Exclusive Troels Folmann Interview

作者 TombCrow, 2006 四月 20, 03:36:16

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TombCrow

1. What previous games have you composed music for and what was your reaction when asked to compose for Tomb Raider?

My journey to Crystal Dynamics began when I was conducting Ph.D. studies in dynamic and adaptive music for video games. I had the privilege of doing the cinematic score for their award-winning FPS, Project: Snowblind. The collaboration on Snowblind was really great and intensive, so I decided to take an abroad semester at Crystal in order to conduct field studies in dynamic music and my micro-scoring techniques. The people at Crystal Dynamics really liked my previous works, so we started talking about the prospects of scoring Tomb Raider Legend and so the story goes.

But I really don't have any comprehendible form of language to express what joy went through my body as we discussed scoring Tomb Raider Legend. It's one of the greatest opportunities I have ever had and I still feel honored by the fact they picked me.


2. In this new game, how have you created a piece of music and combined it with each level? How did you relate the music to each level?

All the levels in Tomb Raider Legend are made from small building blocks called units. So you have to imagine that every level consists of many small levels. You don't notice it when you play the game, since our graphical engine will stream everything in real time. However I basically scored every unit in the game, which ended up being a really challenging and time consuming job, but I wanted the music to change whenever there was a change in the environment. So I ended up micro-scoring all the individual units in the game and believe me there are many. All the micro-scores are connected in a seamless way, so it just feels like one big, fluent experience.

All levels were scored differently. When I began the soundtrack I took a long time investigating the different levels, environments and cultures. I wanted to have a specific musical timbre for every level, so I had to understand the musical influences of each individual part of the game. When you are in Tokyo you will hear roaring Taiko drums and the beautiful Japaneese Shakuhachi flute (which is insanely hard to play btw). When you are in Bolivia you will hear pan flutes. When you are in Africa you will hear a variety of African percussions and so forth. However the real trick was to make the whole thing work as a consistent unity. One of the ways I did that was to score all the cinematics with a symphonic orchestra in a more classical fashion.

If I had to pick out a favourite level it would be Arthurs Grave. Many people never noticed it. But there is actually a choir singing: "Once a king was born – in a kingdom torn" and so forth. The choir is subconsciously providing hints to the player. The score for Arthurs Grave was a journey down the history of music. The music starts by being contemporary in the top part of the level, however as the player progress down the music gets more classical and ancient.


3. What was your favorite song to compose on the Tomb Raider: Legend soundtrack?

I have a few ones. I am proud of the main theme and the end-level theme, since they both incorporate the new and the old Tomb Raider theme. I also enjoy the music from the first vehicle section, the mansion music and the sad voices of Nepal. However the Arthurs Grave level is the stuff I am most proud of. The micro-scores are very fluently connected and I love the way the music gets darker, and darker... and darker... as you dive down.


4. When inspiration is gone and you've got a deadline to make, how do you continue composing your music?

Inspiration is motivation in my world. I am always motivated by deadlines and some of my best tunes are done under pressure. I cannot say it's a good or valid working practice, but it's the sad and unfortunate truth. I used to do a lot of contractual work and I have literally done scores in a matter of hours. It's a part of being professional.

However the best trick for me to stay motivated is reading you guyz. I read the forum every day and I think you would be surprised how much we learn from you.


5. How much does the music from the Tomb Raider Legend soundtrack contribute to the overall feeling and atmosphere of the game?

This is a really good question, but my answer is biased. I believe music is the emotional glue in the game. The music connects the player to the game and makes the game seem more real and present. However music is also a transparent media, which can fulfill many roles. Sometimes you just want the music in the background. Sometimes you want the music to suggest something. Sometimes you want it big, epic and roaring. Sometimes you don't want it at all.

The best way to test this is to turn off the music in the game. Normally people feel the game experience becomes less interesting and feel some sort of emotional detachment. Music is about creating emotion and emotion is key in any experience.

But also keep in mind that half of the audio is non-musical. I have some great colleagues in the audio group who does the sound design and the scripting and implementation. Mike Peaslee is our sound designer and he skillfully created all the ambiences and background sounds. The borderline between music and ambience is really narrow sometimes. Additionally we have a gifted sound engineer, Karl Gallagher, who does all the implementation and scripting. Lara is a great example of perfect sound design and scripting. There are literally hundreds of sounds on Lara. All the sounds of her cloth, breaths, footsteps, weapons, fingers and feet touching surfaces and so forth. All these sounds were carefully scripted, so the player never experiences any repetitive sounds. This took a long time to do, but is a major accomplishment in terms of creating a believable sound environment on Lara. A really funny example is grenades. Mike Peaslee went out and bought several grenades, so we could get the subtle recording of grenades touching each other when she moves around. The attention to sound detail is quite amazing on Tomb Raider Legend, if I may say so myself.


