Soundtracking in Cinematics

After posting my last video (Gears of War Trailer), I started to think about the implications of adding music to a game cinematic. What positives are taken away from adding music and do they outweigh the cons? As explained in my last post, my personal choice to add a soundtrack to the trailer, seemed to stem from my experience in viewing the original (see below), which could have subconsciously made me believe that this trailer needs music to evoke an emotion, that sound design alone simply can not.

Personally, I think that the original captured the emotion, story line and characterization of Markus Fenix perfectly. The use of the song 'Mad World' could be said to signify the chaotic landscape that the invasion of Locust created. The silencing of sound design is another technique that is used skillfully to possibly portray the isolation of the character in shot (Markus Fenix).

There is another interesting use of music in Gears of War, which would seem more obvious and heart wrenching for gamers who had the joy of battling through all three gears of war campaigns. The clip below is a cinematic from Gears of War 3 and shows the death of the character Dom.

Once you have cleared the tears from your eyes, it is clear that the music is a slightly varied orchestration to 'Mad World'. Firstly, the music brings back the memories of Markus running for his life, all alone in the first Gears of War trailer. Now his best friend is dead.. the loneliness is back.

In this cinematic the sound design is still prominent in the mix, however subtle low pass filtering during the explosions of Dom's death, allow the 'Mad World' music to piece through with the same effect produced by the first Gears of War trailer.

Anyway, just some thoughts!