Imagined Worlds

Project Brief

Researching - "IT" Movie

Steven King's "IT" novel, which was eventually crafted into a movie, is primarily fiction, however, it could be argued to at least have some non-fiction attributes due to it exploring children's childhood trauma and the impact on their future lives. It is built up from a made-up area, and so is not set in a real place. The universe that it has been set in does not have a name but is instead just known as Steven King's novel.

My elevator pitch for IT: Imagine a life where a young kid goes missing, and you find out that a supernatural, dancing clown is most possibly the reason for it. You drag your uncertain friends down the rabbit hole that you are falling down in an attempt to rescue the lost boy that you wish to still be alive. Steven King's script is called "IT" and tells us a story about a shape-shifting clown that lures unsuspecting victims into a sense of security, before ending their lives, or in this case, creating a small 'loser' army of kids that try to defeat him.

The main feature of IT is obviously Pennywise the Clown, which is a character created to strike as much fear in the audience as possible from appearance alone. The ghostly white skin colour makes the character instantly recognisable, with the subtle but needed red face paint giving it a really recognisable face. The angular, dark orange hair adds to the appearance since this is usually a colour we would associate with danger or warning, and the rigid shape enhances this. Unhuman, spiked teeth are usually seen in more dangerous animals or mythical creatures like this, which tells us it isn't something you're going to get away from if it bites you.

The film includes many tropes, some being that the movie is set in the 80's, and so has a lot of style that is associated with that time. It also explores some cases of abusive parents, which lead to some of the kids acting the way they do. This is further seen through the lack of adult use, as they are displayed as useless beings who fail to notice the extreme violence and disappearances going on. Also, Pennywise only really seems to appear in one specific area, at least at a time, which is a common occurrence in horror films where the main bad character only focuses on one area and never goes around the rest of the world.

Benjamin Wallfisch was the primary composer for the two IT movies, and especially during the first film, really reflected the 80's period well through his music. The orchestral approach is good because it heightens the tense experience often found within the film, but could also link to how the main characters are kids, and they would commonly play some of the instruments that are used in the music.

Most of the movie gives off very creepy vibes constantly because the kids are constantly being haunted by Pennywise, but in actual fact, the atmosphere is usually quite normal (unless they are around Pennywise in a run-down area). You can even imagine a soundtrack that would be playing from these scenes.

Listening to Sound

Points:

Resident Evil 2 Remake Sounds

Layering Images in Photoshop + Animation

In this lesson, we began using Photoshop as a part of VFX design. To start, I went online and searched for a 2D landscape image, and this was the one I found. We were then tasked with cutting out some layers to move things around.

To do this, I first used the Magnetic Lasso tool which will go around shapes that it thinks you are trying to outline automatically, which makes it a bit quicker than having to make the lines yourself. I first traced the outline of the moon and made that it's own layer, before moving on to doing the moonlight and the boat. As you can see, I have the dedicated parts pasted onto their own layers. The next step is to make the area that they were in look good even without them in the place they are, so you are filling in holes from where these layers once were.

In the end, this is the final result. I first focused on animating the moon rising. I probably didn't need to separate the moon and moonlight, but I'll just take it as some extra experience of cutting out layers. I then also added the moonlight having the stars shine through by changing the opacity so it would show the moonlight layer behind which has stars.

Next, I made the boat move around in the water a bit. I kept adding different keyframes as I moved the boat around. I did want to change the size of the boat and make it get smaller as it gets further away, however, I couldn't find out how to make it work, without permanently changing the size.

Finally, I added a plane to the scene which flies across the top of the screen with a smoke trail behind. For this, I searched for a 2D plane silhouette image and found this. I thought it was ideal for the scene since it was very similar to the boat. I then found a smoke trail image and had to remove the background which made it look a bit odd, but I changed it slightly so it was a bit better. I then just made one smoke trail on the same layer as the plane and two more additional ones which I stretched out and lowered the opacity so they weren't as visible.

Another time, I should get a smoke trail which is more cartoony and fits in more to the image since it stands out due to being more realistic, but I at least got the base idea complete. Also, I should animate more of the environment. I'm not too sure what I would do, but I could add some water ripples and make the stars twinkle in the sky. I think it would be quite difficult to animate the trees, but I could do a little bit possibly.

