RESTORED ISOLATED SCORE: Star Wars Saga (Unused Music Restored To Picture)

[Courtney Sees Ghosts 269]

3 hours ago, ragoz350 said:

The Last Jedi.

Luke's Noble End.

 

In total, JW wrote 6 versions of this scene, although only the third version shows significant changes. I made a separate video for each version.

 

1. 9m85 Finale Part I (original fragment) (~November-early December 2016) 
The early version, although it contains two renditions of the Force theme (the standard 'TLJish' first, and pretty unusual second), is based on the original lyrical/melancholic material. This version is shorter than the later ones, and since the timings are also unknown, I improvised with which shots to cut and which tempos to choose. I also slowed down the shot with Rey, since it was clearly shortened afterwards.

Probably, the microbit of this version (in particular, the last note of the horns) can be heard in the film mix during the crossfade right before the march (but not in the OST). 

 

2. 9m85 Alt Insert (same time)
Along with the original version, JW wrote a little "alternate" insert with Luke's theme. 

 

3. 9m85A Luke Looks (~March 2017)
The scene was expanded: Leia's reaction was added, as well as a few more shots of Luke. It's now another version of Binary Sunset, along with an accentuated moment of Luke's "disappearance". 

This insert can be heard in one of the official videos, and I tried to adjust the timings to match JW's conducting.

 

4. 9m85B Between Luke and the March (~May 2017)
Two months later, JW rewrites the end of the scene, where he uses the end of the theme from Holdo's Resolve instead of the brass chorale. It seems the composer wanted a smoother transition to the march. 

 

5. 9m85C Island to March (~June 2017)
Another month later, JW rewrites this part again, as the "disappearance" moment has been extended. This version is already close to the final one.

 

6. 9m85AN Rey Looks (~June 2017)
A few days later, JW rewrites the entire insert again, as another shot with Rey has been added. The composer also made other corrections: the transition to the Force theme is smoother, and the "disappearance" is now accompanied only by a quiet harp (without the cymbal and tam-tam). 

These are awesome! These kinds of videos put smiles on my face. I await the say someone does these with TROS.

[ragoz350 450]

44 minutes ago, Holko said:

I love the version with Luke's Theme.

The idea is good, but to me, this insert feels like "music goes a cert[Luke's theme]ain way". 

 

It would be interesting to see how JW could develop the idea of the first versions for extended cut. But something "bigger" for that character was needed. 

[BrotherSound 2,242]

2 hours ago, Courtney said:

These are awesome! These kinds of videos put smiles on my face. I await the say someone does these with TROS.

 

@ragoz350 has actually done at least a couple for TROS already, like these:

 

 

 

[ragoz350 450]

The Force Awakens.

Rey vs Ren and Flying Home.

 

The two climactic scenes are the duel and the explosion of the Starkiller base. Actually, all the cues written for these scenes were recorded. However, the differences between their versions interested me, so here's mockups.

1. 7m67 Rey vs Ren (written no later than May 5)
This cue was written for an old edit of the duel scene. Apparently, the scene of the X-Wing pilots attacking the base wasn't ready at the time (it was filmed later due to script rework). So the duel here is only interrupted by the scene with a worried Hux and Snoke.
Also different in this version is the moment the earthquake starts and the subsequent dialog between Kylo and Rey. Two unused lines from here made it into the JW sketch, and can be found in the novelizations, and this version was also mentioned by Abrams in the commentaries (more on that later).
There's also a small deleted scene in this version where Hux with the stormtroopers arrive to help Kylo, with Rey looking on silently.

 

Writing this cue didn't come easily to the composer. The fast-paced montage led to complex timings and meters, which sometimes confused the composer himself. Because of this, there are some unintuitive tempo changes in the cue, and some bits JW wrote as if keeping a different tempo in mind (although it seems that many of the timings were adjusted during recording).

 

A few minor changes were made during recording. Most notably, the removal of violins during the rendition of Kylo's theme. Without them, it will sound something like this:

 

2. 7m68 Flying Home (no later than October 11)
JW returned to the climax of the movie 4 months later when he wrote the first version of the Scherzo in September. In early October, he wrote the cue for the final explosion and the return of the Falcon and X-Wings to base. In this version, the explosion itself was shorter, and there were some other shots before the Falcon appeared.
Note: in the sheet score the tempo is listed as ~152 BPM, although on the available recording fragments it is a bit slower (~140 BPM). Either this is just a typo, or it's a JW's new preference.
Note 2: judging by a couple sync hints, JW thinks Poe is controlling the Falcon.

 

3. 3 versions of the beginning of the duel
7m67R It Is You (no later than October 19)
The duel is now split into two parts, so JW needed to write new cues for this. 
This version added a lot of new footage with the fight, so this cue relies mostly on new material.

 

7m67B Rey Gets The Saber (no later than November 2)
Later, JW worked two more times on the moment, which ended up being accompanied by A Home Destroyed from ANH. This insert adds another rendition of Rey's theme before the duel begins.

 

7m67BF Rey Catches Sword (no later than November 5)
This version uses the Force theme instead of Rey's. It also replaces the rest of 7m67R: several shots were removed, and JW wrote a shortened version of the beginning of the duel. He also partially removed the xylo/trumpet hits, and during the recording he also removed the pulsation of the strings, apparently to make Rey's theme more prominent. 

 

Interestingly, both of these inserts were recorded on the same day, so JW offered Abrams two more options at once.

