The music of The Clone Wars - weekly scores by Kevin Kiner

Loved the music in Dooku Captured, especially when Obi-wan and Anakin enter the pirate's lair.

 

Here, here.

 

Quest, please forgive me, but these are not mere 'accusations.' I have provided proof; what more do you require? And further proof is to be found within the following: a second source confirming that the Indian song used in Dooku Captured is indeed a real song, not having anything to do with Kiner or TCW. The following was posted by a member of a film music forum I frequent:

So there you have it. A third proof attesting to Kiner's rip-offs. If you have any doubts whatsoever about the accuracy or context of the above quote, check out the original post in the forum thread (in which I am the user 'William') from which it was taken.

 

Has anyone bothered to check the credits to see if the Indian song is referenced in the credits?

Do we know that Kiner is claiming the song to be his?


Or are we assuming?

 

We are assuming at this point. For anyone here who has bought the episode off iTunes (which should have the full credits), does it mention any composer other than Kiner in the credits?

 

I don't know, man. Seeing as how nobody has yet to produce the song or the name of the movie it originally appeared in, I'm not so sure you can consider these message board posts to be "proof" that Kiner is stealing his music.

Plus there's the point that it could have been intentionally borrowed and properly credited(although borrowing any kind of music at all seems like a strange choice to me).

 

I hear about composers stealing from one another a lot, which makes me ask this- when movies use direct quotes from other movies as an homage, why can't movie soundtracks use cues from other soundtracks?

 

Because when you buy a film soundtrack you generally buy it for the new, original music written for that particular film, not the music of another film which you may (or can) also own the soundtrack to. If you want music used in both, go for the original soundtrack for which it was written, rather than a new "homage" rip-off; original is always best. Trust me; I own around fifty film scores.

 

Just watched the credits. Kiner is the only one listed but there is someone listed under rights and clearances or something like that. Perhaps they can pay for royalties for a song. I know other shows use songs not composed for the show-I just dont know if they always credit them.

 

What aboutthis edit/homage rip-off and its sequel? I think they were unauthorized to boot, even if they ARE fanfilms.

You're probably right about originals being purer and better, but hey. I think it's not impossible for rehashes to be better than originals.

 

I also looked at the credits, from my DVR'd (that's a verb now Wedge?) version of the episode from last Friday. Indeed, no mention of the song.

But there's something else I noticed. They showed the wrong credit sequence. The one they showed last Friday was identical to the one showed after Lair of Grievous. And given the voice actors, writer, and director that were credited, it seems the credits belong to Lair of Grievous.

So...yeah...I guess that doesn't mean much, does it?

 

Did anyone notice the very "The Fifth Element" music playing in the pirate bar during episode 12 tonight, very cool, i liked it a lot!

 

How is that "very cool?" Kiner gives no credit whatsoever to the music's composer(s), tries to pass it off as his own, on a documentary about his own music... BtW, what exactly is the music you're referring to and where can I hear it in it's original context?

 

i dont know anything about this documentary where he claims it as his own, so i certianly am not defending kiner in that regard.....i just simply meant that the music in the bar sound almost identical to the music from the space opera/climax scene from Fifth Element, given that it is a very popular sci-fi movie i found it cool that aliens in space would appear to actually be listening to this music. again though, i dont make any defense in regards of plagarism, im just saying it was a cool moment to me

 

There was a melody that sounded similar to the "Back to the Future" theme when Jar Jar starts crashing the tanks.

 

oh really, i didnt notice that, gonna have to watch it again

 

The mini-BTTF theme cue was also used in the film when they start to climb the big pillar on Teth.

Different arrangement of it though.

 

This is getting spooky.

So, um... is Jim Venable available?

 

The musical bits that have stood out most to me were the rock/techno theme for the vertical assault, Artoo's techno escape theme, the faux-rap at the end of last week's episode, and the choral score accompanying Dooku's escape from the pirate lair. I've enjoyed the use of the Williams themes as well, although apart from Ambush none stand out that much to me. Overall, I find it runs from serviceable to enjoyable.

 

The reality is, counting sharps/flats, there are only 12 notes per octave. There are only so many keys you can write something in (and even fewer if you want the music to sound normal to westerners). There are only so many time signatures possible.

And after so many years, it's kind of difficult to write wholly original music.

That's not to excuse intellectual property theft whenever that happens.

But when you look at just a couple of beats in a piece of music...or even a couple of measures...pure originality is very difficult to achieve.

So, I guess I'm saying, don't be unfairly hard on Kevin.

 

Wedge, I see what you're saying, but I really don't think bashing Kiner for his complete, note-for-note, same key signature, MINUTE-LONG rip-offs of other film scores (not 'classical' music, but stuff that was written within the past ten to fifty years!) can be considered being "unfairly hard on Kevin."

 

I missed the minute long cue. I heard the 3-5 seconds of music from Downfall of a Droid / Dracula. But a minute long?

Not saying it isn't there. Just saying I haven't heard it. Could you point it out to me?

And how long ago it was written should be irrelevant (except for the whole public domain thing...but that's only a monetary issue).

 

That's what I'm referring to. It's actually pretty long, and the motif taken from Dracula is definitely heard three to four times.

 

An the fact that it is exactly like the Dracula theme not only in melody, but also has the exact same 4-2-4-2 thumping rythm kinda makes it hard to see it as just musical coincidence.

 

So he stole a relatively short segment of music, and used it repeatedly?
That's your contention.