Speculation The Music of Star Wars Episode VII

Haven't had a chance to read the whole thread, but I'd be happy if they just kept the major John Williams themes (Opening Crawl, End Credits, Imperial March, Luke's Theme if applicable) and had Hans Zimmer or another composer type to score the rest of the film in that style. As long as the music has an orchestral quality to it, I'm good. I'm good...

John Williams would be great if they can get him, but at his age it might be getting tougher. I hope he is at least a consultant of some sort.

 

No! Keep Zimmer far away from it. His style is too synthetic for Star Wars. I see people talking about new eras and new paths to explore but this movie has an episode number. If they make a Boba Fett movie in the future then by all means, go nuts. But any Star Wars movie with an episode number needs to maintain the classic Star Wars style across all facets, including music.

 

John Williams. But if not him and I had to choose...

Yoko Kanno. Her music is grand and her style is just plain awesome.

 

I love Yoko Kanno but... seriously? Her for Star Wars? It would certainly be out of left field.

 

I hope that if Williams won't do it, then whoever they get will do what John Ottman did for Superman Returns and what Alexandre Desplat did for Harry Potter: reference it. Use the main themes, but still come up with a completely original score. Using Williams' score in the end of Deathly Hallows pretty much reduced me to tears, and Ottman's opening for Superman was amazing.

 

I'm sure that the Star Wars march will be in The Imperial Marc I guess depends on who the villains are Anyways, if Williams can't do it, then I'm sure there are plenty of fully capable composers out there that can step in and continue with the same orchestral style.

 

John Williams should stay clear of these new next generation movie. Let new talent come up with new themes for the Disney movies.

 

Keep the theme and appropriate leitmotifs for the OT characters (IE. Han Solo and the Princess/Princess Leia's Theme and Binary Sunset/Luke's Theme--even a few notes of the Main Titles occasionally pops up in regards to Luke--it's part of his soundscape). Reference their related music liberally when it is appropriate for their characters, but have the new characters have similarly orchestral new themes, but perhaps with a new composer. Lucky for these films, John Williams has inspired a lot of film composers who have a similar flair for his neo-Romantic style.

One thing that John Williams did a lot was weave his leitmotifs in and out within the score. For example: when you watch the carbonite scene, notice that you will hear Han Solo and the Princess weaving in and out with the Imperial March back and forth (actually, this seems particularly true with that love theme never being too far away from being chased by the sounds of Vader--it's a major bit of foreshadowing). Sometimes it only takes a mere few notes of one of those leitmotifs to set the feeling of what's happening.

Give Williams co-composer credit, though one would let the new composer decide where to weave the old leitmotifs in and out with the new music.

 

As long as it is the same style of music, I mean with an orchestra it will be fine. I think he had some really great ones in the PT though, speaking of Williams. I mean Duel of Fates and there are two or three others that are really amazing, at least in my opinion. Plus you'll always have the traditional themes to reuse in there.

 

I have a fantasy that Philip Glass will compose a SW movie.
Sigh... it will never be...

 

Id rather they use songs from AC DC for these new Star Wars movies then to bother John Williams who did a great job on the Palpatine Fox movies. The old man has done his time & should be left in peace.

 

The FOX fanfare is not a huge loss so long as everything else in the beginninge remains the same.

As for JW -- blasphemy to even think he can't score the new films. LOL

He may be getting old but he's GOLD! Money in the bank! I can't imagine anyone else scoring Star Wars even though I think Hans Zimmer is a terrific comoposer I don't know that he's right for SW. And as for the prequel scores -- I thought they were terrific! There isn't a more EPIC score in history than Duel of the Fates.

 

^

If they do anything but the orchestral music that has been established for Star Wars, I will personally storm the gates of Disney and demand a re-scoring. orchestral music is part of what Star wars is! Anything else and you just get some stupid, 'hip' sci-fi movie so far removed it doesn't deserve the Star wars title.

 

Another cool influence I'd love to hear in SW music:

 

It can be done well. Like how the Morricone scores play against Western movie cliches.

Also, JW does all that stuff brilliantly, he can do anything.

 

Sorry to disagree with you. I see you point in that his music is sometimes synthetic but his soundtracks for Pirates of the Carribean echoes Star Wars. Also his Batman themes are Epic. AND his score for Inception made the movie. The movie was great but that score is phenomenal.

As I already said -- John williams should be first choice BUT if he can't/won't do it then Hans Zimmer.

 

His Batman stuff is epic. But it's also synthetic. So is Pirates. Pirates score sounds orchestral but it doesn't feel organic. Zimmer's style works for certain movies but not for Star Wars. I don't want Star Wars to be scored on a computer with synthetic instruments. It needs to be real. With a full live orchestra and not an electronic sound to be heard. This isn't just any film series, it's Star Wars. There are certain traditions that you simply don't discard. Williams and the LSO would of course be ideal. Assuming that doesn't happen, you need to be looking at the likes of Howard Shore.

 

They should create similar sounding LucasFilm fanfare to replace the FoX one.

 

Hell yeah it's awesome. Her work especially on Anime such as Vision of Escaflowne & Cowboy Bebop (which a theme like "Tank" would fit perfectly in a Mos Eisley-esque Cantina scene) should be enough to convince you that the series is in good hands musically & if not, maybe this comic will convince you otherwise (though if she starts adding music with lyrics from her own personal fantasy language, maybe than it may not be such a good idea).

 

My first choice is still John Williams, but if they do go a new direction, they MUST keep the opening main title theme. "Superman returns" did this and was at least somewhat of a tie-in to the earlier films.

 

I have to assume that you're joking. How would AC/DC work for Star Wars? Star Wars has to remain orchestral. The music is an essential part of how the story is told. It's space opera, not rock opera...

 

I just got out of a Rise of the Guardians sneak peak, and I must say that Alexandre Desplat's score impressed me a lot. It actually sounded very Williams-esque in that it seemed to incorporate the wonder of Harry Potter and Hook into his own style. I honestly wouldn't mind if he did the music.

 

You know what, that's brilliant. Instead of tip toeing around the controversy, own it. Have Williams record a specific Lucasfilm cue, however brief, that says "no matter what studio own us, this is a LUCASFILM."

 

This new movie doesn't really need live instruments, its not that serious. A new composer could just throw something together in a macbook & it will be just fine. Techology should be used as much as possible. This movie doesn't need John Williams at all. He has done his time. Bring in new talent.

 

Your opinion sucks.