IMAXGirl

Hmm...this all raises some *very* good questions for me to discuss with my professor after class tomorrow. I'll have to talk with her and see what direction she thinks would be "best" (considering it is her class and she will be grading the project). I will, hopefully, be able to come back tomorrow night with some more specific questions to pose. Thanks everyone for all of the insight, this is really fantastic! I am hoping that as I do my research, I will be able to contribute to the discussion instead of just saying "so what do you think of..." I have JFK and Nixon coming via Netflix for the weekend. Anything in particular I should listen closely for? I have not yet seen either movie? Any similar motifs I can compare to other films? Thanks again! Rachel

Thank you so much for all of the input, it is all very helpful and I will certainly be interested in everyone's insight as the project develops. Another angle I thought of taking for the project is the way that the similar "theme" throughout some of Williams' more famous scores, notably Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Superman, function so differently in each of the films. I'm not sure about that, though. My professor's suggestion was to look at the scores for the different directors and then answer the question: "The scores are very different, but so what?" She really wants this to be about the film theory aspect of it and I'm still kind of wrestling with that--what is the significance of the difference. I think it may help to just start watching some films--what would you all suggest as the "top three" or five? Does anyone know of any good resources where I can find John Williams writing or talking about his scores (without having to purchase all of the soundtracks to read liner notes)? Any books been written on him or his music? Thanks again for all of the help!

I'm doing a project for my film theory class on John Williams and I was wondering if anyone might be interested in offering some input. The basic idea behind my project is to examine (some of) the scores that Williams has composed for different directors--most likely Spielberg and Stone--and compare and contrast these scores and ask the ask question of how and why they are different. Why does he compose one way for Spielberg pictures and another way for Stone? Or what is the significance of this difference. Anyone have any thoughts? I know this is kind of out there, but I figured this would be the best place to find people who might be able to speak intelligently on the subject. Any ideas you can provide would be greatly appreciated!