Composer Threads John Powell kicks ass

[Edmilson 4514]

Powell is working on his own opera alongside Gavin Greenaway (who conducted a lot of Zimmer/RCP scores) and Michael Petry (no idea who he is). 

 

[Jay 31061]

Bigger image:

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/johnpowellmusic/posts/2948781685345114

[Muad'Dib 1623]

I love how Powell's managed his carreer in the last couple of years.

[Remco 648]

An opera composed by two people… I wonder what I should imagine.

[Luka 209]

Such good news! 

 

 

Su

[SilverTrumpet 523]

Until I know what Powell's writing for, I'm kinda more excited for Sener's Ice Age score. 

[Jay 31061]

Nice to see HTTYD2 fully confirmed, and with a release window! 

[Luka 209]

 

 

 

All I can think of:

 

 

[A Farewell to Kings 3576]

7 hours ago, Jay said:

Nice to see HTTYD2 fully confirmed, and with a release window! 

We already had a release window from Powell himself.... "Early 2022"

[Jay 31061]

I forgot

[May the Force be with You 1965]

Now the only announcement for this deluxe edition is the existence or not of a physical release.. 

Fingers crossed

[Jurassic Shark 9355]

Don't forget it's Disney, they'll probably trim a couple of minutes here and there!

[Jay 31061]

How To Train Your Dragon is not a Disney franchise, and none of the films or score albums had anything to do with any branch of Disney

 

The HTTYD2 expansion is coming from Back Lot Records.

[Jurassic Shark 9355]

Then do forgot it's Disney!

[PrayodiBA 352]

Apparently, according to IMDB, 

Powell is the score coordinator of upcoming Disney animated film, Encanto.

It's further proofed by this photo:

 

The composer is Germaine Franco, used to be Powell's long time assistant.

 

 

What does score coordinator do anyway?

I mean from the capacity of such big name composer like John Powell 😄

[Jurassic Shark 9355]

1 hour ago, PrayodiBA said:

What does score coordinator do anyway?

 

Isn't that the role HanZ usually has?

[WampaRat 1095]

Powell does love him some Latin-style scoring. He did fantastic work with Rio and Ferdinand. And that Latin flare pops up in tons of his other scores (Mr Ms Smith, Knight and Day) Seems like something he would score for sure.

[scallenger 424]

How To Train Your Dragon 2 score book and deluxe edition confirmed for spring 2022!

 

I am beyond excited. It's my favorite of his Dragon scores.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXBsFgyJEUD/

 

[PrayodiBA 352]

This is not directly John Powell,

but I'd like share sample of Batu Sener's upcoming music on Ice Age disney+movie:

 

I mean, wow, I don't  know whether Powell should be proud or worried of his assistant, because that's 100% pure Powell,

right to Powell's trademark "giddy-ness" on the first 20 seconds.

I also hear a hint of "naivety" reminiscent of Powell's early days.

 

This sample also makes me look back at some of Powell's tracks, that Sener is credited to. It makes me think that Sener might in fact handling it like "50-50" rather than only touching up the orchestration.

 

What do you think

[JNHFan2000 1391]

49 minutes ago, PrayodiBA said:

This is not directly John Powell,

but I'd like share sample of Batu Sener's upcoming music on Ice Age disney+movie:

 

I mean, wow, I don't  know whether Powell should be proud or worried of his assistant, because that's 100% pure Powell,

right to Powell's trademark "giddy-ness" on the first 20 seconds.

I also hear a hint of "naivety" reminiscent of Powell's early days.

 

This sample also makes me look back at some of Powell's tracks, that Sener is credited to. It makes me think that Sener might in fact handling it like "50-50" rather than only touching up the orchestration.

 

What do you think

That sounds terrific. Indeed very Powell.

I think I saw either Powell or Sener mention somewhere that there will be a suite of all of Powell's previous Ice Age themes. Can't wait to hear that.

 

Also very glad Buck's theme is fully back. Love that theme.

[Muad'Dib 1623]

Sounds really nice! 

 

The overrall sound is closer to the smaller orchestra in Ice Age 2, which I'm quite fond of.

