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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

The Force Awakens Soundtrack

Discussion in 'Star Wars And Film Music' started by jeykey, Jan 3, 2015.

  1. Poe loves Rey

    Poe loves Rey Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Dec 6, 2015
    I don't hum Rey's theme, but I "do do" it.

    Do, do-do doooo, do, do-do, do do. Do, do-do dooo, do, do-do do do.

    Dum dum dum, da dum dum dum. Dum dum dum, da dum dum dum.
     
  2. iamtherebelspy

    iamtherebelspy Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Apr 23, 2016
    Duel of the Fates... literally the best battle song of all SW... every time I see Darth Maul I hear it!!
     
  3. iamtherebelspy

    iamtherebelspy Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Apr 23, 2016
    I LOVED the TFA soundtrack. I bought it upon leaving the theater for the first time. Rey's Theme + The Jedi Steps + Snoke (to name a few) are great! I can listen to the music and follow the story.

    The only thing I think that was missing was a true First Order Theme (similar to the Imperial March). There was the brief tune in Attack on Jakku (an a few other Kylo Ren moments) that was played which is memorable and immediately identifiable as being Kylo's but definitely not on the same caliber as the Imperial March... but maybe it was like that symbolically as the titular character (Kylo Ren) is not 100% developed yet.... Hmmm....:confused: [​IMG]
     
  4. Darth Blade

    Darth Blade Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2014
    I really enjoyed the TFA soundtrack, but wow I enjoy it way more after listening to the Rebel Force Radio breakdowns. Not sure if it has been posted here yet. But you have David Collins who was the lead sound designer for LucasArts breaking down EVERYTHING that John Williams did in TFA. Hours of material going through all of the themes present, and how John Williams played with variations based on what was happening. Some possible clues into character's backgrounds as well. For example he breaks down and shows how Rey's themes is essentially based on the Force theme, and at one point in the score even plays both at the same time on top of each other.

    http://www.rebelforceradio.com/shows/2015/12/30/star-wars-oxygen-vol-25-the-force-awakens-part-1

    http://www.rebelforceradio.com/shows/2016/1/14/star-wars-oxygen-vol-26-the-force-awakens-part-2

    http://www.rebelforceradio.com/shows/2016/2/2/star-wars-oxygen-vol-28-tfa-part-3

    http://www.rebelforceradio.com/shows/2016/2/17/star-wars-oxygen-vol-28-tfa-part-3
     
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  5. Strilo

    Strilo Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2001
    Hey Howard Hand do you know if we have confirmation that the statement of the Force theme in TFA when Rey uses the Force to snatch the lightsaber from Kylo Ren is indeed just tracked in from ANH's Burning Homestead and NOT re-recorded for TFA?
     
  6. Howard Hand

    Howard Hand Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 11, 2015
    I don't think there's any definitive proof yet but the recording quality of that snippet is different than the rest of the score.
     
  7. Strilo

    Strilo Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2001
    What I noticed that makes me think it's dropped in is that the sound field is slightly different. The placement of the french horns within the stereo sound space changed from towards the right to a little more left. Also, it seems a bit less "wet" than the rest of the score, meaning a bit less reverb. This is typical of scores recorded before like the mid 1980s.
     
  8. CDRomBeta

    CDRomBeta Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    May 24, 2016
    I don't know, I loved Rey's Theme as well as March of the Resistance
     
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  9. CDRomBeta

    CDRomBeta Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    May 24, 2016
    This exactly.
    Even I have to admit George is not the best scriptwriter (and RotS is my favorite) but he was an amazing story teller. If TFA was George's world with Abrams's + Kennedy's movie, it would have been unstoppable imo.
    That being said, I hope Episode VIII takes a better turn in world building than TFA did.
     
  10. SensationalSean

    SensationalSean Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 19, 2014
    TFA's soundtrack grows on me more each time I listen to it, with Rey's Theme as the obvious standout. Anyone else tempted by the vinyl release?!
     
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  11. theMaestro

    theMaestro Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2015
    I recently listened to a podcast where I learned why TFA's soundtrack might have felt a bit off compared to the others. I think Williams started composing themes for certain characters, ideas, and themes, without seeing a finished cut of the movie. It wasn't scored to picture like the previous Star Wars films were and was instead like a more modern film in which edits were being made up until the very last second. Thus, Williams was directed to just write themes, but not for specific scenes, so that they could be easily edited into the movie. I think this is what made it seem like the score was somewhat lacking. With the other films, Lucas did things differently where he would show Williams a cut of the movie and then he would begin composing; this allowed for less time to score it but enabled it to be scored to picture to give important moments the "oomph" they needed. That being said, I personally still really like the music.
     
