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Disco Stu's Isolated Score Videos - Non-Williams Edition


Disco Stu

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Oh most definitely.  I've certainly listened to Predator 2 more than anything else lately, but overall it's hard to cop the "satisfaction factor" of this trio of cues

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A video for the climax cues from BTTF1 would be pretty satisfying too, methinks

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I probably won't be working on any NEW isolated score stuff for a while.  Moving into/setting up the new house at the end of July, and the third kid due at end of August/beginning of September.  I have no free time.

 

After the Rocketeer is all posted, I have like 4 Williams videos I finished and that's pretty much it.

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16 minutes ago, Jay said:

A video for the climax cues from BTTF1 would be pretty satisfying too, methinks

 

14 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I probably won't be working on any NEW isolated score stuff for a while.

 

I'd say It'll be done this weekend, but this is a Disco Stu (tm) thread, after all, so I wouldn't even start without the explicit permission of Master Stu himself, and only because I have time, I love it very much, it was requested, and only as a holdover until his eventual masterpieces get ready, not because I'm trying to hog the spotlight from the talents of His Majesty.

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Stuey I was able to binge all your THE ROCKETEER videos

 

Main Title - This is one of my favorite pieces of film music of all time, and I love the peaceful and harmonic place it put me in once again just now.  The car chase / shootout at the end took me out of that peaceful place, but as you said the other day, that was surely Johnston's intention.

 

The Gizmo - The introduction of the theme at the end I had previously thought was a Nazi/Neville theme clearly isn't and it doesn't seem odd to me that it appears here any more.  Seems more like a theme for the power of the rocket 

 

Finding The Rocket -  The little high-pitched whirly bit for the rocket flying around is fun!  The return of the "power of the rocket" theme at the end is great

 

Neville and Eddie - Not much to say about this one!

 

Testing The Rocket - I love the return of the high-pitched whirly stuff for the rocket igniting again.  The comedic theme at the end is also fun!

 

Lothar Gets Wilmer - Not much to say about this one!

 

The Helmet - Perfect continuation of the previous scene, seguing to perfect music for the return  to Cliff and Peevy

 

The Laughing Bandit - Is Timothy Dalton supposed to look like Inigo Montoya in his play?

 

Neville Eavesdrops - Yup clearly a theme for the rocket, as it enters as Neville hears Cliff talking about it.  As Jenny is introduced (in this video series at least) so is Horner's love theme for her and by god I don't know if there's ever been a better synergy of love theme to actress beauty.   Jennifer Connelly was my first on-screen crush!

 

The Flying Circus - Wonderful and thrilling!  Is the lady hanging her clothes on the the clothesline the cranky lady from Gremlins?

 

A Hero Is Born - Nice coda to the preceding action sequence.  BTW, It's funny to see Terry O'Quinn with hair!  Most  of the roles I remember him for, he's bald!

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1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

Go for it man.  I’m not in it for glory.  It’s about the music.

 

Might as well do the whole thing then, restore the entire score. My upload speed is the limit!

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Right.

 

The radically changed setting (plus the addition of the lovely Clara) brought a freshness to the BTTF3 score that 2 lacked.  Still a good score of course.

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Weekend Host Holko!

 

I watched the first couple and they looked and sounded great!  I'll get back to my regularly scheduled Rocketeer vids on Monday, you got the weekend :) 

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Works now! :up:

 

Everytime I hear Skateboard Chase from BTTF1, I just think how he made it so much better as Hoverboard Chase in BTTF2

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I think this one's a lot of fun!

 

Lothar is on the hunt for the rocket and, as @Tallguy noted previously, the jazzy motif for the FBI agents returns here when they arrive at Peevy's house.

 

I love how Horner/Johnston use the song almost like a score cue.  In the film the clarinet fades in at 3:19, but I included the opening 6 seconds prior to that because I thought it made a really amusing, cool contrast with them avoiding the bullets riddling and destroying the house.

 

Cutting to the singer singing the opening lyrics made a really easy sync point too ;) 

 

Bye Bye Bigelow / "Begin the Beguine" (music begins at 0:34)

 

Fair warning, I DID NOT include the other OST song in my isolated score.  It just wasn't used as half score cue/half source song like "Beguine" was.

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7 hours ago, Jay said:

Nice post, tons of smart observations!

 

Why thank you!