[Luka 209]

7 hours ago, PrayodiBA said:

It makes me think that Sener might in fact handling it like "50-50" rather than only touching up the orchestration.

Maybe not 50-50, but Batu definitely assimilated Powell's style over the years as his assistant! Which is a very good thing for us because that means more music in the style of Powell in the years to come!  

[Richard Penna 2510]

I think it's been clear for a while that Sener is doing far more than writing bits of additional score here and there. I'd fully expect that some of our favourite HTTYD/CotW moments were him.

[ddddeeee 95]

I don't doubt Sener does a fair bit of heavy lifting. He joins Powell projects on day one; he doesn't just come in when deadlines are looming. 

 

Having said that, I imagine that Sener landed this job on the exact condition that he sound as much like Powell as possible.

[Jay 31061]

It isn't a secret which cues are written by Powell and which by Additional Music composers, you can look it all up on GEMA

[ddddeeee 95]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

It isn't a secret which cues are written by Powell and which by Additional Music composers, you can look it all up on GEMA

It's not quite that simple though. Those credits can mean really different things. For example, Paul Mounsey is given credit on 'Forbidden Friendship' and that cue is mostly Powell.

 

Zimmer gives cue sheet credit sometimes to someone for helping to orchestrate. Elfman gives cue sheet credit if someone gives him a sound that he then played with. What gets you 'additional music' and cue sheet credit for these guys wouldn't even get you a 'music programmer' credit from some other big composers. It's all relative.

[Luka 209]

25 minutes ago, Jay said:

GEMA

What's this? Can anyone get access to those informations?

[Jay 31061]

Yes

 

https://online.gema.de/werke/search.faces?lang=en

 

[Loert 2296]

Looks like we should stop wondering who will be the next John Powell and start wondering who will be the next Batu Sener.

[Richard Penna 2510]

That database really doesn't tell us much though. For co-credited cues it could mean anything from Powell writing the cue and asking Sener to do some revisions, all the way to Sener composing using Powell's themes.... or anything in between.

 

Hence why it's entirely possible that some of the set pieces in Powell's most recent scores aren't by him, which would only indicate that Sener is really good.

 

I remember the scenes around here when it turned out some Williams compositions (one or two cues?) were in Solo and mysteriously, some parts of the score were suddenly superior ().

[Luka 209]

19 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I remember the scenes around here when it turned out some Williams compositions (one or two cues?) were in Solo and mysteriously, some parts of the score were suddenly superior ().

And imagine it turns out that it wasn't even Powell but Sener 

[Fabulin 3433]

13 minutes ago, Luka said:

And imagine it turns out that it wasn't even Powell but Sener 

Batu Sener is the new John Williams

[Luka 209]

2 minutes ago, Fabulin said:

Batu Sener is the new John Williams

Confirmed.

[Arpy 4072]

Themes by Jatu Pener, adapted by Bohn Sowell.

[Edmilson 4514]

I'd never forgive Powell if Madrid Finale, Third Date, As Long as He’s Safe or Once There Were Dragons were not written by him, but by some Joe Whatever, and he still took the credits nonetheless.

 

NEVER FORGET! NEVER FORGIVE!

[HunterTech 693]

As with Zimmer: if it all sounds like a fully unified vision, then is there really any point in figuring out who did what precisely? Especially in this particular instance, when Sener didn't actually work on the previous Ice Age movies! If anything, you could almost view this as a William Ross/Alexander Courage type of situation, where they mainly concerned themselves with adapting the material for the next film in the franchise.

 

I'm just happy we're returning to the well of 2-4 with this new film, since as much as I respect Debney for trying to bridge the gap between Newman and Powell in 5, the results were just too dull unfortunately.

 

47 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I'd never forgive Powell if Madrid Finale, Third Date, As Long as He’s Safe or Once There Were Dragons were not written by him, but by some Joe Whatever, and he still took the credits nonetheless.

 

NEVER FORGET! NEVER FORGIVE!

 

You can rest easy, because those are all solo Powell! A lot of his bigger set piece cues tend to be, curiously enough.

[Tallguy 1530]

49 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Third Date

 

aka HTTYD3's reason for existence.

