4.22 Music changes to something Bernard Hermann like as Hudson is attacked. It´s a farewell to the King. When he is gone, music goes back to pure stressful action.
I'm not sure what was more scary, writing this cue, or dealing with an ice cold snobbish producer, and an jerk of a director that left Horner having to re-time every hit point after he just scored this cue. Anyway, thank you, and GREAT WORK!
Um.... Your comment is super lopsided here.... both Cameron, and Horner, who both had to deal with tremendous pressure just to get this film made.... were great.
@@Vejur9000, in the end, they did a great job, but the relationship was anything but great during post, and Horner made it known, especially the producer. The young director and producer at the time didn't understand just how unprofessional they were being, and the unrealistic demands they asked of him.
I hate to say this (again), but as much I am a fan of James Horner, here James Cameron made the right call. The deafening silence while waiting for the aliens to come attack and hearing no sound but the electronic pulse of the proximity detector is more effective. In this case, less is more. Nothing wrong with what Horner wrote, but it was “gilding the lily”. Music was not needed to intensify the scene - the other filmic elements provided enough tension. And THEN, when the “reveal” happens and the firefight begins, the music helps kick the battle into overdrive, making it that much more effective by suddenly and furiously entering the soundscape. James Horner is one of my favorite composers, and I know James Cameron is a tool, but ya gotta call it like it is.
At 7:25, this technique sounds similarly done in Deep Impact, and The Spiderwick Chronicles, and several other Horner scores. It's a nice little jewel that I don't think is so repetitive in modern day scoring.
Amazing work thanks so much for the video. It's great to actually see these notes after listening to them for so many years and wondering what the heck was going on!!!
I just realized that the first half of this track wasn’t used in the movie. Similar to Alien with Goldsmith, much of the score was not used or hacked up into pieces by the editor and director.
What a row of fantastic analysys you're doin', tanx! Once again James Cameron did it right, removing the music in the first minutes he shifted what could have been a good action prologue to an almost unbearable thrilling scene.
I listened to this soundtrack incessantly after seeing the movie back in 1986, and this and Going After Newt were my two favourite tracks. That said, I think the cues used in the movie work better, particularly ditching all the stuff in the lead up. It works much better with just the motion trackers to build the tension.
Not really related to the score, but watching this reminded me of how much I dislike the Xenomorph sound effects in this film. It's just so blatantly, painfully obvious that they're just a sped-up stock elephant trumpet; it takes me right out of the movie. There also only seems to be one clip, and they use it *constantly*.
As much as I love the music, I understand why the first three minutes were removed. The stalking motive is a bit too playful for this scene, and 3:00-3:08 is far more effective without any music.
Probably better to leave it out until the action really kicked in. It helps focus our attention on the silence, trying to listen for any indication of the aliens approaching.
