ST John Williams scored TFA - incl. Soundtrack discussion

Yeah, and J.J Abrams has had a good track record for prominent score mixing, even when working with the tyrannical Ben Burtt. In that regard, Lucas was an enabler.

 

Methinks you have the wrong word there.

Enabler-a person who encourages or enables negative or self-destructive behavior in another.

The word is film-maker who looks at both sides of music and sound effects and makes the decisions.


ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, LONDON
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005

Just across the hallway from Studio 2 where the Beatles recorded most of their music, members
of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) file into Studio 1, many of them hanging their coats
on the backs of their chairs. Some musicians have walked; some biked or took the tube. In a
roughly thirty-by-fifty-yard room, sounds of instruments being tuned fill the air—horns, oboes,
violins.

The acoustically enhanced room is connected to a control booth and a series of utilitarian suboffices.
Lucas will listen to the recording sessions primarily from the booth, though he’ll occasionally
take a seat upstairs in the producer’s lounge, where McCallum is monitoring the proceedings.
In the middle of the sea of instruments is a rectangular platform raised a few inches off
the ground. This is where John Williams will shortly take his place as conductor. On each of
these virtuosos’ music stands has been placed the sheet music for their specific instruments for
this morning’s “cues” (parts of the score). There are more than forty cues for Revenge of the Sith,
and, as of today, this is the schedule for their recording (the titles of the cues are placeholder
only):

Day 1: Wednesday, February 2, 2005
6M3 Padmé’s Visit (reel 6, cue 3 for that reel)
1M7 The Death of Dooku
6M4 Heroes Collide
4M3 Palpatine’s Seduction

Day 2: Thursday, February 3, 2005
6M9 Revenge of the Sith
Revenge of the Sith DVD Version
3M5 Good-Bye, Old Friend
2M5 Grievous Travels to Palpatine
5M7 Anakin’s Dark Deeds
2M3 Another Happy Landing
6M6 Yoda Falls
5M1 Palpatine Instructs Anakin
4M1x Drawing Swords

Day 3: Monday, February 7, 2005
5M3 Lament
7M3 The Birth of the Twins
7M4 The Death of Padmé
7M6 Padmé’s Funeral
3M2a Palpatine’s TV Set
1M4a Get ’em, R-2!
7M7 A Home for the Twins

Day 4: Tuesday, February 8, 2005
6M7 The Boys Continue
7M2 Anakin Crawling
4M4a Fighting with Grievous
7M5 Plans for the Twins
4M5a Padmé’s Ruminations
7M1 The Immolation Scene
4M1a Good Guys Arrive

Day 5: Wednesday, February 9, 2005
2M1 [no title]
5M4 Swimming, Droids, and Yoda Farewell
5M6 Moving Things Along
3M3 Palpatine’s Big Pitch

Day 6: Saturday, February 12, 2005
1M3 Boys into Battle
2M6 Scenes and Dreams
3M7 Riding the Lizard
6M2 A Moody Trip
6M8 Rev. Yoda to Exile
3M8 Obi-Wan Fares [sic] Droids
5M5 News of the Attack

Day 7: Sunday, February 13, 2005
3M6 Going to Utapau
4M4 Rolling with Grievous
3M2 Hold Me
2M7 Be Careful of Your Friend

Day 8: Monday, February 14, 2005
1M4 They’re Coming Around
3M1 Council Meeting
4M6 I Am the Senate
1M6 Count Dooku’s Entrance
5M3a Bail’s Escape

Day 9: Thursday, February 17, 2005
1M5 The Elevator Scene
6M1 It Can’t Be
7M8 End Credits
4M5 Dialogue with Mace

Not Assigned
2M4 Revisiting Padmé
6M5 **Choir Only**

“When the orchestra comes, they will not have seen the music,” Williams says, “which speaks to
the level of musicianship that we have not only in London, but with the great American orchestras
that are also wonderful. The sight reading that we talk about in [relation to the] Star Wars
orchestra recording sessions is phenomenal. It makes my job in rehearsing, working it up, and
getting it ready to record a lot easier than it used to be. And though it begins with sight reading,
it goes so far beyond that. There’s a whole area of comprehension that comes with it.”
Because the LSO is scheduled to start at 10 A.M., Williams takes the stand—gray pants, black
belt, black sweater—at 9:55 A.M. and talks to his music editor Kenny Wannberg. Of course there
is excitement in the air. A cinema-sized screen is on one wall, behind the musicians but in
Williams’s eyeline, so that he can conduct to the film’s pacing.