 

Nice to hear this synced to picture.  I guess they didn't change as much as I thought.  I had some of the spotting of the music wrong.  But they did track a little bit of Rendezvous at the Observatory (when Cliff grabs the Hercules model) over some of the FBI theme.  It's actually really short.  Weird.

 

Tiny Ron is a big guy, isn't he?  I never noticed that Lothar's hands shake.  (You see it in a previous scene when he answers to phone.)  I wonder why?  Actor?  Character?  Actor the character was based on?  

 

I always loved that transition using the band.  (Although I never noticed that they dialed out the opening clarinet solo.)  It gave the end of the scene of Cliff and Peevey running away a "screwball comedy" and "wacky hijinks" kind of feel.

 

The whole movie takes place over 48 hours.  And the bulk of the action all happens in a single night.  I love how this movie is paced.  I'd say they don't make 'em like that anymore, but they kinda didn't make 'em like that then either.

 

Nice job singing, Mrs. Monk.  And cool job on the fade at the end, Stu.

 

I NEVER KNEW CLINT HOWARD WAS IN THIS!  Holy Toledo!

 

I also had no idea that John Polito passed away in 2016.

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Thanks as always DiscoStu.  You'd think I'd know this movie backwards and forwards.  But the beginning of Jenny's Rescue always eluded me a bit (and I never bothered to watch this part of the movie to check).  It's not until Cliff decks the bad guy that I got a lock on where this music was.  (And the title confused me.)  That said, the "gangster" version of Cliff's theme is hilarious.

 

Once it gets to Cliff putting on the rocket again, this was on my "wish list" for music I had wished they'd put on the CD.  It goes through several emotions, it's light, it's urgent, and it's a wonderful recap of the main themes.

 

The scene preceding this one, while unscored, is classic Joe Johnston.  It's pretty viscerally violent.

 

Someone told me that In a Sentimental Mood wasn't included because it wasn't recorded by Horner.  But I've never found a recording that matched it.

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7 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

Once it gets to Cliff putting on the rocket again, this was on my "wish list" for music I had wished they'd put on the CD.  It goes through several emotions, it's light, it's urgent, and it's a wonderful recap of the main themes.

 

 

Oh man yes, when it cuts to Cliff with the rocket on, what a musical highlight of the entire score that scene is.

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Instead of editing the music to match the final film's picture, why not insert black screens where the removed footage would have been to keep the cue intact?

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Stuey I had a wonderful lunch break today getting caught up on your Rocketeer videos

 

I actually started with The Flying Circus just to get in the mood.  I never noticed before something interesting Horner does.  He actually scores the early scenes in the sequence before Cliff has ever taken off with tons of energy; Another director might have not even wanted these scenes scored at all (like how Star Wars and Jaws were spotted).  To compensate, when Cliff and Peevy have their talk in the barn, the music gets really quiet (and wonderful!) before blasting back to life when he takes off... resulting in the music being so much more thriling and exciting than it would have been if he hadn't scored the early scenes then quieted down for their conversation.  Neat!

 

Bye Bye Bigelow - Love the little jazzy bit for the FBI agents showing up!

 

Begin The Beguine - Hmm, I haven't seen the film in ages; What is the context for why the camera pans down to Connelly's rack? :lol:  Also, it's so funny to see this now after The Office, as I'll always think of Melora Hardin as Jan!  What is the rationale for fading the song out and bringing the film audio back up at the end, instead of letting the entire recording play out, either to a black screen or whatever happens next in the film (assuming it is unscored)?

 

Jenny's Rescue - William Sanderson!  Leave it to Horner to title a cue she doesn't even appear in this way :lol:  Gosh I love the variations of the themes Horner goes through here upstairs above the diner, so wonderful!

 

Cliff To The Club - I always used to the assume the opening of this was tracked from The Zeppelin and was surprised when the Intrada CD sounded the same.  I'm still left wondering if Horner originally opened the cue differently and this was a later Insert that Johnston liked better, and Intrada elected not to include any alternates.  Who knows.

 

Cliff The Waiter - I don't know how to describe it, but there is something about this cue and the previous that makes them so Horner.  Something to do with the orchestration.  I love it.

 

Incidentally, I love all the source music in the club here, I wish it had all been on the Intrada expansion (recorded by Horner or not!)

