I've recently completed a trailer with new audio for Fallout 3 and would like to open the floor to comments and suggestions. Thanks, George Fallout 3 Trailer

Good job, look nice.

But do you actually have the rights to modify a video like this? Anyway, you should also know that doing in-game surround sounds on every objects is much more effort than simply adding an audio track to a video.

Hey,


First off Dunge: I think doing this is okay since he is very clearly pointing out this is only an exercise and isn't anything official. When I used to teach audio in college I'd have my students do a final project where they redid the music and sound design for video game and film trailers. I explained that since this is for educational (or training) purposes only, most studios wouldn't have a problem with it. The OP isn't making money off of this or claiming this as official or taking credit for any of the work he didn't do. It's just training and practice. But then again, I'm not a lawyer either. :)

A few things:

1) I love how you have the song get somewhat softer and add reverb as the camera zooms out in the intro. Very effective. I think having the song start a bit louder will make this effect strong as it felt a bit off as is. Especially when the camera is right up on the TV. Don't have to make it super obvious, but a subtle bump in the audio may make a strong difference.

2) Much of your sound design is very nice, and I enjoyed it. However you're plagued by one simple problem: flow. I had the same issue when I started sound design. I would make sounds for isolated events and not consider the overall flow of the audio throughout the trailer. What I mean this:

(silence)

gun shot

(silence)

head explodes

(silence)

Over there a car explodes

(silence)

These periods of silence vary in length, but from a sound design vantage point- they disrupt your flow. Check out some AAA ranked games and films for how they handle sound design. I think you'll find most of the time they insert some kind of filler sounds in each of those silent spots. There is much more ebb and flow of sounds instead of isolated islands of activity.

Of course sometimes the sound design is subtle and other elements (like music or voice overs) can cover up those efforts. You also don't have to have sound design happening all of the time either. That's not what I'm saying. But focus more on how you can "charge" up the sound to a particular event then cool it back down.

Another observation: Take more time with the slo-mo shots. I felt like you could do more there (both sound and effect-wise) than you did.

Overall, very nice work and I enjoyed listening. Thanks for sharing!

Nathan

To address both replies:

Dunge: As Nathan mentioned, my intent here is not for financial gain but rather to experiment with an interpretation of audio to a fixed image. I want to hear how my viewpoint is interpreted and if others hear it as suitable to that image. My education is in composition and we often did short compositional projects to learn new techniques and discover how something "sounds." Also, I hope to start work in sound design in the near future and would like to have something to demo. I recently met with two audio designers in the area who suggested doing this kind of excercise for application material. For them it gives a clear idea of how the sound designer works with plug-ins, visual image and is an example of overall technique. Since they get SO many applicants, it's the first line of defense to weed out potentially horrible candidates. That being said, thank you for the kind words.

Nahan: Thank you for the guidance. 1) I will experiment with the audio level and see how that makes a difference. I'm just learning now how plug-ins (like reverb) can really change the volume level! 2) I'm sure you can appreciate, especially from a compositional standpoint, how pacing can really weigh a piece down, so I totally hear where your coming from. I thought this video would be a great challenge for me due to the rapidity of changing images. It's this kind of collage that makes the pacing difficult. To address the other suggestion on slo-mo: would something like time stretch or pitch dropping be appropriate or just cliche? Or, another layer of sound? I guess these are the questions I should perform experimemnts with. Anyway, great insight!

The original trailer also used a song to help construct some sense of continuity, so I can't take credit for that idea. I was originally considering writing some music, but I felt the song to be more appropriate and helpful to the tone of the trailer and game. Plus, I run into my VST instrument problem of having crappy instrument samples. Perhaps another time!

Thanks again to both of you; much appreciated!

George