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The Force Awakens SCORE Discussion (Film Spoilers Allowed)

Thor

By Thor,
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Thor

Going to bed now, but I tried to answer some of these questions without spoiling anything. Tomorrow, many of you are going to see it. It will be interesting to see if some of my observations here will

T.RASK

I just saw the film and here is my lengthy, deep analysis: The music was fucking AMAZING!!!

Marcus

Just saw the film. I will focus on the score, and refrain from addressing much about the film per se, except that it is easily the most well-written, well-executed Star Wars film since ESB. The new ch

Jay

Jay 18382

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Is there cool unreleased versions of pre-existing themes?

Example :Goodbye Old Friend in RotS (Force theme)

LOL, you're posting that question here instead of in your thread about unreleased music?

I told you that thread wasn't needed yet!

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King Mark

King Mark 2643

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Is there cool unreleased versions of pre-existing themes?

Example :Goodbye Old Friend in RotS (Force theme)

LOL, you're posting that question here instead of in your thread about unreleased music?

I told you that thread wasn't needed yet!

I couldn't find it for a minute..I thought you merged it with this one

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Jay

Jay 18382

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Hey! At least JW remembered Han Solo and the Princess!

Interestingly, though, he did refer to it as Han's theme in his Tavis Smiley interview. Not a love theme!

See I don't get why he uses Rebel Fanfare instead of Han's Theme for the Falcon, then

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Lewya

Lewya 360

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So those who have heard it and were disappointed. How much of a disappointment was it?

How can I say how big disappointment it was? I didn't expect a score on the level of the best Star Wars scores or a top 10 Williams score. I just expected a great score and that is what I got, but it wasn't as great as I expected.

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rough cut

rough cut 866

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Just came back from the theater! First impression is that the score feels more "original trilogy" than "prequel trilogy".

I'm not just saying that because a lot of classic themes make re-appearances, but because of how the music felt when watching the film. It felt as if John was painting with broad brushstrokes. While the choice of having a "leitmotif" always appear in sync with a character can become a bit heavy handed, the way the film was edited gave the music a chance to breathe.

Overall, being more "original trilogy" than "prequel trilogy" is a good thing, at least to me.

Cellar song didn't stand out at all. Definite skip on the OST.

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T.RASK

T.RASK 971

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Yeah. Expectations too high.

I just happened to read some some negative reviews (thor...etc) and was positively surprised it was THAT good, Easily top 10, first time after the first listen. (first time a JW movie without hearing the CD first, if the childhood doesn't count).

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dead_lizard

dead_lizard 12

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I saw the film last night. Good, but not great. scorewise, it's probably the weakest of all seven. no big musical setpieces, although the montage of Jakku at the beginning had some pretty impressive sweep.

For what it's worth, the credits list Dudamel as Special Guest Conductor. Conducted by John Williams and William Ross. Orchestration by John Williams and William Ross.

No new fanfare to replace the fox logo. Missed opportunity IMHO. even a couple of seconds of 'war drums' would have done the trick. The new crawl was pretty cool, and there were some cool moments. A lot of WTF moments too unfortunately.

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crocodile

crocodile 4953

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I think Williams has moved to a more motivic mode of writing. Not unexpected - we've seen this kind of stuff in some of the previous scores too. The new material doesn't stand out as much as we would hoped. But I really liked the score, it has an old-fashioned feel that prequels lacked. And It actually has the "feel" of a Star Wars score of old films. It was well mixed and used. I can't wait to hear the album.

In short? It might not hit you over the head with grand big themes. But it does sound right. If that makes sense.

Karol

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leeallen01

leeallen01 1528

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I can't remember any new themes at all. As far as I can remember the first order and ren didnt have a theme. Rey had one which I can't hum now, Finn I didn't hear a theme either. Nor for BB8. Disappointing score for me in the film. Haven't heard it outside of the film yet, but in the film it wasn't memorable at all for me.

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leeallen01

leeallen01 1528

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By hummable I mean that which I can recall. I can't recall a single new thematic idea, yet that's all Williams ever talks about, strong thematic ideas for characters. For me there were none. Was there even any Villain music? It just seemed forgettable and generic villain stuff here and there. Rey's stuff was nice. But not memorable.

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Not Mr. Big

Not Mr. Big 2814

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Am I the only one surprised that the "noble" theme from The Phantom Menace makes an appearance? You know, the one which opens the dinner house at Anakin's house and then reappears after Qui-Gon's death?

Karol

I love that theme and made a comment that it would be cool to hear something like that in the film. J.J listened!