 

South Seas Send Up - Wow wow wow! SUCH a great cue!  I know Flying Circus gets all the attention but this is really just as fantastic!  Great work Stu!

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2 hours ago, Jay said:

South Seas Send Up - Wow wow wow! SUCH a great cue!  I know Flying Circus gets all the attention but this is really just as fantastic!  Great work Stu!

 

Yep.  It's remarkable how little of The Rocketeer features The Rocketeer.  Of course he holds onto the rocket pack longer than that Mauser.

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5 hours ago, Jay said:

Instead of editing the music to match the final film's picture, why not insert black screens where the removed footage would have been to keep the cue intact?

 

Honestly much of the enjoyment I get out of doing this is listening to the cues in film in minute detail and attempting to recreate them while keeping the cue lisrenable.  Just the exercise of it all.  Maybe I’m a budding audio editor?

 

Wait til we get to the observatory cue.  I’m super proud of how seamless I got all the edits sounding.

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It's fun, isn't it?  Especially when it's those stupid little microedits that listening to the track you might not even notice.

 

Are you editing in audio software and then pasting the completed track to video or are you trying to make the edits in a video editor?  I've done both, composing in audio is (IMHO) way easier.

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Gonna post two today because, frankly, there's just not much of interest to talk about in "Neville Sinclair's House."  It's not bad of course, just kind of quiet and mysterious mostly.  A lot of plot, not much action.

 

Neville Sinclair's House / Cliff Caught

 

Newsreel / Rendezvous at Observatory (Horner cue starts at 1:54)

 

 

11 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

It's fun, isn't it?  Especially when it's those stupid little microedits that listening to the track you might not even notice.

 

Are you editing in audio software and then pasting the completed track to video or are you trying to make the edits in a video editor?  I've done both, composing in audio is (IMHO) way easier.

 

Right now I'm just in iMovie since it's free with my OS and since I'm able to constantly playback the edited audio against picture to test my work.

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Sinclair's House is one of those tracks that I always skipped when I was in my 20's.  It's a track that I appreciate more now.  It kind of matches Connelly's performance, hitting this line between actual danger and fear but also playing with the audience saying "it's all part of the show".  I remember the first time that I saw this about half-way through "playing a scene with Nevile Sinclair" that I thought "Oh, right.  I remember from Labyrinth that Connely is great at bad acting on purpose."

 

Actually watching it matched to scene I can really appreciate how Horner keeps switching between the "scene" that Sinclair thinks he's playing and the scene that Jenny keeps derailing with.  Then Horner switches into full on "plucky heroine" mode at about 5:00.  Jenny's theme obviously gets a nice workout in this track.  There's a quick snippet at 5:28 that seems to be shared theme (or a close approximation of Cliff's theme) that you hear in the concert arrangement of Jenny's theme and in the end credits suite.

 

At 6:00 there's that ascending theme again, clearly associated with the rocket plans.  But then at 7:00 it's used for Lothar.  I'm so confused. :)

 

Hey, you could have started newsreel like five seconds earlier and kept Dave Stevens!  There are more swastikas in that one clip than the entire film of Captain America!

 

I drove past Griffith Park a couple of weeks ago.  Still didn't get to go.

 

Obviously the way Horner plays the switching sides and then switching sides again and the switching sides AGAIN is wonderful.  Sure it's not the most original piece in the film but you can't argue it's effective.  Then he takes Jenny's theme and turns it into a heartbreaking wail as she's abducted again.

 

Then it's all buttoned up with one of my favorite bursts of The Rocketeer Theme in the film.  That Mauser is strictly for posing, BTW.  Just like in the comic book.

 

Nice job on the edits, Stu!

 

I think one of the reasons that so many other "30's pulp hero" adventures don't work on film (The Phantom, The Shadow) is that they can't ride the balance between taking themselves seriously and sending themselves up.  The Rocketeer manages to poke it's own fun without ever broadly winking at the audience.  It never says "Hey, isn't this stupid?"  And unlike the others (The Shadow, certainly) its got heart to spare!

 

I'm sure there are other audio editors on Mac, but on the Winders side I use Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/download/mac/) which is also available for Mac.  I see what you mean about "checking your work" but I've found that if I can hear the music matched then when I drop it into picture I'm usually OK.  But I can see where if I'm doing a track where the music is mostly or entirely dialed out you might be better off working to picture.  Of course in that case you won't be trying to match and edits either because if any are needed you'll be guessing at your own.

