Music as temporal disruption in Assassin’s Creed | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Volume 11, Issue 1-2
  • ISSN: 1751-4193
  • E-ISSN: 1751-4207

Abstract

The video game series incorporates real-world historical elements. While some historically derived musical elements are referenced from the time period and geographic setting of the game, in the first game of the series, (2007), these historical snippets are subsumed within a modern musical setting emphasizing digital sound. The effect is a bleeding-over of ancient with modern that mirrors the plot of the game. This new spin on the time travel narrative creates a disconnect for the player and invokes disruption in a number of ways: through plots, visual distortions and sound/music effects. Musically, disruptions invoke a sense of aural discomfort in the player, which mimics aspects of the game narrative such as the protagonist’s physical distress. In order to better understand the interrelationship between these components, this article uses graphic transcriptions to categorize the musical, visual and narrative functions into and components.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ts_00005_1
2019-08-01
2024-04-18
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Adams, Ernest. ( 2014), Fundamentals of Game Design, , 3rd ed.., Thousand Oaks, CA:: New Riders Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alvarado Villa, Jose Ramón. (Don Solaris) ( 2016;), ‘ Interview with Jesper Kyd. ’, Gearslutz.com: The No. 1 Website for Pro Audio, 1 December, https://www.gearslutz.com/board/q-a-with-jesper-kyd/1125891-q-jesper-kyd.html. Accessed 16 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Collins, Karen. ( 2013), Playing with Sound: A Theory of Interacting with Sound and Music in Video Games, Cambridge:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Cook, Karen. ( 2018;), ‘ Beyond (the) Halo: Chant in video games. ’, in K. Fugelso. (ed.), Studies in Medievalism XXVII: Authenticity, Medievalism, Music, Cambridge:: Boydell & Brewer;, pp. 183200.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Deaville, James. ( 2010;), ‘ The beauty of horror: Kilar, Coppola, and Dracula. ’, in N. Lerner. (ed.), Music in the Horror Film, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 187205.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Huron, David. ( 2006), Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Lind, Stephanie. ( 2016;), ‘ Active interfaces and thematic events in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. ’, in M. Austin. (ed.), Music Video Games: Performance, Politics, and Play, New York:: Bloomsbury Academic;, pp. 83106.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Neumeyer, David. ( 2015), Meaning and Interpretation in the Music of Cinema, Bloomington, IN:: Indiana University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Salen Tekinbas, Katie, and Zimmerman, Eric. ( 2004), Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Sapieha, Chad. ( 2017;), ‘ How Ubisoft Montreal used historians to make Ancient Egypt authentic in Assassin’s Creed Origins. ’, Financial Post, 27 October, http://business.financialpost.com/technology/gaming/how-ubisoft-montreal-used-historians-to-make-ancient-egypt-authentic-in-assassins-creed-origins. Accessed 10 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Spence, D.. ( 2007;), ‘ Interview: Jesper Kyd and Assassin’s Creed. ’, IGN, 11 December, http://ca.ign.com/articles/2007/12/12/jesper-kyd-and-assassins-creed. Accessed 10 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Stuart, Keith. ( 2010;), ‘ Assassin’s Creed and the appropriation of history. ’, The Guardian, 10 November, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2010/nov/19/assassin-s-creeed-brotherhood-history. Accessed 21 August 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Truax, Barry. ( 2017;), ‘ Acoustic space, community, and virtual soundscapes. ’, in M. Cobussen,, V. Meelbert, and B. Truax. (eds), The Routledge Companion to Sounding Art, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 25364.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. van Elferen, Isabella. ( 2016a;), ‘ Analyzing game musical immersion: The ALI model. ’, in M. Kamp,, T. Summers, and M. Sweeney. (eds), Ludomusicology: Approaches to Video Game Music, Sheffield:: Equinox Publishing;, pp. 3252.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. van Elferen, Isabella. ( 2016b;), ‘ Introduction: Sonic horror. ’, Horror Studies, 7:2, pp. 16572.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Winters, Ben. ( 2008;), ‘ Corporeality, musical heartbeats, and cinematic emotion. ’, Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, 2:1, pp. 325.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Lind, Stephanie. ( 2020;), ‘ Music as temporal disruption in Assassin’s Creed. ’, The Soundtrack, 11:1&2, pp. 5773, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/ts_00005_1
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/ts_00005_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/ts_00005_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error