'Minority Report' Score Discussion

I noticed that there was a recurring cue that was used throughout about 6 points in the film - all very suspensful moments, too.

The chord changes and rhythm of the cue sounded the exact same as the cue used right after Anakin kills the Tuskens and we see Yoda meditating!

The cue was so close to the cue in AOTC that I knew and could even hum the next chord!

I don't know what JW was doing, but it sounded like he almost just cut and pasted the cue from AOTC into Minority Report.

 

A few things:

There are certain times that it recalls the score for AOTC more than any other Williams score. The most bombastic, traditional action cue occurs in what you may call Minority Reports' On the Conveybelt. However, among the main three themes/motifs, none recall the themes of Williams' previous. The orchestrations could recall some though.

The best track of the CD, track 1 "Minority Report," follows in many Williams' CD release tradition in that it is basicaly a concert suite. It appears in the end credits fully after a performance of Sean's theme. The track does not actually happen in the film.

While Spielberg called the score to Minority Report as the most "black and white" score Williams has wrote, I'm not sure if I agree. To me, it is still very colorful a score that does not completely rely on suspense and build up. At least, it's still much more colorful a score than the old time whodunits that Spielberg was emulating.

 

LOL! I recognized the "Tusken raider" like cues as well. I liked the music during the "spider sequence". Other than that this score didn't stand out but it wasn't shabby either.

 

Well I saw the movie just now (in IMAX no less) and I thought the score did well for it. Williams seems to be becoming less complex so far as his scores go (I'm no expert so don't mind my ignorance). One thing that did make me laugh was the scene where Anderton and Jad were fighting and the cue sounded just like Indiana Jones (as I had previously mentioned), but in John Williams current style and sound! It was the exact type of scene too-- 2 guys fighting and something else (propeller for Indy) coming closer and closer endangering their lives. Light bulb!

 

The Minority Report score is 10 times better then the Episode II score. Why? Becuase they didn't chop it up into little pieces and re-distribute it everywhere.

And if they did, they did a damn better job then they did in AOTC.

 

Just saw the movie today. The most stand-out section of the score for me was that haunting music that played whenever we saw flashes of Anne Lively. Other than that the music was farely undistinguished, especially the action scenes which reminded me so much of AOTC that it was distracting.

 

Larkin - *sigh* regarding the AOTC screen edits:

Here's the explanation, makes sense really.


John Williams composed/scored the film in December,January, and February. As you all know George Lucas likes to mold his films well after filming. I wouldn't be surprised if he was editing well into April. What you end up with is a film that is slightly different than the one JW scored which means it doesn't fit JW's original score(for those particular edited scenes). What do you do?


Do you get JW to rescore? He's too busy (MR,Harry Potter 2,Catch Me if you Can).

You keep the score the way it is even though the scenes are a little different? Of course not! Imagine during the quiet fireplace scene you all of a sudden hear a crescendo of brass and trumpets because previously at that time there was an action scene but GL switched them around. If you kept JW's original score the scenes wouldn't match the "new film"

You try to edit the score as best you can using JW material from AOTC,TPM, and OT? bingo! . Since you can't elicit the help of JW and you can't keep the original score over the modified film you do your best to score it yourself.




Fans are mad but think about why they would do such a thing. Many of you know that the arena battle scene was heavily edited. What JW scored earlier just wouldn't fit with the new shape of the film. Would you prefer silence??

 

I'd prefer a finished movie be handed to JW to score! But that's for another thread.

 

Yes, it is for another thread. Please don't bring it up in every thread, people.

I just listened to the CD. My favorite parts of the CD are whenever Sean's theme appears in its "early" form. I prefer the rendition in tracks like "Sean's Theme" and "Sean and Lara" over the renditions in "Minority Report" and "A New Beginning". Aside from that, I loved "Anderton's Great Escape", one of Williams' most exciting action cues in quite some time. It does recall AOTC a bit, but mostly, it reminds me of The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

How does it stack up to Williams' recent scores, you ask? Well, I'd have to rank it behind A.I. and slightly behind Attack of the Clones, as those two scores have some of my favorite Williams cues of all. But "Hedwig's Theme" aside, I rank Minority Report above Harry Potter.

