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right11753850-3327400Steven PrinceYear 2 – Digital Design and AnimationUnit 13/14 – Extended Project0Steven PrinceYear 2 – Digital Design and AnimationUnit 13/14 – Extended ProjectExtended PROJECT PORTFOLIOAcademic Year 2016/2017 CONTENTS TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u CONTENTS PAGEREF _Toc487366317 \h 2DEFINITION OF TERMS PAGEREF _Toc487366318 \h 3Unit 13/14 - Project Proposal PAGEREF _Toc487366319 \h 4 PAGEREF _Toc487366320 \h 4Project Action Plan and Timetable PAGEREF _Toc487366321 \h 7 PAGEREF _Toc487366322 \h 7CHAPTER 1 PAGEREF _Toc487366323 \h 9Introduction PAGEREF _Toc487366324 \h 9 PAGEREF _Toc487366325 \h 9The Background of my Project PAGEREF _Toc487366326 \h 9Who am I? PAGEREF _Toc487366327 \h 11What did I learn on my course? PAGEREF _Toc487366328 \h 11What is my project about? PAGEREF _Toc487366329 \h 12Why my project is important? PAGEREF _Toc487366330 \h 12My Research Plan PAGEREF _Toc487366331 \h 12 PAGEREF _Toc487366332 \h 12CHAPTER 2 PAGEREF _Toc487366333 \h 15Literature/Resources Review PAGEREF _Toc487366334 \h 15 PAGEREF _Toc487366335 \h 15Introduction PAGEREF _Toc487366336 \h 15Practitioners Report PAGEREF _Toc487366337 \h 15CONCLUSION PAGEREF _Toc487366338 \h 19CHAPTER 3 PAGEREF _Toc487366339 \h 20Research Design PAGEREF _Toc487366340 \h 20 PAGEREF _Toc487366341 \h 20Introduction PAGEREF _Toc487366342 \h 20Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc487366343 \h 20Research Design Evolution PAGEREF _Toc487366344 \h 20CHAPTER 4 PAGEREF _Toc487366345 \h 25Research Findings PAGEREF _Toc487366346 \h 25 PAGEREF _Toc487366347 \h 25Conclusion - How did the research help me with my project? PAGEREF _Toc487366348 \h 26CHAPTER 5 PAGEREF _Toc487366349 \h 27My Project PAGEREF _Toc487366350 \h 27 PAGEREF _Toc487366351 \h 27Introduction PAGEREF _Toc487366352 \h 27Pre-Production PAGEREF _Toc487366353 \h 27Production PAGEREF _Toc487366354 \h 31Post-production PAGEREF _Toc487366355 \h 34Presentation PAGEREF _Toc487366356 \h 34CHAPTER 6 PAGEREF _Toc487366357 \h 36MY EXTENDED PROJECT – FINAL PRODUCT PAGEREF _Toc487366358 \h 36 PAGEREF _Toc487366359 \h 36CHAPTER 7 PAGEREF _Toc487366360 \h 37Project Evaluation PAGEREF _Toc487366361 \h 37 PAGEREF _Toc487366362 \h 37DEFINITION OF TERMS EP – Extended ProjectUAL – University of the Arts London Unit 13/14 - Project ProposalCandidate NameSteven Alexander PrinceCandidate Number5782271328PathwayDigital Design and AnimationProject TitlePsychometric Audio: Steve’s Amazing Audio Adventure!Section 1: Rationale (approx. 150 words)I came onto this course with prior knowledge in the field of Digital Design; primarily in computer graphics techniques and knowledge of music theory. Despite my initial wishes to work on video game development, this course has let me expand my skill set and learn things for all kinds of digital media. From developing skills and knowledge in photography and video filming, to editing and green screen work, I've learnt a whole lot more than I had anticipated. But my work in audio is what caught me the most; learning the methods of creating sound in video games and movies with Foley production, to using techniques to create the illusion of gramophone audio, all of it has fascinated me, specifically the reactions it draws from people; which is what I wish to explore this project. From the ping of collection a coin in a Mario game being synonymous with having a fun time, or the legendary Final Fantasy victory fanfare meaning triumph, I wish to be able to capture such feelings.Section 2: Project Concept (approx. 200 words)Drawing influence from video game sound effects and musical scores I wish to study the ways in which people react to sounds, be it positively or negatively, or any which way. I hope to research into how people react psychologically to certain sounds and how they were designed with emotional reactions in mind. I would research into these themes and develop a digital soundscape using techniques I have amassed throughout my college education, such as Foley, to see what auditory differences can make a person feel in comparison to another, within a pure audio environment. By then recording the reactions of people taking part, I will collate them into a comedic presentation, showcasing the reactions to my ‘Audio Adventure!’ through their fear, joy and calm. Technically speaking, I would have to record base components using Foley methods and spend a thorough amount of time researching sound effect editing methods and applying them to create a wide array of these sounds, requiring suitable recording tools and locations, and the software to undergo the editing. I will aim toward this project appealing to game designers or sound designers, in hope that my studies would be able to help people in furthering their own skills in using audio’s potential to the fullest.Section 3: Evaluation (approx. 150 words)After developing my project I would wish to show the results to my peers and others to see if they could impartially understand the meaning behind the sounds I had created, which ones fulfilled their purpose, and how the weaker ones could be improved upon. I would hope to share my studies online using formats such as YouTube, to see if a public eye could discern my intentions and receive criticism on my creations, also by using questionnaires and online survey systems, I can gain a lot more feedback. A consistent theme throughout my project would be getting peers to examine the state of my pieces so that I could get instant feedback on my work and develop my project and skills even more so. If I manage to succeed in my aims then this will be a valuable asset for a potential career pathway, and if not then I would hope that with feedback I could learn and develop my explored ideas even more, as I believe that this work with sound could be my desired pursuit.Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography (Harvard Format)BooksFields, A. (2016). Human psychology 101. 1st ed. N/A: N/A.WebsitesAmplifon. (2017). Amplifon: How your hearing affects you. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2017].Frank, J. and Taylor, D. (2017). The Good, the Bad & the Irritating. [online] Twenty Thousand Hertz. Available at: [Accessed 9 May 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Mick Gordon on Composing DOOM's Soundtrack - Extended Interview. