2620 replies to this topic

[Pasi Tiitinen]

A question About John williams him self. Does he have private students that he teaches? has he sponsered composers before (not just film)? I've always been curios about it and so far there is no info out there that shows him doing that...Hope to be wrong though.

I have heard many times from very reliable sources(as they say) that Williams has students who
actually compose almost all the material we can hear in the movies, as if its composed by JW.

[Stefancos]

And a trainwreck of a videogame, so I have been told. But John Debney composed a good score for it.

[indy4]

Another question, is there any composer that does action like Williams' modern action stuff? Williams makes his action so random and complex, and I'm just wondering if any one has made something that comes close or sounds similar.

While a lot of Williams' action music sounds frenetic and random, there's quite a bit of thought that goes into it. Most of the motifs are based on a primary theme, they're just so cleverly disguised that's it's hard to tell. For instance, "A Whirl Through Academe" is mostly based on Indy's theme.

[Stefancos]

No it isn't!

[indy4]

Sorry, I meant to type "Adventures of Mutt." Although "Whirl" has some of Indy's influence too.

[Stefancos]

Yes you can hear Indy's theme in it, that's it!

But mostly it's Dies Irea over and over again.

[indy4]

It's "Irae"

[Stefancos]

Yes Jason...

[ComposerEthan]

Can someone explain to me this Dies Irae business? All I know is that composers like to use it, but I don't see how. I've heard Verdi's Dies Irae, but that's it. I'm thoroughly confused.

[indy4]

This is the version most composers use, mostly just the first 4-8 pitches. John Williams uses it in Star Wars, War of the Worlds, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, Amistad, AI, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.

[ComposerEthan]

Can you post examples and time stamps to compare? Sorry, I'm like the least educated person in music on this board.

[indy4]

0:00, first 4 notes of Dies Irae


0:21, first 4 notes of Dies Irae (it's heard a few other times in this cue)


1:41, first 4 notes


0:00


Those are just a few examples, the theme shows up a lot more.

[ComposerEthan]

Is there any reason composers use it? Or just an homage/inspiring thing?
I think I've used it in my own works...because I've been inspired by those examples.

[indy4]

At this point it's a tradition to quote it. As for how it became a tradition, there are a lot of reasons--historical, musical, religious, psychological--and still nobody can really say for sure why it has lasted so long. The poem was created in the 13th century, the music in the 14th, so I think it's pretty amazing how long it has survived. I'm actually currently writing a paper on it for school, and it's just fascinating IMO.

[ComposerEthan]

I was reading the bit about Horner (that you said, in the Spiderman thread) and plagiarism. I'm not familiar with Horner except with Titanic (which I have not rewatched since i was a kid, but I do have his action cues from the OST, since I love symphonic action), and Avatar, which I have seen once and the OST never. Could you provide examples of what Horner has plagiarized? Like, one of his and what he took from?

[indy4]

There's the classic example of the Danger motif. It was written for this:


Horner first used it in Star Trek II


Here's a compilation of a few of the other uses of the Danger motif:



Here's a few of his other rips.



He also uses Copland in Field of Dreams, Prokofiev in Glory and Avatar, etc.

[ComposerEthan]

Dang. I see. How do people feel about this stuff? I mean, I can see similarities to ones own compositions and being inspired, but this sounds very deliberate. Like copying.

Last question, at least for now, 1:16-1:23 from Pursuit of the Falcon, it has that Williams step thing (which i've noticed he does, where he repeats a note, once or twice, then going up or down a note, don't know what it's called, but he uses it a lot like in The Tale Of Viktor Navorski, and I'm sure other people have noticed correct? This seems like another question, haha). Many of my friends have said that particular part sounds like something from Star Wars. Now I know these are both Williams scores, but it does sound familiar to me, reminiscent of his 80s action cues. Is it similar to anything from Star Wars or Indiana Jones?

[indy4]

Dang. I see. How do people feel about this stuff? I mean, I can see similarities to ones own compositions and being inspired, but this sounds very deliberate. Like copying.

Depends who you ask. Horner's plagiarism is a very controversial topic in the film music community.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Can someone explain to me this Dies Irae business? All I know is that composers like to use it, but I don't see how. I've heard Verdi's Dies Irae, but that's it. I'm thoroughly confused.

See here:

http://www.jwfan.com...showtopic=12755

Could you provide examples of what Horner has plagiarized? Like, one of his and what he took from?

See here:

http://www.jwfan.com...showtopic=20214

[E.T. & Elliott]

Why is the price of the Elfman box set up to $628.98 on Amazon?

[Alexander]

It's the film version insert for "Han Solo Returns". I guess they had to stick it somewhere, and they went with there!

Things were done different in 1997 than in 2007+...

Wow thank you!

I have some questions regarding BloodBoal!

1. What does "blood boal" mean anyway?
2. How old is BloodBoal? (I am thinking around 17, but I could be wrong.)
3. Where is BloodBoal located? Europe? US? Africa?
4. What's up with BloodBoal's unique sense of humor? What is he really thinking? What's behind that facade?

Europe, France
Irony

[Richard]

Does anyone know what the jazz music that playing in Bond's car in "The Living daylights", or the "ghetto-blaster" music is?

[Stefancos]

looking for the youtube clip of the duel from TPM underscored by Arthur's Farewell from First Knight. I can't find the thread.

[alicebrallice]

does anyone know what the chances are for fans to get tickets to world premieres? is winning possible contests the only way? maybe someone remembers what the chances were during the lotr premieres etc.. not very big, I can imagine.

[Jason LeBlanc]

world premieres of what? Movies?

[alicebrallice]

[Jason LeBlanc]

?

[alicebrallice]

yes jason, movies.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Well 99% of movies world premieres are in Los Angeles, and those are usually only for the people who worked on the films and their friends and family, etc. Not really open to the general public.

[alicebrallice]

well this premiere will be in wellington

[Incanus]

So you are seriously trying to get tickets to the premiere of the Hobbit? Lycka till, bonne chance, good luck!

[BloodBoal]

Just call Richard Taylor. It's not that hard, is it?

[Jason LeBlanc]

I don't think there's a hard and fast rule of how to score a ticket to any movie premiere. Each one's different.

[alicebrallice]

So you are seriously trying to get tickets to the premiere of the Hobbit? Lycka till, bonne chance, good luck!

hehe don't you think I know it's nearly impossible? it's just that there's a big chance I'll be in NZ during the premiere so...

[Jason LeBlanc]

You could try emailing people at Weta, Wingnut Films, or New Line Cinema

[alicebrallice]

I've already sent an email to weta, can't find the contact information for wingnut though, only a snail mail address.

[BloodBoal]

Just send them a picture of you with a starfish hairdo, and that should do it!

[Incanus]

Come to think of it, I have no idea if regular folks can attend these premieres unless they have gotten their tickets by hook or by crook.

[KK.]

No, she should come up with an even wackier design! Or better yet, somehow brilliantly combine all the drawf designs into one MEGA-hairdo!

They'll give you all the tickets you want after that

Come to think of it, I have no idea if regular folks can attend these premieres unless they have gotten their tickets by hook or by crook.

I guess when it comes premieres, our job is just to screech like girls for autographs? That sucks...

[Chaac]

How long would a score shipped from Buysoundtrax or Screen Archive take to reach Spain?