 

Watched TYD1 and 2 this weekend. I get that 1 is the better movie. But 2 just sweeps me off my feet. I had the unreasonable expectation that there would be as big of a leap between 2 and 3 as there was between 1 and 2. Kudos to ending with the opening of the first book though.

 

Flying with Mother. Stoik's Ship. Toothless Found. Ahhhh.

[PrayodiBA 352]

3 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

That database really doesn't tell us much though. For co-credited cues it could mean anything from Powell writing the cue and asking Sener to do some revisions, all the way to Sener composing using Powell's themes.... or anything in between.

 

Hence why it's entirely possible that some of the set pieces in Powell's most recent scores aren't by him, which would only indicate that Sener is really good.

 

I remember the scenes around here when it turned out some Williams compositions (one or two cues?) were in Solo and mysteriously, some parts of the score were suddenly superior ().

 

Yes we need to accept that Sener done more than what we expect

( And we are past the debate of how these co-credits functioning etc.)

 

I own an animation studio, and being the director slash animation supervisor, I tend to approach the work just like this "co-composer/additional music debacle", because full animation comprises of separate scenes ("Tracks"). And sometimes, in the past, I would have done full scenes. But the lesser important ones (or perhaps important ones, but I couldnt manage to do it), I delegated those to the team of animators. But still in that moment , I had to create some 5-10 seconds example, just to give them reference and standard (quality control). And when they have done the work, I would often surprised of how amazing and perhaps superior their work were. But that's after I directly supervised them, telling them what to add, what to omit, what "animation principle" should be applied, etc. etc. So without my direct supervision, the quality would not be as good as the standard I started.

Hence, Sener is really good because he is under Powell all the time.

Sener's Ice Age work is perhaps not the best judge here, as above said, the condition is to be as Powell as possible.

So we need to wait for his next outputs and I really wish him all the best.

 

 

[Edmilson 4514]

1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

Watched TYD1 and 2 this weekend. I get that 1 is the better movie. But 2 just sweeps me off my feet.

HTTYD2 is my favorite as well, I'm really fond of it.

[bruce marshall 1259]

Every script ever written for the screen has been altered in some way.

In television, the story editor ensures the material fits in the guidelines of the show's history.

Films are almost always edited in some way by the director and UNCREDITED screenwriters, who may make major changes.

 

My point?.

You figure it out😊

[Luka 209]

Speaking of Powell, recently I've been enjoying his score for Pan so much! I think it's slowly becoming one of my favourite scores of his. 

[Disco Stu 15468]

10 minutes ago, Luka said:

Speaking of Powell, recently I've been enjoying his score for Pan so much! I think it's slowly becoming one of my favourite scores of his. 

 

Somewhere out there, the ghost of Bloodboal is looking down on this post, smiling and nodding.

[Luka 209]

2 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Bloodboal

Who?

[Disco Stu 15468]

At least he didn't edit this one to be blank.

 

On 21/10/2015 at 4:55 PM, BloodBoal said:

Watched the film today. Made me appreciate the score even more now, having heard it in its complete form. Can't wait for all of you to finally realize that it's a fun score!

There's a lot of unreleased material in the first half of the film, not so much in the second half. Most of it is basically quieter material (the unreleased action material is mostly short bits that were microedited here and there in tracks on the album), which is quite nice and helps the score breathe a bit. Recording sessions leak, please!

Tried to pay attention to what each theme was supposed to represent, and I have to say it's not very clear. Here's how it goes:

- The main theme (introduced at the very beginning of the score in Opening Overture), which I originally thought was Peter's theme, is actually used interchangeably for both Peter and Hook. Actually, I think it's more often used for Hook than for Peter, which even led me to wonder if the characters didn't each have a theme, with both themes sounding very similar to one another. Frankly, if the theme didn't open the score, and appeared a few times before Peter met Hook, I would have definitely think this was Hook's theme! It often plays when he's performing heroics.

- The other major thematic idea (introduced in the second half of Opening Overture, and which gets its first major rendition in Floating - Neverland Ahoy!), which I thought was a theme for Neverland or possibly a flying theme seems to be neither. It's used in very different contexts, and never seems to be linked to anything specific. *Maybe* this is actually Peter's theme, but I'm not sure of that.