About a minute after Williams takes his place, the noise level in the room increases substantially
as nearly all the musicians do their last warm-ups and every seat is filled. Williams claps
his hands and they all fall silent. The lead violinist plays a long note so everyone can tune to his
instrument, and the sound swells as the last preparations are made. Williams stands, hands in
pockets.

One of the lead musicians takes the mike and says, “It is a great pleasure to welcome John
Williams, George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, and music editor Ken Wannberg.” He then
congratulates a few musicians who have actually played in all six films. Williams takes the mike
and also congratulates the “survivors.”

“We’ll begin with 6M3,” he says, raising his baton—and on Williams’s cue the orchestra
launches into “Padmé’s Visit” with a unity and beauty that is unforgettable. The film is not projected,
as this is a rehearsal, but one can hear already echoes of Episode II’s “Love Theme” and
Episode V’s “Darth Vader’s Theme.” Williams conducts with both arms mostly, and sometimes
with just the baton in his right hand. As the orchestra plays, he turns the pages of his score.
After the first run-through, he makes a few comments and they begin again—but this time he
stops them, often between measures, correcting as he goes.

“Good eighths, please,” Williams asks at one point. “Horns, at the beginning of nine, together,
but very short . . . ,” he asks at another point. “Let’s separate twenty-four, people.”
Williams turns toward the control booth and says, “I think it sounds very good, Shawn
[Murphy, scoring engineer],” who agrees and they prepare for a take—that is, a recording of the
cue.

Streamers exactly like those used in ADR sessions signal the onset of the cue, and Williams
starts the orchestra, this time synced perfectly with the film. The cue begins with Padmé’s arrival
on Mustafar. As Anakin becomes angry, the music takes a dark turn; as Padmé backs away from
him, “Darth Vader’s Theme” is played softly. When Obi-Wan appears, the music is sad and subtle,
which Lucas had requested during the music spotting session. The music then builds to a
crescendo as Anakin chokes Padmé and the first lightsaber blow is struck.

“Beautiful,” Williams says after the first take. At the end of the second take, with a sweeping
gesture of his right arm, he stops the orchestra.

“The conducting is an interesting part of film music,” Williams says, “particularly with a Star
Wars film, where the music is choreographed to the action so specifically. The synchronization
of the musical activity with the film is what the conductor is responsible for—it’s a big part of
the job. And in many ways it’s the most enjoyable part of the job, because it’s the moment where
the music gets up off paper, where it’s just an abstraction, and becomes a live human thing.”
On said paper, a glance at the orchestra sheet music reveals the following instruments in the
following vertical order: “Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets (4), Bassoons (3), Horns (8), Trumpets (4),
Trombones (4), Tuba (2), Percussion (big Japanese drum, 3 deep drs., piatti, cymbal), Timpani,
Synth (1), Piano, Harp, Violin (30), Viola (14), Bass (8).”

In the lounge upstairs, Hayden Christensen arrives. As they play through the scene again,
Christensen remarks that, with the passing of time, he understands better the scene’s emotional
arc and that yesterday’s ADR felt good. During a break one of the female musicians climbs the
staircase to ask for his autograph.

For “Dooku’s Death,” five giant drums are played to signal his beheading.
Take. Williams decides to add the drums to a later percussion-only session that will facilitate
the recording process.

At 11:50 A.M., they have successfully recorded the first two cues and begin rehearsing
“Palpatine’s Seduction,” during which slightly skewed rhythms reflect Anakin’s skewered psyche
in the scene.

“That was a good learning session for me,” Williams says after the first take, and he enters the
control booth where he and Lucas watch the scene while listening to the playback.

“When we work in the studio,” Williams explains, “we typically do a recording of that piece
and then go inside the control booth where we can hear the playback, the result of what we’ve
just done. I like to do that because I will always learn something. I’ll hear something that needs
to be brought out or reduced. And also the orchestra players will come into the booth; if they’re
section leaders, [they] may want to come in and see how [they’re] doing and how their colleagues
are measuring up—but a lot of times they will come in just for the fun of hearing themselves.