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). DOOM: Behind The Music Part 1. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). DOOM: Behind The Music Part 2. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Doom Music Panel with Mick Gordon - PAX AUS 2016. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Killer Instinct Panel PAXAUS 2013 (Part 1). [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Killer Instinct Panel PAXAUS 2013 (Part 2). [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017]Novotney, A. (2013) Music as Medicine. Available at: [Accessed: 02/05/2017].Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 1 - Project Proposal Project Action Plan and Timetable Project Action Plan and TimetableWeekDate WeekBeginningActivity / What you are intending to do - including independent studyResources / What you will need to do it - including access to workshops104/04/2017Observational studies.Recording devices. Going into Canterbury Town.210/04/2017Creation of skills timeline.Tiki-toki website for timelines.317/04/2017Creating Research Plan.Drafting and gaining feedback.424/04/2017Creating Research Plan.Reacting and modifying proposal.501/05/2017Starting in-depth research for audio psychology. Looking for items to use for Foley.Using the library and finding reliable online sources.608/05/2017Experimenting with sounds from research.Recording basic sounds and using stock pieces, then recording experimental edits with software.715/05/2017Start constructing flowing pieces to create a first soundscape.Audio editing software.822/05/2017Refining separate sound pieces and the structure of the soundscape.Taking feedback from people who I’ve had test the soundscape, recording their criticism through questionnaires, then acting upon it.929/05/2017Create a second version of the soundscape by taking into account all previous factors and script/record the promo for ‘Steve’s Amazing Audio Adventure.Script writing software, audio editing software, quality recording equipment along with the results from feedback and testing.1005/06/2017Take a test group to sit down and listen to the soundscape and video record their reactions. Video camera and video editing software.1112/06/2017Edit the reactions into the promo for the Audio Adventure. Add new voice lines if need be. Refine and edit to make sure everything is in order. Admin work.Video editing software, audio editing software.1219/06/2017Evaluate my project’s development. Admin work.All previous tools.Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 2 - Project Action Plan and TimetableCHAPTER 1 Introduction This project portfolio is an ongoing report of my Extended Project for my second-year UAL Extended Diploma in Digital Design and Animation pathway. The project is to be a soundscape ‘adventure’ following the start of a fantastical adventure, progressing through calm respite and troubling danger, being only represented through audio. This chapter will explain the background information of the project and how I got inspired to do it, along with what I have learned over my time on the course. After explaining what the concept of my project is and why it would be important in today’s media, I will finish with the research plan.The Background of my Project 5035555539740Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 'Paper Cut' SequenceFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 'Paper Cut' Sequence503555412940500Early in the first year of this course, we lightly touched upon sound design and audio through the means of Foley and effects editing. Even through such small work pieces, I found myself fascinated by the Foley production methods and how they were used so extensively, so many innocent cabbages and leeks have been chopped and snapped to replicate slashing bodies and breaking bones, but also how the smallest touches to an actual soundwave could change it by such an extremity. Our first larger scale sound task was re-dubbing a piece of gameplay from the video game Limbo (, 2017) only using sounds we could create from pieces of paper, hence the title of the experiment; ‘The Paper Cut’. During this experiment we had our first taste with Foley techniques; making the sounds of the footsteps, the rolling rock and the weird horn bird noise are all made with a couple of paper sheets and a little post processing.4813306329045Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2 'Age Of Napoleon' gramophone.Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2 'Age Of Napoleon' gramophone.center1502410After The Paper Cut we moved into the ‘Age of Napoleon’ project. The premise of which was to create promotional content for a made up video game that would take place in an alternate history, where Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces destroyed the coalition’s with help from an artefact called ‘The Tesseract’. The promotional material ended up in creating an interactive dossier for one of the factions in the war; the Coalition, the Napoleonic Empire and an undercover Resistance. The role I found most interesting was creating the audio logs for the Empire’s characters, such as a mad German scientist: Karl Reinhardt. I was to voice his lines and edit the audio to make it sound like an old-timey gramophone.These smaller projects gave me a taste of what could be done in sound design for creative media, and it fascinated me to no end, leading me to choose an audio based extended project for the end of Year 2.The overall premise of my project is to study how sound can create meaning in the way of an ‘Audio Adventure’; a soundscape that follows a fantasy journey, and seeing how people react. I hope to gain feedback on the final result and study how they reacted to the soundscape and what pieces in particular made them feel the way that they did.You can use any medium (Videos, photos, audio, sketches, etc.)What is it that makes me do my project?My personal experiences that influence my choices (idea for the project, my role in the project, how it relates to my future career) What is the basic premise of my project?What do I seek to achieve and how it relates to my target audience? 