1. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
Game Title Resident Evil 4
Provide detailed descriptions from chosen examples that establish… Clearly state what production technique(s) you think have
been used to create specific soundtrack elements
Setting Cut sequence takes place within a small wooden European house in the middle of a
forest. The room is dimly lit and with few to no electronic appliances, with the light
being produced by a lit fireplace.
There is little atmospheric noise occurring within
the house, so the only sounds heard in the
cutscene from the environment are the sounds of
the main character walking on the wooden floor,
and the sounds of the lit fireplace as the other
character shovels coal into the fire.
Mood When the main character first interacts with the other character there is a sense of
eeriness and dread, followed by tension as the character reaches for a weapon and
finally a ‘thriller’ style atmosphere as the cut sequence transitions into gameplay.
When the two characters confront each other,
there is the immediate use of loud strings as a
method of communicating to the listener the
nature of the situation, as well as to suggest an
inherent danger the characters represent.
Game genre Resident Evil 4 is anaction oriented survival horror game in a third person
perspective.
There is a focus on the sounds of the individuals
and their presence in the setting, such as with the
exaggerated sound of footsteps. The cutscene
also introduces subtleties to the sounds that the
second character makes when he attacks the
main character, with him making lower, guttural
sounds that make him sound almost inhuman.
Narrative The main character enters the house and witnesses a local – presumably the owner
of the house – stoking his fireplace. The main character approaches the man to ask
for his assistance in finding someone. After a brief discourse, the other character
attacks him, leading to the end of the cutscene and transitioning to gameplay.
In the cutscene there are few background sounds,
which means that the focus of the listener is almost
entirely on the actions that are occurring on screen,
which occur in a very deliberate sequence that means
that not only do the sounds that the viewer’s focusing
on are being ‘made’ from sources within the shot, but
also that the individual sounds do not interfere with
each other in the context of the narrative.