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THE LAST JEDI - Verizon's Death Star 360 Promo music


Will

Is the music in this commercial from John Williams' Last Jedi score?  

66 members have voted

  1. 1. Is the music in this commercial from John Williams' Last Jedi score?

    • Yes, I think this music is from the Last Jedi score
    • I think its from The Last Jedi, but altered by someone else
    • No, I don't think this music is by John Williams at all.

This poll is closed to new votes


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Doesn't sound like it was recorded at MGM in LA, so I'm going to say no. If it is from TLJ, I would be pleasantly surprised, because I think the recording sounds better.

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The initial line does not sound like Williams to me, but the second part sounds like something written by the guy who wrote the TPM Flag Parade.  So, I am split.  I am going to vote a very non-confident "no." 

 

I do like how we all assume it is Gordy when it doubt.  Why doesn't that guy get actual movie gigs (as it the anthology movies)?  

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I've been listening to this on repeat countless times already, on every set of speakers I can find, I'm leaning towards JW, specifically track 4 from the leaked list.

 

It's clearly edited from a larger work, and yes there's a lack of woodwinds in what we hear so far, but the Imperial March has several sections without woodwinds - and then really highlights them in the middle section.

 

Considering said track is over 4 minutes, there's plenty of time to have lots of other material going on in the full piece. It doesn't hurt that the subject of the video plays into it as well, plus the fact that this music hasn't been identified as existing anywhere else and it wouldn't make sense to have someone create (from scratch) any sort of piece for a promotion this small, and then have it be so heavily edited - much simpler and cheaper to just use any of the swaths of old star wars music out there and edit that in.

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The more I listen to it, the more I think it might *not* be Williams. Something just feels a bit off about it. Seems to lack the complexity of TFA.

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9 minutes ago, curlytoot said:

The more I listen to it, the more I think it might *not* be Williams. Something just feels a bit off about it. Seems to lack the complexity of TFA.

 

We all said the same thing about that bit of "Jedi Steps" in the trailer...

 

But agreed, that's definitely not Williams. It's too close to the mould of the Imperial March. It's just well done pastiche.

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If I listen to something like The Adventures Of Mutt, it's not like there wouldn't be a good amount of pastiche in there if it was released for the first time tomorrow as possible Williams music.

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I like the piece's bold and brassy nature.  I want Williams to write in that vein for VIII.  In that respect, I hope it is him.  But for the same initial reason, I somehow doubt it is Williams.  

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I don't think it is him but a good impersonation...but I thought the same about the Jedi Steps when it was in that trailer.  I also believe it is synth.

 

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It would definitely be a departure from the recording mix they used on TFA. This sounds much more refined, like it was recorded elsewhere (or is advanced synth).

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Gordy Haab's music from BATTLEFRONT II Game which I finished playing on ps4 last week reminds me of being orchestrated mostly in the idiom of Williams' THE PHANTOM MENACE score.So this does'nt sound anything like that score at all. Its more in sync with THE FORCE AWAKENS orchestrations. I'm beginning to think its Williams..!

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16 hours ago, Marcus said:

I guess my question would be: Why go with emulating The Imperial March when he could just quote it?

 

Unless there's some kind of later contrapuntal playfulness involved, it just doesn't quite fit with Williams' modus operandi. But it's certainly competent, and has an opulence to it that I could imagine Williams might conjure, should the narrative require.

 

All I can say, is that I was never in doubt when I first heard "The Jedi Steps" in that TV spot... 

 

I agree with you almost all the time about JW, dear Marcus, so I think your observations are competent as usual. After listening to this bit a few times, I must say that I'm more inclined to believe this is JW, however. The harmonic vernacular and the orchestration language seem to carry his usual fingerprints. Yes, the Imperial March is paraphrased quite brazenly and usually Williams isn't so "on the nose" even when he has to reference his own creations. But let's keep in mind that he's still complying to requests on the filmmakers' part, who perhaps asked him to write a new villain theme "just like the Imperial March", so he has to walk that fine line between homage and quotation without ripping himself off too much. I don't know if the film is gonna be a direct rehash of Empire Strikes Back, but I guess the new film carries more than a few beats from that film, so perhaps JW had to follow the overall approach of the film. Just a few days still and we'll know :)

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One thing about it that sticks out as a slight surprise (and I often find that it's the surprises, not only the trademarks, that sets Williams apart), is the Bb augmented chord (before it turns into  first inversion Gm) cadencing to A at the end of the main thematic statement. 

