Diablo III Cinematic Trailer - Re-Scored

[fivefathom]

Hey everyone,

I'm a composer and a fan of the Diablo series - I recently took a shot at replacing the music in the original cinematic trailer from Blizzard for my portfolio. Russell Brower and team do a fantastic job on the Diablo stuff, but I wanted to try something different and decided to share it. Hope you enjoy it if you check it out :)

www.fivefathomstudios.com (first video at the top)

mario

[KSevenThreeSK]

It's a good job, no doubt - but I just...Don't think it matches the game style (in my opinion only), no offense meant to be made if seen.

[grShaman]

feelings I got watching the original d3 trailer:
despair, helplessness, not even death can save us, we're screwed.

feelings I got watching this trailer:
damn, cool game!

I believe the primary thing a composer should think of, is "what feelings are people gonna get watching this?"
of course it's very well made, great job.

[Septar]

Pleasantly surprised to be honest. But the style to me seems like something that would fit HG:L more than it would Diablo.

[Flux]

I thought this version was nice, but a little slow and lacking in intensity for the ending series of fast cuts of action. And then I watched the original and was surprised; it's not as I remembered. I expected mostly a mostly instrumental classical score, like the other d3 music samples we've heard, but the intro trailer is almost entirely Middle Eastern style wordless vocals. which you wouldn't think would fit the visuals at all, but do work pretty well, in a kind of intentionally-discordant style.

The original D3 cinematic:
puKC5W8U3WI


Have you got an embeddedable version, Mr. Five Fathom? I'd do a main page post about if I could stick the two videos into the same post, for easy fan comparison.


Also, check out his Halo 3 cinematic re-score. Very nice blending of the music to the visuals. Must be really hard to time the music to the video when you're not editing the video along with it.

[fivefathom]

Hey everyone,

Sorry I missed these great comments - thank you for your feedback. I hope you're listening with subs or headphones - the bass really pushes both the DIII and Halo pieces ;)

With both trailers I tried to tell a story with the music as much as possible. With two such established games, I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to create something that hopefully resonates with the viewer, while giving their ears something new.

Will these links help? I've got m4v and flv versions up on my server:
http://www.fivefathomstudios.com/samples/video/Diablo_III_5FS.m4v
http://www.fivefathomstudios.com/samples/video/Diablo_III_edit.flv

Thanks for checking more pieces, Flux! The Halo trailer in particular was originally mostly voiceover, so it was a real challenge to try and lead the visuals with only music and some sound effects later on. And you're right about making music to fit a video that already has strong pacing edited into it, but finding those movements is when the real magic happens for me as a composer!

Thanks again,
mario - fivefathom

[fivefathom]

Hey Flux - having trouble emailing you back - my ip is getting rejected by your server ;)

Hopefully you get this!

[Flux]

Thanks for the files. I don't know why the email seemed not to work; I got both of your mails just fine.

[Varquynne]

feelings I got watching the original d3 trailer:
despair, helplessness, not even death can save us, we're screwed.

I have similar sentiments regarding the feel of the original D3 reveal cinematic. Though, I think Leah's narration goes a long way towards establishing that vibe. The re-score doesn't have the narration, and that probably contributes significantly to the mood it generates. That said, I like the re-scored version. I love the sound of the strings. Also from 1:07 to 1:13, the bells are fantastic, but I'm not sure about the drums. Great work, Mario!