A very in-depth and enlightening discussion with Formosa Group Re-Recording Mixers MATTHEW CHAN and LOU SOLAKOFSKI, Sound Designer BRENNAN MERCER, and Supervising Sound Editor JANE TATTERSALL talking the soundscape of the Paramount+ tv series, HALO.
Starring Pablo Schreiber and Yerin Ha, HALO brings the blockbuster video game series to the television as aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown.
Ever since moviegoers heard Al Jolsen’s voice on the silver screen in the first-ever “talkie” in 1927, The Jazz Singer, sound has been an integral part of storytelling in film and television. We not only want to hear voices and dialogue spoken, but we want to be immersed with ambient notes and aural textures that imbue the worlds on-screen with life, particularly when we are transported to galaxies far, far away or when video games jump from handheld consoles to the big screen. We want to fully experience those worlds and this is where sound and a sound team becomes so necessary.
Many (actually, many many many) know HALO as a vast interactive video game series focusing on futuristic conflicts between humanity and various alien species featuring the breakout hero, Master Chief. And now that video game has been adapted as the television series HALO which streams on the Paramount+ network. In the world of video games, sound design is equally, if not more important than in film and television productions. It does the same thing by establishing worlds and heightening the gaming experience with experiential sound. If you then think that it’s easy to take a video game with all of its parts and just plunk it into a television series you’d be wrong. Adapting HALO into a television series is an intricate and involved process that necessitates originality on every level, making this more than just a video game on a bigger screen. It involves expanding worlds, nuance, ingenuity, creativity, experimentation, and more. And that’s when producers knock on the door of Formosa Group and its award-winning teams.
Supervising Sound Editor JANE TATTERSALL, Sound Designer BRENNAN MERCER, and Re-Recording Mixers MATTHEW CHAN and LOU SOLAKOFSKI have crafted a masterful soundscape for HALO, bringing emotion and excitement, trepidation and fear, galactic and boots-on-the-ground warfare, and more to life with a vibrancy and vitality that immerses you within this 26th-century world.
Speaking with this Fab Four team, they dug deep into the sound design, edit, and mix for HALO discussing first and foremost, the reverence for the video game series, noting that “anything that’s already established in the game, we wanted to have the utmost respect for. When it came to signature sound and the game’s iconic sounds, anything that could be related to something that was already established in the game, and each time an element like that came up in an episode, we would contact [343, the video game team]. They would get back to us with these really elaborate kinds of complex answers either about the technology itself or the philosophy behind it and would give us the source sessions that they use with all the ingredients that make up each sound. Then we can take that and use those elements to create the same thing for context and perspective with the show.” It was then up to the Formosa soundies to build the television series aural world.
Going step-by-step through their process for the sound work, the discussion turns to specific sounds like Spartan uniforms, Lou Solakofski’s work on the vocal sounds from Master Chief’s helmet and the emotionality and force required, ziplining through space, the importance of silence, Foley work, Brennan Mercer’s concept for designing the sound of “energy” surrounding Master Chief’s ship, the rationale for deciding upon the sound of space outside of a ship, airborne and non-airborne sounds, “carving and shaping” battle sequences line by line to achieve a perfect mix between ambiance, dialogue, effects, music, and Foley, spatially moving music cues, sound effects, retooling based on visual re-edits, creating specific sounds that aren’t typically in a sound library, e.g., plasma weapons, and so much more.
A truly interesting and enlightening conversation about some very award-worthy work.
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 04/12/2022