 

But if this is indeed Williams, I think it would actually be the first time I haven't immediately recognized a piece as such upon first aural glance.

 

And perhaps it's precisely the expectedness of it that throws me. It is essentially an "Imperial March 2.0" (which I guess is justified, given the nature of the sequel trilogy's antagonists). 

 

Either way, I look forward to finding out! 

 

 

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Well, it's definitely a real orchestra, and the music sounds pretty good, so it could be Williams.

 

Btw I've played the video over at least 10 times now and I still have no idea what the app is about...

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15 minutes ago, bondo said:

Could this be a track BASED on one of JW's new themes perhaps?

 

That's basically the second poll option

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1 hour ago, Loert said:

Well, it's definitely a real orchestra, and the music sounds pretty good, so it could be Williams.

Yeah it's real, but captured by samples developers and played back by composer's sampler/sequencer.

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Having just listened to it again, I'm just having a hard time imagining this is Williams. There are so many choices that simply don't strike me as something Williams would do. Why are the strings simply holding a static pedal just as the March kicks into gear?

I suspect the rhythmic oddities are mostly a matter of editing. The ending sounds like generic trailer music. 

 

In a score possibly sporting both the Imperial March and March of the Resistance, it seems a bit redundant to add another march that is essentially a cross between the two. 

 

There are also aspects of the melodic writing that strike me as "un-williamsy", such as the escape tone on the 4th beat of the theme's second measure, especially since it sounds like it is played by a lone trumpet (and not doubled at the octave). 

 

I just don't hear that "Towner touch"...

 

Of course, it could all be a question of something being lost in translation, chopped up, edited and adjusted on the altar of Verizon. 

 

Or maybe my ears simply aren't as infallible as I thought they were... 

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What the heck happens at the end of the first bar? A bad edit? It's almost like bar 2 comes early/there aren't enough notes at the end of bar 1... There should be 6 sextuplets on beat 4 (like in beat 4 of bar 2), but there aren't... Sounds like 5, max. So it just sort of rushes into the next bar sooner than it should.

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I agree that the end sounds synthy.  The whole thing is weird.  If it was composed for the commercial, then why the need for edits?  if it was composed for something else, would we not know the source?  if it was composed for TLJ, why the synthiness?   I suppose we are just a few days from some most if not all of this being answered.  If it is not Williams, I want access to this so-called Library out there with pieces better than most OST cues of the last 20 years.  

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On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 11:25 AM, curlytoot said:

Also... First clip of the score?!

 

 

People in the comments seem to keep saying its from

"The Supremacy".

Not sure if they know something I don't, or they're all just idiots making random guesses.

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On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 5:49 AM, Obi said:

It seems a little simple for Williams... It's maybe from Battlefront 2 ?

No it's not. Not Gordy's style at all. Also doesn't sound like the LSO. It's definitely the HSS.

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1 hour ago, Tom said:

 If it is not Williams, I want access to this so-called Library out there with pieces more like the thin slice of Williams' style that I like than most OST cues of the last 20 years.  

 

Fixed.

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Theme is good but it's too much Imperial March to be honest. Williams don't do this kind of facility.

In fact, I'll be desappointed if it's for the TLJ score.

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I think it is Willams. It definitely sounds like it's edited from a preexisting track, like a concert suite or something, and I see no reason for Verizon to edit a preexisting track unless it was from the movie in the first place

 

14 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Not sure if they know something I don't, or they're all just idiots making random guesses.

 

I assume that it's just because it sounds like it matches the title. If it is from the movie, it's most likely going to be a theme for the First Order, so that limits the number of tracks that it could be. Track 4 is the most likely candidate in this case.

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It's not Gordy's music, he just said he never heard this music before. 

 

The brass are definitely recorded, and for the strings it could be real orchestra with a layering of samples on the beginning because of the edit version for the advertising. 

Also, yes it's close of the Imperial March, but depending of what happens in the movie it could make sense to have something close of the Imperial March.. So in the end it could be something from the TLJ score. 

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I guess anything is possible but why would Disney allow Verizon to use the actual score in the commercial but not in any of the trailers/teasers (as far as we know)?

 

The performance of the piece sounds rather weak and simple to my ears. But since I voted that this isn't Williams, it probably is.

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On 07/12/2017 at 2:52 AM, Will said:

What's this music?

 

Probably library stuff, but it does sound orchestral.

 

 

 

Oh wow, this is the first time I've bothered listening to this. I think it's DEFINITELY Williams! 

 

And if it isn't, well then get this guy on the next spin-off, it's a no-brainer. 

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