03171825Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3 Who am I? MindmapFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3 Who am I? Mindmap0371475Who am I? To better understand ourselves and what kind of discipline we'd like to focus in, we were tasked with investigating our own interests and how they might be able to be incorporated into a media based extended project, and how we can use research skills to gain necessary information. The mind map above is the network of my greatest interests, and I'll expand on them and what they mean to me in this report. These things have influenced me throughout my life and have changed my experiences throughout my life and on this course, leading up to this project.What did I learn on my course? Over these two years I have learned so much about the media industry in its entirety, let alone audio and sound. I had a basic understanding of processes in certain media fields, but even after a few months in I began to realise that I hadn’t even scratched the surface of creative media. Over the course of these two years I believe I’ve learned a lot more than I expected, from the basics of editing video and sound to the history of the creative media industry as a whole. With what I’ve learned over this course and this project I know that I’ve progressed rather far since the beginning. My ability to edit video has been tested and developed over our multiple projects such as our recreation of the Terminator’s police station scene, the ‘Street Fury’ video promotion and our foray into green screen work. Green screen being a present technical aspect of a lot of our projects was a skill we were taught early on in our first year and was utilised multiple times over the two years.What is my project about?In this current age of interactive media being an ever-present force in our lives, the sounds that go into each product or advert have always intrigued me. Even from a young age, I got my kicks out of audio from video games and TV shows; area and battle themes from the Pokémon (, 2017) game franchise. My project aims to draw emotion from people using a purely audio-based environment. Detailing an adventure through a fantasy world; forests, caves, dungeons and the like. My role in this project is that of the director, researcher, and sound designer for the entire project.Why my project is important? Without sound design in creative media we wouldn’t be able to create products and media that meant as much as they do on an emotional level. Could you imagine your favourite movie without its signature soundtrack? I want to create a project that is focused on audio design, not only to show that it is incredibly important in this day and age, but also to understand it better myself and to further my own skills in the field of sound design. I aim to refine my skillset to be on par with sound designers in greater media corporations and understanding this is the first step.My Research PlanTable SEQ Table \* ARABIC 3- My Research PlanEXTENDED PROJECT - RESEARCH PLANNo of WordsInterest/Topic/Theme150My proposed topic of research is that of sound design in visual media; the ways in which sound can generate meaning in conjunction with visual elements to create a theme, the theme itself will develop as the project progresses.Why is it important? - Importance 100Without clever sound design, visual mediums would be nowhere near as effective as they are nowadays; scores for video games and cinema is imperative for creating certain atmospheres in certain genres. It is important to my work due to my desire to expand my skills horizon beyond my, current skill set; ideally developing into an advanced skillset that will be appealing to employers and also for my own personal projects. But also for myself as I have a passionate love for music and sound effects in media, as they have driven me to even be on this course.My research question(s) 100How can music be used in conjuncture with visual elements to create meaning that wouldn't be possible with either alone?Does removing or changing the visual or auditory elements from a piece of media change the meaning from its original intention?What techniques can I use to create sounds that would be apt to use for any visual medium?What emotions are drawn from different types of music and sound effects in comparison of those used from different genres?Research Design 100Primary: Questionnaires, contacting current artists and practitioners, experimenting with my own methods and gaining feedback off peers and taking audio recordings and analysing their sounds. Recording as much as sound as I can from natural and Foley method sources.Secondary: Analysing videos talking about my topic and theme, looking at other practitioners work and analysing them heavily.Literature (Proposed Sources – Harvard Format)BooksFields, A. (2016). Human psychology 101. 1st ed. N/A: N/A.WebsitesAmplifon. (2017). Amplifon: How your hearing affects you. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2017].Frank, J. and Taylor, D. (2017). The Good, the Bad & the Irritating. [online] Twenty Thousand Hertz. Available at: [Accessed 9 May 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Mick Gordon on Composing DOOM's Soundtrack - Extended Interview. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). DOOM: Behind The Music Part 1. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). DOOM: Behind The Music Part 2. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Doom Music Panel with Mick Gordon - PAX AUS 2016. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Killer Instinct Panel PAXAUS 2013 (Part 1). [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). Killer Instinct Panel PAXAUS 2013 (Part 2). [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017]Novotney, A. (2013) Music as Medicine. Available at: [Accessed: 02/05/2017].CHAPTER 2 Literature/Resources Review Introduction This literature review will present a wide range of sources that I’ve consulted before beginning my production, on sound design, the roles of sound design in the media industry, how sound design has evolved, and the skills and techniques that I can use to make my Extended Project’s base groundwork. This chapter specifically shall review the resources that I sought out for the project and how it influenced my research, the insight and development of the idea that will become the final basis for the Extended Project. Starting with the work from my Practitioners Report that looks into two renowned sound designers. It’ll also look into interviews with other sound designers and podcasts relating to audio design. Concluding with the ideas I had deliberated upon thanks to the sources.Practitioners Report Artists of Audio-visual