 

Williams' score is not particularly strong in the department of the thematic, and for that reason, I don't find it nearly as strong as A.I. or (the original material in) Attack of the Clones. However, in terms of how the score is actually utilized in the film, as far as how well the music correlates to and supports the images, it worked extremely well in context. Atmospherically, it captured the darkness and confusion of the film exceedingly well.

Nothing I'd push for an Oscar nomination come winter, though.

 

"Nothing I'd push for an Oscar nomination come winter, though."

Why not? As AOTC is probably not to the Academy's liking, I'm hard-pressed to find another score this year that is memorable enough to be nominated.

 

Well first of all, we're only halfway through the year. Many of the big Oscar contenders bound to go for high-quality scoring haven't even been released yet. Secondly, in my opinion anyway, the score supplements the film very well, but neither transcends it nor exists very well independently. Even though the core of film scoring is how the music works in context, the inclusion of all of these elements mark the difference between a good score and a great one.

Simply put, it's not memorable enough.

 

2002 scores that are better than Minority Report

Only 1 I can think of...

AOTC - since TPM's splendid score wasn't even nominated I think the Academy is going to give SW another cold shoulder.




This seems like a weak year. I am looking forward to Catch Me if you Can and then a long rest for JW so his next batch of scores won't start resembling each other.

 

Might I remind you that four of last year's five Best Original Score nominees were released in or after November...

 

This is not meant to bash the Academy, but the way they nominate categories like best original score depend on the film's quality a lot. The Legend of Bagger Vance didn't get a nomination, just as The Time Machine won't get one this year. Why? Because basically the movies stink. And oh, they just happen to feature two of the best scores of these last few years. The Time Machine score is the only one that I would pencil in right now as one of the best even when the year ends, but it has zippo chance.

 

I'm not saying it has a chance of winning, but Williams gets at least one instant nomination almost every year. Now, Catch Me If You Can might be that one this year, but MR has a strong chance nonetheless.

 

Does anybody know when MR Soundtrack pieces will hit the net? I don't mean bootlegged music in it's entirety, but I mean at places like Yahoo where you can hear clips from the music. I just wanted to hear a few clips before I buy the soundtrack.



ST

 

I just saw MR, and there is AOTC music in it!

SPOILERS




When the government guy is murdered by the older guy (sorry, forgot names ) and John is on his way to the cottage, the music is near identical to when DV's shadow is shown at the homestead and Anakin's about to slaughter some Tuskens!!!!

 

bright sith's assessment of the Academy's voting on the Score category is absolutely right. There is indeed a correlation between the nominees and the quality of the films - partly, I speculate, because of the way the studios campaign. You don't see a studio just putting up an ad for a certain film for Original Score... they campaign for the big awards and slip in mentions of the (relatively) minor ones on the same page.

It is true that John Williams seems to get a token nomination this year. And yes, MR has a better chance at that than AOTC... I found AOTC to have wonderful original scoring, but the fact that so much music was re-edited from TPM is a major strike against it - and I mean that in terms of personal opinion, not just chance at awards.

As for scores so far this year: Personally, I quite loved the Zimmer score to Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, even though it was only there for one half of the film while Bryan Adams hogged the other. Call it Shrek syndrome...

 

The music from the PreCrime propaganda video was (if my ears were not deceiving me in the theaters) almost note-for-note for the Chase through Coruscant.

Other than that, nothing particularly memorable as themes go, though I do recall appreciating the music's addition to the film moment by moment.

M. Scott

 

Can someone answer me this question?

I know it's not on the MR soundtrack, but what classical piece(s) did Spielberg use during Anderton's "computer orchestration" scenes? I can't put my finger on it.

 

Just saw the movie tonight and was shocked when I recognized a very similar musical piece from AOTC. When Tommy Cruise and the old women was talking in the greenhouse it sounded amazingly similar to when Anakin was about to hope on the speeder bike to begin his tuskin hunt

 

I'm just about to go and see the film, but I was wondering if anybody could tell me if the music used on the trailers for Minority Report is on the soundtrack, or was it taken from another John Williams' score? Or did he just compose some quick music for the trailer, like he did with the music on the A.I trailer? If anybody could answer my question, I'd be terribly grateful .

 

Nope, I don't think any of the trailers had any original music.