After the first assignment, which was mostly about pre-planning, conceptualization and research, in week 5 we moved to phase two, the technical realization.

In the next couple of weeks, my primary role will be to plan the sound engine logic, therefore to build the Wwise session, and implement Xiaole and Evan’s sounds. Furthermore, I will build the Unity project with the help of Leo and other team members: this will be controlling our phone sensors, and triggering the sound from Wwise.

Weekly Plan:

We have about 4 weeks until we have to present the installation which is an extremely tight deadline considering how many assets we need to build, but if we follow the plan we agreed on it should be all manageable! :))

Until 18^th March:

• Finish all audio and visual assets for all 5 stages of grief (briefly about 1.5 stage per week) –> [sound+audio team members]
• Write exact plan for what sensors trigger what audio components/ what is being modulated –> [Xiaole, Evan, me]
• Start building Wwise session –> [me]

Until 25^th March:

• 1 week for finalising audio components if needed [Xiaole, Evan, me]
• Finishing all Wwise setup, building Unity project [me]

Until 1^st April:

• The last week we will be finalising the setup, building the visual and audio systems on location. Final days to troubleshoot if needed.

Audio Progress:

To have some materials to put into Wwise next week, I created some ambience tracks which will serve as a base ‘music’ layer providing some emotional setting to the room.

As recommended by Sound designer Andrew Lackey, I used PaulXStretch to create infinite ambient loops. The software allows users to control the harmonic components and ratios, so while recording, I constantly moved those to create ever-changing, but still atmosphere.

Then , following Xiaole’s research about the recommended elements, I have used breath sounds to represent emotions such as: inner suffering, choking on air and feeling empty while suffering from loss. A dark Japanese anime, Devilman Crybaby’s soundtrack by Kensuke Ushio served as a great inspiration to use traditional Eastern percussions and voices as sound effects to enrich the ambience with horror/darkness. (A great example is ‘The Genesis” :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2tk1gzE8eo&list=PLRW80bBvVD3VzTdVNE_pjMC4S-PJefbxb

I used recordings I made with Evan this week:

Occasional hits adds the weight and a sense of darkness to the setting, while ticking clock represents the passing of time in this dark, empty state.

Of course, this is a structured short piece, in the project all of these sounds, and lots of others, will be separate events which we can trigger in Wwise, resulting a more random sonic outcome.

 

I have also created sketch ambiences for stage 2:

Personally I think anger is a lot more intense, and energetic scene from the grieving person’s perspective. The aggressive and harsh rhythmic ambience I made help to evokes some sort of irritation and (naturally, anger) in the listener. (additional layers will be provided by others)

Next week I will start implementing these into a Wwise session and start to figure out the events and trigger layout system:))

Mar 2, 2025