The music and sound design of the award-winning video game The Last of Us part 1 and The Last of Us 2, were translated very well from the console to live action by Supervising Sound Editor Michael Benavente and Sound Designer Chris Battagalia. They both wanted to really bring the game to life but also have more of an impact since instead of players going through the story it would be people watching it play out. They put special details in episodes like (Season 1, Episode 4 & 2), (Season 2, Episode 1 & 4). While they did not copy exactly the levels or moments in the game, there were some changes that had a better impact on the show as a medium.
In episode 2 of season 1 "Infected" they choose to keep everything quiet as Joel and Tess try to make sure that Ellie is not infected. There’s no audio ambiance, no type of tension music, just silence as the two talk with Ellie who was bitten in the last episode which reveals her immunity to the virus. Throughout the rest of the episode there is music like subtle guitar rifts and walking music, but once they move into the museum, it’s quiet, save for the small tension music and the sounds of the clicker. After they agitate them the noise and music ramp up with gunfire and all other noise being amplified; almost like we hear how the clickers hear. When the group leaves, the music comes back, it shows hope as they almost reach their destination but turns sorrowful as their exit strategy was ambushed and a horde of infected people find them, the music then morning Tess’s sacrifice.
Episode 4 "Please hold my hand" lets dialogue describe the journey. Hank William’s “Alone and Forsaken” subtly hints at the duo’s current predicament; They’re alone with no help because two associates of Joel; Frank and Bill, took their lives together. Leaving Joel forsaken to take Ellie to the fireflies even though he just wanted to leave her as someone else’s responsibility. Later in the episode the pair are ambushed by bandits, but once Joel is able to kill two of them and a third ambushes him, the dialogue shows that these enemies are more than just run of the mill bandits. Ellie injures the third critically but not fatally, he then begins to beg for his life apologizing profusely and trying to bargain, giving his name (Brian) to gain sympathy, offering his knife and asking to be taken to his mom. But once Joel sends Ellie out of the room, he’s truly terrified as he knows what is going to happen, desperate to keep her there so he can live but she goes to the other side, he cries one last time; then is silenced.
Season 2 uses the same audio decisions that are used in season 1 to write out the course of the series. In Episode 1 "Future Days" the dialogue shows how things have changed since the end of the first season. When Ellie’s friend Dina chats with Joel about his strained relationship with Ellie he vaguely dismisses her question but once he gets started, he ends up coming clean about his concerns regarding the fracture between them. He talks with Gale, his psychotherapist, and the chat between them is intense, you can feel the desperation in his voice, the panic that he’s losing connection with her. While he’s scared, she’s finding her own way through with Dina and the dance which makes her smile, their chat and slow dance resonating a connection that makes her happy.
The audio of The Last of Us series paints a picture of after the apocalypse, the good times with friends, associates, and families. While also showing us the bad of desperate survival and violent nature. Both sound developers took the over the top action of the video game and turned it into the quick firework of television, because after the impact hits there’s nothing but silence.
(Column Writer: John Flores, Photo / Video Editor: Sophia Cervantes, Blog Producer: Kyra Blundell)
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