 

4. 7m67A Rey vs Ren (no later than October 22)
    7m68A Light in the Snow and Flying Home (fixed on November 2) 
7m67A was written to continue the duel, and ends at the moment of the rift forming between Rey and Kylo. At first, JW copies bars from the old version, but when the new added footage of the fight begins, he writes new material for the rest of the cue. Kylo and Rey's dialog has also changed, as Abrams mentions in the commentary on the Blu-ray:

Quote

...we always had this moment, from when we shot it originally. [Ren:] "I could show you the ways of the Force". And this used to be where she called him a monster and then pushed back. But, instead we reshot this and had her take this moment of hearing the Force (...) And so, she has this internal moment (...), where she basically feels it, accepts it, and is now ready to kick his ass.

 

So, JW wrote perhaps the most "stop-startish" action cue in the sequels. Unfortunately, the brass-heavy mix coupled with the not always smooth performance (timings again had to be changed on the fly) only adds to the chaos of the cue. I've tried to "add" some details that are not easily audible on the recording.

 

7m68A is an insert that "joins" the end of 7m67 to the next cue. Also, the explosion scene was expanded and a new Poe's line was added, giving JW the opportunity to expand the rendition of the Force theme. 
 

[BrotherSound 2,242]

1 hour ago, ragoz350 said:

7m67B Rey Gets The Saber (no later than November 2)
Later, JW worked two more times on the moment, which ended up being accompanied by A Home Destroyed from ANH. This insert adds another rendition of Rey's theme before the duel begins.

If this version of Rey’s theme seems oddly familiar, that’s because it was tracked into TROS (when Rey is on the Star Destroyer, just before Kylo shows up in his TIE Fighter).

 

Big thanks to @Falstaft for catching that!

[Jay 37,369]

Amazing, @ragoz350!  I cannot wait to watch these hopefully tonight.  The original Rey vs Ben is one of the most interesting cues to me, I love the bits that remained in the final cut covering the "evacuation" scenes

[ragoz350 450]

22 minutes ago, Jay said:

Amazing, @ragoz350!  I cannot wait to watch these hopefully tonight.  The original Rey vs Ben is one of the most interesting cues to me, I love the bits that remained in the final cut covering the "evacuation" scenes

In the original version, I really like the fragment after the dialog when Rey begin attacks Ren. Gradual build up of clusters, then a big "fall" of horns. And how the major chord of the Force theme synchronizes with Ren's "last" fall... The new version here sounds more restrained and "heroic".

[Jay 37,369]

The more I hear the oldest versions of cues, the more I prefer Williams' original take on scoring the movie, over almost all the changes that came later, which often made the music less interesting

[crumbs 14,317]

20 hours ago, Jay said:

The more I hear the oldest versions of cues, the more I prefer Williams' original take on scoring the movie, over almost all the changes that came later, which often made the music less interesting

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

JW's early cues have a musical flow that feels disconnected in the revisions, or very 'stop start' as @ragoz350 put it.

 

And that's not factoring in the music editing in the final edit (and the less said about TROS, the better).

 

Reason #83,583 why the sequel scores really, REALLY need expansions: to restore Williams' intended vision. It's baffling he isn't pushing for these himself, considering the way his scores were massacred.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Well he could actually be but I'm sure MM would need a lot of time to complete them giving all the mess this is. Plus I'm not sure Disney want to let people know how much they butchered the movies

[ragoz350 450]

Disruption of flow is indeed a main problem of revisions, though sometimes the new material is more interesting than the old. Even here, without revisions, we would get a cue 7m68 containing not big (and rather abruptly interrupted) rendition of the Force theme with trumpet's decorations that sounds less "climactic" than in the extended form of 7m68A. 

[Holko 9,526]

I love the mean brass in the original when Rey begins to whoop his ass!

[enderdrag64 624]

6 hours ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Well he could actually be but I'm sure MM would need a lot of time to complete them giving all the mess this is. Plus I'm not sure Disney want to let people know how much they butchered the movies

Well actually I'm not so sure why the sequels would take that long - with the older scores at least the best quality elements have to be sought out and transfered, the performance edits may need to be recreated, which also means finding supporting documentation, and all that must be done before mastering and sequencing.

 

With the sequels at least since they're all digital recordings anyway, most of that is irrelevant, it should really be as simple as getting sent the sessions. The most difficult part of making a sequels expansion would be sequencing; dealing with all the alternates sounds like a nightmare - but that being said I don't see the sequencing process taking years

[Jay 37,369]

@ragoz350 wow, these are GREAT!!!

 

I am so impressed with not only your ability to make TERRIFIC sounding mockups, but also so carefully edit the footage from the final film to fit the older compositions, including ways to display dialogue that was cut when necessary.  This project is legendary!

[stravinsky 206]

Can I ask how much material there would be if all of the Sequel Scores had the Mike Matessino treatment. Would it be like 3 discs per movie or something? I'm 54 in a couple of months time and I don't think there will be such a future release in my lifetime. Maybe by 2027 though which is 50 years I guess. Christ what a thought... 

[Jay 37,369]

Yes, 3 discs for each sequel trilogy score, and ROTJ.  2 Discs for the other 5 scores.

[stravinsky 206]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yes, 3 discs for each sequel and ROTJ.  2 Discs for the other 5 scores.

Wow that's a lot of music. Thank you 

[enderdrag64 624]

On 01/01/2022 at 9:43 AM, ragoz350 said:

The beginning of the cue was obviously temp-tracked by Padme's Ruminations from Ep. III that JW almost repeated (by removing the synth and adding string clusters). I "restored" this part very conventionally  Honestly, I have no idea what was supposed to happen here - the slo-mo footage was already in the teaser, but there may have been more.

https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-kylo-ren-episode-9-deleted-storyline

I just found this, I imagine it provides some idea of what the original scene was like