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artguy360

artguy360 1059

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Am I the only one surprised that the "noble" theme from The Phantom Menace makes an appearance? You know, the one which opens the dinner house at Anakin's house and then reappears after Qui-Gon's death?

Karol

It was a nice surprise. I can't imagine what is happening on screen during that music. Maybe it's very fitting or JW just wanted a subtle callback to the prequels for fun.

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WilliamHorne97

WilliamHorne97 15

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Don't get me wrong hearing the themes for the first order and kylo ren was amazing. But the action would drown out the score. Also like a lot of others are saying, they're no memorable themes or motifs you can hum along to :/ least we got a good movie :) please excuse if my grammer is of , I'm really tired haha

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Incanus

Incanus 5259

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I just came back from seeing the movie. It was amazing!! Kylo ren is such a well crafted character :) The score for me was a bit lack luster :( hopefully when I listen to the soundtrack on its own my thoughts will change.

It did for me at least. Improve the experience of the music I mean.

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BloodBoal

BloodBoal 7523

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Am I the only one surprised that the "noble" theme from The Phantom Menace makes an appearance? You know, the one which opens the dinner house at Anakin's house and then reappears after Qui-Gon's death?

Karol

It was a nice surprise. I can't imagine what is happening on screen during that music. Maybe it's very fitting or JW just wanted a subtle callback to the prequels for fun.

It's not very fitting. There's nothing that connects this scene to the ones in TPM. It was just Johnny being lazy!

Don't get me wrong hearing the themes for the first order and kylo ren was amazing.

Amazing indeed, since the First Order doesn't have a theme!

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Jilal

Jilal 421

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I just came back from seeing the movie. It was amazing!! Kylo ren is such a well crafted character :) The score for me was a bit lack luster :( hopefully when I listen to the soundtrack on its own my thoughts will change.

It did for me at least. Improve the experience of the music I mean.

And so it did for me. There's a lot more to the music than I initially perceived in theater.

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Marcus

Marcus 375

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Am I the only one surprised that the "noble" theme from The Phantom Menace makes an appearance? You know, the one which opens the dinner house at Anakin's house and then reappears after Qui-Gon's death?

Karol

It was a nice surprise. I can't imagine what is happening on screen during that music. Maybe it's very fitting or JW just wanted a subtle callback to the prequels for fun.

It's not very fitting. There's nothing that connects this scene to the ones in TPM. It was just Johnny being lazy!

Don't get me wrong hearing the themes for the first order and kylo ren was amazing.

Amazing indeed, since the First Order doesn't have a theme!

The First Order has a fairly prominent motif (almost as prominent as the Imperial motif in the first Star Wars film).

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Marcus

Marcus 375

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It's there in the very first track, right after the opening crawl; a four note motif (b3-2-4-b5; or if you will: two descending notes, followed by two ascending notes). And it's repeated quite a few times throughout the album.

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rough cut

rough cut 866

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Cellar song didn't stand out at all. Definite skip on the OST.

it's not on the OST.

Oh, I was under the impression that it would be included. I hadn't read the tracklist in order to avoid any potential spoilers, but thought I read somewhere that it was to be included. I'm glad that isn't the case. More room for JW-compositions. :)

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Incanus

Incanus 5259

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Oh, I was under the impression that it would be included. I hadn't read the tracklist in order to avoid any potential spoilers, but thought I read somewhere that it was to be included.

You're not remembering wrong: they did say at some point it would be on the OST. ;)

But turns out it isn't. So either it was originally meant to be on it, but was eventually removed from it, or whoever said it would be included just thought it would be on the OST, even thought it was never considered for it.

What a bloody mess that was and had us writhing in agony for 2 weeks at least.

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Balahkay

Balahkay 626

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It's there in the very first track, right after the opening crawl; a four note motif (b3-2-4-b5; or if you will: two descending notes, followed by two ascending notes). And it's repeated quite a few times throughout the album.

That part gave me goosebumps. Reminded me of ESB.

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Damien F

Damien F 704

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The Rebel Fanfare has been pretty much repurposed as The Falcon theme. I don't think it is ever quoted without The Falcon but it is used for most major Falcon moments.

There is a Falcon moment at the beginning of the third act which is scored with the fanfare on brass three times in rapid succession - I don't think it is on the OST. It would have been before On The Inside chronologically.

Minor spoiler unrelated to plot:

It is when it crash lands on the snowy cliff

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Damien F

Damien F 704

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How did people feel regarding (MAJOR SPOILER!)

the music for Han's death? I thought it was quite underwhelming, for what is supposed to be a big moment in the saga.

Personally, I would have preferred a tragic version of Han Solo and the Princess or Leia's theme because we quickly cut back to her.

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