IMAGE FROM "THE CHUBB CHUBBS" 

ADVERTISEMENT

OGDEN: What do you feel are the substantive differences between working (composing / designing audio) for film/TV and working for video games?

LARKIN: I think that the differences are sometimes exaggerated. First and foremost, you need to write good music. If you can get past that hurdle, then you're 90% there no matter what medium you’re writing for.

However, there are definitely implementation concerns in writing for games, such as writing a seamless loop, or making the music transparent at times due to the nature of timelines in games. But there are also hurdles in film that you need to remain very aware of such as staying out of the way when necessary while writing in a very linear manner in order to properly underscore hit points, while also setting up tension and release in a much tighter timeframe.

OGDEN: Do you feel that these two paths are converging or diverging?

LARKIN: I think that they are definitely converging. When I start a session for a film like The ChubbChubbs, it is approached in the same manner that I create the sound for an in-game animation for URU. I have all the same tools at my disposal, and I use them in the same fashion. The end result is pretty close to being the same outside of a few mixing techniques that differ for games. I'm actually thrilled that I'm able to work in both mediums and have such incredible compatibility with the tools and process. Makes my life much easier in the long run.

OGDEN: Some of the sound work you have done seems very complex. What is involved in doing sound design for a short film like The Chubb Chubbs?

LARKIN: The Chubbs Foley work was done by a Foley artist, Jana Vance. We recorded her doing the Chubbs steps and Meeper's movements.

The complexity comes in the editing and sound design process when you slice and mix and layer sounds in order to get the results you're looking for. The Chubbs for example, had over 1600 sound regions in the final session for what was basically a five minute short.

The most recent Robota trailer is just over 2 minutes in length, but due to the fact that I wasn't able to do a live Foley session, I ended up creating the Foley through editing and layering sound files that I cut. The result is 956 sound regions for a 2 minute piece.

Sound design can be deceptively complex: The ChubbChubbs had over 1600 sound regions in the final session for a five minute short. Below are some exclusive isolated mixes Tim has provided for illustration.
	1. The Chubb Chubbs are coming    (MP3 - 237K)
	2. Arrival of the Zyzaks    (MP3 - 809K)

OGDEN: When you work on games, I know that you like to get a hold of the actual environment files for which you're composing or designing sound. An image or two will do in a pinch, but you really like to walk around in it, and breathe it in, to see what strikes you. What is the equivalent of that when you are working for film?

LARKIN: When creating sound for film, it's usually much later in the process than with games, seeing as you're not dealing with implementation issues, so I almost always have some rough pictures to work with. Sometimes it's storyboards, which can be frustrating, sometimes it's scenes that aren't fully rendered if it's animated, but you can usually get a pretty good sense of what's going on even without all the textures in place. But ideally, I like to have as finished of a product as possible to work with seeing as how I do tend to be most inspired by visuals.

OGDEN: Do you feel the technical limitations in the game industry help you find more creative solutions, or just get in the way?

LARKIN: To be honest, while that has been a great factor in the past, and still is to a degree on some gaming platforms, the technology has improved so dramatically over the last several years, that it really doesn’t influence decisions as heavily as it used to. Sure, I can’t write wall to wall music for a game, but probably wouldn’t anyway. Memory and storage space is so cheap now that decompressing over a gig of data is not uncommon.

I’m sure you might get the same response from the artists in that the video cards and storage space allow them liberties not available only two or three years ago as well. The compression technology is also sounding better than ever using Ogg, and allows us to compress a file down to a fraction of its original size while still retaining a pretty good representation of the original with minimal perceived artifacting.

OGDEN: As console game development continues to take over the ground formerly held by PCs, and moves from the computer room to the family room, what effect do you think it will have on sound design and delivery?

LARKIN: I’m hoping that the ease of use from a console can cross over to the PC at some point, but that’s probably highly unlikely. Consoles such as the Xbox allow a pretty easy introduction to surround, and as a result, sound designers are pretty happy with the ability to create mixes in 5.1 and know that in most cases they will be heard as intended.

Hopefully, we’ll have that type of control at some point with all the assets we create for the PC, although that is probably quite a ways off.

OGDEN: For the past several years, a more epic sound in movies has been in vogue, and has bled naturally over into games. I'm thinking chiefly of something like the choral work and chanting in the Lord of the Rings movies, and how that music has been able to be used in the LotR games, which of course has a ripple effect into other games. Jack Wall even used a Cantata Burana approach to the music for Myst III: Exile. In fact, you yourself used an opera singer and a chanting troop of Massai Warriors in the URU soundtrack. I'm wondering, do you see this trend continuing, or do you think composing for games and movies may move in another direction now?

LARKIN: I sure hope the trend continues. One of the really important ideas that Rand and I discussed at the very beginning of URU was to be different. I think that includes trying to pave the way a bit creatively as well as technologically. I'm very happy with the way the URU soundtrack turned out, not that it is necessarily epic, but it definitely takes you through some unexpected places. I also believe that we're competing for the same entertainment dollars that the film industry does, and have to remain competitive on every level, including sound and music.

OGDEN: How did you get hooked up with Doug Chiang's ROBOTA?

LARKIN: It came about from working with a friend of mine, Chance Thomas. We have worked together on many projects over the years, and he was put in touch with Doug through a Sony ImageWorks connection. When he received the call to create the score, he asked me to do the sound.

It seemed like an interesting project judging from the visuals I'd seen, and I'm always anxious to work on something new. Keeps my perspective fresh.

A few words from Doug Chiang...

OGDEN: How much input do you interject into the audio on your work? CHIANG: I do have clear idea of what I'm looking for in sound and music but they are often in general terms, gut feelings really, for what they should be. But even though I know what I want, I also keep an open mind and rely on the people I work with to push my expectations. That's the wonderful thing about working with someone like Tim. He always brings more to table than expected. In this new Robota teaser for example, I remember the first time I heard Tim's sound design with the visuals - suddenly these robots were alive. That was very cool. One thing I really wanted Tim to explore was to play up the primitive sounds while downplaying or eliminating the hi-tech sounds of servos and humming noises. I wanted to make sure that the mechanical components of these robots were downplayed so we would simply begin to think of them as another 'lifeform' rather than machines. All the nuances that Tim put in added so much dimension and life and character to the animation. OGDEN: In collaborating with Orson Scott Card, how did you organize the effort? CHIANG: Orson started out by re-writing my 20 page treatment, adding elements where he felt they were needed. Since Orson is obviously a great writer, I wanted to give him complete freedom to add and change things if he thought it would improve the storyline. He was very respectful of the material I had written and we both strived to improve upon it rather than change it. The final text holds true to my original story but as told by Orson. OGDEN: How much do you feel the online component to Robota has contributed to its popularity? CHIANG: In many ways, Robota owes a lot to the on-line component. I first introduced the story and art online four years ago, two years prior to the book publication. And now with these film teasers and a game development deal, I'm hoping to continue exploring other ways to tell the story through multi-media. And of course introducing Robota on-line really made it accessible to a large number to people at a very early stage. I could test the material to see if it would work without having to wait until the book was published. OGDEN: What do you hope people take away from the experience of Robota? CHIANG: Mainly entertainment. I wanted to created images and characters that people would find interesting and compelling to experience over and over. That was my first goal. In the bigger picture, I really wanted to explore issues of identity - who are you really if you can switch physical bodies or even gender at will, or even change species? The storyline blurs generation gaps and removes common prejudicial barriers that we experience everyday while posing some interesting questions about relationships in which love is able to conquer both form and substance.