I listened to the FYC album of this.... and I liked it a lot. I already can't wait to listen to it again, but haven't found the time yet. What a nice treat at the end of the year to get two new Giacchino scores on the same day!
Michael Giacchino to Reteam with Taika Waititi on Next Goal Wins
I'm imagining this will be a smaller score like Jojo Rabbit, but I'm curious to hear what Giacchino comes up with!
Since this is his third collaboration with Waititi, I'm hopeful that means there's a good chance he will score Waititi's Star Wars film too. I like Rogue One (especially "Your Father Would Be Proud"), but I would love to hear a Giacchino Star Wars score that isn't rushed!
After watching Andor I finally was motivated enough to finish my edit after abandoning it multiple times since the expansion was released. 86:12 long, cuts down on crap material to focus on the good stuff in an IMO better structure. Some great cues were kept as is, some were joined with others but untouched, maybe moved around in order, some were microedited to shorten them and remove some worse material (in a lot of cases this was easy, as many of the action cues are almost modular), and in some cases replacements had to be fabricated for real bad parts that couldn't just be thrown out.
01 - He's Here For Us:
01 He's Here For Us
02 - A Long Ride Ahead:
02 - A Long Ride Ahead 0:00-3:24
46 Scarif Antenna Alignment 1:38-1:50
46 Scarif Antenna Alignment 1:51-1:56
02 - A Long Ride Ahead 3:46-3:57
The opening cues are fine as is, but film title logo music is horrible. The alternate is somehow far worse. The cue can't just end on nothing, it needs a resolution, something had to be done. My best idea was to lift this triumphant Hope statement from late in the score, fix its weird note held too long to keep it rhythmically consistent, and transition back to Long Ride Ahead for a nice fadeout ending.
03 - There Are Spies Everywhere:
07 Mission to Jedha 0:00-0:25 (before the inexplicable long pause)
04 There Are Spies Everywhere
Added the extra opening here to get a "things are starting to get going" energetic feel after the opening segment/logo, the combination works shockingly unnoticeably.
04 - Jyn and the Rebellion:
03 Wobani Imperial Labor Camp
06 Jyn's Interrogation 0:00-1:17
08 Trust Goes Both Ways 0:00-0:40
08 Trust Goes Both Ways 0:54-2:08
06 Jyn's Interrogation 1:17-1:33
05 The Detention of Jyn Erso 0:29-0:51
05 The Detention of Jyn Erso 0:55-1:13
A track that ends up being an establisher: We get a big Jyn, some downtime, a middle Jyn, some Jedha callback, an establisher for the military tension motif (no idea how to call it at the moment), then Hope and the Rebel Fanfare as a happier finale. These all had problems. Wobani was too short and alone where it originally was. I don't like the early and kinda bland Force Theme in Jyn's Interrogation, but the rest worked well as connective tissue here. The awful Force Theme was removed from Trust Goes Both Ways easily, and I transitioned back before it really went away into the violent noisy material. I also threw away the noisy weak brass first half of Detention of Jyn Erso, as well as the random brass notes marching after the Rebel Fanfare.
05 - When Has Become Now:
09 When Has Become Now
06 - Jedha Arrival:
11 Jedha Arrival 0:00-1:47
12 Hearts of Kyber
10 Jyn's Memories of Childhood 0:00-0:36
11 Jedha Arrival 2:22-2:50
Wanted to keep both the middle cues and remove the middle of Jedha Arrival, so this was a nice way to solve it.
07 - Ambush in Jedha City:
13 Ambush in Jedha City
55 Jedha City Ambush (Alternate)
Classic joining of a lead-in cue with the thing it obviously leads into. Picked the shorter version because it's plenty enough.
08 - No Friends of the Empire:
17 No Friends of the Empire
I like the Jedha stuff, but not really the Saw stuff. This was a nice transitionary cue that also reinforces the presence of the underused Guardians theme.
09 - Star-Dust:
22 Star-Dust 0:00-0:39
22 Star-Dust 1:03-2:58
29 Confrontation on Eadu 5:52-8:09
Microedit to remove the intrusive bit and keep the mood consistent. This final bit is the only part of Confrontation on Eadu that I like and the only part of that entire segment that I kept, and it had to go somewhere. In the end I put it in the place of Star-Dust's much less refined ending to combine these 2 major Jyn/Dad relationship cues.
10 - An Imperial Test of Power:
18 Imperial Departure
23 An Imperial Test of Power 0:00-1:45
23 An Imperial Test of Power 2:24-3:38
Had to put the former cue somewhere and this worked out. Streamlined the latter by removing the bare held notes and noisy bits in the middle.
11 - News from the Ashes:
25 News from the Ashes
24 Apologies are in Order
Switched these two because I felt the former led into the next cue better than the latter.