6. What is the order of creating composition (for example, main theme score)? Do you at first appraise concepts, read game scripts and story itself, or even played some older Alfa demo version to feel the atmosphere?

I did not compose for the first 2 months on Tomb Raider Legend. I read all the conceptual documents, story scripts and played the game. I also looked into all the previous Tomb Raider games in order to understand what they did right- and what they did wrong on a musical level. Additionally I watched the two Tomb Raider movies and virtually listened to hundreds of motion picture soundtracks. All this information was compiled into a rather lengthy "soundscape bible", which described how I wanted to do the score and my ambition level with it. It was really important for me to get a motion picture feel in the score. There is quite a lot of blip-blobbish game music out there and I wanted to get far away from that. Games are certainly different from motion pictures, but I still believe we have a lot to learn in terms of quality and fidelity – both in audio and visuals.


7. What are the components/characteristics that make a musical theme suitable for a Tomb Raider game, what should it express, and what shouldn't it express in your opinion?

The Tomb Raider theme was absolutely the hardest part to score in the game.

I wanted the theme to be recognizable. I wanted it to be epic. I wanted it to be emotional. I wanted it to be for everybody. I wanted it to be classic. I wanted it to be modern. I wanted it to be sad. I wanted it to be happy and celebrating. I wanted the old Tomb Raider theme. I wanted the new Tomb Raider theme. I pretty much wanted everything.

So... I ended up doing over 30 different versions of it. I kept on rescoring it, since there was always something wrong with it. However in the end I realized I was trying too hard, so I decided to leave it for a while. One day I came back to it and scored it in a day. I knew it was the right theme – because it had all the components I was looking for. It starts out by playing the old Tomb Raider theme on an ancient ethnic flute called Duduk, which is followed up by a middle-eastern violin playing the new main theme. A beautiful Celtic female voice sings about love and the main theme kicks in with full choir and orchestra and a variety of different percussions. The theme ends with the female voice praising life.


8. What music do you listen to? Has it somehow influenced "Tomb Raider: Legend" soundtrack?

I listen to everything, literally anything. Naturally I listened to all the previous Tomb Raider games and the two movies. But I also listened to Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Pat Metheny, Thomas Newman, Gabriel Yared, David Arnold, Herbie Hancock, Boomjinx, BT, Jerry Goldsmith, Gorecki, Hans Gregory Williams, Don Davis, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, John Williams, James Newton Howard, Edward Shearmur, St. Germain, ES Posthumus, Gustav Holst, Bill Brown, James Horner, John Barry, Trever Rabin, John Adams, Bernard Hermann, Alex North, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Sly and Robbie, Ennio Morricone and to a variety of random streaming radio channels on the internet (winamp rules).


9. What was your most difficult challenge when composing the score for Tomb Raider Legend? Are you planning on working on the music for the next Tomb Raider Game? (if possible)

The most difficult thing about the Tomb Raider Legend score was to make it accessible for every type of person playing the game. On one hand you have to make something distinct and unique. On the other side you also need to follow conventions of motion picture and so forth. Tomb Raider is not an art experiment and it was important for me to do music that everybody can relate to. Some people think is kind of trivial, but it's really the hardest thing to do, which is why very few people got success with it. Naturally you cannot please everybody, but I think the score did a pretty good job on covering a variety of musical styles, while still retaining one, unique feel. Now in terms of the next Tomb Raider project ... my lips are sealed ... though my eyes are sparkling.


10. From which culture have you been inspired by to write this music?

Japaneese, Bolivian, Peruvian, European (Celtic), Armenian, African (Ghana), Russian, Himalayan and the great culture of Crystal Dynamics!

Copyright ©2000 - 2006, www.tombraiderforums.com

Yew

这一篇如果十一月前不能给你,就只有等来年了 :icon_silent:

TombCrow

你选了这一篇?
又要段网了?~~

Yew

明天应该能给你。这些天一直在玩自制关卡,考试,所以没怎么译 :cat:

Yew

#4
 Exclusive Troels Folmann Interview

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1·你之前曾为哪些游戏作过曲,当收到为古墓丽影作曲的邀请时你有什么想法?

