The Last Jedi THE LAST JEDI Trailer 2 MUSIC discussion

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

You mean that isn't Williams? But when Ray turns on the sword, that's the exact same technique he used in Replicas.

[Josh500 1,615]

I'm half half split on this.

 

It could be Williams or not. Point is, we don't know for sure.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

How sure are we that we don't know for sure?

[Quintus 5,399]

I wasn't completely sure last time around, but on this one it blatantly isn't him. 

[PokeDocMatt 57]

7 hours ago, igger6 said:

I liked the previous trailer's music better.  It was "nerdier," if that makes sense, incorporating not just the main line of Rey's theme but some of the minor motifs as well.  Actually, in one statement of Kylo Ren's theme (over some ship destruction in the second half, I believe) I even thought I heard an incorrect note.  As Will stated, though, it's miles ahead of other franchises' trailer music.  And it is a strong testament to the continued influence of Williams' music (even his newest music) that we have character-appropriate leitmotivic music being custom-written for a commercial.

 

7 hours ago, Will said:

 

Yeah, I actually was not even sure if that was intended to be a variation of his theme. It's definitely a little different. But I liked it, in any case. 

 

From what I can hear, Kylo Ren's theme in TFA starts on the dominant, the 5th note of the scale. In C minor, this would be G - F# - C - Eb - G, with a held low C underneath it as the chord root. However, in this trailer, the theme starts on the tonic, the 1st note of the scale, and keeps the same intervals, or exact note structure, but keeps the same low C as the chord root. C - B - F - Ab - C. This is why it sounds like there are "wrong notes" in it. Interestingly enough, it also forces the harmony to change (on the Ab), whereas TFA version can stay on a static chord. This simple transposition sounds so much more majestic, and has a bit more shape and direction to it, in my opinion.

[ChrisAfonso 186]

The bass line of the string ostinato near the beginning seems to be a play on the beginning of the imperial march, with a slight variation in pitch and rhythm.

[toothless 963]

The music in the trailer is not by Williams. But we never know… It could be some of his ideas taken out of the score then re worked by the trailer house.

[crumbs 14,297]

There's some interesting twists on the Jedi Steps theme here. Can't help but wonder if this was inspired by something Williams wrote for the score proper?

 

It's not totally out of the realms of probability.

[Skelly 260]

42 minutes ago, toothless said:

The music in the trailer is not by Williams. But we never know… It could be some of his ideas taken out of the score then re worked by the trailer house.

 

I doubt Williams would let some computer monkey composer debut his music, in typical trailer fashion, before he himself could introduce the piece properly.

[Quintus 5,399]

True, but Williams doesn't even know what a computer is. 

[Will 2,215]

As much as I want to believe that we have heard some JW, I feel fairly certain that he had absolutely no involvement in this music. Over and over again, we've underestimated the talent of the trailer composers, believing that they couldn't possibly have created the cool variation of ______. 

[crumbs 14,297]

I really hope the action variation of Rey's Theme in the first trailer was influenced by a cue in TLJ's score.

 

That melody works fantastically in action mode, similiar to the Force Theme at the end of Empire when Leia tells Chewie to turn the Falcon around.

[John 2,032]

I haven't read any of the earlier posts on this thread, but who else heard a rendition of the Imperial March towards the beginning of the trailer, during the first few scenes on the island with Luke and Rey? I may be mistaken, and the theme is barely recognizable, but that's what it sounded like to me.

[toothless 963]

6 minutes ago, JohnSolo said:

I haven't read any of the earlier posts on this thread, but who else heard a rendition of the Imperial March towards the beginning of the trailer, during the first few scenes on the island with Luke and Rey? I may be mistaken, and the theme is barely recognizable, but that's what it sounded like to me.

 

It's definitely there, some kind of variation. It's more "recognizable" if you speed the video though.

[crumbs 14,297]

It's seemingly a mix of Jedi Steps and the Imperial March, which makes sense. They're musically related anyway.

[Chen G. 3,943]

Its not the two melodies are thematically connected, per se. It's that - in the single time that the melody appears - Williams weaved hints of the Imperial March in and out of it. I don't believe it's foresight on Williams behalf: just an dramatic avenue that the music explores.

 

"The Jedi Steps" is essentially Luke's theme. It just was inverted. If it recurs in The Last Jedi and attached to something other than Luke, we may begin to think of it as a theme.

[Will 2,215]

Here's our first article by an utterly clueless reporter:

 

http://screenrant.com/star-wars-last-jedi-trailer-john-williams-new-score/

 

Quote

While we’ll have to wait another couple months to hear the soundtrack in its entirety, the most recent The Last Jedi trailer almost certainly featured multiple cues from John Williams’ latest score, although maybe not any one specific track. While the much-anticipated trailer plays host to a slew of sounds (often perfectly synced up with the images), there are several cues that bear Williams’ signature brand.

 

The article doesn't even mention Rey's theme or Jedi Steps! 

[toothless 963]

Ah the famous "Williams' signature brand" with its drums and braaaaaaaaam. Yeah. Sure.

[Skelly 260]

"Sounds like there's an orchestra, it must be John Williams!!"

[Alan 689]

The music as we hear it has clearly been "beefed up" for the trailer. There could be some actual Williams underneath the added percussion, brass and choir though. 

 

The score has been recorded for some time now. I see no reason why the trailer's composer or arranger won't have referred to Williams' work for the film. At least we're hearing the themes that will be used rather than some generic takes on classic themes like the Rogue One trailers.