Animating in After Effects

After getting the images ready in Photoshop, I could've moved straight into After Effects, but we weren't taught any of it at this point. Therefore, I settled with animating in Photoshop, which definitely isn't as productive as After Effects, but it is the program to use if you want to animate since it has better performance and more tools to enhance edits.

To start, I had to quickly get PNG images of each layer from my Photoshop file that I could bring into After Effects. This is very simple and can be done by simply right-clicking on the layer and choosing Quick Export as PNG. I found that I had to make sure the image was visible at the time I had it selected, so it couldn't be hidden or outside the main view otherwise it wouldn't have anything to save. I also made the opacity for the dark sky overlay 100% since it could be a bit easier to edit than exporting it slightly transparent. As you can see, I eventually got all of the layers into a folder, and so I was ready to open After Effects.

Getting to Grips with Bandlab

In this lesson, we were given a file of the original Tetris theme song, and asked to make a remix of it, pretty much. We used Bandlab to edit it, which is a free, online website that you can use to create your own custom music, and there are many tools that allow you to replicate the noises of various instruments.

To begin, I just imported the Tetris song that was supplied to us. The first thing that I did was make a drum machine, which added a bit more suspension within the song. I mostly just used the base asset that it gave me, however, I also changed some of them slightly to have more of a dramatic end to some parts. For example, I have the drums going for the majority of the song, however, before the last segment of the song, they go quiet. Then, they start back up, and I think it just adds a bit more to the song, as well as sounding quite cool. I also added a slightly better outro by altering part A at the end (made into C), making a nicer sounding ending than just the same beat that you hear throughout the rest of the song.

Finally, for this composition, I added a mini intro that sounds a bit like the Jaws theme. I think it adds a bit of tension at the beginning, but then it quickly changes into a fun and upbeat song. I did also add some custom drums to further complement the intro and makes the transition into the actual song a little nicer than just starting at the Tetris theme instantly.

Although I didn't get much done, I think this helped me learn the Bandlab interface and get used to some tools available to me. I don't think sound will be something I do that much after this, since I'd probably need a lot of practise and making songs from nothing to begin making music for games that fit a theme. That's mostly because at the moment, my skills are very limited, and I haven't made much or a song here anyway. I more or less just added some drums over the top and included a mini intro, but for my first time in a music making website, and my first time making music, I think it went alright.

Soundscapes

In this lesson, I began my finishing the animation inside of After Effects, and I think it turned out good. I pretty much just copied the same animations as the ones I made inside of Photoshop, but instead inside of After Effects.

After that, I went onto to create the soundscape for my scene. This was my first time learning about soundscapes, but they are basically a piece of music, more ambient than anything else, that can relate to specific scenes. They should be good enough that you can think of the scene through your imagination alone, and therefore make them really important within not only games, but anything digital like movies and more. This is how certain games and such become so recognisable because although you do not think about music at the time, you will instantly recognise it when not playing. Your brain will probably remember everything, or some specific pieces of information, from the time that you heard the music. Therefore, even if we don't plan on making music in our careers, it's still vital to learn about the importance of something like this, since it's what makes games stand out from others if it's good enough.

For these sounds, I went onto the Freesound website, which has a large variety of sounds that you can listen to, download, and use. These are sounds that people have usually made themselves by recording certain sounds that they make in real life. Because I want this image to be quite immersive, I went to search around for some sounds that fit the scene quite well. I thought I needed some night ambience mostly, but also some other additional sounds for the things in the video. For example, the plane and boat could do with some sounds to match them, adding to the scene immersion. To start, I got a few sounds that I thought would fit into the scene. I started by adding a sound that has some people and traffic noise that I wanted to make it seem like there was a city or town out of frame. Then, I added some frog croaking that would be quietly playing as some additional background noise. Lastly, for the main ambience, I added some light music, which just made it seem a bit more musical than nothing else. I then of course went and added a plane sound and some water sloshing sound, and edited it to fit the scene. I think something that could've been cool with the plane one would be adding directional sound. This would work by having it play more in your right ear, and slowly transition across to your left a bit. This could've given a better sense of immersion as the plane flies across your screen, but what I have is good enough, especially considering the very quiet noise it is at this point anyway. To complete this soundscape, I did add a little twinkle sound effect, which plays when the moonlight flashes ever so slightly to reveal the stars. This is something that I thought was cool to add, but something that isn't that necessary, and can slightly reduce your immersion.

