Nick Parker

I usually use a mix of pen and paper and sequencing. The only time I use notation software is when I'm creating parts for other musicians. Pen and paper forces me to think about things in a very deliberate sense, whereas on a sequencer I feel very free to experiment and a sense of linear progression since it's "tangible". When I'm not around either, I've developed a shorthand notation that allows me to write on pretty much anything. This is a sketch of a cue I wrote for a score a few years ago while waiting in a pizzeria. (Ripped and crumpled because I didn't care about it after I properly got it down.) I basically treat it like a percussion staff, and write pitches above the noteheads, with arrows reminiscent of arrow shortcuts you use in a notation program to indicate a farther away interval, such as going down a 6th instead of up a 3rd. There's also miscellaneous orchestration information on there as well as a bar of drum groove.

Yeah, I'm reluctant to use famous examples like that because sometimes you wonder. Or in such classics as this: That reminds me, I thought Crash was satire for the first 15 minutes. So many classic lines in that ones!

I feel guilty for using such an obvious choice, but it's hard for me to think of another movie in recent memory that was so earnest and fell as hard on its face as Rise of Skywalker. It was very hard for me to watch in the theater, because I was sitting next to a ten year old looking kid and his father, and I didn't want to spoil his experience by laughing at the movie right next to him. I mostly succeeded, but there were some moments where I wasn't strong enough. The comic timing on this is impeccable. A masterclass. His build up of "decoding the intel", the long pause, then the hardest acted moment in Isaac's career, when he tries to make himself as grave as possible, and he utters the money shot..."Somehow, Palpatine has returned." The sheer matter of factness, while he's trying to do everything he can to hold back his choked tears...beautiful and powerful, like the opening blast of Williams' opening fanfare. Also like Williams' famous text crawl music, the rest continues the excellence. Poe proceeds to recite one of the most blatant exposition dumps I've ever heard, rivalling--nay, besting, this classic: It's such a naked attempt to make the stakes as dire as possible in the most childish way possible, and tries to make us care. To add on, it cuts away to this one scrawny-ass dude no has ever mentioned, we have never seen before, suddenly a part of the A List, and apparently replete with uncanny expository knowledge: "Dark science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew." No one acknowledges this dude's point, and barely even his existence...it feels like they filmed his cutaways completely independent from everyone else then just editorially slapped his footage in. The tone of the dialogue struck me so that I believe I unearthed a massive component of Abrams' and Terrio's creative process. Here's the proof: https://tinyurl.com/ixroughdraft

I don't remember what is revealed in what episodes, but Lil' Mando was orphaned and almost killed, so it's not a stretch that grown up Mando felt empathy and compassion for as far as he knows an orphaned kid who seems headed toward death.

It reads as a joke pretty clearly to me, after seeing it for less than a second.

There's a general continuity that works for me, though. Since Force Awakens, Rey wanted to feel a sense of belonging...she didn't have it in her parents, and briefly felt it with Han. In Last Jedi, she wanted it in Luke, too, but she couldn't find it there either. The mirror scene is crucial because it ultimately foreshadows her greatest fear: being alone without someone to give her a sense of purpose, direction, or belonging. This of course is later confirmed by Kylo: she has to forge her own place in life, her own sense of, yep, belonging. Asinine as Palpatine's existence in Rise of Skywalker is, his tempting of Rey in the climactic stretch of the movie is far more compelling to me than his attempt at the same in Return of the Jedi. Over the trilogy, Rey essentially created her own family, her own purpose, her sense of fitting in the galaxy. Palpatine threatens to yank all of that away from her, unless she "sacrifices" herself by killing him in anger.

I can imagine Chen now, at a house party with booming music, dancing, and booze. He sees a girl by herself, puffs out his chest, and walks over, then shouts over the music, "Hey, babe! What's your favorite film? Mine is Lord of the Rings! See, they might seem to be three separate movies but their simultaneous filming and production actually make them one large film! And don't get me started on Braveheart! Yeah, go ahead and refill your cup, I'll wait here!"

