player into the experience of the whole game and provides entertainment in the form of interactivity. In films, sound is used to set the mood and suggest what emotion you may feel during a particular scene, this is pretty much the same in games as well. Soundtracks are used to express onscreen emotion and it can also identify the era and setting that you are viewing. Immersion is probably one of the main reasons for game audio as it helps create a more believable setting and can mask the sounds from the outside world. It can draw you in and conceal the outside world. If a game had no sound it wouldn't keep your attention at all, sound is also used to help you know what is going on around you. Take First Person Shooter games, without sound effects how would you know if you were injured or if other players were sneaking behind?
The music within a game can also establish the pace, fast music will create speed and an urgency which in turn can make the player feel inclined to complete something faster. Slower music can create a feeling of safety and players are able to explore the surrounding area. This may not be the case all the time as slower music can also be used to lull the player into a sense of false security, when they least expect it a monster could jump out an attack. This could also be classed as another form of immersion as for something to surprise/scare you, the player would need to be really involved within the game and not notice the signs around him/her.
When you have a game adaptation of a game it is more important to create believability within the characters. Players may already know what the characters sound like in films so if there was a completely different voice doing the voicing in the game it can be quite distracting. Toy Story 3: The Video Game tried their best to match Woody's voice, however when Tom Hanks was not available they used his brother instead.
There are many different ways to place music and where you place them can affect the player in different ways. The placing will also determine how the music should be. For the into, closing and credit sequences the music tends to be the main theme that runs through the game, the intro can also set the tone for the entire game experience. Music is used a lot for cut scenes as this will move the storyline ahead or conclude the scene that the player is on. In game and background is the most important throughout the game however it is the most subtle. Even though the player may not really notice the background sounds it can be a great influential tool as the music helps the player become more immersed within the game and connect with the actions on screen. You find that in a lot of games music is emphasized especially when it comes to either a victory or defeat. Something upbeat and triumphant will congratulate the player and show that they have done a good job. With defeats, it can go one of either two ways. For games aimed at younger players the sound can offer encouragement for them to try again, however with older games it can just emphasize that you have lost. This could actually be encouragement in a way as it could make the player determined to defeat the enemy and not loose again.
For my game level I am most likely going to be using ambient tracks as it will act as a backdrop to my scene and I want something quite calming and a feeling of safety yet something from another world. There are other things I could include such as trigger sounds however I feel that there is nothing really within my game level that would benefit from this. Instead I will most likely just adjust sound levels and work within Unity to make certain sounds fade away as you walk further from them.
The music within a game can also establish the pace, fast music will create speed and an urgency which in turn can make the player feel inclined to complete something faster. Slower music can create a feeling of safety and players are able to explore the surrounding area. This may not be the case all the time as slower music can also be used to lull the player into a sense of false security, when they least expect it a monster could jump out an attack. This could also be classed as another form of immersion as for something to surprise/scare you, the player would need to be really involved within the game and not notice the signs around him/her.
When you have a game adaptation of a game it is more important to create believability within the characters. Players may already know what the characters sound like in films so if there was a completely different voice doing the voicing in the game it can be quite distracting. Toy Story 3: The Video Game tried their best to match Woody's voice, however when Tom Hanks was not available they used his brother instead.
There are many different ways to place music and where you place them can affect the player in different ways. The placing will also determine how the music should be. For the into, closing and credit sequences the music tends to be the main theme that runs through the game, the intro can also set the tone for the entire game experience. Music is used a lot for cut scenes as this will move the storyline ahead or conclude the scene that the player is on. In game and background is the most important throughout the game however it is the most subtle. Even though the player may not really notice the background sounds it can be a great influential tool as the music helps the player become more immersed within the game and connect with the actions on screen. You find that in a lot of games music is emphasized especially when it comes to either a victory or defeat. Something upbeat and triumphant will congratulate the player and show that they have done a good job. With defeats, it can go one of either two ways. For games aimed at younger players the sound can offer encouragement for them to try again, however with older games it can just emphasize that you have lost. This could actually be encouragement in a way as it could make the player determined to defeat the enemy and not loose again.
