Adam Stein and Brennan Mercer (‘Halo’ sound team) on crafting a sci-fi spectacle that will ‘resonate on an emotional level’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“It’s an adaptation of a of a video game. It’s rooted in the sci-fi genre. But, in order for it to resonate on an emotional level with an audience, specific creative choices have to be made,” declares Emmy-nominated sound designer Brennan Mercer on the sound team’s brief to ground the spectacle that is “Halo” with a sound palette designed to resonate with the audience on a deeper level. For our recent webchat with the sound designer, who is joined by Adam Stein, the supervising sound editor on “Halo,” Mercer adds, “making sure that we focused our audience’s attention on the subjective experience of our characters’ perspectives and using sound realism to keep things grounded would allow for it to resonate on an emotional level with an audience, and that for me was one of the most exciting things about this season. There were so many distinct choices in every department, including ours. And it created this cohesive season of television that I think worked really well.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

SEE Exclusive Video Interview: Wojciech Zielinski (‘Halo’ visual effects supervisor)

“Halo” was originally developed by Kyle Killen (“Lone Star,” “Awake”) and Steven Kane (“The Closer,” “The Last Ship”), who adapted the series for Paramount+ from the blockbuster Xbox franchise that is among the most popular video game series of all time. The space opera takes place as a standalone story in its own timeline, inspired by but separate from the decades-long canon and lore developed from the interactive game series, set during a 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic-military alliance of advanced alien races determined to eradicate the human race. The sci-fi epic stars Emmy nominee Pablo Schreiber (“Orange is the New Black”) as Master Chief, a genetically enhanced super-soldier fighting the villainous aliens and his own past demons.

Emmy-nominated executive producer David Wiener (“Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462”) took over as new showrunner for Season 2 of the action blockbuster, which sees Master Chief leads his team of elite Spartans against the Covenant alien threat on a journey to find the Halo, as the galaxy teeters on the brink of total carnage. “What was most challenging, was to remain true to Season 1 as well as the video game, but also expand on those aspects that David wanted us to attain,” Stein explains about the team to take the series in a new direction and aspiring to take the sci-fi epic to another level by connecting with the audience through sound. “For me that was that was probably the most challenging and in terms of being true to the realism of of it all,” he says. “David really wanted us to remain in a realistic perspective, whether it be the creatures or weapons or the atmosphere, he wanted us to remain grounded in reality, which to me was very challenging. But, at the end of the day it’s also very rewarding to do that.”

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