I can accept this.

Naw, I'm talking about Attack of the Clones.

Return to Tatooine is one of my favorite Star Wars tracks, and I'm being totally serious. Also, I find the complete score to Return of the Jedi more digestible than Empire Strikes Back, though there are definitely cues where they were designed to support the film foremost.

The Thing is my favorite, but it didn't seem very appropriate for the current occasion. I've always had a soft spot for the tongue in cheekish but still kinda badass My Name is Nobody.

I was actually tempted to post this in the favorite moments thread along with the other stuff in my Batman Forever post. I'm fascinated by sexiness in music, and the stuff starting at :27 is so sexy. I wish it went more of its own direction before slipping into the Batman theme. I also love how Williams and Goldenthal share the dramatic instinct when confronted with weird cartoony characters to go into Prokofiev mode. Thanks for the recommendation! So the OST was assembled by Goldenthal but then ultimately unreleased? Don't score albums normally predate the film?

The little low brass counter melody that ends up blatting that low C...ohhhhhh my god, it's so satisfying. This is what happens when you get a true blue composer to do a big cartoon type score! Also love the little clarinet figure at :35, reminds me of the textures Walker would use for her Two Face theme, it's such a great and succinct depiction of the character. And the trademark Goldenthal brass growl around :58 is delicious, too. On the subject of tiny satisying moments, the bari sax/trombone fall around 2:11 here gives me goosebumps almost every time.

Any good places to start? I have to admit, I've been guilty of thinking it's a rehash of Batman Forever all these years.

Haha, damn, that's actually kind of badass.

First you say it has a few good moments, then you say it's a good score...I don't understand. I've probably made my position on Batman Returns very clear, it's one of my absolute favorite films and scores. The complete score might be a little much to listen to, but there are nice stretches of unscored scenes, namely multiple conversation scenes throughout...the music feels very much like Herrmann in the way it's used only when a heightened sense of reality or subtext is needed--thinking of scenes in Psycho, for example, when Leigh's character is silently grappling with the temptation to steal the money. As for the film itself, it has such a rich bevy of motifs and themes that run throughout, and are, ironically given much criticism for being over-the-top and fantastical, explored in a much more "filmic" way than practically all of Nolan's Batman movies. It's a lot of fun, too.

It's a Nazi dog whistle!

It would definitely line up with how he writes, especially for these big series like Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

Maybe it's because he uses it as a resolution of the phrase? I actually really love how he uses the Cmaj7 there to finish the bridge, but then also to transition back to the A section that starts on a ... C chord. It's not something you hear too often, using an extension of the tonic to lead into the tonic, but it works so well here. As for hearing that...hmmm, I guess I could ask if you hear the difference of tension in it vs. the relative simplicity of the chord to follow in the A section. It also reminds me of how he ends a phrase of Flying from ET on a major 7 chord (I won't say which one). Maybe you could listen to that and see if you can hear the correlation?

I'm willing to be converted.

If you want that old school Roddenberry vibe, let me say a "Hell", and a "no". Unless that preference wraps around to the point where you're distant enough from what Star Trek has been that you don't really care. Then again, even on its terms Picard isn't all that hot.

You give me too much credit, that field's too esoteric for my blood. I humbly defer to your expertise. I'll stop contaminating your thread, Karel.

Are you relying on 4KB floppy disks? 3 KB for a few pictures and the rest for your posts? Is that why they're almost identical and borderline incoherent?

Same, although AI fits the bill very well, too. It's no accident or coincidence that he holds those as some of his favorite work. Seeing your further comments, I think I'm understanding better and better what you mean, and I agree that Williams is a master of this. It's so intimate and private, and it feels like Williams was digging from a very deep lived experience to write these moments, for more or less mainstream entertainment no less. It's one of the major reasons why it's unfortunate that so many modern film composers look to past film scores for their major fuel, so to speak: amongst other things, they deny themselves their own innate humanity to draw from and truly create a lasting and powerful impact of their own.