Melody's Design World

Friday 20 May 2011

The Finished Piece

As part of my 2nd year University modules, I had to create a soundtrack.

I extracted a 3minute section from Terminator 3- Rise of the Machines and recreated the entire soundtrack and added music to finalise it.

I do not own any rights of the video content. All rights are reserved to Warner Bro's

Due to the copyright issues I cannot upload or embed the video from YouTube onto here.

Photo taken from Cyborgs' fight scene

Please click on the photo above and you will be redirected to the YouTube website where I managed to upload it successfully

Overall, I feel the quality of the finished clip justifies all the effort that was put in. At all times the sounds are in sync with the footage and the music complimentary effect. No dialogue is used throughout the scene, therefore the music does the talking the audience cannot hear. It plays a key role in the mood the audience are in as they watch the scene. The words used in the singing is not clear however, the tones of voices of the choir and the orchestra seem to put words in to the characters mouths, emphasising their emotions.

Strengths

First of all, the music creates the exact atmosphere I was trying to achieve. At first I did not want to use two separate soundtracks because I feared it would have put a ‘hiccup’ into the atmosphere I was trying to achieve and I also wanted the music to be constant throughout the whole scene. After editing the scene, I now feel that the two soundtracks are in sync with one another. They were produced by the same production company and are from the same album. Therefore, they sound very similar to each other.

Another strength is the way the sound effects have been manipulated and edited to show the powerfulness and strengths of the cyborgs. They are a huge impact from the audience’s point of view.

Weaknesses

I feel I could have worked more on the volume of some of the sound effects. And some points where the robots crash into objects, the pitch and volume is a bit too loud. When the TX crashes into the floor and her face gets damaged by the Terminator, the tone of the floor smashing is too high and the noise of her face getting mashed is not loud and clear enough. Her body is made from solid metal and as she is thrown through the floor, a denser and harder noise should have been heard because she was not crashing into glass.

Another weakness is the clip is 3 minutes long. A 5 minute clip would have been better because I could have built up more tension and fear. However, I wanted to use a clip without dialogue because I feel dialogue can sometimes ruin the atmosphere. I also wanted the music to do the talking. If dialogue was involved, I would have had to turn the volume of the music slightly down and doing that would have ruined the atmosphere I was trying to achieve.

Improvements

If I could make any improvements to the final product I would have recorded a wider range of bottles, plates, mugs, etc. to obtain a wider range of sound effects to enable me to find it easier to edit. I would make and record little test samples of the different types of materials I could smash together and then compare the sounds. I would have also edited the music clip a bit more so that it would sound a lot smoother. Apart from that everything else was fine to me.

I would make the clip 5 minutes long so that I could broaden the sense of fear and suspense.

Post Production

The Finished Video

The music begins just after the Terminator realises his gun has run out of bullets. It creates a sense of urgency and it notifies the audience that a lot of action is about to begin. The opening music is ‘1000 Ships of the Underworld’.

As the TX boldly walks towards the Terminator, her footsteps are clearly heard throughout to emphasise her presence and determination. When the Terminator smashes the glass cabinet for the gas cylinder, the noise of glass breaking and gas leaking is heard but is not too dominant because I wanted the noise of the cylinder being hit against the TX’s face and her footsteps to be bold. The noise of metal being hit against metal was quite loud and clear. It shows the audience how durable she is. As her head is constantly hit then rotates a 360-degree angle turn, the choir beings to sing at that point which creates a sense of panic. It seems like she cannot be defeated.

When the TX kicks the Terminator with her foot, he flies across the corridor into the marble floor which instantly breaks. This also shows how strong the TX is and how much the Terminator weighs. As he runs and throws her through the wall, the sounds of his footsteps and the wall breaking and crumbling are emphasised to show how powerful their bodies are.

The noise of the floor and sink smashing against the TX shows how hard she is. In addition to the thumping noise as she is thrown on to the ground.

However, as she gets up and throws the Terminator all the way to the other side of the room just by pushing him with both hands, the voices of the choir singing and the music pause slightly. This once again shows the audience how strong she is.

As the TX walks away and continues looking for the humans, the music and singing picks up tempo and volume. The sound of a drum beating continuously is heard which also represent the heart rate of the audience watching the scene. It creates suspense because the fight seems to be over. The Terminator is nowhere in sight to stop her. Once again her footsteps are emphasised to portray footsteps heard as victims hide away from their villains.

As the fight continues, a lot of sounds of glass and concrete being smashed are heard alongside the fast tempo music. This shows the audience that it is a powerful and painful fight. A lot of strength is used and yet they seem to be unharmed.