CharacterisationWithin media that requires both auditory and visual elements, the relationship between them is paramount when trying to achieve certain responses from consumers. Within such a platform as Pro Wrestling, with which a character needs to be portrayed in the first few seconds they are introduced, a characterised music track is critical. Likewise, video games may require high quality specialised tracks to accompany certain characters, environments, scenarios, etc...Jim Johnston: Superstar CompositionFrom 1985 onward, Jim Johnston has been the composer for nearly all the musical aspects for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, 2017) since then and until 2014, and now he works part-time, overseeing the current production and making pieces from time to time. He is the man responsible for the entrance themes of WWE Superstars such as Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin and even the late Ultimate Warrior. Born in 1959, James Alan Johnston became the primary composer for nearly all of World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) musical needs; promotional pieces, movie soundtracks and almost every superstar's entrance theme up until 2014. He has talked multiple times about his methodology behind the pieces he has written in regards to the character they are for.In his many promotional videos that Jim has been a part of for WWE, he has explained his different methodologies behind his entrance pieces in relation to their character's personality, in-ring style, whether they're face or heel (Good guy or bad guy.)In discussion regarding the theme of The Undertaker, Johnston talked about the first input with the character of Undertaker. Given that in the turn of the 90s, the character was introduced as a literal dead man, an undead wrestler if you will. And so Johnston started with a very sombre piano tune that evolved into a modified funeral dirge with that initial piano piece to create a full melody. As time passed and the character became somewhat of a legendary figure, the music passed on from just an organ piece into a full blown symphony of grand church organs, a tabernacle choir and, of course, the legendary gong; which in fact was a combination of two different church bells and a drawn out bass note.Mick Gordon: Characterisation in Video Game SoundtracksIn recent years, a video game composer that has caught the attention of many, is Mick Gordon, an Australian musician who started composing pieces in 2006 for a game called Destroy All Humans 2. Born in 1985, Michael John Gordon is now a lead sound designer for many video games, going on to be the lead composer for games such as Need for Speed, the recent Wolfenstein games and the reboots of both the Killer Instinct and Doom franchises. Mick has talked about his work in multiple interviews and panels in regard to his ideas regarding the 'characterisation' of music.Starting with his work on the Killer Instinct soundtrack, Mick has stated that the music was created 'by' the character itself, taking into account the aspects of the character's motivations, look, moral alignment, backstory and fighting style. For an example, the character of Glacius; an alien that can manipulate ice with technology that supersedes humanity's by an extreme amount. Glacius has to abandon his technology on his last journey. In this time, Ultratech, a tyrannical conglomerate business, steals Glacius' alien technology. Once the frigid alien returns, he realises his technology has been stolen, knowing that the company would only use it to spread war and violence, Glacius begins a noble quest to stop Ultratech from abusing his kind's tech. Mick described Glacius' theme, titled 'Shatterhail', as the representation of Glacius' newfound honourable cause and ever present alien mystery and center467419advancements.This kind of characterisation lending toward the composition of the music and vice versa is what I'm looking to achieve in my extended project. Further corresponding the relation between audio and visual was his work on the sound track for the rebooted Doom game, a blend of heavy metal, industrial and intense synthesising.Stating that his original ideas for the soundtrack being primarily synths "Just didn't feel like Doom." Mick worked back to achieve a synthesised effect but by using the lowest strings on a nine-stringed guitar and plugging the audio through many, many different pieces of equipment; pedals, synth boxes and even an incredibly old soviet mixing box, that was literally held together with tape.Not only did the concept of Doom change the music but the landscape and plot held major roles. With the big bad company UAC literally exploiting the energy that the realm of Hell produces, the main character reluctantly helps the UAC stop the demons from crossing into the human world, this lead to Mick Gordon changing the music to feel as if you, as the player, are the bad guy; slaughtering hordes of demons for a conglomerate that you yourself despise.CONCLUSION These two practitioners are, in my opinion, the best at their jobs when it comes to characterising a piece of music to a subject. Jim Johnston's mastery of the accordance between a character's charisma and stage presence, combined with music to make something more than just a person, but a true to life Superstar. Or Mick Gordon's love for his craft, going so far as travelling to a Tibetan monastery to learn how to throat sing in production of the character Jago's theme.By studying their work and techniques, I believe that I can further my own progression in the field of audio and visual design, more so than without taking the initiative. I hope to contact Mick Gordon in the near future hopefully to ask him a few questions regarding this subject and to see if he has any advice for this field of work.Good, Bad, Irritating.10496553978748The podcast called Twenty Thousand Hertz (Twenty Thousand Hertz, 2017) is an ongoing adventure into the world of audio with many different episodes about different sound types and processes in modern day industry, in the episode of The Good The Bad and The Irritating, the show goes into how the core structure of noises effect not only our psychological responses but also our biological. Our ear is an incredible machine; mechanical sound waves enter the ear canal and vibrates ear fluid, those vibrations trigger neural codes, which shift through different nerve channels and then get