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JJ Abrams comments on The Force Awakens' score at D23 (UPDATE: Now with Video!)


Not Mr. Big

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On the newly published Abrams comment; While it's pretty much impossible for Abrams to be objective here, it's still cool to hear good things about the score. Still not really expecting another Empire though (nor even another Phantom)

ADMIN NOTE: Video here:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25574&p=1159598

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Abrams spoke about going to composer John Williams' house: "He played me on the piano music he was going to conduct. It was like hearing music from the gods."

Blasphemy. There is only one John Williams.

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Since all of these "beyond anything I have experienced" "music of the gods" comments are making it to the main page. Will any possible negative comments make it? "Underwhelming" "Disappointing" "Pretty much Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2.0"

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Interesting how Abrams chose to describe hearing the music played by Williams at his house rather than hearing the orchestral version at the scoring sessions. Both are surely surreal experiences, to hear this new music for the first time during the creative process, but he chose to single out hearing a piano reduction played by Williams as being "music from the gods."

It would be really cool if they had a camera rolling at Williams' house while he played his ideas for various themes for Abrams, plus video from the scoring sessions, to include as a documentary for the eventual bluray release, like that documentary about the scoring of Empire Strikes Back. But I won't get my hopes up (they already are).

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So where's the film at? If Abrams has a current runtime then clearly there's an assembly cut of the entire movie.

Have they changed the original plan of drip-feeding scoring sessions as reels came in and decided to let Williams write the rest of the score in one go? We haven't even heard about a second session yet.

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Now that there's a runtime, maybe they're working on the last reel? Williams said the sessions could go into September.

Just out of curiosity, how long were the recording sessions for the other Star Wars films?

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It's funny to think the entirety of a new Star Wars score can be recorded within the span of a week. If the June sessions were ~3 days then nearly half the score could already be in the can, meaning there may only be something like another two blocks of ~2 days remaining (not factoring in revisions of earlier cues, ala Tintin). I've just always had the impression recording a complex film score would need at least 2-3 weeks to record each cue perfectly.

That said, he is working with those freelance L.A. musicians... we all know how unversatile they are...

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Just out of curiosity, how long were the recording sessions for the other Star Wars films?

  • Star Wars: March 5, 8-12, 15 & 16, 1977 (8 days)
  • The Empire Strikes Back: December 27–29, 1979 and January 7–10, 17 & 18, 1980 (9 days)
  • Return of the Jedi: January 17, 21, 22 & 31 and February 1, 3, 4 & 10, 1983 (8 days)
  • The Phantom Menace: February 5-6, 9-12 & 14-17, 1999 (10 days)
  • Attack of the Clones: January 18–21, 23-24 & 26, 2002 (7 days)
  • Revenge of the Sith: February 2–3, 7-9 & 12-13, 2005 (7 days)

Thanks! I didn't realize the scores were recorded in such a short amount of time. It would be great if they did a documentary about the creation and recording of the music. Then again, maybe it's not as complex and involved as it seems. It's not like they've been recording music every day since June.

Did Gia have to go through the same recording process with the Star Trek films?

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It's funny to think the entirety of a new Star Wars score can be recorded within the span of a week. If the June sessions were ~3 days then nearly half the score could already be in the can, meaning there may only be something like another two blocks of ~2 days remaining (not factoring in revisions of earlier cues, ala Tintin). I've just always had the impression recording a complex film score would need at least 2-3 weeks to record each cue perfectly.

That said, he is working with those freelance L.A. musicians... we all know how unversatile they are...

? Why do you think the June sessions were 3 days when there are all these reports and twitter posts posted around 5 days (monday to friday).

Then there also is Ricards Main Page post about his source attending a session on June 25th (a date which he later removed out of unknown reasons)

So in June alone we should have had at least 6 days of recording sessions!

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Then there also is Ricards Main Page post about his source attending a session on June 25th (a date which he later removed out of unknown reasons)

Here's the reason:

Just to clarify the message, the date in the subject heading is a typo from "June2015" sorry if this leads to any wildgoose chases
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It's been mentioned several times that the recordings will be spread out over several months. I'm sure there were sessions in July and this month, and Williams said recently there may be more sessions in September if changes need to be made.

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Then there also is Ricards Main Page post about his source attending a session on June 25th (a date which he later removed out of unknown reasons)

Here's the reason:

Just to clarify the message, the date in the subject heading is a typo from "June2015" sorry if this leads to any wildgoose chases

Ah, ok didn't see that

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JJ talks about John Williams and the score -

At 1.04.

All these teases about how great the score is. I wish they would throw us a bone, even if it's 30 seconds.

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All these teases about how great the score is. I wish they would throw us a bone, even if it's 30 seconds.

I'm fine with waiting a little longer. I don't want to have the score "spoiled" too soon.

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I think we'll be waiting until December before we hear any music... unless if the upcoming trailer has music from the film.

I'm sure the third trailer coming this fall will have new Williams music in it.

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I think we'll be waiting until December before we hear any music... unless if the upcoming trailer has music from the film.

I'm sure the third trailer coming this fall will have new Williams music in it.

Oh, I have no doubt either. But will it be music specifically written for the film or music specifically written for the trailer?

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I think we'll be waiting until December before we hear any music... unless if the upcoming trailer has music from the film.

I'm sure the third trailer coming this fall will have new Williams music in it.

Oh, I have no doubt either. But will it be music specifically written for the film or music specifically written for the trailer?

It would be cool to have the latter again. Just so there would be more score to chew on upon the OST's release.

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CD will probably leak a couple of weeks before the film's release. There are still a few radio stations and reviewers that receive CDs, right?

JAY - who are the ladies in your avatar recently? (I wear glasses for a reason - and it's not to look smart.)

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Disney seems to cut theirs really close. Skimming over the last couple years, I think every major Disney movie had its soundtrack come out only within 3 days prior of the film release, except Into the Woods where the film was released on December 25th and the soundtrack 10 days earlier (probably to give it a little extra time to sell for Christmas).

I'm guessing the Force Awakens soundtrack comes out December 15th, the Tuesday before the film release. That's how most other Disney movies have been doing it lately.

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New CDs come out on Fridays now instead of Tuesdays.

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25137

JAY - who are the ladies in your avatar recently? (I wear glasses for a reason - and it's not to look smart.)

Well for a while I had Jennifer Connelly in some glamour shot from the 80s or 90s. Then when Horner died I had Rocketeer OST for a long while.

Then I just recently had Christina Hendricks as Chair from Another Period, and now it's Caroline Dhavernas as Alana Bloom from Hannibal.

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New CDs come out on Fridays now instead of Tuesdays.

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25137

Ooh right I forgot about that. Maybe the Friday before then (really hope we don't have to wait until the same day as the film release)

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JJ is taking every opportunity to drop an excited mention of the music and Williams. Happy to see him so happy.

I am trying my best to stay away from production news and behind-the-scenes tidbits for this movie. I have not read any of the spoiler tags, proactively sought out information, and I'm not entirely convinced that I'll buy or listen to the score before seeing the film.

I want this to be as pure a cinematic experience as is possible this day in age.

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JJ is taking every opportunity to drop an excited mention of the music and Williams. Happy to see him so happy.

I am trying my best to stay away from production news and behind-the-scenes tidbits for this movie. I have not ready any of the spoiler tags, proactively sought out information, and I'm not entirely convinced that I'll buy or listen to the score before seeing the film.

I want this to be as pure a cinematic experience as is possible this day in age.

You're a stronger man than I.

I'll somewhat try the "black-out" approach with VIII at least.

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