  12. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    So I've listened to Rey's theme more than 1500 times since the soundtrack came out.
     
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  13. Palp Fiction

    Palp Fiction Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2003
    Its brilliant. So are all of the references to it throughout the soundtrack.
     
  14. dolphin

    dolphin Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 5, 1999

    You should stop at 1,977 times.
     
  15. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I think I might have worn myself out on the song.
     
  16. MatthewZ

    MatthewZ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2003
  17. Strilo

    Strilo Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2001
    To my knowledge, John spotted the film with JJ just like any other Star Wars film. A rough cut months before the score was recorded.
     
  18. theMaestro

    theMaestro Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Really? I was under the impression that Williams starting composing themes way in advance. I'm sure there was a spotting session, but it was done with these themes that he'd already composed. So while it was "spotted" to picture, I don't believe it was scored to picture, if that makes sense. I could be wrong though.
     
  19. Strilo

    Strilo Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2001
    Yes it was scored to picture. Howard Hand help me out here.
     
  20. theMaestro

    theMaestro Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2015
    I was under the impression that he wrote all the music between December 2014 to June 2015. Given the way that movies are edited nowadays (i.e, up to the very last minute), I don't think it's very likely that he was scoring to picture to the same extent that Lucas allowed him to with the previous films. With the exception of AOTC, all the previous films had nearly finalized cuts by the time Williams started writing the music. And so, there was a stronger connection between the visuals and music; when he wrote for a certain scene, he wrote for that scene. But in TFA, I just don't think this was the case. Maybe he was shown some clips and whatnot during this 6 month period, but I don't think he wrote the music to picture with the certainty that it was the final cut in the same way he did with the originals or prequels.

    But that's not a knock on the TFA score. I think it's great and I love all the new themes.
     
  21. Darthmaul208

    Darthmaul208 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2013
    I'm sure I've read that he scored way later than mentioned.
    He specifically said he didn't write anything until he saw an early cut. He said he had a few ideas before but he didn't really work on it until after.
    He said that watching it the first time without sound helps because in his head the film develops it's own music and then he knows where to take it.

    I'll try to find the interview because he definitely said this.
     
  22. theMaestro

    theMaestro Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2015
    He may have seen an early cut (which does help out a lot), but what I'm getting at is that the exact way the scenes are cut together couldn't have been finalized when he wrote the music. For example, let's say that there's an emotional moment and the movie cuts to a serious-looking facial expression from one of the characters; if that was the finalized version, the composer might write music for that scene such that there's some kind of musical cue when it cuts to the serious facial expression. But, if you don't know what the exact order of the scenes is going to be, then your musical composition can't really account for when the movie might decide to cut to someone's facial expression. And so, you then have to write your music such that it can be a little more versatile and multi-purpose; it needs to be able to be easily chopped up and molded in the editing room to fit the eventual final cut of the movie. And so, the end result is something that makes the editors' lives easier but something that doesn't have as strong a connection to the visuals as the scores of the previous films. That's just what I've heard from some people with a little inside knowledge on the process these days.

    This wasn't the case (for the most part) in the Lucas era because he would present Williams with something that was 99% close to the final cut of the movie to really allow him to score to picture and allow the music to embrace the various changes in scenes and cuts.
     
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  23. Howard Hand

    Howard Hand Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 11, 2015
    It was, though reel-by-reel as the film was being edited (as opposed to the usual of having Williams see the film in its entirety first). As the film was whittled down, Williams rewrote many of these early cues.
     
  24. Strilo

    Strilo Manager Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2001
    Plus it can be normal for him to write themes and motifs and stuff early on, before picture is anywhere close to locked. He wrote Hedwig's theme way in advance. I believe lots of Hook's themes were written way ahead of time. Anyone can write certain themes and leitmotifs early on, then weave them into the final score design once the film is much closer to locked. And then revisit them and tweak them as Howard Hand mentions above. This doesn't seem unique to TFA.
     
  25. theMaestro

    theMaestro Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Oh I'm not saying that the way it was done for TFA was unique or odd. In fact, I think that's the way most modern films are done. Rather, the original 6 Star Wars films were the unique cases because there weren't too many cooks in the kitchen; it was just Lucas and his vision for how he wanted the scenes to be cut together. And because of that he was able to give Williams something very close to the final cut that Williams could then specifically compose to. With modern non-independent films these days there's just so many people who have an opinion on how scenes should play out or be cut together that the composer is more inclined to create more versatile music that can be easily edited or modified to be able to fit a variety of scenes.
     
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