parsed through different stems in the brain, ending up becoming our interpretation of that sound. Properties of certain sounds trigger different brain responses: pitch, location, volume, timbre. Screams possess an acoustic property called 'roughness' which is the rate at which the loudness changes. Waveform organisation is the basis of sound parsing, rougher sounds send unpleasant vibrations as opposed to more pleasant sounds, which are sometimes more subjective. These factors will be taken into account for my extended project, so that the experience I provide will be as clean and crisp as I can make it.11148685739809Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 4 Twenty Thousand Hertz PodcastFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 4 Twenty Thousand Hertz PodcastCHAPTER 3Research Design Introduction This chapter details the research design I undertook for this project. Starting with the questions that I wanted answers, followed by the design of the research I wanted to do and the methods that I used to achieve my results.Research QuestionsThe first question I asked myself before anything was ‘How can music be used in conjuncture with visual elements to create meaning that wouldn't be possible with either alone?’ My thought was to make a visual as well as audio experience to see the impact of sight as well as sound, but these ideas changed and developed, given the next question: ‘Does removing or changing the visual or auditory elements from a piece of media change the meaning from its original intention?’. This question was when I started to move down the path of a pure audio experience, and if my project might actually be undercut by a lack of visuals.Research Design Evolution I started the project with ideas of an audio and visual experience, so I started planning out my research for that potential project, but after my proposal interview I began to change that concept into that of a purely audio experience, and so my research began to change as well to coincide.Immediately when it came to sound design I decided to reach out to one of my greatest inspirations when it comes to sound design in media, the man aforementioned in my practitioners report; Mick Gordon. I emailed him with a request for some tips on how to promote good sound design, sadly I did not get a response but perhaps with a better worded question I may have gotten a concise answer. Despite this minor setback I had other plans, as an avid gamer I went into my library of atmospheric games and decided to look into their methods of sound design.I would also create some ‘sound pack’ experiments to test my ability when it comes to generating feeling and creating an environment or atmosphere, these experiments were based on taking a random place and a random feeling and trying to recreate that mashup using only audio. Along with creating this experiment, I also created a questionnaire to go along with it so that listeners could 3321057263130Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 5 Experiment QuestionnaireFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 5 Experiment Questionnairecenter507823respond with how they felt about the audio piece without being given any prior knowledge.When it came to creating the experimental audio itself I first needed to draw the cards that would be the basis for my piece, with them being ‘natural’ and ‘temple’ after I had finished the draw. Firstly, I had to establish baseline concepts of those two aspects.04351655Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 6 Experiment IdeasFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 6 Experiment Ideas0-4829With these brainstormed ideas, I began to look online for stick sounds that I could use to create the feel of a natural temple. I achieved this by using the website of Freesound (, 2017) a website that allows people to upload and use sounds under the creative commons license. By using this website and sounds from it I was able to create the ‘natural temple’ feel.Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 7 Natural Temple ExperimentAfter these experiments I began to gear towards the technical and skills based aspect of the project, asking myself how and what I would be able to use for my project. With all the tools available to me I shoes to create my project in the software of Adobe Audition, as I had prior familiarity with the program and it possesses a greater functionality than programs such as Audacity. With the aforementioned Freesound and Incompetech (, 2017) for my sounds and royalty free music, I also used my own phone and the sound recording devices available at college for recording some sounds as well. Combining these technical aspects along with my abilities within Audition to equalise and edit audio to gain the sounds that I wanted to portray I felt comfortable with what I was preparing to output.The Theme of FearFear by definition is an emotion that is caused when someone believes that they could be under threat by something that could harm or endanger them.Within my specialist discipline, audio, fear has been explored in as many ways as you could think. Sound effects synonymous with 'fear' such as the scream of a ghost or the cold ringing of a knife, alternatively, music has played a tremendous part in inspiring fear in media, such as the iconic violin piece from?Psycho. (En., 2017) Sound and audio can inspire fear in ways that other mediums can't; the purest lack of any audio at all, silence, can bring up tension in many a circumstance. A quiet background with the slightest hint of sound can seed fear into many; the creak of floorboards or an old door hinge, the whistle of wind through trees, branches tapping lightly on an old glass window. All of these have been used many times in films, books and video games to draw out fear from the audience. Yet fear in and of itself is an entirely subjective concept. Something that may scare your neighbour might not phase you in the slightest, which is why some people might shrug off a horror movie whilst someone else might scream. And so, audio is changed to suit the type of fear being generated in the piece of media: my favourite example being in certain horror video games. A game like?Amnesia: The Dark Descent?has little to no music whatsoever, only stirring up jarring violin pieces when one of the monsters draws close to you and with sound cues being placed where you would need to