The Concept of Sound

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that I didn't want my environment to be a playable nor 'moving' scene. The reason for this was because I feared it would take away the focus from the light. From that decision, I decided to render my two lighting variants into HD screen shots that faded into one another to highlight the different techniques. This way, the still image can be appreciated per frame, instead of moving and distracting the viewer from important areas. Like a painting, it is better to reflect from a distance.

I then came up with an idea that I feel would add that sense of movement, without actually making the environment 'move'. I really liked the idea of using sound to express the realism of the scene. I want my environment to look photo-realistic and believable, if I can add real sounds to those rendered frames, I can add that sense of movement and realism to the environment.

I then decided to rent out a Zoom H1 audio recording device and travel back to the London under ground. I wanted to have good quality sounds taken from the very environment I want to build. In doing this I cannot only physically see what's around me, but 'feel' it and visualize it in my head. The H1 recording device is incredibly good quality, using two microphones that detect 180 degrees or more of surrounding sound. As I will be modelling an entire underground scene, such as the ticket terminal plaza, escalators, waiting rooms and platforms, I decided to take recordings from each of those environments in the actual location. I will then use those sounds and match them to my own metro scenes. This will give not only a sense of movement to my environments but also add that sense of realism and relatability to my fictional world.

After I made recordings, I played them back using headphones and was incredibly pleased with the final outcome. The sound quality was perfect and I felt like I was back in the underground, without physically being there! It's so powerful how the sensation of sound can generate an image using our brains. I will use there recordings to accentuate my environment when I render my screenshots at the end of this design process.

To add audio, I made a quick movie with the 2D painting concept I did. I will only use one recording at this time. The rest will appear in my final video. For best effect please use headphones.