CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND - Live to Projection Concerts (1998 Final Cut used)

[Omen II 1,251]

18 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

And this did not desist them?

 

Incredibly, no.  I was THAT close to tutting, but it was important to maintain some decorum in angustiis.

[Naïve Old Fart 10,295]

Next time, stand up, turn around and shout at them: "SHUT THE FUCK UP, OR GET THE FUCK OUT!". I don't care if it's England, and "we don't do that sort of thing", they are ruining your's and other people's enjoyment, with their stupid, selfish, PD behaviour.

[ocelot 549]

Oh I was at the London concert at the Royal Albert Hall. It was fantastic. I took two little vids. I'll put them up on youtube and then share them here. I cried at the end..... I was close and had an extra ticket with me as my friend decided to forget what day it was. I should have asked here.... Next time!

Here you go x (excuse the guy to the left of me that I wanted to smack a few times!)

 

 

 

[Joni Wiljami 1,208]

Sounds fantastic!! Hey Mr. Fit, if you have an extra ticket also for the RAH/JW concert if would like to buy it...😄

[TownerFan 5,097]

9 hours ago, ocelot said:

Oh I was at the London concert at the Royal Albert Hall. It was fantastic. I took two little vids. I'll put them up on youtube and then share them here. I cried at the end..... I was close and had an extra ticket with me as my friend decided to forget what day it was. I should have asked here.... Next time!

Here you go x (excuse the guy to the left of me that I wanted to smack a few times!)

 

 

 

Great way of putting back "Trucking" into the score. Who was the conductor? Ernst Van Tiel?

[Jim Ware 546]

Yes, it was Ernst Van Tiel.  There was a little snippet of Trucking earlier on too, reinserted just before Into The Tunnel.  Also, Barry Is Kidnapped played through in its entirety, whereas in the final film mix it's dialled in and out.

[Corellian2019 408]

1 hour ago, Jim Ware said:

Also, Barry Is Kidnapped played through in its entirety, whereas in the final film mix it's dialled in and out.

 

I would have given a kidney just to see/hear that! Also nice to see that they restored most of the original End Credits music, if not all of it

[ocelot 549]

6 hours ago, TownerFan said:

 

Great way of putting back "Trucking" into the score. Who was the conductor? Ernst Van Tiel?

You know I didn't know but I see someone else answered. I was pissed off as there was no program. One thing I love is collecting programs of concerts I go to. And that's usually where I get my info.

8 hours ago, hornist said:

Sounds fantastic!! Hey Mr. Fit, if you have an extra ticket also for the RAH/JW concert if would like to buy it...😄

Still do not know if I will have it spare since this was one of the concerts that no members who own seats got their seats for themselves. We all had to scramble to get our own. Therefor instead of having 5 I have 3 and mine and one other are definitely spoken for. We shall see

[crocodile 8,401]

While watching those clips I envy my Thursday past self who got to witness this!

 

Karol

[Nick Parker 3,044]

Am I the only person who has troubles navigating the FCL website? I can find no other dates or locations for this show.

[ocelot 549]

2 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

Am I the only person who has troubles navigating the FCL website? I can find no other dates or locations for this show.

For CE3K?

Edit: No other dates announced yet for this yet, if you were asking about this film.

[Nick Parker 3,044]

Thanks, glad to know it's not just me.

[Joni Wiljami 1,208]

I think it was a confusion between this show and the RAH/JW show later.

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,890]

 

One thing that surprised me was the structure of the film, musically. I knew that the *score* was structured to progress from the atonal/dissonant stuff to the post-Romantic Straussian finale. But I never realised how after the opening crescendo and the brief underscore for the airplanes scene (which is very much drowned out by the sound effects, and sadly was hard to hear at the RAH, too, because the film audio was mixed in rather loudly during the first half) - there's no music at all for something like 15 minutes. So it actually goes from some music drowned out by sound effects to no music but lots of sound effects for the mystery and domestic scenes to atonal/dissonant music with less and less sound effects for the suspense scenes to post-Romantic music for the big finish, with the final 10 minutes or so having hardly any audio at all but the score.

 

Sadly, it was somewhat spoiled by a couple of the box to my right. It was bad enough that the RAH stuff actually came in to take orders and deliver drinks somewhat noisily throughout the concert, but these people actually started having a conversation during second half, drinking and rattling their glasses loudly and just scoffing at the other people in their box telling them that they were "spoiling it for everyone else". They left during the finale, slamming the door loudly (one of the staff women was actually checking the door frame for damage when we were leaving).

 

So that reduced my enjoyment a bit, but I still had to wipe my eyes at the end (and so did the woman in the box next to me).

 

I wish they could do this without amplification (and with a concert hall and a film like this, it should be technically possible). I wonder how they'll handle the sound mix for the LSO/SW concert.

