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I recently mentioned in the Scorepedia thread that I've been working on some "score-related material" that I wanted to debut here when it was ready. I think the time has arrived. I've been collecting film scores for more than a quarter of a century now. I've always enjoyed listening to them (of course), but for a long time, I've wanted to do something more with the materialto use them in a new way, to celebrate them in some unique fashion, to recognize the composer's achievements in working with such a broad array of visual and dramatic material. It's possible to edit different themes and sequences, from the same score or from different ones, into our own "suites" (and many of us have), but that's just an alternate way to listen to the same music. Some of these are posted on YouTube as "best of" compilations, where you get maybe 60 seconds of one piece from a score before it moves on to the next, with nothing more to look at than a static shot of the album or DVD cover as a background. I've also always had a great affinity for movie montages, especially when set to film music. The Oscars have long been one of the best sources for these. And I loved the trailer THX made about 20 years ago that featured the music of JW supporting a lengthy lineup of action scenes from the movies of George Lucas (the SW trilogy, the IJ trilogy, and Willow). That kind of thing, to me, is the best marriage of music and cinematography short of the films themselves. It got me to thinking: instead of a mere minute or so of music accompanying a bland background, why not put together substantial tributes to great scoresand set each one to a montage from the film that inspired it? I'd picked up a video editing suite for another project; after that was done, I began experimenting. The details evolved as I went along until the general parameters for each video fell into place. Originally, I was aiming for shorts about 8 minutes in length; the average sorta grew on its own to about 12 minutes. If there's any video material of the composer discussing the score, I try to work it into the run, but usually there's only a photo or two available (if that). At times I allow sound effects and dialogue to emerge, and at least once I attempt to bring the score into sync with the scene it was written for, at least for a few seconds. The idea is to weave together something that reflects the power and effectiveness of the score as it relates to the story it was written for. The idea is not to retell the story in short form, since anyone can watch the entire film and listen to the full score along with it anytime they want. With that in mind, I do everything I can to rearrange the linear elements into something that's more abstract and impressionistic: an action piece under a general collection of action shots, romantic music for the mushy stuff, etc. It's made for an interestingand highly entertainingchallenge. I'm constantly analyzing and tweaking them (I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing), which is why it's taken a long time to get around to putting them up. But at some point I need to call the thing finished and let it be what it is. I have no intention of doing anything with these other than enjoy making them, post them on my YouTube channel . . . and share them with the one group of folks I think will appreciate them the most. That's what this thread is for. I started with James Horner because, frankly, the man's broad, impressionistic palate makes for easy splicing. Goldsmith and Barry will follow soon. I'm just now venturing into Williams territory, which is proving a heckuva steep and rocky climb (as I knew it would). I'll be posting new videos in this thread as I polish them off. This was actually the third one I put together, but a natural choice for Horner's Volume I. It was his first big-time score, and had the best interview material available (along with a fun bit of trivia I never knew until I put this together):

My friend and I are HUGE fans of John Williams! I was surfing the internet and found your website. I thought I would run this past you. We were both talking yesterday about the fact that there is nowhere to be found any video recordings of him conducting through a recording session. We want to know HOW he gets all those rich sounds only unique through his music. Do you have any insights? Are there any workshops that he provides? Any videos documented? Where would we find them? Any insights would be appreciated. Thank you!