But the playbacks are important: They give George Lucas a chance to discuss with me what I’m
doing, and maybe he makes suggestions about what I might do to make a point that he wants to
make which I haven’t emphasized. So it’s a serious but also a fun part of the recording process.”
This particular time, Lucas remarks that they’re moving rapidly through today’s cues. “We
have plenty of music, George, don’t worry,” Williams jokes.

As they continue to record, Lucas reads The New York Times. After the next take Shawn says
to Williams through an intercom: “We’re not together right at the downbeat of the piece—we’re
consistently not together at twenty-seven.”
“The release note at twenty-seven?” Williams asks.
“Yes. Really good otherwise.”
At 12:25 P.M., rehearsal begins for “Heroes Collide.”
“That was good,” Lucas says to a visitor. “Now we have to see how it plays in the film.”

 

burrt is not tyrannical that's ridiculous and george does what george wants! it's always the summer of george.

 

I think this will be my favourite Lucas quote forevermore.

"The thing about science-fiction fans and "Star Wars" fans is they're very independent-thinking people. They all think outside the box, but they all have very strong ideas about what should happen, and they think it should be their way, which is fine, except I'm making the movies, so I should have it my way."

--George Lucas, Associated Press Interview 2004.


At 1 P.M., the orchestra breaks for lunch. The majority of the musicians adjourn to the cafeteria,
while McCallum, Lucas, and Williams listen to a playback of the music in the control booth.
“Awesome,” Rick says.
“I think if the chorus comes in there [on “Heroes Collide”], that’d be great. We had the drums
. . . ,” Williams says, but then turns to Shawn. “Is this on our bit of percussion suite?”
“No.”
“Well, let’s add them. There are a couple of places it could be more driving. When we come
back, let’s do one without any percussion.”
“That’d be great,” Lucas agrees.
“It’s promising,” Williams says.
“I think it’ll be great,” Lucas reemphasizes. “I think the real problem is: Do you have any notes
left for the rest of the movie?”
Later in the afternoon, the LSO has made such good progress that they move up “Revisiting
Padmé,” which accents the reunion of Anakin and his wife—but, while the scene is mostly
smiles, the music tells us that their situation is tinged with foreboding.
“I think the greatest opportunity we have in music with films,” Williams remarks, “is to create
an emotional element in a scene that may be already there. And if it isn’t there we might suggest
it. If there’s a scene between two very animated and opposed people who are actually lovers,
the music may be telling [the audience that] there’s something else, a kind of undertext about
what their mental state may be.”
Next “The Immolation Scene” is attacked. After a recording take, Williams and the lead musicians
file into the control booth to watch the playback. One of the musicians, who is watching
for the first time Anakin bursting into flames, exclaims, “Wow. I just can’t believe it!” Lucas
mentions that one of the Elstree pickups might affect the scoring of the cue. The addition of
Padmé’s line on the medbed makes the scene longer than the musical cue.
“Any idea how long the new part is?” Williams asks.
“Ten seconds maybe,” Lucas replies. “It’s a real emotional moment and I don’t know if a
stretch of a chord is going to do it; I think it might need a chord switch on Obi-Wan’s face.”
Williams agrees, but says, “I think we’ll be all right.”
After further review of the cue’s finale, Williams says, “I just don’t like what I did there at all,”
and laughs.
A short time later, the orchestra and Williams end early.
“I think it was a great first day,” Lucas says to the composer.
“We did a lot, about twenty minutes,” Williams notes. “But it’s still a big list tomorrow.”
He leaves, and Lucas and Wannberg discuss how to incorporate the pickups and the reel delivery
schedule.
“Ultimately we’ll only have one reel that’s problematic,” Lucas explains. “We’re finally getting
control of this thing.”
“But it’s the last film, George!” Wannberg jokes.
“I’m not under control.” Lucas smiles. “I’m still causing as much trouble as I ever did.”
ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, LONDON
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2005