12 - Rebellions are Built on Hope:
31 Rebellions are Built on Hope
32 A Rebel Change of Heart
33 Rogue One
Yes, I skipped over all of the mess that is the Eadu setpiece. Just felt these 3 would work better combined, the last 2 especially to make the buildup build up to something instead of losing it all with a 5 second quiet break until Rogue One starts out of nowhere.
13 - Cargo Shuttle SW-0608:
34 Cargo Shuttle SW-0608 0:00-0:41
34 Cargo Shuttle SW-0608 0:59-4:02
Just a little streamlining to keep the mood consistent here.
14 - Good Luck Little Sister:
35 Good Luck Little Sister
15 - Finding a Way Through:
40 Finding a Way Through 0:00-1:02
40 Finding a Way Through 2:04-2:06
40 Finding a Way Through 2:03-3:36
The previous few cues were mostly kept unedited in order, but now the third act needed restructuring. When listening to the expansion, it felt like it starts off strongly, then meanders away eventually, then starts back up again, then at some point just decides to stop and go into the tragic showstopper best cue. I moved this more quiet sneaking cue that gradually ramps up to action here as the first track after the setpiece begins. Skipped through the middle action by fabricating an opening for the sneaky bit right after by looping a portion of it.
16 - Scrambling the Rebel Fleet:
38 Scrambling the Rebel Fleet
17 - Are We Blind:
37 Are We Blind
Moved this here to spread the two big JW-theme peppered rebel fighter action cues out a tad.
18 - AT-ACT Assault:
39 AT-ACT Assault
19 - The Imperial Archives:
41 Project Star-Dust
20 -Antenna Alignment:
46 Scarif Antenna Alignment 0:00-1:37
46 Scarif Antenna Alignment 1:58-3:16
This is basically the end of the final action bit. Removed the triumphant Hope since it'd interrupt this final stretch of desperate action and since I already used it for the title logo.
21 - The Master Switch:
44 The Master Switch
Moved this back to provide a sad playoff/bridge from the bombastic action to the tragic finale instead of the former just... stopping.
22 - Your Father Would Be Proud:
47 Your Father Would Be Proud
23 - Hope:
48 Hope 0:00-1:20
29 Confrontation on Eadu 7:54-7:56
29 Confrontation on Eadu 7:56:10-7:58
29 Confrontation on Eadu 7:58:20-8:09
So uh, listen. The final note wandering of the Force Theme sucks. Either we can leave it as is. Or transition it early to some film rip or other recording of the SW credits then to the alternate opening next track, which I didn't do because the opening transition sucks. Or try to remove notes from those wandering notes - I can't because he's not using the right notes to finish the theme, it'd sound worse. What remains is to take some other good enough finale-esque bit from some other cue and patch it on or replace it completely. The only real good finale feeling bit I found was the very end of Confrontation on Eadu, even though I already used it. I'm not 100% happy and proud with the final result, but I might learn to live with it - the idea was to keep the first 2 notes of the Force Theme, and carefully fade to Eadu, which ends on 2 similar rising 2-note figures, so that together it'd seem like it's 3 2-note rising figures. Also shortened held notes in Eadu to help the transition rhythmically.
24 - Jyn Erso & Hope Suite:
49 Jyn Erso & Hope Suite
25 - The Imperial Suite:
50 The Imperial Suite
26 - Guardians of the Whills Suite:
51 Guardians of the Whills Suite
Not 100% sure about these, might end up switching Whills and Jyn.
Here's the second part of my breakdown of the themes of the show, this time focusing on all the different themes and motifs for the central character of the show, Princess Rhaenyra.
Djawadi created several different ideas that he develops through the season (and I'm sure will come back in future seasons) and I tried my best to comment them all, their meaning, and their development in each episode. I even did a complete analysis on one of my favorite cues of the season, The Crown of Jaeharys, which features almost all of Rhaenyra's themes into one single, glorious cue.
Hope you enjoy it! Feel free to share your thoughts and be sure to stay tuned for next part, where I will cover the different themes for the Black side of the story (Viserys, Daemon and House Velaryon).
The music for “Zootopia+” was composed by Curtis Green and Mick Giacchino, except for the
“Duke: The Musical” episode which features music by Oscar®- winning composer Michael Giacchino
(“Zootopia,” “The Incredibles,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Star Trek,” “Thor: Love and Thunder”). The
original song, “Big Time” featured in the “Duke: The Musical” episode was written by Michael
Giacchino, with lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson (“Olaf’s Frozen Adventure”).
Max reacted to JNHFan2000 in Jeremy Zuckerman's AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER - Soundtracks FINALLY coming from Republic Records (Book 2 on the way!)
Max got a reaction from enderdrag64 in Chris Tilton's Fringe - Score discussion (Giacchino and Seiter additional music Season 1)
Max got a reaction from Fargo in Michael Giacchino's THEM! (202?)
Max got a reaction from JNHFan2000 in Michael Giacchino's THEM! (202?)
Max got a reaction from Drawgoon in Michael Giacchino's THEM! (202?)
Max got a reaction from Jay in Michael Giacchino's THEM! (202?)