Research

I was inspired by the Japanese-style horror games for the story setting and plot since most of them are more focused on the general horror vibe of the unsettling environment and share a similar culture to Hong Kong. The stories of these games were mostly related to humans and ghosts, with disturbing hidden secrets.

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In “Corpse Party”, students and teachers are sent to a long-abandoned Tenjin Elementary School to perform a spell ritual. They must avoid the haunting spirit, gather to perform the ritual again and escape the school. In “IB”, one character’s action will affect the others, their environment, and the ending. In “The Witch House”, there is a hidden secret that the character you play is the true witch the whole time, and you can only find this secret by playing the game differently. 

“Variables” utilized some of the horror elements of these games and adapted a new world setting, storyline and characters that are more related to Hong Kong. However, since the presenting medium is different, how to transform the ideas from the game mechanism to conversations and dialogues that can achieve a similar result will be difficult. Therefore, the characters' conversion must be carefully designed to progress the story while keeping the secret till almost the end with subtle clues throughout the audio drama. The speaking tone of the characters and the sounds have to be carefully designed and performed to achieve the effect that I would like to have.  

I have searched for multiple websites and audio dramas to try to get suitable background music and sound effects. For example, “BioShock: A Radio Drama”, “The Gathering”, and “Beneath” study the sound effects and the acting of the voice actors. Since audio drama only contains sounds, the differentiation of the characters is mainly using their voice and speaking tone. Therefore, when “Variables” are in the recording process, the voice actor’s voice should quickly identify one’s identity. Also, the sound effects used should focus on the action can help with the story. Other sounds can be added, but the action that shows the character’s emotion and is related to the major plot development should be identified easily. 

I searched for the insert music in horror and thriller movies and games. Most horror movies use a high-pitched sound and fast tempo to mimic the chase, for example, "Jaws" and "Five Nights at Freddy's". However, I would like to take an approach to use more disturbing and depressing music to mimic the oppressive atmosphere of the story, for example, "Dead Silence", "Memory" from "IB", and "Misao" from "Misao". Using simple instruments but creepy melodies creates an intense and horror atmosphere that matches the story's theme. Therefore, most of the music that appears in the audio drama will be composed or selected based on this kind of style while some of them will have a faster tempo to mimic the chase and tense between the characters.