The art of
Sound and storytelling
Sound and storytelling
SFX heard in trailer: 20+
Revisions: 16
External critique: 3
Coffee counter:
5+
SFX Used:
40+
Hours spent:
15
Check out the first solid export (around version 6) featuring a better edit, voiceover, and music.
Check out the first solid version (around version 6) featuring a better edit, voiceover, and music.
Tools used:
Putting the Puzzle together
From the very beginning, I was piecing together the narrative for the trailer as I generated the visuals. The story centered around the rise of the Shadowborn and the fall of the Lightkeepers. With the storyline in mind, I wrote the script and after around an hour of search and testing I found the perfect voice using ElevenLabs. The voiceover, with its crisp and humbled tone, set the stage for the dark and intense narrative that the trailer would unfold.
The things you can't see but hear
With the narrative in place, I began searching for the right music to match the tone. After an extensive search, I found a no copyright track by an extremely talented composer named Fuzzeke on YouTube that perfectly complemented the story and my narrative. The music was key in creating the emotional journey, starting peacefully and building up tension as the Shadowborn rise to power. This alignment of music and visuals was critical to the overall impact of the storytelling.
Editing the trailer was an intensive process, spanning 15 hours and over 16 revisions. Each iteration was a refinement, focusing on the alignment of visuals, sound, and storytelling. Starting with rough drafts, I gradually integrated SFX around the 7th version, enhancing the narrative. By the 15th version, the visuals were polished, but I continued refining the SFX, transitions, and overall cinematic feel until reaching a version that closely matched my vision.
All together for this project I've licensed 63 assets.
All together for this project I've licensed 63 assets.
No more touchy-touchy
Color grading came in as the final piece of the puzzle, just as I was wrapping up the SFX. The process involved upscaling the trailer from 720p to 4K using TopazLabs AI Video 5, multiple times even before the final cut was fully completed. This was crucial to seeing the true potential of the footages, helping me identify and eliminate any clips that were too weak, lacked detail, or simply didn’t meet the standard. The goal was to ensure that every frame could hold up to industry standards, even if I was just experimenting with my own vision. Despite many revisions I had to keep telling myself: "No more touchy-touchy".
Empty heading.
Conclusion
This trailer represents the culmination of countless hours, revisions, and a commitment to creating something truly impactful. My goal was to keep external VFX to a minimum, ensuring the visuals remained 100% AI-generated— a challenge I set for myself in this project and case study.
The narration was crafted using AI, and the sound design incorporated over 40 SFX elements, all working together to bring the story to life. Despite the feedback and adjustments, I stayed focused on preserving the AI magic while adding the necessary polish to bring everything together. Seeing it all click into place made every late-night tweak worth it.
I was almost there, all remained is just setting the visual tone and branding for the website including the case study. And the website itself of course.
The narration was crafted using AI, and the sound design incorporated over 40 SFX elements, all working together to bring the story to life. Despite the feedback and adjustments, I stayed focused on preserving the AI magic while adding the necessary polish to bring everything together. Seeing it all click into place made every late-night tweak worth it.
I was almost there, all remained is just setting the visual tone and branding for the website including the case study. And the website itself of course.
Check out the first solid export (around version 6) featuring a better edit, voiceover, and music.
Check the FINAL version of the trailer with ONLY SFX, bringing the magical world alive through sound design.
Money spent*1:
$42
External VFX:
2
Assets Licensed*2:
63
Internal Revisions*3:
13
*1: Amount spent for the monthly subscription of Envato Elements (39€/month) if you’re not choosing the annual plan.
*2: The amount of assets licensed through Envato Elements including the 2 transitions, all the sound effects, wordpress template.
*3: The amount of internal revisions I had exporting the video making changes, without any external critique relying only on my intuition
(No I don’t like suffering, but I might be overly maximalist)
*2: The amount of assets licensed through Envato Elements including the 2 transitions, all the sound effects, wordpress template.
*3: The amount of internal revisions I had exporting the video making changes, without any external critique relying only on my intuition
(No I don’t like suffering, but I might be overly maximalist)