The Movies - 3 years

According to Adrian Moore - our Lead Designer - and lots of other people playing the game, there's some very cool music in The Movies. And the word is, the radio channel is very funny and original. We asked John Silke a few questions about the radio and sound effect in the game...

LHx: Where did you get your inspiration for the music and who did the DJ voices?

John Silke: The music is very very cool. I wish I could tell you I wrote it, but it has all been composed and recorded by a young man called Daniel Pemberton. He is a freelance musician who has some close ties with Lionhead Studios. He works from his home in London and comes in to the office here in Guildford in his gold Rolls Royce occasionally.
Nearly all the music has been recorded using real musicians, including a large orchestra for some pieces. I was privileged to be present at a session in Angel Studios in London, where Daniel was recording some of the tracks with a jazz orchestra.

The radio is indeed great. This was something I really wanted to get into the game from soon after I joined the Movies team. Before the radio idea, you just heard Daniel's in-game music as you walked around the lot.

I thought it would be more fun, and would break it up if there were DJ's speaking in-between the songs and it was heard as if it was coming from radios in the movie lot, on say the burger van.

Together with BAFTA winning writer James Leach, I developed Radio station KMVS 121.5, the radio station that brings you all the music of the movies. We created DJ's for different periods. Such as DJ Whispering Kristen, who will be heard throughout the 1990's period.

Obviously I was somewhat inspired by Vice-City, and with this in mind we have tried not to compete with them. They have nailed the satirical radio and funny phoney adverts to a tee, so it would be pointless to copy them.

As for the voice talent, the music star Jamie Cullum kindly supplied the voice for DJ English Hughie for next to nothing, as he is a big fan of films, videogames and he's just very nice guy. And Kyle Eastwood ( Clint Eastwoods son) voices another DJ.

Actually there's a funny story about getting Kyle Eastwood to voice DJ Andy Wright. When I first thought of the radio idea, I wanted the 70's DJ to be like Dave Garver, Clint Eastwood's smooth talking Radio DJ in the great film, Play Misty For Me. Obviously you're not going to get Clint Eastwood to resurrect Dave Garver for a videogame, so I thought about someone who might embody the spirit of that character.

I tried asking a few people on a list I'd drawn up, but they were all unavailable. Well, one day a couple of months ago I was in the bath listening to the radio. Someone was being interviewed, an American jazz musician. I thought, this guy might be good for the voice of DJ Andy Wright. And he must be in Britain as he's on Radio 2 right now.

At the end of the interview it said “that was Kyle Eastwood'. The next day I casually mentioned this to my friend Ben who said “oh I know him, here's his mobile number”. So I called Kyle and he said, “Sure, I'll do it”. I met up with him at Ben's studio the next week and we recorded it, easy as that. Then we sat and watched Dirty Harry. It was great fun. Surreal, but fun.

LHx: Can you be as creative as you want with the music and sound in game or do you have to follow certain guidelines?

John: Lionhead have given me total creative freedom for the sounds, and they've given Daniel the same with the music.

LHx: Could you say something more about sound effects which the player can use when making movies?

John: The player will be able to add their own voice track, which the characters will then lip sync to. They will also be able to choose what music they want for their movie.

LHx: Let's say you've got a scene where someone opens a door. What sound does that door make and can the player adjust it?

John: Each event will have a suitable Sound Effect already in the animation. So the player will not be able to adjust that. The player can choose to use their own sound effects from the library of effects in the game.

LHx: So how were the characters of the DJs developed?

John: James Leach came up with them. He decided on a few humorous traits which he wanted each DJ to display, and which get funnier the more you listen to them. Then he just did the classic James thing of creating hundreds of classic, hilarious lines for each character.

LHx: Did you record/create any samples yourself?

John: Oh yes. Hundreds of them. I'd say the sounds in this game are half taken from purchased CD Sound Effects libraries and half created by myself. When I first joined the Movies I sat down with Adrian Moore, and we decided it would be a good idea to have many original sounds in this game. Sounds the player will never have heard before. It's amazing how annoying hearing the same sound effect again and again in different movies, and games and TV shows can be.

LHx: Where did you get these sounds from?

John: I have recorded in various places over the last year and a half from the Surrey countryside to New York City.

LHx: Did you get any help creating them?

John: Various voice actors, including the ones I mentioned above. When I was in New York, I went round to a friend's apartment where I recorded their daughter Lily and her friend Louisa recording some non speaking voice parts for the game. Sounds like giggles, yawning, coughing sneezing. All sounds that need recording. We made an ad-hoc recording booth using blankets and chairs and whatever we could utilise. It was a scream to do and gave me some great results.

I heard Engelbert Humperdinck recorded vocals for one of his albums in a toilet once. If it's good enough for Enge!

LHx: What did you exactly record then?

John: I have recorded hundreds of sounds from the sound of a police car in Central Park, to the sound of myself splashing around in the bath in my flat.

LHx: Do you have any tips for people who want to create their own sound samples?

John: To record good quality sounds, you need a portable DAT machine, a good quality microphone and preferably a very quiet, deadened room.
If you can't afford a DAT machine a mini disc recorder will do a reasonable job. Heck, even a tape recorder. Use whatever you can get your hands on.

You might want to draw the line at using wax cylinder though.

LHx: Thank you very much for answering our questions John! Good luck with all sounds and we'll keep an ear on your work.