When the TX grabs the Terminator’s crouch, he looks down as if he was not expecting that. At the same time, the music ends and I added a slight echo to the last note played so it would not be completely silent. As she picks up the Terminator to smash him through the walls, the next soundtrack, ‘Velocitron’ also produced by Two Steps From Hell quickly fades in. Then at the point she smashes him through the first wall, the audience also hear the choir sing.

The singing and fast tempo music continuous throughout the fight and as the humans continues to escape from the TX.

When the robots crash through the ceiling still trying to terminate on another, the noises of the lighting at ceiling are emphasised to remind the audience of how much they weigh and the power they have between them. As they continue to fight, the sound of them knocking against each other’s metal body is clearly heard. When TX is thrown across the room onto the cardboard boxes, the noise of her weight and hard body is once again emphasised.

Towards the end of the scene when the Terminator lies on the side powerless and vulnerable, the music and singing pick up tempo again creating more tension and suspense. The audience does not know what is going to happen next as the TX stands over the Terminator and drills into him. The drilling noise is clearly heard so the audience have an idea she is doing something to him even though they cannot see her hands.

To conclude the scene, John and Katherine seem to be getting away but as they enter the end of the corridor, a flying robot comes out of the lift to try killing them. As the audience clearly see the entire robot flying towards them, the choir stop singing as the orchestra continue to play the fast tempo music lead by the string and percussion groups of instruments. As the robot fires missiles at John and Katherine, the choir sing again however, it sounds like a substitute to screaming in fright. It portrays the way John and Katherine are feeling at that precise moment.

Music

The music used were produced by the production group Two Steps from Hell and the songs I chose to include in my work from their 2010 public album Invincible were 1000 Ships of the Underworld and Velocitron.

Both pieces of music create a feeling of suspense. 1000 Ships of the Underworld was used in the trailers for Priest (2011), The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) and a few others. Velocitron was used in an advert for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (2010).

Both pieces of music build up tension from start to finish. They are both orchestral, fast tempo and both feature a choir singing. The voices from the choir give the impression of someone screaming in fright in a musical. The voices are harmonised and controlled.

1000 Ships of the Underworld is 1:43 minutes long. It maintains a dramatic theme throughout and has a dramatic conclusion.

Velocitron 2:55 minutes long and has a darker feeling to it than 1000 Ships of the Underworld. Once again the music is quite dramatic and has a fearful feeling.

I used the entire track of 1000 Ships of the Underworld in my edited version of Terminator 3 however, I did not use the entire soundtrack of Velocitron. I used 0:23-2:03 minutes of the soundtrack so that it would tie in with the footage and have impacts at the precise moments.

Production Work

The clip begins with the Terminator trying to shoot the TX with a gun that has run out of bullets so the gun makes a clicking noise. To recreate that sound I recorded the sound of a telephone receiver being pressed continuously by my finger.

As the TX walks calmly and fearlessly towards the Terminator, he smashes open a glass cabinet and pulls out a metal fire extinguisher.

Smashing noises

I collected various glass bottles and plates and then threw them onto a concrete ground so they would smash into pieces. At the same time I recorded the sounds using a flash microphone. I recorded different types of smashable objects at a time. First I smashed the glass bottles altogether and recorded that, then smashed glass bottles with the porcelain plates. Then I smashed concrete tiles and then the sound of concrete tiles with glass. I also dropped metal dishes onto the ground for it to recreate the sound of something smashing and then I dropped the metal dishes with more glass bottles.

During the edit process I used the plug-in bomfactory to make the sounds more powerful since it was big and hefty metal robots crashing into the walls.

Footsteps

While recording the footsteps I wore different types of shoes each time. I wore boots with heels which made a ‘tick tock’ sound when I walked to recreate the sound of the TX walking. Then to recreate the sound of John’s feet I wore trainers. Whilst recording with a flash microphone I ran up and down the car park and the back of the university. The car park was made from concrete flooring. Next I recorded my footsteps wearing each type of shoe as I walked up and down the stairway inside the university building.

I used the time shift plug-in effect so that I was able to make the footsteps sound in time to the movements of the characters. I also used the pitch shift plug-in effect to lower the pitch of the footsteps when the Terminator walked so that his footsteps sounded big, powerful and heavy.

Sprayed Water

Recreating this sound was quite simple. I recorded the sound of body spray being sprayed out from an aerosol can. It sounds just like the water gushing out of the walls and showers while the robots fight. Once again I used a Flash microphone to record it.

I applied the D-verb plug-in effect onto the sounds to give the sound more depth.

