I have now been sent the second set of screenshots for the environment update, again we are looking at the main centre piece of the level, however it is now full of all of the assets that are going to be our key focus of spot sound effects. With the environment being correctly lit, we’re also able to gain a sense of feeling on what direction the composition needs to be taken in.
The video from this section shows the ‘particle effect’ which has been applied to the trees and vines, giving them movement throughout the level. With the trees being relatively thin you can assume that the ‘weight’ of the sound of rustling would be light. An idea for this is to record the natural breeze in either an isolated park, such as the Sabraon Memorial Park off of Dunkirk Road in Lincoln. Or alternatively an isolated section of woodland, such as sections of the South Commons in Lincoln or Cauldwell Woods in Mansfield. The sound of this doesn’t have to be overpowering and will sit subtly in the mix as to not overpower the composition.
The entrance to the centre of the level doesn’t move or open within the video, however the camera does move through it. For this I’m going to add in some creaking wood or metal sound effects to give a sense of weight an pan it to follow the movement of the camera. This will hopefully create a sense of weight for the listener.
Again, we’ll be using a similar use of light swaying for the trees and vines. Another prominent spot effect that will be used shall be the fire effects. For this, as it’ll only be a short sound as the camera pans past, however there are going to be quite a few of these so I need to record a long section to avoid repetition in the sound for the viewer.
I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a monster style scream as the camera pans around the statue. The idea would be to have the sound very distant within the mix and highly reverberated, almost as a flashback to the monster’s past. I have seen a few videos online of how to create something like this and the technique would to be to scream and make horrific noises into a microphone and then process through a sampler and modulated with distortion, reverbs, reverses etc. This isn’t a high priority on my to-do list, however it could potentially polish off the final piece.