progress the story, like entering a room to get a key but hearing naught but the door behind you locking shut. Or the horror/arpg game?Bloodborne, a game which has no music except at the 'hub world' and once you've began a fight against a boss enemy.Action Reinforcement Through AudioIn a lot of skill and reaction based video games, audio cues take place after doing something correct to positively reinforce the player that they did something well, the jingle when completing a puzzle in any of the The Legend Of Zelda (, 2017) games, the little soundbyte of Mario jumping on a Goomba’s head or picking up an extra-life in the Super Mario (Super Mario, 2017) franchise. Hearing these in video games makes the player feel good, or that they’ve been successful in any given task. Something as simple as a combo counter yelling ‘ULTRA COMBO’ in the Killer Instinct fighting game series can be immensely satisfying for the player. Verbal cues such as the aforementioned combo callouts are just one of the ways to tell the player that they’ve done a good job. The slightest change in audio for an attack can be a rewarding moment; landing a ‘super-effective’ move in the Pokémon games changes the hit sound to a layered and much more striking sound effect to signify a more powerful attack. One example that I believe holds this trait to its fullest is the parry sound effect in the Dark Souls series. Striking foes normally in Dark Souls gives you a standard slashing sound effect, but parrying and riposting enemies has a chance of dealing severe damage to an opponent. The sound of parrying away a weapon is an echoing thud with the riposte strike being an overly visceral stabbing sound. Due to the game not possessing music, the parry soundbyte is all you hear before the delay of the riposte, going from echo, to silence and ending with a brutally sounding counterattack. Due to Dark Souls’ high difficulty and tightly knit combat system, getting a parry on a difficult foe is satisfying visually in and of itself, but when accompanied by the intense sound effects, the satisfaction goes through the roof. center2286000?Audio Visual ObservationConsidering that our FMP’s involve a lot of creative design, we will require imperative research methods such as that of careful and intensive observation. Due to my discipline being that of audio visual relations, observing natural sources of sounds and the visual aspect that they come from is a critical skill. And so we had the plan to go into the streets of Canterbury and observe specimens that would give insight into our own disciplines; with myself planning on taking audio and video recordings of certain interesting sources of audiovisual relation.Upon thinking further into my pan of simply taking videos and analysing what I would find, I decided to take more of an abstract path as well; by simply recording the audio of a place in town and showing a face value picture of the area, in an attempt to make the viewer piece together what the picture would look like 'in motion'.CHAPTER 4 Research FindingsFrom my planned research experiment I’ve gleaned some results from a number of staff members and other students with my natural temple soundscape. Asking if you can generate the feeling of an environment through only audio cues, I used the key words of a ‘natural’ feel and the environment of a ‘temple’. With the experiment complete and tested on as many people in my class as I could I gained a fair quantity of feedback to analyse:People I tested the piece upon predominately described the piece as bleak instead of the natural feel I had intended, but there was only one person who believed the environment wasn’t a temple, who funnily enough believed it was a hospital. Interesting notes of feedback came up, such as comparisons to certain video games.‘It reminded me of the game Outlast, it sounded scary and it felt like something was going to jump out at any time.’ An interesting take on it; describing the piece as a ‘scary hospital’.‘The sound of nature seems quite minimal, and the overall sound seems sombre. It feels as if it might be set in a forest temple.’ Despite believing it to be more bleak than natural this response did show that the feel of a forested temple could be garnered.‘It reminded me of Uncharted. The feeling of when you go to a new area and it is building up to you being able to explore. The cricket noises and rain made it feel old and abandoned.’ A response that explained the Tomb Raider/Uncharted feel that I had attempted to capture. Theme Of FearBack to Bloodborne and it’s method of sound design led me to palying through the streets of Yharnam and facing off against an early game boss, Father Gascoigne. With your character walking through a Victorian styled street hearing only your feet against bloodied pavings, or whilst venturing through a forest straight out of HP Lovecraft, accompanied by the crunch underfoot of old branches, or were they the bones of the dead? Entering an old graveyard, with the sound of a man hacking up bodies, slowly drawling to you about the beasts of the town, and how you'll become one of them, sooner or later. The fight sets its stage, you vs an old father of the church; who is blinded by the beasthood that he himself despises. Starting with a slow rise of violins, leading into the bellowing brass that combines with the low strings to showcase the power and menace of Father Gascoigne. Each thundering piece of brass reigning in his strength and skill with his axe, tracing into a crescendo of Gothic choir chanting as you enter the second phase of the fight: the old father transforming, taking shape of a great beast akin to that of a werewolf, the entire structure of the piece changes, no more rise and fall, just continuous pressing of the strings, brass and percussion, with the beastly father letting loose pained and savage roars with each slash of claws. The piece is truly accentuated by the haunting choir that remains present through most of the second phase, epitomising the center50995000damning and utterly relentless assault of the beastly Gascoigne.Audio Visual ObservationThe first one of these experiments was inside the clothes store?H&M; I took a forty second audio recording of simply walking around the store, up an escalator, going past a cashier and from the downstairs and the upstairs.My other experiment was entering the Asian takeout restaurant Wok & Go and repeating the same process as I