 

You haven't skipped any tracks you need to backfill, have you?  You're in the home stretch!

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8 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

You haven't skipped any tracks you need to backfill, have you?  You're in the home stretch!

 

Nope.  Zeppelin and End Credits tomorrow if I don't forget!

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A rousing finish to be sure.  With just a SMIDGE of Star Wars (the attack on the Death Star) at the beginning.  

 

Fun fact:  Apparently when on set they decided that they wanted that #7 hatch to have a number on it.  Dave Stevens was on set and designed the stylized 7 you see in the picture.

 

It's funny that you've combined these into one video.  I usually split up The Zeppelin into two tracks.  There's a natural pause in the middle before Cliff and Sinclair have their final tussle.  I tend to prefer the second half of the cue.  Although seeing this it's terrific to see how tightly timed to picture it all is.

 

In the cinema Lothar's unconscious head thumping against the zeppelin never failed to get a laugh.

 

There's something about Horner's scoring "Where's your stunt man now?"  The music redoubles for "I do my OWN stunts!"  So much flare and fun that probably goes unnoticed by the audience.  That loathsome phrase "A score shouldn't call attention to itself":  How many people REALLY noticed that?  It's kind of a reprise of The Laughing Bandit isn't it?  I never noticed it my own self.

 

That opening / closing theme sounds like summer itself.  What a lovely way to bookend the film.  "It's the closest I'll ever get to heaven, Mr. Hughes."  Indeed.

 

And Horner said "Awww, I've worked so hard on this.  I'm tired.  Where's that ending to The Wrath of Khan?" ;)

 

Wonderful job, Stu.  One of my favorite films and one of my favorite scores.  I've never quite looked at it like this.  Thank you.

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22 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Excellent.  I'll get to it tonight.  What's next?  More Horner?  Somebody else?

 

I have a few Williams videos I'm posting in the other thread and then it might radio silence from me for a while.

 

3 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

There's something about Horner's scoring "Where's your stunt man now?"  The music redoubles for "I do my OWN stunts!"  So much flare and fun that probably goes unnoticed by the audience.  That loathsome phrase "A score shouldn't call attention to itself":  How many people REALLY noticed that?  It's kind of a reprise of The Laughing Bandit isn't it?  I never noticed it my own self.

 

I love Horner's sense of humor.

 

3 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Wonderful job, Stu.  One of my favorite films and one of my favorite scores.  I've never quite looked at it like this.  Thank you.

 

Thanks!

 

I can say that I definitely love this score EVEN more after working on these.

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Can't wait to watch this this weekend!  Hopefully the thread gets bumped so I remember :)

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On 6/20/2018 at 2:41 PM, Jay said:

Can't wait to watch this this weekend!  Hopefully the thread gets bumped so I remember :)

Bump for @Jay.  Apologies for only remembering now. 

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South Seas Send Up - rewatched this.  Bloody brilliant!  The shot at the end where it transitions from the scenery to the folds of the sheets on Jenny's bed is awesome!

 

 Neville Sinclair’s House - woah, it seems this cue actually begins almost right after the last one, then.  Did you consider making them both be in the same video?  I really enjoyed watching this, especially since I hadn't seen the film in a long while and don't remember any of the dialogue they say, so it was kind of amusing watching 2 people talk but only hearing music for 7 minutes :lol:

 

Cliff Caught - Not much to say about this one

 

Newsreel - For anyone who doesn't know, this is "Barrage" Charles Williams from his "World War II - Drama" CD (not the tracked also called "Barrage" from his "Moods" CD).  It's kind of a bummer Horner didn't write something original for this, but at the same time, Barrage is perfect anyway!

 

Rendezvous At Observatory - Haha oh man, I had forgotten all about the Griffith shootout, I love that bit where the feds and the gangster are now shooting together at the Nazis :lol:

 

The Zeppelin - Seems like this could have been in the same video as the last one?  Great stuff here, Horner is missed more and more all the time :james:

 

End Title/End Credits - Boy, the film sure wraps up quickly after the big finale, eh?  More great stuff from Horner here, another one of my favorite film score tracks of all time.

 

Thanks so much for this video series, @Stu!  Can't wait to see what's next.

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