Importance of Sound in Creative Media

Sound is a very important resource that, if used correctly, should be less noticeable than sound which is poorly made and implemented. Not only is sound found in video games, but it's also found in a variety of other pieces of creative media, such as movies. Not only does sound forcefully immerse people into certain situations, but it also controls people's emotions, allowing you to enhance certain scenes even more by just adding music that complements the feeling you are trying to make people have. For example, if you are playing a horror game, the music is going to be either quite dark and gloomy, or quiet and unsettling. Either way, it makes you feel uneasy in the situation, and gets your adrenaline going before anything even happens because your brain is prepared for it. Another example of fitting music into a scene could be a space themed landscape. You'd then compose a soundscape that would make you feel like you are in space. This is usually by making strange sounding music since space is something we don't know much about, so our brain gets confused, which works for the situation. Another way of doing it could be to have some very airy, empty sounding music, that almost sounds very unrealistic and unnatural. This could be to give you the sense of low gravity, since it'll be quite slow paced, and you might be discovering something new. You might think of that one Space Odyssey opening theme, which I think perfectly represents space and the discovery of the unknown.

Now, for implementing sound into games and movies, you need to first make sure they match the theme and feeling that you are trying to get. Furthermore, they may need to match the kind of environment that characters are currently in. For example, if someone is walking around in a large, empty room, footsteps might echo and be quite loud. Making sure they also match the ground material is important. Let's say you are instead outside on a rainy evening, walking through some wet mud. Footsteps are now going to sound a lot different, and this is significant, because it makes the player, watcher, whoever, feel a lot more immersed in the game. If you play the same echoed sound outside, then it's going to sound strange since the sound doesn't match the scene's environment.

Sound can also be used for confirming something has happened within games. As an example, you could take pretty much any popular fps game. One thing that you may notice is that when you headshot an opponent, there may be a higher pitched DING sound effect, which lets you know what kind of shot you hit. Not only is this a cool touch that sounds neat (and also usually fits in quite well), but it also is very helpful. Knowing that someone is probably quite low due to a headshot is vital information that could be the difference between you rushing in and finishing them off, and hiding away, giving them the upper-hand later on.

In summary, sound is used in a lot of different ways, ones that we may not even realise. This is because developers do it in such amazing ways that you don't even fully realise while you are locked into the action. Although I've talked about a few ways, there are so many other ones. A few of them are: 3D sound which gives you a better whereabouts for where sound has come from, improving your spatial awareness. Change in music or certain sound effects when a dangerous entity is near, creating a daunting atmosphere. And just the regular ambience sounds which enhance your immersion within a scene.

Evaluation

I think overall, this project went quite well. Unfortunately, we didn't get much time to do everything, and it was all new stuff that we were learning, but it was a more unique and enjoyable few tasks that made it quite cool. I thought that my animation work was quite nice, since I got a fair amount of moving parts. I was also really happy with how I remade the sky to cover up where the moon was, since it made it look like it literally was never there. Moreover, I believe the sounds I found really matched the scene quite well. Although they could've been better, I think for the few times I've done sound, it came out pretty good overall.

Although I thought most of this mini project went well, here are some of the things I thought didn't quite go as well. For starters, the boat animation was by far the worst of them all. It looks very choppy, and I believe it's mostly down to the fact that it is a still image that should be moving around when it changes direction. Although that would've been something cool to add (and quite easy since it's just one colour for the boat and one for the shadow), I don't quite know how I'd implement it well, but this is good enough. Another thing I wasn't quite happy with was the smoke particles from behind the plane. For this, I just got a smoke image from online that I also had to manually remove the background of, so no wonder it looks bad. However, I tried my best at least to get it more realistic, but adding some more movement to it, similar to the boat, would certainly make it better. Lastly, I wasn't that pleased with how the boat sounds came out. I think the water was maybe a bit too loud, and then you don't hear a boat, which kind of ruins the immersion. But, overall, nothing too bad, just things I can improve on when I do something like this again.

I think if I were to do this again, I wouldn't change a whole lot. Instead, I'd just improve upon everything I did. I'd potentially make some animated layers for the boat, which I could then move, implying that it's moving. A similar thing for the smoke could be done, however, I'm still unsure about that. I think doing some research for 2D animated landscapes with soundscapes would be very helpful to let me know how other people do it. This could then give me some better ideas to implement into my own work.

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