did inside the H&M store; recording the audio without any visual representation other than a picture of the outside of the store, allowing someone to piece together the sounds of the restaurant: the din of voices, scuttling of feet and chairs and the perpetual sizzle of the pans and steamers.I believe that this kind of research has helped me gleam a better understanding of how taking away a single aspect of audio-video can drastically change the meaning behind it. By using this in my Final Major Project's work, I hope to be able to showcase my own understanding of the relationship between sound and sight, and how I've progressed from simply putting foley sounds to a video.Conclusion - How did the research help me with my project? From the research I undertook and the responses and feedback I was given, I felt like I was ready to tackle the practical aspects of my project sufficiently informed and prepared to create a piece that would take into account all that I had learned. I believe I can recreate these effects with foley artistry and I hypothesise that by using the techniques I studied I can recreate the feeling of positive and negative reinforcement, and by testing the sounds on my peers I will see if they can understand which is which. Starting out with my audio and visual plan, it developed into a potential comedic adventure, but through my research and the feedback I gained, I felt a Dungeons & Dragons themed ‘Audio Adventure’ would be the best course of action. CHAPTER 5 My Project Introduction This is the production of my extended project, detailing some of the steps I took in order to create my practical work. Pre-Production Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 8 TimelineBefore anything could be done, I wished to draft a timeline for my initial idea for the flow of the audio adventure, which you can see above. Of course, with all things this changed further ahead, but this was the template for my audio piece’s structure. Taking this into account account I began finding sounds on Freesound to form the basic outline of the entire piece, there were some problems encountered but I will detail those within the evaluation. After finding the base sounds, I looked for royalty free music and ambient tracks that I could use to increase the emphasis on atmosphere. To guide myself in how I should represent these sounds, I created moodboards for areas within the audio adventure.Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 9 Potential boss fight inspiration moodboardFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 10 Potential cave area moodboardFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 11 Potential forest area moodboardFigure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 12 Potential tavern area moodboardThese moodboards painted a picture in my mind of what each of the areas might look like, by doing this I gained a better idea of how these places should sound and feel like. These precautions, booking out equipment and all the research I had previously undertook formed the base of my pre-production.Production After finding all the sounds necessary, I began to lay the base pieces into the Audition file. Each piece requiring small amounts of editing to ensure that the sound was clear and audible, but not overpowering to any listener that I would have. Throughout the processes I undertook, I had found myself going back to freesound and using Foley to gain more sounds for the practical piece. I believe that with better planning I could’ve avoided this and saved myself more time for editing and creating the piece.Notably throughout my production, I had been using new and older skills I had learned on the course when it comes to editing sound. Such as the equalisation tools used to make sounds seem less harsh and grating.Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 13 Parametric EqualisationBy using the parametric equaliser I was able to increase and decrease the gain on certain higher or lower frequencies for each sound, allowing certain noises, like the door to the tavern closing, to sound clearer and less rough. This tool was used with nearly all of my non-musical pieces that went into my practical work. One of which has stuck with me ever since I recorded it: I had planned the end of the piece to include a ‘Boss fight’ against a mighty dragon! To gain the feel of our adventurer/listener creeping into the nest of a deadly dragon, in a pensive and precarious fashion, I needed to obtain the sound of a sleeping dragon.Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 14 Repetitive snoring audio for 'Dragon'Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 15 Continues murmur of 'Dragon'This sound of the dragon snoring was achieved through the help of my pet dog, Sadie. Whilst she was sleeping I had taken my phone and recorded her snores, then by stretching out the sound in audition and by lowering the pitch whilst pumping a small bass note through it, I had achieved the slumbering groans of a dragon! As much as I would’ve loved for my dog to contribute by breathing fire, sadly that was achieved through other means.Along with these pieces, I needed a sense of presentation to go along with my product, so I had recorded myself giving introductory and closing speeches. Sadly due to some constraints I had no specialised audio recording studio to work with, so by using the staff kitchen I recorded my piece. Even more to my dismay, the audio had come out with a consistent hum, due to a radiator or refrigerator I assume. So in order to deal with this problem I went into the noise restoration and cancellation feature within Audition and set off to work.Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 16 Removing the buzz with Noise reductionWith the noise reduction tool, I isolated a small amount of the white noise that was causing the buzz and took a sound print of that exact wavelength. Then by removing that from the entire piece, I had effectively silenced the buzz from the speeches. But this was not without its own problems, due to removing low bass notes from the hum, my voice in the recording ended up sounding tinny, as if I was speaking into a can. Unfortunately I found no way to rectify this problem entirely, instead opting to add a reverb effect to my voice, to add the illusion of a grand narrator, and to try and remove the tinny effect.Post-production After finishing the practical aspect of my project, I set to fine tuning it so it would sound as perfect as possible. Unfortunately, I hadn’t managed to organise my time efficiently, so I ended up with only a small time to gain feedback from peers and tutors to act upon.Presentation Since my audio adventure is a pure audio format, the notion of ‘presenting’ it confused me, but after receiving some advice and criticism from my tutors and peers, I believe that the piece would best be displayed in an auditorium; blacked out completely, with a surround sound system. This way my listeners would be able to piece together the adventure I had wanted them to experience in their minds with sound instead of sight. But of course, not everyone has an auditorium on standby, so a dark space with high quality headphones on would be another way to experience my project to a greater extent. Along with this manner of presentation, I have showcased my practical work on the website SoundCloud (SoundCloud, 2017) as a small way of putting my work out to receive feedback on a public stage. As well as it being a public platform SoundCloud is easily accessible and already has a vast library of podcast or project styled work for people to listen to, by publishing my work there, I’ll have a better chance of getting people looking at my work and giving me feedback and response. The primary influence for presenting it in an auditorium was the notion of orchestral performances, having the sound wash over your entire body to gain its truest meaning, for an audio piece describing an adventure for the listener to interpret, this format would be essential. Along with SoundCloud I’ve decided to use PodBean for much of the same reasons, the easy output and formatting is essential for my project if it were to be in a podcast styled format. It’s marketed to a much more business focused viewerbase, which would be beneficial for my project’s format more than SoundCloud’s more music and casual direction.CHAPTER 6 MY EXTENDED PROJECT – FINAL PRODUCT is the final product of Steven Prince’s Audio Adventure.CHAPTER 7Project Evaluation Steven Prince’s Audio Adventure aimed to showcase how pure audio could be used to generate feeling and emotion in a way that other mediums could not. I believe the strengths of the project lie within the editing I underwent, the innovative ways that I created some sounds, the feedback I received and the responses I made to it, and lastly the over scope of the project that I managed to cover. My strengths I believe are so because of the ingenuity in certain circumstances. With my favourite being of course the ‘dog dragon’, but of course, by doing more experimental sound pieces like that, I may have been able to strengthen my work even more so.But there were more than a fair share of problems as well: My management of time and lack of research has hindered me to a degree. My lack of going beyond my comfort zone to achieve more diverse results has been a setback as well as my stubbornness when it came to asking for advice and seeking help. My weaknesses were as such because of my lack of foresight and a less than beneficial amount of research; looking into pieces such as A Blind Legend (, 2017) amongst others would have bolstered my abilities, not only for the result of the practical, but also it would’ve allowed me to concisely finish the preactical work on good time.My influence drawn from Mick Gordon was a guiding force throughout my work, but I do not believe I have managed to achieve something of a trained sound designer’s calibre, but this whole project has taught me so much and has only served to fuel me further into the world of sound. My experiments with Foley and the sound packs influenced me greatly in my final projects flow and direction.The key areas of development came in the form of my editing of sounds: equalisation, recording and such. Creating a dragon out of a dog was something I take pride in, and some of the audio panning I believe was executed to great effect. I believe with better management of my time and a greater focus in certain areas, I could’ve made so, so much more out of this project, but as it stands I believe I’ve created something that should be noticed, as a start into something great. I firmly stand by the effort I took, but if I had motivated myself more I know I would have hit a home run.My proposal changed drastically over the course of my project, starting out with a large scope project that would’ve been too much for anyone person, to an idea that had character and humour, but ultimately relied on too much outside work, and lastly to the current audio adventure, which is probably my greatest achievement in my education, to take an independent approach to something of this scale was a nerve-racking task, but even with its flaws, I am undeniably proud.. (2017).?About | A Blind Legend. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Jul. 2017].Amplifon. (2017). Amplifon: How your hearing affects you. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Apr. 2017].Frank, J. and Taylor, D. (2017). The Good, the Bad & the Irritating. [online] Twenty Thousand Hertz. Available at: [Accessed 9 May 2017].. (2017). - . [online] Available at: [Accessed 29 Jun. 2017].. (2017). incompetech | Custom Production Music and also Graph Paper. [online] Available at: [Accessed 29 Jun. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). DOOM: Behind The Music Part 1. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Mick Gordon. YouTube. (2017). DOOM: Behind The Music Part 2. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 Mar. 2017].Playdead Games (2017). Limbo [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 Jun. 2017].. (2017). The Official Pokémon Website | Pokemon.co.uk | Explore the World of Pokémon. [online] Available at: [Accessed 23 Jun. 2017].SoundCloud. (2017). SoundCloud – Listen to free music and podcasts on SoundCloud. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 Jun. 2017].Super Mario. (2017).?Nintendo's Official Home for Mario. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Jul. 2017].En.. (2017). Psycho (1960 film). [online] Available at: (1960_film) [Accessed 2 Jul. 2017].WWE. (2017). WWE News, Results, Photos & Video - Official Site. [online] Available at: [Accessed 23 Jun. 2017].. (2017).?Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 Jul. 2017]. ................
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