ACCOUNT OF THE PROCESS

I created the original soundtrack for the new-released game, Assassin’s Creed- Unity. This game is about French Revolution, so I plan to make the soundtrack exciting and full of tension. Therefore, I used bass and string instrument for my background music. In order to make the movement in the video more persuasive and dynamic, I also give background sounds to most of the movements in the video. These sounds can also show the power of the rebellion. No sound from the original trailer is used.

I completely erased all the sounds in the original video. I want to create a soundtrack that is very different from the original one. The original one does not have lots of tension, it is kind of smooth and peaceful without dynamic music. But my understanding of the game tells me to create a piece that is exciting and full of power. I used logic pro x to build my soundtrack.

First, I marked all the different sections in my soundtrack. The overall form is ABA. The first is the beginning, before the hero shows up, I used string software instrument to make the beginning. The gesture of crescendo is applied, I introduced the music by increasing volume(fade in), and also increasing pitch.

And then is the second part(14s) is before all the assassins come together. Loop of intense bass in logic library is used for the background. The switch of instrument not only indicate something different is happening but also make the ambiance more breathtaking. This loop is used throughout the rest of the soundtrack.

The third part is the climax, all the assassins take part in the rebellion and perform their missions(22s). Another exciting intense bass loop is added in the background. I am trying to make this part very compelling and energetic to let the listeners feel the strong emotion of rebellious assassins.

The last part is after the gun shot(47s) only has the bass loop from the second part. The soldiers think they defeat the assassins and the rebellion is over. So it becomes a little beat quieter in this part. Then all the citizens took part in the rebellion, not only the assassins any more. The noise of the citizens ends the video(fade out).

Besides the background music, I also add a lot of movement sound in the video. The sounds of waterdrop, clothes, sword, window, the falling of the carriage, gun and the noise of crowd are found from freesound.org. The footstep sound is also founded in freesound.org but I mix several tracks, change the tempo of the footstep to create the effect of lots of people running. I think this movement sound more listener more engaged.

I record my own sounds and modify them to make the sounds of the women, the old politician and the soldier. I changed the tempo and pitch to make them sounds like male. I chose to add human sound in the track because I think it delivers more human emotions. And it will help the listener feel more connected.For the all movement sounds, I have to change the volume and normalize them to avoid them to be too loud.

I learned from the feedback that a lot of things is going on in this video and I should first make the background music and then think about the movement. I accept this method and it definitely make my creating process a lot more easier and coherent.