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The Book Thief (2013) - New Williams film score!


scissorhands

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One thing that's a little concerning is the track length.... theres barely any 3 or 4 minute pieces.

I agree with the above it sounds like an amalgamation of A.I. and Angela's ashes. Or at least it has that feel.........but I hear more of the synth pads and minimalist stuff that was in Munich and Memoirs. I think this is a good sign, that JW is still trying new ideas while never losing sight of the traditional sound/style.

Pity about the track length though... Much better to have fewer longer tracks but maybe thats just the way it was scored in a more "incidental" manner.

Look forward to November 8th!!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dciPjcWFjwo

A B-roll for The Book Thief. I think this has music from the movie too.

Thank you, Mr Big for the link :)

There are also a few new clips w/music available at traileraddict.com along with an interview by John Williams:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/the-book-thief/interview-john-williams

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Mari, you are the queen of finding new Book Thief clips! How do you do it?

Thanks, Jason. No magic involved -- I just stalk the Book Thief tag on twitter. ;)

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hey wait that was just an interview...no music

That link was for the interview, but there are also clips from the movie available on the site:

http://www.traileraddict.com/clip/the-book-thief/make-the-words-yours

http://www.traileraddict.com/clip/the-book-thief/do-i-have-your-word

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Wow, that's one really lovely score!

On an unrelated note, why does Emily Watson always play the mother in JW's films?

I gather your question is rhetorical, but Watson is typecast is in these sorts of Oscar-friendly period melodramas -- growing up in Western Europe amid turmoil and privation -- to which Williams seems to have a literary penchant.

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A lot of clips.

But I still can't get a feel of the full score. It all sounds nice but I feel we haven't heard any "special JW moments" yet.

Something like The People's House theme in Lincoln or the War Horse trailer music that got us all excited

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Wow, that's one really lovely score!

On an unrelated note, why does Emily Watson always play the mother in JW's films?

it would be rather awkward if she played the father don't you think?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dciPjcWFjwo

A B-roll for The Book Thief. I think this has music from the movie too.

Thank you, Mr Big for the link :)

There are also a few new clips w/music available at traileraddict.com along with an interview by John Williams:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/the-book-thief/interview-john-williams

A very nice interview! :)

Thank you very much for finding and sharing this Mari!

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Cool, but there's like 2 pieces playing at the same time

That's how B-rolls are usually done. On audio channel 1 you have ambience/dialogue and on channel 2 there's music underscoring. It's usually done this way so that editors can cut easily the stuff they need (usually for news pieces).

Great little JW interview, btw. He's always both articulate and simple at the same time.

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Cool, but there's like 2 pieces playing at the same time

That's how B-rolls are usually done. On audio channel 1 you have ambience/dialogue and on channel 2 there's music underscoring. It's usually done this way so that editors can cut easily the stuff they need (usually for news pieces).

Sure, but it shouldn't be used for promotional purposes. It's raw footage and makes no audiovisual sense whatsoever (but since we live in the YouTube and "nervous camera" era, who cares, right?) :mellow:

And uploading a John Williams interview in which he talks about a film score, with no music at all is simply ridiculous.

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Cool, but there's like 2 pieces playing at the same time

That's how B-rolls are usually done. On audio channel 1 you have ambience/dialogue and on channel 2 there's music underscoring. It's usually done this way so that editors can cut easily the stuff they need (usually for news pieces).

Great little JW interview, btw. He's always both articulate and simple at the same time.

One of the less interesting interviews I've seen, really.

"Film turned out beautifully"...."I don't use computers." Same old stuff.

I appreciate that they want some sort of interview, but can't they ask stuff relating just to the project, and not ask about his working methods for the thousandth time?

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Cool, but there's like 2 pieces playing at the same time

That's how B-rolls are usually done. On audio channel 1 you have ambience/dialogue and on channel 2 there's music underscoring. It's usually done this way so that editors can cut easily the stuff they need (usually for news pieces).

Great little JW interview, btw. He's always both articulate and simple at the same time.

One of the less interesting interviews I've seen, really.

"Film turned out beautifully"...."I don't use computers." Same old stuff.

I appreciate that they want some sort of interview, but can't they ask stuff relating just to the project, and not ask about his working methods for the thousandth time?

Because it is the basic journalism where they have to ask those things time and time again. Williams is asked those same questions again and again but it is part of the PR job to answer them time and time again. I remember how glad he was to answer one female interviewer's slightly funny question about his dancing skills and he actually commented that warmly to her as a very good unusual question.

I loved how enthusiastic he was about the project and impressed about the story and the film. Obviously it was something he really pursued, a rarity these days.

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I loved how enthusiastic he was about the project and impressed about the story and the film.

Has he appeared in any single interview not impressed or enthusiastic about the film he scored?

