Author: Benjamin K.Sam (Page 1 of 7)

google doc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uKCOuGgdVZZdq6pfBe7IZigmATEUvyDBfZFwgd76qrw/edit?usp=sharing

 

Unit One(revised)

 

As I grow older, I crave wanting to go out and explore the world more and more. I can’t wait for the day when I can sit down in a random bar in a random country and just chat with a random person. While I do my school work I often listen to podcasts to make the time I spend doing the work more enjoyable at the moment my favorite podcast to listen to is trash taste; they usually just talk about random dumb stuff; but every now and again they go on tangents about their life growing up in another country, traveling and living in different countries, I always found it interesting.  I often compare their school life with mine, being intrigued by the similarities and the differences, hearing the stories of their school life always made me think of when something like that happened to me and their stories helped unlock memories I would have otherwise forgotten. I’ve noticed that people often remember personal experiences from school more than lessons or information that they learned. These experiences, whether positive or negative, tend to have a greater impact on them. In the 12 or so years we spend in school we take away not the lessons created by the school board and teachers but the random lessons we get from when we reflect on our special moments in school when we tell our stories.

 

Positive experiences and memories can teach us valuable lessons about how to get along with others and contribute to our overall happiness. I remember in my senior year of high school one of the teachers was moving to another school because it was a better opportunity and we were all happy for him, that day we had a fire drill so my grade decide to give him one final farewell and it was one of the most heartwarming things I can remember from the time I spent at that school and now I can take that memory with me for the rest of my life. These memories are one of the main things that shape me without them. I can’t imagine what kind of person I would be without them. In the beginning of my freshmen year i hated that fact that i was put in this school and i was committed to transfer but  as i started build connections with classmates and teachers I ended up not wanting to leave anymore because of all the friends I made that school almost became like a second home. 

 

I remember one day in middle school, that day everyone had to leave the building and to this day I’m not entirely sure why we had to, other than apparently there was an intruder. But all of my teachers were calm and they even let my class who had gym at the time, go up and get our jackets. Even though it was probably a situation where everyone should be on edge; I don’t remember anyone being scared. I remember being in a circle one cold early afternoon in February and talking to my friends to pass the time. I remember being huddled in a circle to try to keep warm and every now and then one of us jumped in a place like a penguin because that is what one of our teachers told us every time we complained that we were cold she’d say “jump up and down, it a good way to stay warm, it’s what penguins do” and jump up in down in place in a demonstration. We were outside for a long while but it wasn’t a bad time at all in fact I cherish that memory.

 

Looking back at that moment made me realize that as important as getting an education is, I feel like making friends is just as important if not greater. As I went through the grades I never woke up at 6 am excited to go learn about Aristotle the legendary Greek philosopher I when excited to talk about Dc vs marvel with my friends. When I think of all the most significant moments in school I had, me and my friends I made in school were a core part of it whether it be shenanigans in class that got us sent to the principal office or us competing with our grades of who can do the best in the next quiz. As Aristotle said, “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual.”. When I learned this quote I completely brushed it under the carpet in my mind but going over that moment in February made me realize how important socializing really is.

 

I can’t tell you exactly why but having friends to create memories with is one of the best things about life. I wholeheartedly feel that even if I didn’t have the highest GPA in my school or I didn’t have any crazy achievements in my school, I still feel like I succeeded all the same because I was able to truly enjoy my time at school. The valedictorian of my school made a bunch of sacrifices in order to achieve his goal. He never did talk to anyone if it didn’t involve school work and he never seemed to have a life outside of school as much as I respected him, I do not want to have to go through school like that. I don’t like the idea that the only way to succeed in school is to sacrifice your social life; it’s definitely possible to do both. Maybe I’m wrong or biased towards the social aspect of school way more than I am toward the learning aspect. But I feel like the best way to do school is to balance the social part and the learning part perfectly. 

 

Unit Two(revised)

What is music’s role in video games?