 

Still, a great experience. And it's always good to meet Karol & Jim (next time we'll talk more!) & Co.

[crocodile 8,401]

Fortunately, people in my box were very well behaved.

 

I'd say Royal Festival Hall at Southbank Centre is probably a better venue for this kind of a performance. I enjoyed E.T. performance very much. It is also bit difficult to balance out all the sound effects in a film like this. But then, even if you watch it on Blu-ray it is clearly structured that way. A lot of people talking/shouting over each other and sound effects dominate in the first half.

 

And it's always great to see you too Marian and Christian!

 

Karol

[Jay 39,149]

When is this going to be performed more widely?  Only date on the schedule currently is Spain, in September

 

http://filmconcertslive.com/movies/close-encounters/

[Corellian2019 408]

I hope so! I'm dying to see it here in NY

[Jay 39,149]

I'd LOVE to catch this one, more than any others

[crocodile 8,401]

And you should. Wish I could watch it again.

 

Karol

[Corellian2019 408]

FCL updated their calendar with new concerts on March and April 2019, in San Francisco and Cleveland, respectively.

 

Still nothing on the East Coast  ... contemplating going to Cleveland just for this...

[Nick Parker 3,044]

On 10/21/2018 at 6:26 PM, Corellian2019 said:

FCL updated their calendar with new concerts on March and April 2019, in San Francisco and Cleveland, respectively.

 

Still nothing on the East Coast  ... contemplating going to Cleveland just for this...

 

Oh man, I'm totally making that San Francisco trip. Any other JWFans gonna jump in?

[Bespin 8,673]

1 minute ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Oh man, I'm totally making that San Francisco trip. Any other JWFans gonna jump in?

 

Take care, don't drive at night for going to a CE3K live concert!

[SyncMan 327]

From @indy4's review of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra concert, John Williams-Maestro of the Movies, back in 2013

On 9/17/2013 at 2:56 AM, indy4 said:

Spielberg said "We're definitely coming back to SF!" during one of the many standing ovations we gave--I wonder if he says that at every gig. I hope not...

 

I see that the SF Symphony, over the years, did all of the Spielberg/Williams films for L2P—E.T., Jaws, Raiders, and Jurassic Park.  Did Spielberg and/or Williams return for any of these concerts?  I was at the SF Symphony’s Jurassic Park concert, the 2^nd show, and I didn’t see them.

I would think the two would come back for this North American premiere of CE3K-L2P in San Francisco.

Spielberg and Williams can talk to the audience about how they have adapted the score for this concert version.  In this YouTube video that @PHOENIX provided…

 

…this scene had no music in any of the versions of the film, but you hear it here.

[Jay 39,149]

To embed a youtube video in a post here, all you have to do is paste the URL into your post.  You don't need to get into the weeds with the iframe code and stuff, the board software embeds it for you just from the URL

[SyncMan 327]

Thanks for that, Jay

[publicist 4,647]

Might fit in here:

 

 

[SyncMan 327]

To the folks in the Bay Area:

I’m reminded of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra’s LTP concert of The Matrix where the stage of Davies Symphony Hall is lit with a green gel matching the hue in specific scenes of the film.

 

I wouldn't put it pass Davies to, at least, consider using a live-color-changing-light scheme for the ‘conservation’ piece in CE3K-LTP coming this March, however, the colored-lighting would change quickly to match the effects in the film.  Which do you think this will do for you?

• Enhance the experience at the concert
• Distract you from the concert
• Make you nauseous

[Nick Parker 3,044]

I reprise my question from earlier!

[SyncMan 327]

@Nick Parker, if you are referring to this:

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 1:41 PM, Nick Parker said:

Am I the only person who has troubles navigating the FCL website? I can find no other dates or locations for this show.

 

I found that FCL does not update the bookings of their concerts often.  I've stumbled onto their concerts that were not posted on their site, like the Vienna, VA presentation of Casino Royale at Wolf Trap.

 

The orchestra/music venues will start announcing their schedules for summer 2019 and 2019/2020 season during the 1st quarter of 2019.  My suggestion is look at the websites of these orchestra/music venues in your area and check them out.

[Nick Parker 3,044]

I appreciate the answer, but I was actually referring to who's going to the San Francisco show!

[SyncMan 327]

It good to be in the East Coast:

 

New York City, NY. September 11th and 12th at 7:30pm

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra

https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1920/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-in-concert

[Jay 39,149]

YES!!

[Corellian2019 408]

FUCK YEAH!!!

 

Damn, too bad you have to be a subscriber to buy tickets at the moment. @Jay, are you a subscriber?

[Ii2 210]

2 hours ago, SyncMan said:

New York City, NY. September 11th and 12th at 7:30pm

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra

There goes the concert for me.

Like a thousand miles away.

