How 'Arcane' broke the video game curse one sound at a time

Based on Riot Games' popular "League of Legends," Netflix's "Arcane" quickly became a hit show for Netflix. It knocked "Squid Game" off the most-watched charts for the streamer and received rave reviews - a rare feat for a video game adaptation. "Arcane" not only won the Annie Awards, it's now nominated for two Emmys: Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation.

"We spent a lot of time trying to recreate the unique in-game sounds that stood out while playing, and eventually found out that we could just use those iconic sounds as is and they worked", Eliot Connors, sound editor co-supervisor, told IndieWire.

The key to "Arcane" is that it's not a direct adaptation of the game, but rather a loose prequel. The show focuses on the rivalry between sisters Jinx (Ella Purnell) and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld), two fan-favorite characters from the "League of Legends" who are caught in a war between the prosperous and technologically advanced city of Piltover. and the oppressed underground of Zaun, while the discovery of magic - here called Hextech - promises to change everything. The show is beautifully animated by French studio Fortiche, which has a long working relationship with video game studio Riot. (After the release of "Arcane", Riot reinforced this relationship by making a significant investment in Fortiche.)

Riot oversaw all aspects of the production of "Arcane," a rarity in video game adaptations, which gave sound designers a unique opportunity. “We came to the project quite early after it was greenlit to take the time to play and explore,” co-supervising sound editor Brad Beaumont told IndieWire. Beaumont, who works full-time at Riot with Connors, said the team came up with the sound for "Arcane" while the show was still in the animatic and storyboard phase. "We were a big part of the creative process and actually had a seat at the table to make calls or make suggestions on what might or might not be good for the story, even just on the storyboards."< /p>

"Arcane"

Due to the time it takes to produce an animation, it also allowed "Arcane" to be a rare show where the sound impacted the images on screen and not just the other way around . “A lot of artists could take the sounds that we designed and scripted around them,” Connors added.

"Arcane" stood out from most animated television shows because of the way it used the lighting, camera movement and cinematic techniques of live action and brought them to life. applied to animation. The result is absolutely stunning, and that live-action influence has also applied to the sound of the show,...