 

And I still remember people swearing that there was no way Jedi Steps was Williams when it first appeared in a TFA TV spot

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

I think people were referring to the arrangement rather than the thematic material. This trailer music too is Williams thematic material wise but is not Williams arrangement wise.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

15 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

That piano melody in the beginning sounds like the music box melody from Harry Gets His Hand

You probably mean Peter Gets His Hand

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Can we please give the drums a rest?

— Joe Kraemer (@joekraemer) October 10, 2017

SW Trailer

— Joe Kraemer (@joekraemer) October 10, 2017

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Balahkay 627]

Glad I'm not the only one who thought the themes sounded weird... I thought maybe it was just me.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Will 2,215]

Huh - I just looked up every trailer music company I could think of and none of them were talking credit for this. Maybe they had in done in-house??

[Skelly 260]

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Twelve Titans Music is the new John Williams.

[Jay 37,281]

5 minutes ago, Will said:

Huh - I just looked up every trailer music company I could think of and none of them were talking credit for this. Maybe they had in done in-house??

 

You have way too much time on your hands Will.  Aren't there girls out there you can be flirting with instead of doing that?

[Will 2,215]

Eh, it only took me about two minutes. 

 

5 minutes ago, Skelly said:

 

Ah, okay, thanks for that. I'd never heard of that company before. 

 

EDIT: Just looked in the comments of that past, and look what I found... Our favorite guy appears to have worked on it as well (Felix Erksine):

 

 

[Jay 37,281]

I wonder how LFL finds these various trailer companies to do these, and how they even pick one to go with each time.  Or do they send the trailer to like 5 at once and then go with their favorite after they submit stuff?

[Will 2,215]

Yeah I get the sense that they have multiple do them and then reject all but one (or cut multiple together). I've seen posts in the past with supposed "rejected cues."

[Faleel 5,330]

Wha are these "rejected cues" usually like?

[Will 2,215]

3 minutes ago, Fal said:

Wha are these "rejected cues" usually like?

 

Here's a rejected RO trailer 2 cue:

 

 

In the comments Douglas notes that he "made the top three or so." So I guess they really do commission a lot of cues!

[Skelly 260]

36 minutes ago, Jay said:

I wonder how LFL finds these various trailer companies to do these, and how they even pick one to go with each time.  Or do they send the trailer to like 5 at once and then go with their favorite after they submit stuff?

 

The music companies get themselves out there by producing DVDs of their tracks (usually in album format - they'll have their team write twelve tracks, maybe in a particular emotional tone, and give that collection an album title) and sending them to studios. From what I understand, Disney can't "send the trailer", at least the way you probably mean it, to several companies to start out with because it doesn't exist yet; they're still trying to figure out what they want it to be. Footage might not even be available yet - they might only have storyboard and script to use.

 

But yeah, usually there will be several trailer houses which are trying to all try to get the job and pitch musical ideas based off of whatever directions Disney might give them. There's a difference between a trailer house and a music production company like Twelve Titans though; I don't think Twelve Titans would be involved at all in that early process, it's not until when Disney locks down what they like (and ask Felix Erskine to come aboard since they liked his TFA trailer music) that their music is licensed out, and custom tweaks and whatever can be done. If you're really unlucky you can be all set to have your music in a trailer, but then it goes to focus testing or something, and they decide that audiences will hate the music and they go in a different direction.

[Will 2,215]

Yeah just as an example that rejected RO trailer composer above said that he was instructed to write an epic version of the Imperial March. But then maybe when they heard that they decided it was too bombastic and not "emotional" enough. 

[artguy360 1,843]

I don't understand any of the posts in this thread suggesting it could be Williams. Now that we have confirmation, it's a moot point but even before confirmation it is so clear to anyone who is a fan of JW that he did not write this trailer music. 

[Simon R. 10]

6 hours ago, artguy360 said:

I don't understand any of the posts in this thread suggesting it could be Williams. Now that we have confirmation, it's a moot point but even before confirmation it is so clear to anyone who is a fan of JW that he did not write this trailer music. 

 

I agree. I wonder how you can listen to Williams music and be a fan of it, yet be so clueless about his style to the point that you believe that a generic trailer track like this could be Williams. On the other hand, those people could find endless hours of listening joy by Youtube'ing random "epic" and "epic trailer" music. So I suggest they do that and add to their listening collection...:)

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Chen G. 3,943]

Was there such music at all?

 

The scoring process had wrapped up quite some time ago.

 

Even if it were to launch during the sessions, something is telling me that scoring this kind of trailer isn't really Williams' style. I mean, how do you apply thematic material intelligently to a trailer such as this? The actual trailer music, while it utilizes his themes, applies them like mood music.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It has to sound like John Williams but not too much like John Williams.

[Richard Penna 3,669]

It kind of surprises me that with all the milking Disney is doing with SW, and that a new trailer is a big deal, they don't take the opportunity to put the trailer music on Itunes.

 

Just advertise it on YouTube/official website and watch the $$s come in.

 

In terms of the trailer itself, it looks and sounds pretty average to me.

[Will 2,215]

2 hours ago, SafeUnderHill said:

Has the unused second TFA trailer music written by Williams been released anywhere?

 

No, unfortunately. 

 

Well, we suspect that part of it might be heard here in this TV spot, but that's just a guess:

 

 

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

 

On ‎10‎.‎10‎.‎2017 at 7:43 AM, hornist said:

Oh my, I hate these generic trailers!!

 

 

 

 

[Faleel 5,330]

So the International Trailer uses pretty much the same music as the domestic,  however is it my Imagination or is there more choir?

[Dr. Know 326]

IMAscore of Germany also created trailer music for LAST JEDI: http://www.imascore.com/custom-music-imascore-star-wars-last-jedi