For my game level I am most likely going to be using ambient tracks as it will act as a backdrop to my scene and I want something quite calming and a feeling of safety yet something from another world. There are other things I could include such as trigger sounds however I feel that there is nothing really within my game level that would benefit from this. Instead I will most likely just adjust sound levels and work within Unity to make certain sounds fade away as you walk further from them.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Background / Sound - Little and Large
I decided to create a background for my animation, just a simple sky to fit in with the rest of the scenery. I mentioned before I might try adding a few clouds in, instead I tried creating a blue gradient for the sky and ended up lightening different areas of it. The lightening ended up mimicking clouds quite well and I thought it would fit in nicely with my scene.
When it came to dropping the background in, I re-sized and also colour corrected it a bit as I found that it was a bit too light. I bumped up the contrast and lowered the brightness until I managed to get it working well with the surrounding environment. Even though I did this, I found that it was easier to colour correct it further in Final Cut Pro. I was able to lighten the blacks out so they weren't too dark. Within Final Cut, I also added my sound in which included a soundtrack and different sound effects. I struggled with this a fair bit as the soundtrack I had wasn't long enough for my whole animation and I had to cut it up in certain places for it to fit. Sarah ended up helping me out with this in the end we got it sounding much better than I originally had it. By adjusting the levels in certain places and overlapping sounds, the cuts in the music aren't too noticeable and I'm happy with how it is.
When it came to dropping the background in, I re-sized and also colour corrected it a bit as I found that it was a bit too light. I bumped up the contrast and lowered the brightness until I managed to get it working well with the surrounding environment. Even though I did this, I found that it was easier to colour correct it further in Final Cut Pro. I was able to lighten the blacks out so they weren't too dark. Within Final Cut, I also added my sound in which included a soundtrack and different sound effects. I struggled with this a fair bit as the soundtrack I had wasn't long enough for my whole animation and I had to cut it up in certain places for it to fit. Sarah ended up helping me out with this in the end we got it sounding much better than I originally had it. By adjusting the levels in certain places and overlapping sounds, the cuts in the music aren't too noticeable and I'm happy with how it is.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sound Recording
Today we decided to record our sound for our first film. We had a quick induction to show us how to set up and export our files once recorded. Lija helped me out seeing as I was doing the voice over. We wanted a strong voice but without it being too overpowering so I thought I would give it a go and see how it would turn out. The voice over will be in the second half of the film dictating certain lines of the poem. We did a couple of takes of each line to make sure we had enough sound to work with and this would enable us to edit it further if needs be. When it comes to the film the sound will also be alongside some other sounds/music so hopefully it won't sound too out of place.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
1 Minute Instructional Video - Editing
After I had filmed the shots I needed, the next stage was editing. I had a problem with my clips as even though I had imported them using Final Cut Pro, I didn't use Log and Transfer. This resulted in my clips being in H.264 - not suitable for editing, they should of been Apple ProRes. Luckily I was able to convert my clips over to the Apple ProRes format - I will be certain to use Log and Transfer next time.
When it came to editing I previewed my clips and cut them down to a suitable length. Even with all the relevant clips cut down I found that the whole video ended up being a lot longer than a minute. Someone pointed out that I didn't need specific clips as I was almost repeating myself, I didn't notice this until they said this. After that I found it much easier to cut out extra bits and in the end I managed to get my video to a minute.
There were a few specific things I did to my video to make it how I wanted. There was a part where I wanted to show the water boiling, however if I showed the whole sequence it would have been far too long. To reduce the time length down I thought of speeding up the clip, I ended up speeding it up by 800%. I think it worked quite well and I separated part of the clip off to bring it down to normal speed to show a specific action. If I didn't do this it would have resulted in that part being too fast and the viewer not being able to catch what was going on.
Once I had got the desired length of time and effects in my video I watched it back to see how it flowed from one shot to another. I saw that it worked quite well, however I wanted to put a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end. To do this I changed the opacity on the first and last clip, setting key frames in the appropriate places. There was another way I was shown, by putting in a solid colour matte and having the clip fade in from that, however I found that changing the opacity was a much easier and quicker way of doing this.