 

As I grow older, I reflect on how I’m spending my time on this world and without a doubt I can say a majority of it was spent either playing video games or watching people play video games and I don’t regret it. From watching an orange British cat play Minecraft on an Xbox 360 to me playing Call of Duty with my friends and arguing with them about who is letting the team down. Across all the games I’ve experienced, the thing that sticks out the most, the thing that allows me to remember the experiences I had with these games is the music. It’s so weird that it wasn’t the gameplay or the story of the game, it was the music. For something that feels so minor has such an important role in the game. I want to know what makes music in games so important? What is music’s role and how exactly can it be used to create such memorable moments? I expect to find many people stating the obvious like saying that the music in games is there to make the players experience better by setting the tone and to fill in the boring silence there would be without music. But I want to go in a level deeper, I want to know how game developers make their music decisions and how the music they use create such memorable moments. 

 

Title is  “Adaptive Music (In Gaming) Is Amazing”

The author goes by “Noodle” 

 

A somewhat notable youtuber creates a video displaying not only the reason music is important in video games but how music can be used in games. He also uses examples of what he thinks are good examples of the music that is used in video games which is called Adaptive Music. The video uses nice visuals and comedy to maintain the viewers attention. The visuals consist of cute pictures of the creator’s character. I think the main use of these visuals is to express his ideas in an entertaining way. After a joke to open the video he starts by asking the viewer to think of their favorite song from a game or soundtrack and then telling them that “no matter what you thought of the music it did make your experience with the game better, right?” and with this statement he introduces Adaptive music stating “yea, that what adaptive music is about, the music adapting to what’s up here(him referring to his video)”. He goes on to explain that  creating a game that has timed transition based on what’s happening in the games is very difficult and confusing to do, then he introduces two options a game developer can do that, one of which is that the music just fades in and out, which he makes apparent that  is  very boring for a game to do and two adaptive music, Noodle explains that there are a few ways games can do adaptive music. One way is called mixing horizontally  which is just going from song to song or the transitioning which is as he mentioned earlier is kind of boring. The other way a game can do adaptive music is to mix vertically which is when a game  uses a different version of the same song in different areas of the game to create a different vibe, so for example there be the main bit of music when the player is just walking around in a normal area and if the player we to go under water for instance the tone would shift or the same song would be play by a different instrument . 

 

I was able to take way a lot from this video, the way Noodle set up this video so anyone could understand the what he is trying to explain his point and he does it in a way so that is entertaining so his audience will pay attention, his audience being people who has an interest in games. This video was very useful in figuring out how game developers make the music in games go with their media so nicely to create memorable melodies by timing the music’s transition perfectly with a change in scenes or areas.  

 

“The power of video game music”

By nakey jakey 

 

In another video I found on youtube by a different creator called “the power of video game music” by a man that goes by the name NakeyJakey a youtuber with decent following and creates videos mainly about video games made this video, a video talking the music of video games impact on the actual player and how the music creates a lasting effect on the player. And he shows his points by using examples from various games and explaining how the music had its effect. Jake begins the video by telling the audience that “video game music is kind of crazy, in the sense that it’s not like anything else..”  accompanying this statement are just various clips of video games. Jake doesn’t really use any unique visuals to catch his audience’s attention. Instead, I think he’s playing into his strength and creating and telling jokes to maintain the audience’s attention. For example Jake uses this topic of music to create jokes by creating very bad rap using the music in one of the games he is talking about to make his video entertaining to his audience. Throughout the video jake first mentions the music in games that tells the player the overall feeling of the game and how it positively impacts the player. For example he mentions Vice City GTA(a 2006 mob game) and how the music in that game makes him feel like he is Scarface(a 1983 mob movie) like he’s taking part in illegal activities in the game he feels like a gangster. He goes on to mention that music in games is also a way to let a player know what to do or what’s going to happen with outright telling the player, he mentions resident evil(a horror game) and how safe rooms always played the same music gave a huge relief for the player because now they are sure that they are safe. He adds here that because the players of games spend so much time listening to the game’s music it will stick to the player along with the game’s impression and how good the game was to the player. 

 

While I do feel like this source is a bit unprofessional compared to the other sources I’ve found, I think that NakeyJake’s points are very well said in that music has a very emotional impact to the players that play the games. I like how he edited the video to sync with the music he used to drive home his point. This whole video showed music’s role in games which is to make it so that games have a lasting impression by using music to create a vibe for the player or to surprise the player with a really memorable moment they will take with them for the rest of their life.  