Metal Hitting Against Metal

I used the flash microphone to record the sound of a metal railing being hit by a piece of concrete tile.

The pitch shift plug-in effect was used to change the pitches of each hit applied to the TX.

Leather

Whilst fighting, the Terminator and the TX each other up or grab each other. So I recorded the sound of me wearing my leather jacket. I got someone to help me record the sounds. Grabbed onto my arms. Then to record the sound of movement I moved my arms side to side. To imitate the sound of the TX grabbing the Terminator’s crouch to pick him up, I rubbed my leather boots rubbing together while using a mini disk to record the sound.

I did not use any plug-in effect for the leather noises.

Robots Twitching

Using a flash microphone, I recorded the noise a digital camera makes when the lens zooms in or out.

The bombfactory plug-in effect was used to increase the output of the noise since the sounds that were recorded were weak.

Falling Down

I kicked a plastic/rubber bin and recorded the sound produced using a flash microphone. I wanted to create a ‘thumping’ noise for the scenes where the characters drop onto the floor and when the TX stamps her foot while trying to escape from the Terminator’s tight grip.

I used the pitch shift and the EQ 7 band plug-in effect to change the sounds of the noises.

Boxes

I used a mini disk to record the sound of cardboard boxes falling on top of each other to imitate the scene when the Terminator and the TX fly onto boxes after being electrocuted.

I did not use a plug-in effect to manipulate the sounds.

Electrocution

I downloaded the sound effect from an audio CD since I could not recreate the sound.

Alarm

An audio CD was used to recreate the sound of the alarm going off while John and Katherine are run through the corridor.

Machine Noises

An audio CD was used to recreate the sounds of the machines and other robots.

Whipping noises

I used a mini disk to record the noise that was created by swinging a computer cable quickly and swiftly in the air. In some parts of the clip we could hear whipping noises such as the time when the TX picks up the Terminator to smash him into the walls.

No plug-in effect used.

Background music

I added two songs both composed by the music production company ‘Two Steps from Hell’ to the edited version. They produce suspenseful music for trailers. Although the chosen scene is not a trailer, I wanted to create as much tension throughout the clip as possible. I did not manipulate the music in any way.

Challenges

There were a couple of times when I experienced difficulty in obtaining sounds and there were a few setbacks. One setback I experienced was when I first started to record the sound effects. I attempted to record the sound of porcelain plates smashing on the ground however, when the recorded sample was played onto the computer, the sound was not strong and powerful enough.

The second time I tried to record the sound of glass bottles being smashed I accidently cut myself. It was not a serious cut but it did effect the amount of time I had left to record the rest of the sounds because I had to stop to seek First Aid assistance.

Production Process

I am going to extract a clip from an action movie and re-create all the sound using Foley sounds and background music.

Initial Ideas

My initial ideas were to produce a soundtrack based on ambient and environmental sounds. However, I thought that idea was too basic and decided to change it. My second idea was to edit and recreate sound of a movie clip to create a contrast between the intense visual action and humorous sounds. I was going to edit the Moscow car chase scene from The Bourne Supremacy (2004).

Instead I decided to extract a scene from Terminator 3 – Rise of The Machines (2003) which was directed by Jonathan Mostow. The chosen scene is the scene between the two cyborgs fighting each other. The entire scene lasts approximately 3 minutes.

The decision was made to recreate the sound and background music but kept the mood of the scene the same.

I will use the sound software Pro-Tools to edit the sounds to the video clip.

The Scene

The 3 minute clip that I chose to use for this assignment was taken from the third sequel of Terminator, ‘Terminator 3 – Rise of the machines’ (T3). It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator – a cyborg in the form of a man sent back in time from an alternate future to protect the lives of John Connor (Nick Stahl) and his future wife Katherine Brewster (Claire Danes) from the movies protagonist - TX (a more advanced model of the Terminator cyborg in the form of a female’s body played by actress Kristanna Loken). She was programmed and sent by Skynet to kill the young duo. Skynet is cyberspace software which runs on computers throughout the whole world. I chose the scene where the Terminator did all that he could to stop the villain, TX, from completing her task. The chosen 3 minute clip was extracted from scenes 25 & 26 where the Terminator and the TX fight each other. After telling John and Katherine to run, the Terminator tries to stop the TX in her tracks.

Even though there was no talking in that scene, I think the film director tried to create a strong sense of intensity and action between the two cyborgs. They are both determined to stop each other from continuing with their task. The sound effects are very impactful which gives the audience a clear indication of the strength of the two cyborgs. The damage they cause to the walls and objects in the room in which they are fighting in are incredible, but yet the robots are undamaged. The noise of the solid walls and stone floors crumbling as the machines fight expresses the powerful impact in which they are inflicting upon each other. The solid walls and tile floors crumble and smash within an instant. The mood of the scene is very tense and action packed.