Originally I was going to have a voice over in my video. (I tried doing it straight from the camera however my voice ended up being too echoey in my kitchen.) I thought about using the sound recording booth in uni, but after watching my video back I realised it was pretty self explanatory anyway and there was no real need for a voice over. From this I decided to have a look at what music I could put in it to make it a bit more interesting rather than just having a basic video. I was told to look through http://freemusicarchive.org/ - where you are able to obtain legal audio downloads which can be used for your own personal use (some may have other restrictions though). I couldn't really find what I was looking for and as there was such a vast library, I couldn't even begin to search what I was trying to look for. I wanted something happy and cheery yet with no lyrics. I decided to check out Soundtrack Pro - a programme where you are able to edit and compose your own tracks from either your own media or media from their search library.
This was much easier to search for what I had in mind and shortly I was able to find my desired track. I had to edit the track slightly as it was too long for my video and I particularly wanted the ending. It took me awhile to find the right point at which to cut it at and then combine it with the ending. I had to make sure the whole thing sounded right and there were no obvious jumps within it. After I had done this I saved it as an AIFF file in order for it to be used in Final Cut Pro.
With sound you have to make sure that on the audio metre the sound does not go over -12, as anything above this will not sound right and be too high pitched. You can just drop the decibel metre down however by doing this you may reduce the sound too much and it can be too quiet. To be more precise I used the pen tool to add points and manually raise and lower them to get the correct levels on the sound. I wanted the sound to be even and be at the right tempo.
When it came to editing I previewed my clips and cut them down to a suitable length. Even with all the relevant clips cut down I found that the whole video ended up being a lot longer than a minute. Someone pointed out that I didn't need specific clips as I was almost repeating myself, I didn't notice this until they said this. After that I found it much easier to cut out extra bits and in the end I managed to get my video to a minute.
There were a few specific things I did to my video to make it how I wanted. There was a part where I wanted to show the water boiling, however if I showed the whole sequence it would have been far too long. To reduce the time length down I thought of speeding up the clip, I ended up speeding it up by 800%. I think it worked quite well and I separated part of the clip off to bring it down to normal speed to show a specific action. If I didn't do this it would have resulted in that part being too fast and the viewer not being able to catch what was going on.
Once I had got the desired length of time and effects in my video I watched it back to see how it flowed from one shot to another. I saw that it worked quite well, however I wanted to put a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end. To do this I changed the opacity on the first and last clip, setting key frames in the appropriate places. There was another way I was shown, by putting in a solid colour matte and having the clip fade in from that, however I found that changing the opacity was a much easier and quicker way of doing this.
Originally I was going to have a voice over in my video. (I tried doing it straight from the camera however my voice ended up being too echoey in my kitchen.) I thought about using the sound recording booth in uni, but after watching my video back I realised it was pretty self explanatory anyway and there was no real need for a voice over. From this I decided to have a look at what music I could put in it to make it a bit more interesting rather than just having a basic video. I was told to look through http://freemusicarchive.org/ - where you are able to obtain legal audio downloads which can be used for your own personal use (some may have other restrictions though). I couldn't really find what I was looking for and as there was such a vast library, I couldn't even begin to search what I was trying to look for. I wanted something happy and cheery yet with no lyrics. I decided to check out Soundtrack Pro - a programme where you are able to edit and compose your own tracks from either your own media or media from their search library.
This was much easier to search for what I had in mind and shortly I was able to find my desired track. I had to edit the track slightly as it was too long for my video and I particularly wanted the ending. It took me awhile to find the right point at which to cut it at and then combine it with the ending. I had to make sure the whole thing sounded right and there were no obvious jumps within it. After I had done this I saved it as an AIFF file in order for it to be used in Final Cut Pro.With sound you have to make sure that on the audio metre the sound does not go over -12, as anything above this will not sound right and be too high pitched. You can just drop the decibel metre down however by doing this you may reduce the sound too much and it can be too quiet. To be more precise I used the pen tool to add points and manually raise and lower them to get the correct levels on the sound. I wanted the sound to be even and be at the right tempo.
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