“Horns, in thirteen, the metric shape should be the same as five,” Williams says. The rehearsals
for “Revenge of the Sith” are taking longer than yesterday’s as the piece is more difficult. The
cue involves the end of the Mustafar duel, and so is dramatic and then quiet when Anakin’s limbs
are severed.
“Shawn, what effect does that have on you?” Williams says as he turns away from the orchestra
toward the control booth. “I don’t think we’re overplaying it. It’s hard to say, Play more softly
on this.”
“John,” one of the musicians asks, “when it gets the loudest, is it possible that the brass level
be increased?”
“Yes. Shawn, could we do that?”
“Where would that be?” Shawn asks, in turn.
“Thirty-six and fifty-one . . . and seventy-two are the spots, Shawn. And it may be that the
crescendi is making us late,” Williams remarks, and then turns back to the orchestra. “People, it
may be that when we can get to a crescendo—don’t play them too loudly.”
In the control booth, after a few takes, Lucas says to Williams, “The focus really has to be on
the emotional content.”
Director and composer discuss the different instruments, and the latter again reassures, “I
think we’re going to be in good shape.”
“I think it’s important to get the drums free on their own separate track so we can control
them,” Lucas notes, and Williams agrees. One woman watching the moment when Anakin is dismembered
covers her mouth as she gasps.
Later that morning, George and John are listening to the playback of “Good-bye, Old Friend.”
“When Obi-Wan is on the [Jedi cruiser on his way to Utapau],” Lucas says, “there should be
more tension. There are two horns in there that seem to be resolving the tension, but we shouldn’t
be that happy yet.”
He and Williams discuss possible solutions. “Once in a while George will say, ‘Try that or try
this,’ ” Williams explains, “and I can try it and very often it will work better, but . . . the possibilities
are so myriad in all of these scenes, from the musician’s point of view. There are so many
maybe even very good ways to do it that we hope we’ve settled on one of the best approaches.
But eventually we have to commit to a performance.”
After lunch, they record “Grievous Travels Toward Palpatine.”
“In Revenge of the Sith, there are three or four pieces of new material,” Williams says. “A couple
of them are lamentations; they accompany some very dark turns in the action. And there’s
also a kind of fun piece, which includes a lot of percussion, for Grievous.
“But in this film more than any of the other five, there are references to earlier scenes, which
seem to me and to George to be part of the way we want to tell the story, musically. There’s a
reference to what we call the ‘Force Theme,’ which is the positive side of the Force, and it’s
referred to more and more in this film. And there are even some references to Princess Leia’s
forthcoming arrival, so we hear her theme now for the first time in several films. And there are
quotations of what we called the ‘Imperial March,’ but it’s actually ‘Darth Vader’s Theme,’ the
archbaddy, the archvillain of all time. It’s a combination of new material and old material, all
organized within the specific outline—so it’s quite a musical tapestry.
“Part of music for films that’s very important is the melodic part, which is an opportunity for
a composer to create a melodic identification for a particular character or a place—so that when
you see that person, or that person is suggested even by someone’s thought, that theme can be
played and it’s a link for the audience. It’s an aural identification, which provides an additional
magnetism for the viewer. So in terms of atmosphere, identification of melody, action, choreographic
timing elements in the music, it’s really part of the corpus, the body of what a film is.
Bernard Herrmann [Citizen Kane (1941), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), and many others]—
who was one of the greatest film composers ever, if not the greatest one—always said that music
is part of film; you can’t take it away. If you strip the music out of most films, they go flat, dead.
So it’s one thing to talk about music and film, but what we really need to be talking about is the
synthesis, the coming together of these elements that produce the experience that we have. From
a composer’s point of view it’s a wonderful opportunity.”
Playing to the scene in which Darth Vader slaughters the Separatist Council, which is intercut
with drama in the Senate, the LSO records “Anakin’s Dark Deeds,” or “5M7.” In the booth,
Lucas says to Williams, “It’s beautiful. Wow. I have only one issue—it’s always with horns—I
don’t know why. I have nothing against them. But during Padmé’s speech in the Senate, there are
two horns—I think it’d be better if they weren’t there.”
They discuss it, come up with a solution, and then tackle another problem with the percussion,
which is resolved by swapping out one for another set that might sound better in this particular
room.
“Working on 5M7, clarinets and horns please do not play,” Williams says back in the studio,
“and those instruments resume playing on fifty-three. Basses, the opening nine measures, would
you play louder.” Take. “Trombones, why don’t you play a semi-quaver at the end of fifty-seven.
And do not play the fourth beat of forty-nine and resume at fifty-three; I should’ve said that
before.”
The day comes to an end toward five o’clock. The musicians leave for their homes, Lucas and
McCallum prepare for tomorrow’s ADR, and Williams returns to his hotel. A few days later, he
would say there, “George and I have been working now on Star Wars for over twenty-five years.
I have the same kind of association with Steven Spielberg, which makes me very lucky. And it’s
not something we planned. In retrospect it’s kind of like a good marriage; you look back at it
after all those years and say, ‘Wow, we really made it, you know, and in spite of all the obstacles.’
So it’s like any good thing that comes to an end: There’s a bittersweet aspect to it. But in
this particular case and for me there’s a sense of real pleasure in having been able, given the
opportunity and the energy, to complete this whole picture. I feel very lucky and very happy
about it.”