- Then there's the theme introduced in Air Raid / Office Raid (I didn't noticed that theme first appeared here) that later gets two big renditions in Kidnapped / Galleon Dog Fight. It's not Blackbeard's theme, but a theme for his pirates.

- Following this is Blackbeard's theme, first heard in Inverted Galleon and later in Flying Ship Fight. I actually thought that one was the same as the pirates' theme (which I thought was Blackbeard's theme. Get it? ), just a different variation of it, but it's not. Interestingly, the first time this theme is used, it's not directly linked to Blackbeard. But during the climax, it definitely is.

- Finally, the theme heard prominently in A Warrior's Fate (it appears quite a few times before that in more subdued renditions (at the beginning of Origin Story for example), or more subtle disguise (at 01:11 in Pirates Vs Natives Vs Heroes Vs Chickens) then also in Flying Ship Fight) is a theme for the Fairies.

And that's all the themes I could notice in the score (thought I think there might be one or two more in there, though minor ones).

Now, that being said, and going back to the interview where Powell stated that he generally doesn't use themes specifically for characters, locations, etc., but rather prefers to use whichever theme he thinks works best for the scene (or something like that), I'd say this is true here too. At least for the two major thematic ideas, and maybe even the Fairies theme (I think that one is used a few times during moments which have nothing to do with the Fairies, though more often than not, it is used for the Fairies).

A few other random notes:

- The unreleased material didn't feature any other theme, at least none that I could notice, so no theme for Tiger Lily.

- The OST is 100% in chronological order.

- Kidnapped - Galleon Dog Fight is supposed to segue directly into Floating - Neverland Ahoy!

- The score really gets to shine in the film. Hadn't heard (good) film music so much in the forefront in a while.

 

[Tallguy 1530]

1 hour ago, Luka said:

Speaking of Powell, recently I've been enjoying his score for Pan so much! I think it's slowly becoming one of my favourite scores of his. 

 

I found the movie so forgettable that I forgot it. But I'll give the score a listen.

[Richard Penna 2510]

I really enjoyed the movie, and could never quite work out why it was panned so much.

 

The music is a bit overpowering in places, with Powell's kitchen-sink approach to some of the action cues making them a bit less memorable to me, but if I trim the album a bit it's a good listen.

[Jay 31061]

17 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I really enjoyed the movie, and could never quite work out why it was panned so much.

 

I see what you did there

[Richard Penna 2510]

Must've been subliminal, as it wasn't intentional 

[Luka 209]

1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

 

I found the movie so forgettable that I forgot it. But I'll give the score a listen.

 

Yeah I watched the movie for the first time last week and wasn't really impressed. Other than the score of course, that I had been listening to for years.

 

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

The music is a bit overpowering in places

 

Isn't it the case with most of Powell's scores though?  Which is a reason why I love them so much haha

 

For example here:

 

I feel like it doesn't fit the scene very well, which is probably why it's buried under the sound effects. 

But damn is it so good to listen to on its own!!! 

 

 

It's not even the same version at all. I guess the album version was really way too overpowering haha

[JNHFan2000 1391]

http://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/01/06/john-powell-scoring-olivia-wildes-dont-worry-darling/

 

John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon, The Bourne Identity, Happy Feet, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Bolt, United 93, Face/Off, Chicken Run) has recently been scoring the upcoming psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling. The film is directed by Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) and stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, KiKi Layne, Gemma Chan, Chris Pine, Nick Kroll and Wilde herself. The movie revolves around a 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community who begins to worry that his glamorous company may be hiding disturbing secrets. Katie Silberman (Set It Up, Isn’t It Romantic) wrote the screenplay based on an earlier version by Shane & Carey Van Dyke (The Silence, Chernobyl Diaries). Wilde & Silberman are also producing the New Line Cinema production with Roy Lee (It, The Lego Batman Movie). Don’t Worry Darling is set to be released in theaters nationwide on September 23, 2022 by Warner Bros. Pictures.