MPSE Wavelength

M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 53 particular—it's all in one cut, and you're moving between these di‡ erent perspectives. Throughout the entirety of Metal Gear Solid V, there was an artistic choice of trying to have as few cuts as possible in camera, and you have to lean into that choice of perspective on the audio mix side to make those changes in perspective make sense. You're obviously not supposed to know what's going on in this sequence—it's a big teaser in terms of what year is this, why Chico and Paz are in these cages, and then this whole game was supposed to be a teaser for The Phantom Pain. Mr. Kojima defi nitely wanted to lean into the whole mystery of showing o‡ this obvious villain character by just saying he's the commander of the "XOF." You don't know the XOF? Well, you're about to fi nd out in a couple of years on The Phantom Pain. We'd present characters without actually telling you anything that you'd want to know about them. I think that's really cool the way that it's done here and how it really comes through the way Mr. Kojima envisioned from the beginning. EM: Ludvig, you came into the fold at a really interesting time in the Metal Gear Solid series, where the team was going through a big period of transition. You ended up carrying the baton after legendary composer Harry Gregson Williams in a really important way. What are you most proud of in your contributions for this cinematic in particular? LF: I have to go back to that stinger idea again. That's what solidifi ed my position as a part of the team and where I gained their trust. To be able to talk with Mr. Kojima and to be myself, and really just grow from there, that stinger idea is what created that opportunity. It is the standout moment for music in this trailer, so I'm defi nitely really fortunate that it was the fi rst thing that I got to do after joining this team. It clicked and was the initial spark that led to me taking the reins over the fi nal production of Metal Gear Solid V. And that led to me becoming the audio director at Kojima Productions on Death Stranding, and I'm still working on things with Mr. Kojima, including working on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach right now. It all started from my work on this cinematic with the Kojima Productions team. The above article is a small portion of this MPSE Presents: Designing the Game Cinematic video. To see this interview in its entirety, please click on the following QR code: "Whenever there's a big choice and the mix state changes, there's always a cue leading in or out of that. That's something that I usually try to do."

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