 

Could you not just post very large excerpts of the book in here please?

 

I think this is very informative looking into the process of JW as he scores movies and Star Wars in particular. Since there isn't much to talk about and won't be for months until it comes out.

On top of that this is from the free PDF file (that isn't around anymore anyway) so it's really like an article online.

 

I'm not saying it isn't, but I don't think it's particularly helpful in discussing how he'll be working on The Force Awakens, and it's also, even if it's a free PDF, not the coolest thing to fill the thread with c+p'd excerpts that start to constitute the entirety of the document. smaller sized excerpts that link back to the pdf file in full is a better call.

It's not necessarily furthering or engendering conversation on the topic of Williams scoring Force Awakens, basically.

 

*pokes at thread with stick*

Updates? Pics? Rumors?

Feels like somebody clamped down -- and hard -- on those tantalizing leaks from the first day or two...

 

I know! I'm dying for news on the score. I can imagine the people involved in the session were given a talking to. At least I have the brilliant new release of his A.I score to tide me over...
Hopefully we'll get a tiny sneak peak of the score soon... (Comic-Con??)

 

I gotta imagine that by dint of the fact recording is taking place over MONTHS - something's going to get out. The hope is that it's a) music or b) decently described descriptions of what's going on by people who understand what's happening in there.

 

That's probable. I'd prefer the latter. I don't want my first experience with the score to be from a bootleg recording.

 

I hope John Williams doesn't die because then he'll have to be replaced with Danny Elfman.

 

I'd prefer the former partially because if the first report was any real indication, I don't trust that the latter will actually happen in any useful manner.

 

Williams are in pretty good health, realistically he can do all three movies. IF he wants to work with R. Johnson too. We will see.
But Danny Elfman is maybe not a good fit for the ST. His DC /Marvel scores, all the Tim Burton stuff is mostly great, a favorite of mine being Edward Scissorhands. I also love Mars Attacks and the first 2 Batman overtures. Cant deny the guy have his style.

 

Agreed on both counts. Danny Elfman is a fine composer, he's not right for Star Wars though. I'm also a bit tired of the death-mongering that accompanies every John Williams thread nowadays. Totally brings the mood down.

 

True, Jason Ward's efforts are well-meaning but you really have to have somebody with musical know-how to sufficiently judge something like this.

 

Pretty sure Internets was just joking.

 

No matter who took the mantle should Williams depart, some would find them inferior. No one should exactly copy anyone anyway that would erase individuality and decrease ability to immerse and respect all related works potentially. I would like Williams to do all 9 SW films as they appear to stand but I'm not banking on it.

 

I know, it's not him specifically that I'm talking about. It just reminded me of some of the talk that usually goes around.

 

I used to like Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. That was back in the '90s. Now I just pray that neither comes anywhere near SW.

 

Guys, I was referencing Blue Harvest.

 

Is that what that was? I stopped watching the Simpsons over a decade ago.

 

Family Guy. Close enough.

 

I know, Internets. That was also a joke.

(family guy sucks)

 

I'm fine with the show. It's easy to watch and there are occasionally funny moments.
Plus, a show that regularly references John Williams can't be that bad.