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Hi all, Just finished a design replacement for this short extract of the Dragon Age 2 cinematic. I'm looking to spread my scope beyond the film world and would be great to get some feedback. I've only used designed atmos and no music.. was wondering if I could of done more with the backgrounds?

http://vimeo.com/35246979

thanks,

Phil

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  • I'm a little confused as to your exact question. You mention "I'm looking to spread my scope beyond the film world", yet also ask about backgrounds, which is rooted deeply in the film/tv world you say you are trying to spread your scope from. I'm not saying anything you said was necessarily wrong. I'm just a little confused as to what exactly it is your asking because what I'm reading is a contradiction. Jan 21, 2012 at 2:20
  • @Stavrosound... This is pretty well my first video game cinematic, I work with film and would like to try tackling some video game projects. I suppose you could term them atmos.. sorry for not being clearer :-)
    – Phil Lee
    Jan 21, 2012 at 9:51

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great work,all i can say is the very beginning of this clip is lacking, the flash backs, it appears to be a concious decision but some reverby screams from that king guy might be needed to sell exactly what is happening even more so,a nice long tail on that idea faded into the next scene with the crown falling down the steps,maybe i do like it how it is though,just great throughout

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  • @grant thanks for your comments, your right it does feel a bit empty, I intended the crown to be the first concrete sound but maybe something abstracty like you suggest a scream from the king. Thanks! Much appreciated.
    – Phil Lee
    Jan 21, 2012 at 13:43
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Good stuff man. In addition to the extra detail needed during the initial flashbacks, the main thing that seems like it could use a little improvement is in the frequency content, especially since you're not competing with music here. You could have lower lows, higher highs and more dramatic transitions between the two. Running that moany ambience behind the whole thing risks washing it out and killing some of the dynamics you could have.

The shockwave at the end especially could use a little more design work, I'd want to hear the blast more than the dry sound of those rocks cracking -- though rocks at the tail end of it would be great too.

The character swings/whooshes are mixed really well, I was totally buying into the combat. If you wanted to you could add a little extra gack / jingles or some breaths and play them low just to get that stuff sparkling a little more, but totally up to you. Playing it clean and sparse with the SPFX moments you have (slo-mo) etc. works too.

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  • Also, I loved the first Ogre roar!
    – lucafusi
    Feb 4, 2012 at 3:41
  • Hey Luca, thanks for your feedback... Good point about the ambience behind and the dynamics of the sequence. I guess I was trying to compensate for the lack of music but by adding greater dynamic range to the ambience is a great idea. I was really pleased with the way the sword swings came out, again following your dynamics idea I had the orge's swings layered with lower pitched aspects which distinguished both characters movements. The roar was fun to create :-) got access to the lion enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo a while back. Mixed and mashed in with pigs squeals. thanks again, Phil
    – Phil Lee
    Feb 9, 2012 at 9:32

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