和晶体动力的合作始于我读博时在晶体实习,为视频游戏配乐。我很荣幸为他们获奖的FPS游戏《计划:雪盲》制作动画音乐。这一次合作相当

成功且深刻,所以我决定延长在晶体的时间以研究情景音乐和我的小段子谱曲技术。晶体动力的人员非常喜欢我之前的作品,所以我们开始商

量为《古墓丽影:传说》谱曲的可能性,事情就是这样。

但我无法用言语来表达我们讨论为《古墓丽影:传说》谱曲时的喜悦心情。这是我遇到的最棒的机会,我现在还在为他们选择我而感到荣幸。


2·你是怎么制作一支音乐并将它与关卡事融合在一起的?你是怎么将音乐同关卡配合起来的?

《古墓丽影:传说》的所有关卡都是由一些称做"单元"的小型模块所组成的。所以你得想像到每一个关卡都是由许多小关卡构成的。玩游戏

的时候你注意不到这些,因为我们的图像引擎会实时处理。但是我按游戏的每一个单元来分别作曲的,这最后成为一个相当困难且费时的工作

,因为我希望音乐能配合游戏中环境的变化而变化。所以我最后为游戏中所有独立的单元都写了小段子,相信我它们真的有好多。所有的小段

子都无缝地衔接,听起来就像是一个大型的,流畅的音乐。

所有关卡都写的不一样。当我开始写的时候我会花很长时间研究不同的关卡,环境和文化。我希望每一个关卡都有一个代表性的音色,所以我

必须理解游戏每个独立部分中音乐的作用。 在东京(游戏关卡之一,译注)你会听到日本太鼓(Taiko drum)的喧鸣以及美妙的日本竹笛(演

凑难度很高)。在玻利维亚(游戏关卡之一,译注)你会听到排笛。而在非洲(游戏关卡之一,译注)你会听到各种非洲敲打乐器等等。 但是

真正的诀窍是使整件作品听上去像一个统一的整体。我采取的方法是所有动画都用管弦乐以较古典风格来表现。

如果我非要选一个最喜欢的关卡那么就是"亚瑟王陵"。许多人一直没有注意到一个地方。就是那个合唱:"从前有个王——生在乱世中" 等

等。合唱是在向玩家提供暗示。为"亚瑟王陵"谱曲是一次音乐上的历史旅行。音乐在关卡的高潮部分以当代风格响起, 然后随着玩家进程的

深入音乐也越来越古典。


3·《古墓丽影:传说》中你最喜欢的歌曲是什么?

不止一首。我喜欢主题曲以及结束关卡的主题曲,因为它们融合了(体现了)新老《古墓丽影》主题。我也喜欢第一场vehicle section(是不

是追逐战?)的音乐,克劳馥庄园的音乐以及尼泊尔关凄美的声乐。但是"亚瑟王陵"关卡是我最得意的。小段子都衔接地非常流畅而且我喜

欢那种音乐越来越黑暗的方式......那越来越深的感觉......仿佛你在潜水。


4·当灵感消失了而时间又逼着,你是怎么来继续创作的?

灵感是我的动力。我总是被时间驱动着,我有些最棒的旋律就是在重压之下完成的。我不敢说这是一个好的或者有效的工作习惯,但这是事实

。我过去常接大量的限时工作然后花数个小时就悉数搞定。这是作为职业人必须面对的。

但是我保持动力的习惯是就是关注你们。我每天都逛论坛我想你一定会惊讶我们从你们那里了解到多少事情。


5·《古墓丽影:传说》的音乐对游戏整体的气氛有多大的贡献?

这真是个好问题,但是我的答案是有偏见的。我认为音乐是游戏的感情纽带。音乐连接玩家和游戏并且让游戏更加真实难忘。然而音乐也是一

种透明的媒介,可以赋予许多功能。有时你只是希望音乐处在背景中。有时你希望音乐能够暗示什么。有时你希望音乐庞大,雄壮并且震聋发

聩。有时你又不要一点音乐。

检验的最佳方法是在游戏时关掉音乐。通常人们会感到游戏变得不那么引人入胜了并且在心理上感到缺少什么。音乐营造情感而情感是任何感

受的关键。

但是也不要忘记有一半的声音是非音乐的。我有一帮优秀的同事专门从事声音设计、编排及实现。Mike Peaslee是我们的声音设计师,他擅长

制造所有环境声及背景声。音乐和环境声有时区别很小。另外我还有一位天赋极佳的音效工程师,Karl Gallagher,他负责所有声音的编排及

实现。Lara是一个声音设计和编排方面绝佳的例子。围绕Lara有上百种声音。这声音有布料磨擦声,呼吸声,脚步声,武器,手指以及脚接触

在物体表面的声音等等。所有这些声音都经过仔细地编排,因此玩家不会听到任何重复的声音。这项工作很耗时间,但这是为Lara塑造一个可

信的声音环境的一个重要方面。关于手雷有个很搞笑的事情。Mike Peaslee出去买回一堆手雷,因此我们能够得到人物走动时手雷相互碰撞的

细微录音。请允许我王婆卖瓜,用心注意《古墓丽影:传说》的声音细节的话会非常吃惊的。


6·作曲(比方说,主弦律的谱写)时需要什么准备?你是一开始估计构思,阅读游戏脚本和故事,或者乃至体验了较早的Alfa演示版以感受氛围

吗?

