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Post by MuchMoreMatt on Feb 20, 2022 16:12:30 GMT -5
I am stumped how the million dollar backing track in the U.S. format works. Each question contains a unique "ding" when the clock starts (save for the first five) and a "vacuum" when time runs out. Each backing track also has a fixed time limit, except for the last one, which can hypothetically vary from 45 seconds up to 7 minutes 30 seconds (that's a range of 405 seconds). Since the track has a unique beginning and end, it can't be looped. I also don't believe there's 405 unique tracks for each possible time limit. The simplest explanation I could think of is that the "ding" is an isolated track played over the backing track.
When I watched one contestant's million dollar question, I think I discovered a different solution. Typically the track alternates between "drumbeat" and "heartbeat". The drumbeat and heartbeat each have a distinct sound. But listen to the first 12 seconds of this guy's question (you may need quality headphones or speakers to notice it).
What I hear is: "drumbeat" / "heartbeat" / "drumbeat" / "heartbeat" / "drumbeat" / "drumbeat" / "heartbeat".
Does anyone else hear two drumbeats in a row? If that's so, then I think perhaps they actually shortened one long track down to fit the contestants time by removing the segment of seconds the contestant did not earn, which makes sense, as depending on how it's shortened you'll either get two consecutive drumbeats, two consecutive heartbeats, or alternating drumbeat and heartbeat. I'm not entirely sure, though. Can anyone offer any insight?
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GSK
Posts: 1,358
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Post by GSK on Feb 20, 2022 23:04:44 GMT -5
Since the track has a unique beginning and end, it can't be looped. I also don't believe there's 405 unique tracks for each possible time limit. The simplest explanation I could think of is that the "ding" is an isolated track played over the backing track. It's a lot simpler than that. It's one single cue, about three minutes in length. It's very easy for someone to extend or reduce that time. The concept of separate layered tracks for Millionaire was not introduced until the Super Mix format in 2010. If the soundtrack in the video deviated, it would have been an editing error, as the double drumbeat you mentioned is not in the original cue. Unless I misunderstood your post? |
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Post by kplewisvox on Feb 20, 2022 23:45:18 GMT -5
I know it's been mentioned that the play of the question has been edited even if the clock doesn't reflect it. At least one contestant seemed to walk away with over a minute remaining, but you could faintly hear the time's-up "vacuum" as the applause started up.
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Post by MuchMoreMatt on Feb 21, 2022 12:50:29 GMT -5
It's a lot simpler than that. It's one single cue, about three minutes in length. It's very easy for someone to extend or reduce that time. The concept of separate layered tracks for Millionaire was not introduced until the Super Mix format in 2010. If the soundtrack in the video deviated, it would have been an editing error, as the double drumbeat you mentioned is not in the original cue. That makes sense. Though I'd think things like double drumbeats would naturally occur as a result of those edits. The beats occur every 2 seconds, so a drumbeat happens every 4 seconds. I would think that any amount of seconds earned that's not divisible by 4 would cause things like a double drumbeat, or even a double clock tick. There's an instance of a beat being skipped in this video. Listen for it when her clock shows 3:00 to 2:55 left on it. Then when she has 2:28 remaining, there's an instance of a half-beat. The track has to start and end the same way for any amount of time earned. The logistics of trying to edit a track that loops only in the middle would make it difficult not to have these quirks in them, or so it would seem. |
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Post by dragon3989 on Feb 22, 2022 23:24:23 GMT -5
As GSK said the way the bed was built and what not. Realisticly another approach with hindsight would have been to Compose a Start into the loop the "Loop" In the middle and then the ending 10 seconds. It really just came down to the editors, the best example of this was during the final part of the Million Dollar Tourny as it changes from midway through the loop to a "Hacked on" 5 second part of the ending which dosen't sound smooth at all, atleast with headphones and being able to blast up the audio. On normal TV you probably woulden't notice things like these as the music isnt normally that loud.
As with almost any program that has timers or cues that need to be edited for stuff like these, shorten or lengthend it comes down to whoevers in charge of the audio/editors on set.
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Post by MuchMoreMatt on Feb 23, 2022 22:53:26 GMT -5
As GSK said the way the bed was built and what not. Realistically another approach with hindsight would have been to Compose a Start into the loop the "Loop" In the middle and then the ending 10 seconds. It really just came down to the editors, the best example of this was during the final part of the Million Dollar Tourny as it changes from midway through the loop to a "Hacked on" 5 second part of the ending which doesn't sound smooth at all, at least with headphones and being able to blast up the audio. On normal TV you probably wouldn't notice things like these as the music isn't normally that loud. As with almost any program that has timers or cues that need to be edited for stuff like these, shorten or lengthened it comes down to whoever's in charge of the audio/editors on set. This one did come up during my analysis. Learning how the editors engineered the track to fit each contestants' time fascinates me. It also helps as far as making a fangame based on the clock format is concerned. If I'm not mistaken, she's the only contestant to let her timer run out on the million dollar question, and consequently the only instance we hear the "time's up" sound effect for that question. |
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Post by kplewisvox on Feb 25, 2022 2:24:21 GMT -5
As GSK said the way the bed was built and what not. Realistically another approach with hindsight would have been to Compose a Start into the loop the "Loop" In the middle and then the ending 10 seconds. It really just came down to the editors, the best example of this was during the final part of the Million Dollar Tourny as it changes from midway through the loop to a "Hacked on" 5 second part of the ending which doesn't sound smooth at all, at least with headphones and being able to blast up the audio. On normal TV you probably wouldn't notice things like these as the music isn't normally that loud. As with almost any program that has timers or cues that need to be edited for stuff like these, shorten or lengthened it comes down to whoever's in charge of the audio/editors on set. This one did come up during my analysis. Learning how the editors engineered the track to fit each contestants' time fascinates me. It also helps as far as making a fangame based on the clock format is concerned. If I'm not mistaken, she's the only contestant to let her timer run out on the million dollar question, and consequently the only instance we hear the "time's up" sound effect for that question. She's the only one where we saw the time run out. Others let the clock run down to zero, but because editing was done, the on-screen timer still showed time remaining. Because this is an edit that doesn't affect the outcome of the game, it is allowed. |
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) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