 

Sorry.  Sometimes my inner-milennial gets the better of me. 

[Corellian2019 408]

Well, if you're on the West Coast or the Midwest, there are concerts programmed for March and April, respectively

[Jay 39,149]

15 hours ago, Corellian2019 said:

FUCK YEAH!!!

 

Damn, too bad you have to be a subscriber to buy tickets at the moment. @Jay, are you a subscriber?

 

I don't even know what that is

I don't live in New York, I live in Massachusetts

[Corellian2019 408]

Bummer. No single tickets available without a subscription until July

[SyncMan 327]

Here are some notes from this CE3K concert by the San Francisco Symphony.  The one I’ve attended was the second show. I don’t know whether Spielberg or Williams attended the first show, as they promised they did way back in 2013.

For the opening credits sequence, the audience were on their best behavior in their not applauding at any of the names in the credits.  Spielberg was wise in not putting Williams name in the opening credits because I know that the audience would have given big cheers for the maestro.  Any applause, however well meaning they are, would have destroyed the ominous, building mood that the music was creating for that sequence.

The sudden transition from pitch black to brightness: 

 

In RAH premiere, there are two crashing C-natural notes (at 1:32 mark), as it was done in the film.  However in the San Fran concert, only one crashing C-natural note, as Williams used in his concert suites.

The entire Trucking cue has been performed on stage, but in 2 parts.  As Disco Stu demonstrated in this video,

Trucking / Roy's First Encounter / Encounter at Crescendo Summit / Chasing UFOs

the first part does begin where the headlights, shining in the back of Neary’s pick-up truck, move upward, however the music ends at this video’s 48 second-mark where Neary sees the swaying mailboxes.  The remaining was used for the entr’acte as we’ve seen.

There was no chorus singing the “EEEE”s during any of the scout ship flyovers.

For the Chasing UFOs cue--the footage where Neary and the police cruisers are chasing the scout ships—there was a bass drum playing over the urgent brass and frantic strings.  At first, I thought Williams added that extra percussion for the concert but when I heard the cue on the CD, that instrument’s sound was mixed very low beneath the brass and strings, so, you could barely hear it.  We also heard the ending part of that cue with that sustained major string chord as the lights and power where being returned to the town.

I don’t mind people coughing during a concert.  It’s intermitted and normal.  However, during the final minutes of the concert—especially over the credits—there was this one guy coughing repeatedly. I’m thinking, “Dude, if you know that you have this intense cough, maybe you should have not gone to the show.”  It almost ruined the evening.  Maybe the next performance of CE3K in Cleveland this month will make up for it.

 

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,501]

41 minutes ago, SyncMan said:

the first part does begin where the headlights, shining in the back of Neary’s pick-up truck, move upward, however the music ends at this video’s 48 second-mark where Neary sees the swaying mailboxes.  The remaining was used for the entr’acte as we’ve seen.

 

Interesting!  Thanks for the report!  Yeah as my video shows, the music is super tricky to place.  I did the best I could.

 

I would loooove to see this in concert.  I feel like it would attract more my kind of audience than your Potters and such.

[The Five Tones 303]

Will be pretty much the ultimate to see this in Toronto... whenever it happens. I doubt we would rate for a choir, but one can dream. Would be awesome if the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir who are the uncredited chorus on "Immolation" from Schindler's got booked for it, though unlikely. Related: Dudamel's recording of the suite on Celebrating John Williams is incredibly good, but I still miss the voices.

[SyncMan 327]

Attended the concert in Cleveland, OH, last Sunday.

 

I forgot to mention this in my San Francisco notes: There was music over the scene at the air-traffic control tower that didn’t exist in the previous cuts of the film. The music begins just as one of the pilots, over the tower’s speaker, reports one of the scout ships, “heading right for my windshield.” Description: sustained low-woodwinds with quick rustling bass strings. Later, high sustained strings coming in that grows louder. I couldn’t find this music cue in my LaLa Land CD. Could it be another music cue that Williams’ originally wrote for the film that was abandoned later and decided not to include that cue on the CD release? If this is true, I can understand why—that cue is short and are variations of that cue already in the rest of the score, such as in “Roy’s First Encounter”.

 

Another observation: when John Williams' name came up at the end credits, the audience didn't applause.  After watching other Williams L2P concerts, like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Harry Potter where The Maestro's name gets cheers at the end, this one was a little awkward. 

 

At Severance Hall, the only Williams-related trinkets that their gift shop had were The John Williams’ Greatest Hits (1969-1999) CD, and a CE3K DVD.

[Corellian2019 408]

13 hours ago, SyncMan said:

I forgot to mention this in my San Francisco notes: There was music over the scene at the air-traffic control tower that didn’t exist in the previous cuts of the film. The music begins just as one of the pilots, over the tower’s speaker, reports one of the scout ships, “heading right for my windshield.” Description: sustained low-woodwinds with quick rustling bass strings. Later, high sustained strings coming in that grows louder. I couldn’t find this music cue in my LaLa Land CD.