In some less than others. Plus this is something he really pursued as I said above so I think it was extra special to him.

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Cool, but there's like 2 pieces playing at the same time

That's how B-rolls are usually done. On audio channel 1 you have ambience/dialogue and on channel 2 there's music underscoring. It's usually done this way so that editors can cut easily the stuff they need (usually for news pieces).

Great little JW interview, btw. He's always both articulate and simple at the same time.

One of the less interesting interviews I've seen, really.

"Film turned out beautifully"...."I don't use computers." Same old stuff.

I appreciate that they want some sort of interview, but can't they ask stuff relating just to the project, and not ask about his working methods for the thousandth time?

I loved how enthusiastic he was about the project and impressed about the story and the film. Obviously it was something he really pursued, a rarity these days.

I'm surprised you say that Incanus, because to me, he seemed less enthusiastic about this project than most. He seemed to be giving stock answers and seemed a little bit tired. More mellow and toned down. He certainly seemed more enthusiastic when discussing Tintin, War Horse and Lincoln.

I honestly don't think this is anything like his passion project for Memoira of a Geisha.

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I don't think we should be reading too much into one interview. There are a million reasons why somebody might not seem enthusiastic about something that have nothing to do with that something--for all we know JW's friend died right before he gave the interview.

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I'm surprised you say that Incanus, because to me, he seemed less enthusiastic about this project than most. He seemed to be giving stock answers and seemed a little bit tired. More mellow and toned down. He certainly seemed more enthusiastic when discussing Tintin, War Horse and Lincoln.

I honestly don't think this is anything like his passion project for Memoira of a Geisha.

What if he had a bad day, had slept not well, had other issues? How can you judge the passion someone has for a project from one isolated interview... seems pretty superficial to me.

The biggest amount of passion i have recently seen from him was in the Starwars VII interview (which was more passionate than Memoirs for sure). And we know that this passion is real cause of several similar statements in concerts and interviews.

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Cool, but there's like 2 pieces playing at the same time

That's how B-rolls are usually done. On audio channel 1 you have ambience/dialogue and on channel 2 there's music underscoring. It's usually done this way so that editors can cut easily the stuff they need (usually for news pieces).

Great little JW interview, btw. He's always both articulate and simple at the same time.

One of the less interesting interviews I've seen, really.

"Film turned out beautifully"...."I don't use computers." Same old stuff.

I appreciate that they want some sort of interview, but can't they ask stuff relating just to the project, and not ask about his working methods for the thousandth time?

I loved how enthusiastic he was about the project and impressed about the story and the film. Obviously it was something he really pursued, a rarity these days.

I'm surprised you say that Incanus, because to me, he seemed less enthusiastic about this project than most. He seemed to be giving stock answers and seemed a little bit tired. More mellow and toned down. He certainly seemed more enthusiastic when discussing Tintin, War Horse and Lincoln.

I honestly don't think this is anything like his passion project for Memoira of a Geisha.

To me Williams seems more than interested in this film and so he is trying to convey how thought provoking it was to him and moved him. I don't think that if you are interested in something or passionate about something means that you should constantly smile like an idiot and wave your hands about in animated fashion. Williams is obviously trying to choose his words carefully on the subject and to my eyes and ears projects genuine interest in the movie, the novel and scoring it. But hey it is just me looking at the Maestro through the rose hued glasses I guess.

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Well, we know he volunteered for the project, so he must be "enthusiastic" on some level. Second, he does seem genuinely pleased with the film and his working relationship with Percival, which must have been somewhat of an unknown for both of them.

Either way, the music seems quite good, so whether he had warm fuzzies while writing it or was cold and dead inside (or somewhere in between) does not really matter.

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I think it's rather hard to measure someone's enthusiasm like this, especially if we don't know them personally. Also, 81 year old might not exactly express their joy the way someone younger would. Finally, the kind of music Williams likes to write most doesn't necessarily has to mirror our tastes and what we expect of him to do. After all the his concert music doesn't sound anything like what he's doing "per request". That's actually might be a really good clue right there.

Karol

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Right, I was just mentioning how this one interview doesn't make him seem more enthusiastic than Williams' other projects, which was what I thought Incanus was suggesting.

And the reason I don't think this is like Memoirs of a Geisha is because the topic/concept doesn't seem nearly as interesting as MoaG, which could have seemed like a great new direction to take for a composer like Williams.

And as SF1_freeze suggested, he could have just had a tiring day.

I'm not trying to say anything against the score guys, I think it'll turn out great!

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It would be helpful if the JWFAN filmography page listed Williams's level of passion for each project on a scale from 1 to 10. A glaring omission on Ricard's part.

We need a crack team for it! I suggest the more discerning people around here. I am not good for such a task. I have those rose hued glasses on you know. Warps the perspective. ;)

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