Treatment

The scene begins just after the Terminator, John Connor and Kate Brewster, are confronted by the TX in an empty corridor of the building. Her aim is to kill John Connor. As the Terminator tells John and Kate to run, he attempts to shoot the TX however, his gun has run out of bullets so he must fight the TX instead.

The TX is portrayed as a new and stronger version of the terminator. She seems bold and fearless and does not hesitate to destroy anything in her path.

I am going to portray her strength in the background music. The music will be bold, powerful and fearless. During the fight scene she seems unbeatable. When she’s knocked to the ground she comes back even stronger.

The music I will use in the scene will be Velocitron and 1000 Ships of the Underworld both composed by music production company, Two Steps From Hell. This will create a sense of tension, suspense and action throughout the scene. The company mainly produce music for movie trailers and was founded by Thomas J. Bergersen and Nick Phoenix.[1]

During the scene, the cyborgs constantly clash and crash against each other and everything around them including walls and floors. Metal is a dense substance with can break a lot of other materials. During the fight, they continuously break into walls and glass. The impact of the damage is greatly emphasised due to the material the robots are made from.

Therefore I will record sounds of plates and glass being smashed and make sure the microphone is placed as close to the smashed glass as possible. So the sounds are recorded as clearly as possible.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Steps_From_Hell

Research

The soundtracks of two movies inspired me in addition to the sound effects used in a well known action movie. I decided to focus on the music used throughout the film. In my experience, music is a key way of manipulating emotion.[1]

Inception (2010)[2]

Directed and written by Christopher Nolan, is science fiction film about a spy and thief who steals and extracts vital information from people as they sleep and dream.

The music used throughout the film, especially when the characters are going into a ‘dream-world’, is a slowed down tempo of Edith Piaf’s Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein. Hans Zimmer, the music producer for Inception, cleverly uses the same song throughout the entire film. During the film there are times when the original song is played at its normal tempo. Then when the characters enter the ‘dream-world’ the song is played at a slower tempo.

Zimmer was trying to emphasise the speed of time between each dream world. As the characters in the film enter dreams of dream worlds, the real time is slowed down every time.

Zimmer’s method inspired me to use music to influence the audiences’ emotions.

Inception (2010)

Schindler’s List (1993)[3]

Directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, is inspired by the novel which was previously written. It’s about a German man who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees by making them employees of his factories during the Holocaust.

The film is quite depressing. The music used throughout does most of the talking. It pulls the ‘heartstrings’ of the audience making them feel sorry for the Jewish people. The music draws the audience into the story. Most of the time hardly any dialogue is used because there is no need.

I am inspired by the way the music is the ‘voice over’ for the film and I would like to use that technique in my own work.

Schindler's List (1993)

Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)[4]

An action film directed by Renny Harlin is about a man who tries to stop terrorists blowing up his wife’s plane on Christmas Eve. The fight scenes featured in this movie contain a lot of Foley sounds as well as suspenseful and action background music. There is dialogue during the fight scenes though. The music as well as the Foley sound effects emphasise the damage being caused to the characters and the equipment around them, i.e. the wing of the aeroplane.

Die Hard 2 has inspired me to use Foley sounds to emphasise the impact of the blows of the characters fighting.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)

I plan to use the same method’s used in Inception and Schindler’s List. I plan to make the music play and manipulate the audience’s emotions. I also plan to use very similar techniques as the Foley artists used to recreate the sound effects for Die Hard 2. The sounds play a huge impact on the audience’s judgement of the fight.

What is Foley Sound?

Foley sound is natural sound which is recreated and recorded for a film (not man-made).[5] It can be recorded using a suitable recording devise and put into music software such as Logic pro or ProTools. It can be manipulated so it sounds more emphasised or bold.

[1] http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/MusicMindMeaning.html

[2] French, Phillip – 18^th July 2010 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jul/18/inception-film-review-philip-french

[3] http://www.filmsite.org/schi.html

[4] Berardinelli, James – 1994 - http://www.reelviews.net/movies/d/die_hard2.html

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_artist

Pre-Production Work

I am going to extract a clip from an action movie and re-create all the sound using Foley sounds and background music.

Initial Ideas

The decision was made to recreate the sound and background music but kept the mood of the scene the same.

I will use the music software Pro-Tools to edit the sounds to the video clip.

Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines (2003)

The Scene

The Terminatrix in action

John Connor & Kate Brewster are protected by the Terminator