 

Interesting! Maybe it was written but never recorded. Since it wasn't released, we have no way of knowing!

 

13 hours ago, SyncMan said:

Another observation: when John Williams' name came up at the end credits, the audience didn't applause.  After watching other Williams L2P concerts, like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Harry Potter where The Maestro's name gets cheers at the end, this one was a little awkward.

 

Call me crazy, but for this score, I actually prefer it that way. I look forward to tearing up in public when hearing the crescendo at 1:43 of "End Titles" without interruption

[SyncMan 327]

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 6:27 PM, SyncMan said:

It good to be in the East Coast:

 

New York City, NY. September 11th and 12th at 7:30pm

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra

https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1920/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-in-concert

 

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 8:16 PM, Corellian2019 said:

FUCK YEAH!!!

 

Damn, too bad you have to be a subscriber to buy tickets at the moment.

Single ticket purchases for this event is now on sale to the general public.  No subscription s**t.

 

Same for these others:

Psycho

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

 

If you want the seat of your choice, get them now.

[Corellian2019 408]

Thanks for looking out! I hope to get a center seat once my next paycheck arrives

[Corellian2019 408]

Bought my ticket!

[Jay 39,149]

Not sure if I'll be able to make it to the NYC show or not, will decide later.  I hope it comes to New England soon.  In general it's a bit surprising this concert isn't getting many performances.  Only NY, NV, and TX on the calendar

 

SEPTEMBER 2019

11SEPCLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND7:30 pm David Geffen HallOrchestra: New York Philharmonic city: New York, NY

 

12SEPCLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND7:30 pm David Geffen HallOrchestra: New York Philharmonic city: New York, NY

 

OCTOBER 2019

18OCTCLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND8:00 pm Henderson PavilionOrchestra: Henderson Symphony Orchestra city: Henderson, NV

 

26OCTCLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND8:00 pm The Long Center for the Performing ArtsOrchestra: Austin Symphony city: Austin, TX

[Dr. Rick 1,193]

Awesome, coming to Austin in Oct!  Now I've got two to go to, this and Raiders in Feb!

[Corellian2019 408]

So, I've returned from the concert in NY last night. The venue did not permit recording during the performance, so that explains the absence of clips, but I have a provided a photo I took during the intermission

 

The negatives:

 

-Due to my job requiring me to stay longer than anticipated (even though I made it clear that I had a prior engagement), I arrived late and missed the first three cues performed live. In the dark during a break in the music, an usher directed me to my seat, only for me to realize (after trampling over a few older patrons in the process) that she led me to the wrong seat in the far right of the concert hall. So I had to resign myself to viewing the film from a skewed angle before the intermission

 

-The audience laughed a little too much at the film's more subtle moments of humor, and even during moments that didn't warrant such reaction, such as the mashed potatoes scene right before Roy's breakdown. They also clapped at the start of the end credits, which was a BIG turnoff

 

-For the first part of the evening, I felt that the volume of the film was louder than the music, although conversely, I was able to hear lines of dialogue that were previously muddled

 

The positives:

 

-After the intermission, the volume was lowered to a point where it worked beautifully in tandem with the music

 

-As a result, I discovered instruments that were previously unheard in the mix, such as organ during part of "The Returnees"

 

-Sitting in the center is awesome!

 

As for general observations, I can confirm that there was a low-key cue heard during the scene with the air traffic controllers, similar in orchestration to the beginning of "Trucking". After the concert, I asked a technician if he could identify the name of that cue, since it wasn't released on album, and he informed me that it was simply labeled "Air Traffic Control" on the cue list for the players, while admitting that their written score was conformed to the edits made for the film, so who knows what the original slate is called.

 

The first 1:57 of "Advance Scout Greeting" has an orchestral overdub that was not performed by the orchestra, but was heard in the film mix. Lastly, the end credits were a weird hybrid of "Contact" plus the ending of Williams' original cue

 

Overall, despite a regrettably bad start, it was a wonderful evening. If the concert returns to the Tri-State area within the next 2-3 years, I'll consider attending again, this time with better planning

[crocodile 8,401]

I think the "volume issue" might have been actually a deliberate thing. I remember the same happening with the RAH performance in London. That was the music slowly takes over the film so that by the third act it takes center stage.

 

Karol

[Jay 39,149]

Fascinating, @Corellian2019!  I wish I could have made the trek out to see this, but it just wasn't possible.

 

That is terrible you missed the beginning of the show, hopefully it comes back around to the general area sometime!

 

I'm confused about the air traffic controllers music you heard, it must have been re-purposed from some other cue?