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John Powell's PAN (2015)


Not Mr. Big

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I liked what I heard on the website more than the samples that were previously released.

Here are the two cues playing on the website (the titles are found in the files' URL):

Cable Car

http://www.panmovie.com/assets/sounds/cable-car.mp3

Ship Fight

http://www.panmovie.com/assets/sounds/ship-fight.mp3

So, turns out Cable Car is the second cue in Mine Escape (starting at 01:48), and Ship Fight is the second cue in Flying Ship Fight (starting at 02:29). Both are presented with a clean opening here. Ship Fight features about 10 seconds of unreleased music (yay...) which were microedited at the very end of the OST track.

I also checked the flash games on the website, and apparently they feature more of the score:

http://mermaidrescue.panmovie.com/files/audio/music.mp3

That bit was not included on the OST. Might not be something from the score, since it sounds quite different from the rest of it.

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Watched the film today. Made me appreciate the score even more now, having heard it in its complete form. Can't wait for all of you to finally realize that it's a fun score!

There's a lot of unreleased material in the first half of the film, not so much in the second half. Most of it is basically quieter material (the unreleased action material is mostly short bits that were microedited here and there in tracks on the album), which is quite nice and helps the score breathe a bit. Recording sessions leak, please!

Tried to pay attention to what each theme was supposed to represent, and I have to say it's not very clear. Here's how it goes:

- The main theme (introduced at the very beginning of the score in Opening Overture), which I originally thought was Peter's theme, is actually used interchangeably for both Peter and Hook. Actually, I think it's more often used for Hook than for Peter, which even led me to wonder if the characters didn't each have a theme, with both themes sounding very similar to one another. Frankly, if the theme didn't open the score, and appeared a few times before Peter met Hook, I would have definitely think this was Hook's theme! It often plays when he's performing heroics.

- The other major thematic idea (introduced in the second half of Opening Overture, and which gets its first major rendition in Floating - Neverland Ahoy!), which I thought was a theme for Neverland or possibly a flying theme seems to be neither. It's used in very different contexts, and never seems to be linked to anything specific. *Maybe* this is actually Peter's theme, but I'm not sure of that.

- Then there's the theme introduced in Air Raid / Office Raid (I didn't noticed that theme first appeared here) that later gets two big renditions in Kidnapped / Galleon Dog Fight. It's not Blackbeard's theme, but a theme for his pirates.

- Following this is Blackbeard's theme, first heard in Inverted Galleon and later in Flying Ship Fight. I actually thought that one was the same as the pirates' theme (which I thought was Blackbeard's theme. Get it? ;)), just a different variation of it, but it's not. Interestingly, the first time this theme is used, it's not directly linked to Blackbeard. But during the climax, it definitely is.

- Finally, the theme heard prominently in A Warrior's Fate (it appears quite a few times before that in more subdued renditions (at the beginning of Origin Story for example), or more subtle disguise (at 01:11 in Pirates Vs Natives Vs Heroes Vs Chickens) then also in Flying Ship Fight) is a theme for the Fairies.

And that's all the themes I could notice in the score (thought I think there might be one or two more in there, though minor ones).

Now, that being said, and going back to the interview where Powell stated that he generally doesn't use themes specifically for characters, locations, etc., but rather prefers to use whichever theme he thinks works best for the scene (or something like that), I'd say this is true here too. At least for the two major thematic ideas, and maybe even the Fairies theme (I think that one is used a few times during moments which have nothing to do with the Fairies, though more often than not, it is used for the Fairies).

A few other random notes:

- The unreleased material didn't feature any other theme, at least none that I could notice, so no theme for Tiger Lily.

- The OST is 100% in chronological order.

- Kidnapped - Galleon Dog Fight is supposed to segue directly into Floating - Neverland Ahoy!

- The score really gets to shine in the film. Hadn't heard (good) film music so much in the forefront in a while.

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Now, that being said, and going back to the interview where Powell stated that he generally doesn't use themes specifically for characters, locations, etc., but rather prefers to use whichever theme he thinks works best for the scene (or something like that), I'd say this is true here too.

That's how he scored HTTYD 1 & 2 right?

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He generally seems to be attaching themes to concepts and themes. Say, like the main theme in How To Train Your Dragon 2 relates to Hiccup and his mother, Hiccup and Toothless and so on.

Karol

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P.S.: So, because I still have doubts about that, can anyone confirm that the music heard at 02:29 and at 03:05 in Flying Ship Fight is indeed the same theme? Or are there two separate themes?

Even when I play one after the other, and try to hum one or the other after that, it all get mixed up in my head for some reason. If there are two themes, then at the very least, they start the exact same way.

First of all, thank you for the write up. And yes, those two excerpts are, in essence, the same theme, though the first excerpt is more embellished.

And yeah, Powell's use of leitmotifs, especially in HTTYD1/2, are somewhat less obvious than "Protagonist's Theme" and "Antagonist's Theme" i.e. attached to main characters. More concept driven, I suppose? What's most important is that the music complements the movie well.

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Yep. I thought it worked wonderfully in the film and really stood out in a good way.

P.S.: So, because I still have doubts about that, can anyone confirm that the music heard at 02:29 and at 03:05 in Flying Ship Fight is indeed the same theme? Or are there two separate themes?
Even when I play one after the other, and try to hum one or the other after that, it all get mixed up in my head for some reason. If there are two themes, then at the very least, they start the exact same way.


First of all, thank you for the write up. And yes, those two excerpts are, in essence, the same theme, though the first excerpt is a bit more "decorated" than the latter (I don't know the proper term for it - basically denser in notes).

OK, thanks for the confirmation.


- The OST is 100% in chronological order.

Scratch that. For some reason, I thought that Something's Not Right was in the right place on the OST, but just noticed it's not. Should appear in-between Origin Story and Pirates vs Natives vs Heroes vs Chickens.

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  • 1 month later...

Well the film was scarcely more impressive than the reviews made out, and having delved into this score more deeply than I do before a film viewing, I have to say the visuals and ambience can't match the thematic creativity and grand orchestration of the music.

Can anyone else confirm that the mixing of the score was quite strange and/or weak? Or that there was a strange 'pre-echo' of (perhaps) certain channels in the recording, just prior to particular cliffhangers, flourishes or reveals in the action. I found them quite distracting having got to know the score well.

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  • 1 year later...
On 4/15/2015 at 4:07 PM, crocodile said:

According to the guy on FSM the score exists only in mockup stage. Or largely in that format.

Pan, that is.

Karol

 

On 4/15/2015 at 4:08 PM, Jay said:

Yea, he already said in his first post it was never recorded.

 

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I find it hard to imagine how much different Marianelli's score must've been for it to be rejected before it's even recorded. It's got to be easier (in every sense) for everyone, to try to fix whatever made the studio run away like scaredy cats.

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I can't imagine how Marinelli would have scored this film. Surely without as much gusto as Powell. Shame we'll never hear the ideas though.

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I think Powell's is perfect for the film (somewhat less so standalone). I haven't heard a lot of Marianelli - Pan's Labyrinth is the only one I've heard in full. Going by that, maybe he just took an overly serious approach. (edit: not him. So I've heard almost nothing by him).

 

Judging by a couple of brief Spotify samples, he's not a fun, action adventure composer by any means.

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3 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I think Powell's is perfect for the film (somewhat less so standalone). I haven't heard a lot of Marianelli - Pan's Labyrinth is the only one I've heard in full. Going by that, maybe he just took an overly serious approach.

Pan's Labyrinth was composed by Javier Navarrete.

 

The only other two films of this sort that Marianelli did were...

 

 

 

and

 

 

 

Karol

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