头两个月我并没有开始为《古墓丽影:传说》谱曲。我拜读了概念文档,故事脚本并试玩了游戏。我还回顾了之前所有古墓丽影游戏来了解他

们在关卡配乐方面的得失。我还看了两部古墓丽影电影,差不多听了上百部电影原声。所有这些信息加起来无异于一部"声部圣经",告诉我

要怎么谱曲以及我心目中的效果。对我而言,在谱曲的时候产生电影的感觉很重要。有相当多的游戏音乐昙花一现而我希望远远超过它们。游

戏当然不同于电影,但我仍相信在声音和视觉的质量及保真度方面我们还有许多需要学习。(此处Motion picture一律译成了"电影"而不是

"动画",因为Yew觉得不会有那么多动画原声碟,当然这个感觉也许是错的。——译注)


7·什么样的元素/特征才能造就一部适合"古墓丽影"游戏的音乐主题,你认为哪些应该在音乐中表达出来,而哪些不应该?

"古墓丽影"主题绝对是游戏谱曲中最困难的一部分。

我希望这个主题鲜明。我希望它能够雄浑有力。我希望它能够打动人。我希望它适合每一个人。我希望它够古典。我希望它现代。我希望它悲

伤。我希望它愉悦欢快。我希望有过去的古墓丽影主题乐。我希望有新的古墓丽影主题乐。我想尽善尽美。

所以......我最后写了超过30个不同版本的弦律。我不停地记谱,因为总有些问题。但最终我认识到自己太勉强了,所以我决定放一下手。直到

某天我重新投入进去并一气呵成。我知道那就是我希望的弦律——因为它具备我希望的全部元素。弦律开始是由一种叫做Duduk的古笛奏起过去

的古墓丽影主弦律,接着是由中东小提琴(也许是Oud,译注)演绎的新主弦律。优美的凯尔特女声歌唱赞美爱然后主弦律跟进加上大合唱、管

弦乐和各种不同的打击乐。主题以赞美生命的女声结束。


8·你都听什么样的音乐? 有没有对《古墓丽影: 传说》的配乐产生影响?

我什么都听。当然,我听了之前所有的古墓丽影游戏及两部电影。但我也听Hans Zimmer,Howard Shore,Pat Metheny,homas Newman,

Gabriel Yared,David Arnold,Herbie Hancock,Boomjinx,BT,Jerry Goldsmith,Gorecki,Hans Gregory Williams,Don Davis,Danny

Elfman,Alan Silvestri,John Williams,James Newton Howard,Edward Shearmur,St. Germain,ES Posthumus, Gustav Holst,Bill

Brown,James Horner,John Barry,Trever Rabin,John Adams,Bernard Hermann,Alex North,Peter Gabriel,Sting,Sly and Robbie

,Ennio Morricone以及各种随机的网络电台(winamp rules)。


9·你在为《古墓丽影:传说》谱曲过程中最困难的挑战是什么? 你打算为下一部古墓丽影游戏作曲吗?

最困难的就是迎合不同玩家的口味。一方面你得做得不一样且独一无二。另一方面你还要遵循动画和其它等等的套路。古墓丽影不是一个艺术

实验而且对我来说让音乐适合每一个人是非常重要的一件事情。一些人会认为这些不过鸡毛蒜皮, 然而这却是最困难的事情,也是为什么极少

数人在这方面取得成功的原因。当然,你不可能令每一个人满意,但是我认为这一次干得非常漂亮,包含了多种音乐风格,同时保持谐调如一

,又不失自己的特色。关于下一部古墓丽影的计划......我的嘴巴虽然闭着......但我的眼睛充满了闪光。


10·谱曲的时候有哪些文化给你带来过灵感?

日本风,玻利维亚风,秘鲁风, 欧洲风 (凯尔特风),亚美尼亚风, 非洲风(加纳), 俄罗斯风, 喜玛拉雅风还有晶体动力!