 

“Hail the nightmare: music sound and materiality in bloodborne (Kolassa #)”

By Alexander Kolassa

 

The article paints an in depth picture of how the game starts and its overall atmosphere. As mentioned in the article, Bloodborne is created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, Who is famous for his brand of games which are very difficult and very punishing but at the same time very gratifying to play and finish. Most of Miyazaki’s games are baseds off of knights and dragons none of these games are really meant to insight fear on the player, Bloodborne stands out the most, being based on Lovecraftian horror. He goes on to mention the games music and how it well it goes with the gameplay,  “Bloodborne’s tortured and twisting, temporally unstable score – the one that rears its head with the arrival of the game’s monsters” Kolassa calling the music tortured and unstable to show how unnerving music is in the game. FromSoftware put an incredible amount of effort into the music using six different composers working through multiple years. The style they chosen was Victorian gothic, they were going for a very dark and gloomy feeling for the music, they aimed to create music to both unnerve and enchant the player. Hp Lovecraft, an american writer who’s short stories are most known for producing an overwhelming sense of sheer hopeless and terror these stories are thought to be impossible to turn into any visual media but with a terrifying marriage of music and gameplay bloodborne is able to do the impossible.  Kolassa goes on to add and example of how music adds to the experience of gameplay the chorus of the score for one of the boss fights is sung by a male choir in Latin and how the notes were used to add to the uncomfortable feeling like the player is witnessing a satanic cult.

 

I like how Kolassa written this article, he written in in a way describe the world of the game in such a way so that someone how hadn’t play the game could understand. His points on the amount of effort the composers made to match the feeling of the game really caught me off guard and allow me to understand the amount of effort that went into the game. To leave it’s mark on the player, bloodborne uses it’s most defining feature its music to create a lasting impression on the player. 

 

In the end,  it amazes me how hard it is to make music for games and how many small moving parts there are in adding music in games from vertically and horizontally mixing to making the decision if music should be the center of the scene or to let it be in the background just to aid the passing moments in the games. More game developers should do this using music like this may be a pain but in the long run it will make your game a lot more memorable. If there is anything at all you should take away from this, is that musics isn’t just a sound to go along with the game you are playing, it is a device that used in many different ways in order to leaves its mark on you, it’s so when you remember the time you played that game you think of the music and remember your epic fight you had against the games boss and you get a smile on your face.  NakeyJakey put it the best “music is an insanely valuable tool especially when creating video games… music isn’t really just music anymore it is something intangible that has been stapled to your identity as a reminder of what you love to do ”. 

 

Works Cited

Jake. The power of video game music. Sep 15, 2016. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6ju5UGN9XM.

Kolassa, Alexander. “Hail the nightmare: music sound and materiality in bloodborne.” 25 October 2019. http://citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=145303807&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Noodle. “Adaptive Music (In Gaming) Is Amazing.” Youtube, Jul 7, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLd5wmBNCBM&t=83s.

 

Unit Three

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYcRSjiT1xU 

 

Artist Statement 

When we were told to come up with a topic to research about i first chose how childrens programing change over the years but after a few days of fruitless research i decided to completely change my topic. Because one, i wasn’t really interested in the topic i picked and two i recently competed the game Bloodborne and was was really inpirsed by it’s music. So i decided to based my topic around that and eventually I landed on musics role in video games. I do feel my topic is a bit light compare to my colleges but i didn’t want to do a heavy topic because researching somthing like is just depressing and I feel like it be kind of nice to bring attend to the music in games.     

 

 Before I started this project i wasn’t sure at all what I was going to do for it. At first i wanted to do a powerpoint because it was simple, easy and to the point but I came to the conclusion that it made no sense for my topic. So then I had the idea to make a short video essay much like the video i used in my research because my topic is basic of the music in games so i have to use the video to showcase the music and explain how the music is used. But then came figure the plan for a video which was a bit of an issue but in due time i figured it out, how to layout the video. I want to try my best to maintain the viewer’s attention so i made a the video around a family guy clip to keep everything somewhat entertaining. Planning the video made me realized that this genre is really good for my to topic because  i can present everything to the viewer in a neat package. 

