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Post-production

The special visual effects was divided up among seven FX divisions with motion control work by Dream Quest Images and computer graphics and opticals by Industrial Light & Magic. Cameron hired ILM to create the alien water pseudopod.

The company spent six months to create 75 seconds of computer graphics needed for the creature. The film was to have opened on July 4, 1989 but its release was delayed for more than a month by production and special effects problems.


Studio executives were nervous about the film's commercial prospects when preview audiences laughed at scenes of serious intent. Industry insiders said that the release delay was because nervous executives ordered the film's ending completely re-shot.


There was also a question of the size of the film's budget. One executive claimed $47 million while The Wall Street Journal reported a figure of $60 million.


The Abyss Soundtrack Review
by Film Tracks


Two decades after James Cameron impressed audiences with a preview of liquid digital effects that would become famous in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the 1989 underwater alien thriller The Abyss has gone somewhat forgotten.

Also off the radar is Cameron's much-discussed director's cut of the film that included a 20-minute ending that the studio felt was far too long and editorial to be included in the original theatrical release.

Despite Cameron's previous collaborations with Brad Fiedel and James Horner (who was reportedly too busy at the time to have taken The Abyss as an assignment anyway), he collaborated with up and coming composing star Alan Silvestri for the score.

Silvestri had caught the attention of action score collectors with his exciting and ambitious music for Back to the Future and Predator, two scores that would influence small sequences of music in The Abyss. For the film, Silvestri was tasked with creating two completely separate sounds for the same project, mirroring the story's two sides.



Alan Silvestri

In the first half of The Abyss, an underwater platform crew is tested by the elements and each other while slowly beginning to realize that some of the problems they (and a recently sunken submarine) are experiencing are due perhaps to unknown creatures that exist at the bottom of a nearby abyss.

The second portion of the film involves the creatures of the abyss themselves and their triumphant surfacing as a method of saving Ed Harris' life and announcing themselves to the world of humanity.

Cameron was impressed by Silvestri's ability to handle these two differing sides of the score with ease, and in the film, the score is functional in the first half and magnificent in the second.

The climactic scenes of the film, underscored by Silvestri's magical choral and orchestral blend, put the finale cues of the score into concert halls around the country, and caused a lengthy series of re-recordings. Click the source link below for the complete review.



Song List

1. Main Title
2. Search For Montana
3. The Crane
4. The Manta Ship
5. Pseudopod
6. The Fight
7. Sub Battle
8. Lindsey Drowns
9. Resurrection
10. Bud's Big Dive
11. Bud On The Ledge
12. Back On The Air
13. Finale


Reaction

The Abyss was released on August 11, 1989 in 1,533 theaters where it grossed $9.3 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $54.4 million in North America and $35.5 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $90 million.



References:
cinepad.com
erasingclouds.com
filmtracks.com
imdb.com
jeangiraudmoebius.fr
moviepulse.net
steveburg.com
wikipedia.org



THE ABYSS - 1989 | Detailed Synopsis and Screenshots


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Inside Cab Three, Lindsey executes a 180 degree turn and cruises over the control module, back through the A-frame toward the docking hatch. The flange of Cab Three's lockout hatch settles over the pressure collar on the rig's back. There is a clunk as it mates up.


Inside Deepcore's Compression Chamber/Gas Control Station, Coffey drops down from the hatch into the small cylindrical pressure chamber. Lindsey drops down behind him, passing their gear through hand-over-hand. The chamber is spartan, with steel benches, a folding card table, breathing masks, and medical supplies. Catfish greets them through the tiny porthole at one end.


Lindsey briefs the SEAL team that they have eight hours in the can, blowing down and it's gonna take them three weeks to decompress later. Coffey replies they have already been briefed. Catfish tells them on the com line that they will start equalizing now.


HISSSS of inrushing compressed gas. The pressure in the chamber rises. The breathing mixture is composed of helium, oxygen and nitrogen. Catfish monitors it carefully from a station outside the chamber, watching the gauges with a practiced eye. Lindsey and the SEALs all grab their noses and start making funny faces... popping their ears with the familiar diver's 'equalization' technique. Lindsey tells the team to watch each other closely for signs of HPNS.


Monk chimes in explaining HPNS, High-Pressure Nervous Syndrome. Muscle tremors, usually in the hands first. Nausea, increased excitability, disorientation. She continues her briefing that one person in twenty can't handle it, they just go buggo. They're no way to predict who's susceptible, so stay alert. Coffey cuts her off and repeats they all have been checked out.


Hours later at the Gas Control Station, Catfish checks his watch, then reaches over and adjusts a value on the tri- mix manifold, watching the gauges. Satisfied, he leans over to the pressure window in the door, checking out the SEALs. Hippy has come down from the control deck for an advanced look at the interlopers, snacking from a cereal box. Jammer is in a chair, reading a Louis L'Amour paperback.


Catfish remarks he has fought plenty of guys tougher than them. Hippy reaches over and pour cereal down the back of Catfish's shirt, he jumps and smacks Hippy with his hat. Catfish hold up one calloused fist up in front of Hippy's face and boasts they used to call this the Hammer.


Later, Catfish is closing values and spinning the wheel on the chamber hatch. The hatch cracks open with a virgin's sigh and swings aside. The SEALs nod peremptorily and shoulder their gear. Wilhite and Coffery exit with a large equipment case first, followed by Lindsey, Monk, and Schoenick.


Lindsey emerges into the main corridor of the rig. She bumps into Jammer and jokes about him being the size of a wall. The 'wall' grins down to her and greets her.


The SEALs set their equipment down in the dive prep area. Coffey returns to the chamber to retrieve a case. He bends to relatch the small equipment case. He is alone for one moment in the chamber. He raises his hand and stares at it. The fingertips are trembling the slightest bit. He clenches them into a fist and walks out.


Inide the Control Module, Hippy, bathed in the light of the sonar display, is making kissing sounds at Beany, who has his inquisitive nose right up to Hippy's lips. Then he hears Lindsay joke that he's going to give that rat a disease. Hippy and Bud see Lindsey leaning in the doorway. She and Bud size each other up. He opts for a jovial approach, his eyes wary.


Lindsey crosses past him, her eyes scanning the banks of equipment, almost unconsciously checking, checking... getting the pulse of her big iron baby, as her and Bud exchange sarcastic remarks. She looks through the front port and notices the Flatbed. Lindsey leans past Bud to the gooseneck mike on the console and calls out to One Night. One Night mimes a puking motion, finger down her throat. Then she replies with sickening sweetness.


Lindsey fives the sonar shack the once-over. She tweaks some knobs. Her and Bud continue their arguing. She crosses past Bud and exits into the corridor. Bud bolts out of the chair to follow her and Hippy scrambles in to take over. In the corridor, Bud catches up with Lindsey in the corridor, and through the following keeps pace with her as she make her inspection. Their bickering continues.


She stops abruptly to look at a leaky pipe. He almost slams into her. She moves on to the Ladder Well, climbing down the ladder to the lower level while bragging that Bud and his team need her. On the lower level landing, Lindsey opens a hatch into one of the machine rooms. Roar of pumps and compressors. Lindsey enters the Machine Room and moves expertly through the dark labyrinth of pipes and roaring machinery. Her eyes rove constantly over fittings, gauges, circuit panels.


She scowls at a pressure gauge and turn a valve minutely. Bud claims she came down because she was worried about him. She dismisses her claiming, her reason for coming down is she was worried about the rig. I've got over four years invested in this project. She has four years invested in the rig. Bud comes back with she only had three years with him. She looks up at him and delivers a cold remark of having priorities.



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