How game developers and film producers use music to create an atmosphere

Posted by

After a hard day of work, you may go home and jump on Netflix to start streaming an action-packed drama or an interesting documentary. Alternatively, you may decide to relax and play some slot games on your favourite online casino.

These two activities may not seem so similar, but there is one big similarity between re-watching The Hangover and enjoying the games on mFortune Casino. No, the answer is not that they are both entertaining. Well, it is – but they also use music to create fun and edge-of-the-seat-like atmosphere.

In this post, we will dive deeper into three ways how film producers and game developers make use of music to create a winning and entertaining atmosphere in their creations.

Bespoke Always Wins

Film producers and game developers may have a set of familiar tunes or techniques that they can call on to give off the right feeling of their media. However, they make sure each creation includes mostly a bespoke musical theme. The music that is used will need to fit with the genre of movie or game, but more importantly, it needs to match the timing of the movie or the game. Bespoke tracks should play to heighten the suspense in dramatic scenes or bonus games while less action-packed moments will have their own tailored music.

Play with Patches

Not all game developers and film producers have a blueprint of music or a plan of how they want the music to fit with their visuals. For this reason, they mess around with patches to create unique sounds that they would never have been able to dream up. When you explore music this way off the cuff, it is possible to create more engaging and dramatic sounds that would not have been possible by playing by the rules and sticking to a plan.

Stretching Textures

One of the greatest painters of the modern era was Jackson Pollock and when he painted, he would paint on a canvas spread across the floor. For one this was due to his unique painting style where the brush would not touch the canvas, but it was also due to the size of the canvas he was painting on.

The same could be said about film producers and game developers who create an atmosphere with music – their own art form. They are capable of expanding their own canvas and ballooning it by using different stretched textures. This can be achieved in different ways, but here are three of the most popular among game technicians and film developers:

  • Using stereo width techniques to expand the musical canvas
  • Increasing the height of the musical canvas by choosing frequency content from the top to the bottom
  • Use reverb to add multi-dimensional depth

With these three simple, common but effective musical techniques, film editors and game developers are able to enhance the experience for everyone coming home from work and flicking on Netflix or grabbing their smartphone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.