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.