 

While working on this project a problem quick emerged, this is my first video ever editing and i had no idea how to edit. So i had to stumble my way through though the editing software i was using and research and ask my friends for help on how to download videos and sync my voice with the video. Soon i was able to create a short of flow and understand how to use the software but just when i thought i figured everything out and finish the video i could not for the life of me figure out how to upload the video from the software. But after a while i did figure it out but it to too long and it would make me end up finishing everything late and deciding last minute to write out a transcript for closed captioning for video because there were points where my mic bugged out or the music was too loud and you could hear my voice clearly didn’t really help my cause either . 

 

At first i wanted to make a longer video taking bout 4 different types of games like Elden ring, bloodborne, Undertale and red dead and the the two ways adaptive music is used in those games but i soon realized after seeing my colleagues works and remembering that i don’t really that kind of time to make a 15 minute video. Looking back i think it was a good idea to keep the video short because i feel like with my kind of topic i think the video will just end up dragging on and putting everyone who watch it to sleep and if I’m being honest with myself the video will just me gushing about the music in games that i’ve played. But still i had a fun time doing this project and because of this project i was able to get a grasp on video editing and i feel like if i were to do this project over again i would be able to do it faster and make something better than this video. 

 

Final Reflection

Throughout my first semester in college i’ve learned many things about myself as a writer. Only at the end of this semester is when I realized for the first time that the stuff I learnt throughout middle school and high school are stuff I’m actually using in college. During my time in English in high school I always thought that my writing was very plain and that it had nothing to do with my personality. But with these few projects I was given the task of completing. I was able to truly figure out my voice. Looking back, even as early as the first project I can actually see my voice in my writing especially with my anecdotes throughout the paper. 

 

However  with this discovery I also see a few flaws like how I tend to use some of these anecdotes to pad out the word count in a paper just to reach the word count for that paper, and these anecdotes tend to take away more than they add to my papers. Like in my first paper how I talked about the teacher who left the school, “ I remember in my senior year of high school one of the teachers was moving to another school…”, that story wasn’t completely necessary to my overall point of this paper which was “we should care about socializing as much as we do learning”. I learned that I do this because there is a word count I need to meet but I don’t know how to add it to the paper correctly. But I am still quite happy on how this paper turned out.

 

During this semester I learned many big and small things about writing and with this knowledge I can apply this to many aspects of my life. For instance, all that i learned on analyzing sources can first, be used to truly understand multifaceted and ongoing topics so I don’t jump the gun and assume one party is in the wrong and the other is in the right, but also I can apply all the skills I learned analyzing sources and use them in order to understand the story in tv shows and games I can pay attention to all the little details and choices the author chooses to add and figure out the full story which allows me to appreciate these types of media more. Going back to sources I also found really interesting youtube channels that tackle subjects I’m interested in like Coffizilla and noodle to name some. And now as I go on to my next semester I can use all of these things. I may have struggled with a few other things like editing a video or meeting word counts or finding good sources and have a better time doing them because I have a more of an understanding of them. And even the youtube channels i found can help me in the long run with a good steam of ideas and topics i can be ready for the next project that ask to find a topic to research about and put myself in a corner with a topic that is too simple or i don’t completely understand or care about like my first initial topic i had for the second unit paper. 

 

While i’m glad I changed the topic to what i’ve changed to, I can’t help to feel like there was a better topic i could have used for my topic. The topic was “what is music’s role in video games” and while this is a fun and interesting topic for me i felt like my audience i was writing this for wasn’t exactly clear and i could have chosen a topic that could reach out to a clearer group of audience. Overall i have many regrets with this unit, i don’t really dislike my topic that much for this topic i think the main thing i have a problem with is the video i created for it. While the video gets its point across my main issue with it is the audio i recorded for it, i never expect for sound mixing for a video to be so fickle and to make matter worse i think my microphone was pretty bad at times, granted it could be the fact that i really detest the sound of my voice but one i know for sure i mess up was mixing the sound for the video. However with this experience i believe in the next i can use all the experience i gained bad or good  to completely crush my next semester.