For this project Jake Greenan and I worked together and produced 2 episodes and a teaser prelude to the continuation of the previous episode. Initially we wanted to create a 20 to 30 minute long soundscape/Audio-book going as a continuous narrative. During the course of the project however it became apparent that a video game lore based soundscape that long would fail to entertain our target audience without any solid visual aid. For that reason we decided to go with the Episodical structure mentioned in the blog. This in turn stands as proof that to an extent we failed to reach our aim of producing a 20-30 minute piece. On the other hand it could be said that we have creatively re-purposed the lengthy scripts into short stories or episodes, if you will, which grab the listeners attention, episodes which tell a great story accompanied by sound effects which add an immersive quality to the soundscapes. I personally think that in the future this type of episodical distribution could potentially give birth to a successful online series. For that purpose Original Art can be used for slide-shows which will add to the effect of the Story-Soundscapes. Further correspondence with Animators and Graphic designers in the future has been considered for the continuation of the series.
When discussing the project details we agreed that we have to evenly distribute the workload to be able to produce a good quality soundscape. First we recorded the voice overs and edited the audio to form the final drafts of the short stories. Consequentially we had a meeting during which we discussed all the sounds and sound effects, foley recordings and atmospheres that we would need and conducted several foley sessions including some location sound recordings. The next stage was the editing of all the recorded audio and its preparation for the sound design and sound effects creation. Finally after acquiring all the necessary audio we could move on to Music selection, sync, mixing and mastering.
To this reflective summery I am also attaching a table of our schedule AUP2 Schedule Table . As a result of the study it can be said that we successfully adhered to our timeline schedule to a great extent apart from the post production period as that was affected by external to the project issues related to other crucial elements of the Research and Development Module. By better multi-project management, time management and consideration this error could have easily been avoided.
After the completion of this project ,or any other project in that matter, it is important to refer back to the suggested Aims, Objectives and Learning outcomes.
(LO1) – During the production I have successfully learned new skills and techniques which are involved in sound and sound effects design – New sound design and mixing approaches such as Heuirstic mixing and creating multiple effects from the same sound using Audio Suite and track layering.
(LO2) – I have learned a great deal about teamwork and collaboration during the course of the project. Working together with Jake has improved my work related communication skills and has changed the way I approach a project. Furthermore I have also learned to take other opinions into consideration concerning the selection of the music, editing, directing and all other aspects of the production, I have learned to make compromises and to better assess critical evaluation of my own work, be it completed or still in progress.
(LO3) – I have definitely improved my voice over directing skills. Having Spoken to Lucy Johnstone I gained a bit more insight on how to better my existing skills.
(LO4) – The game itself is an Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game or MMORPG. It has a wide variety of characters and several interesting story-lines within it’s universe. As a casual player of League of Legends I haven’t always paid attention to the Lore itself so after having produced content based on it I feel that I have a greater understanding of the game itself. Whenever I play with Graves or Gankplank for example I will most definitely refer back to this project and the short stories.
Project Aim Completion:
AIM 1 > as previously discussed in this reflective summary aim one was not achieved, rather it was re-purposed.
AIM 2> I feel that we have successfully achieved this aim as we have produced great lore based sound-stories
AIM 3> As in the first episode the story is about rune wars between the occupants of Runeterra I feel like I have created an interesting interpretation of a battle on Valoran. Jake was also able to accomplish the portrayal of Bilgewater and an action-filled scene from it.
AIM 4> Initially it is hard to say if this project will be appealing for a League of Legends based audience as it is yet to be launched online. After such launch realistic figures of success or failure of appeal could be given.
For the purpose of the study however I have played the final pieces to players and non players of the game within my personal acquaintances and have received very positive feedback from non players and even better from the actual gamers. The summarized feeling could be described as excited and eager to hear more.
Personal Contributions and Comments:
For the project itself I took part in the majority of the processes. I was always present and active during Location Recordings, V/O recordings and collective editing and mixing sessions. The episode I have personally edited, mixed and mastered is EPISODE 1 – RUNE WARS. I also worked together with Jake on EPISODE 3 – The Wait – Teaser during the editing, mixing and mastering process. I booked a lot of the time spent in the studios during recording and editing and I also booked out equipment regularly sometimes doing additional sound capture on location and so has Jake.
Overall I feel that we have achieved the aims and objectives of the project to the greater extent. Personally I have also managed to achieve my learning outcomes. The final sound-stories could have really been a slightly longer but in this case it creates a certain level of suspense and anticipation for the next episode. What I would have done differently is I would have re-worked the initial project idea. I am disappointed that we did not think about an episodical structure earlier on in the project. This way we could have produced more episodes and would have had better scripts and narratives; and consequentially better designed soundscapes. To conclude it is important to say that I have enjoyed working with Jake and would do it again. We work well as a team and have overcome all kinds of difficulties and issues during the course of the project. I feel that this type of project has great potential to expand in the future with the introduction of original art and more voice actors.
