SUH 65 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/damien-chazelle-oscar-winner-talks-ryan-gosling-starrer-first-man-1136395 Lengthy interview with Damien Chazelle about First Man containing a brief mention of the score. Quote A week after our editing-room meeting, the director is in a control room at Sony's Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage. He's in his element here, even if his eyes are dark pools and two stress pimples have broken out on his forehead. On the other side of a glass wall, 80 or 90 musicians are tuning up, about to record the music for some of the more dramatic moments of First Man. Hurwitz is conducting, and he and Chazelle exchange brief verbal shorthand over an intercom. "There's that long crescendo …" Chazelle starts. "We're still giving the second half of the note a dive," Hurwitz cuts in. Then, to his musicians: "Everybody who has a 16th note, touch that downbeat before letting go. It can be almost a niente." The music soars as, onscreen, a car sweeps across the city at night and Gosling (as Armstrong) stares out the window at the passing landscape, knowing he's leaving his wife for what might be the last time. While we're here, anyone fancy sharing their favourite Hurwitz pieces? I'm kind of surprised his scores haven't been discussed much here, so thought I'd get the ball rolling. Lovely rendition of the Cincinatti theme featured in the End Credits of Guy & Madeline On a Park Bench, which also features in La La Land. I would recommend you check out this soundtrack if you enjoyed La La Land, there are a couple of fun crossovers between the scores. Hurwitz has a knack for writing memorable melodies, and I think his theme for Whiplash is brilliant. Full of ambition, with a touch of melancholy. I love that even in a predominantly ambient/thriller style score, he gives us a strong main theme with several variations. Just a question about this one. Anyone else noticed that this piece is much shorter than it appears in the film? It seems odd not to include the full piece in the 'La La La Complete Musical Experience' set. Hurwitz mentions in the commentary that the track was written to fit the length of the scene and cut out with the climax of the heated debate. I wonder if they recorded this shorter version specifically for the soundtrack. The Illustrious Jerry and Will 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 So you're telling me it's got notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUH 65 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 50 minutes ago, Disco Stu said: So you're telling me it's got notes True not much is revealed, but still nice to know Chazelle is enjoying the scoring sessions. It also confirms Hurwitz is conducting for the first time and that the score will prominently feature the orchestra. I had a chuckle reading the FSM reactions to the score possibly containing electronic elements: Quote I won't name any names, but I'm tired of composers that show promise with orchestral works or orchestra-samples works, who later on want to piss around in electronics creating synthscapes and other skippable material that only makes one or two people here on the board happy. The first time I listened to the ambient tracks from the Whiplash score I thought they made use of synthesizers. Turns out they are recordings of Big Bang instruments slowed down! Disco Stu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post antovolk 95 Posted August 29, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2018 Someone on another forum said that apparently Hurwitz's name on the end credits got the second loudest applause at the press screening this morning. The Illustrious Jerry, Will and SUH 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post antovolk 95 Posted August 29, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2018 Just out of screening. Let's talk score - it's gonna piss quite a few of you (or at least the FSMers) off because fully orchestral this is not. In fact this film is a lot less music driven than all of his previous ones. The feel overall is very Gravity in that mix between electronics and orchestra, and there's a little bit of that theremin in there too! (You think it's a choir boy but....very nicely done). There are a few fully orchestral cues though which are highlights and there are moments in the film that the score takes center stage Potential musical spoiler: Spoiler Hurwitz basically apes Blue Danube in one sequence though, I think that scene was meant to be this 2001 homage, it may take some out of it but I loved that. The film is quite brilliant too. Perfect balance between focusing on Armstrong the man and the space programs The Illustrious Jerry, Disco Stu, SUH and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 I have no problems with electronics but is the actual music any good? Is it anyway memorable or is it merely functional? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post antovolk 95 Posted August 29, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2018 7 minutes ago, Disco Stu said: I have no problems with electronics but is the actual music any good? Is it anyway memorable or is it merely functional? A lot of it functional but a good number of memorable cues for sure, once we get to the moon mission itself especially. Hurwitz definitely isn't phoning it in with the electronics like some have been fearing, it's just that Chazelle evidently didn't want the music to be the driving force of the entire film like his previous ones, just in a few select sequences. The Illustrious Jerry, Will and Disco Stu 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUH 65 Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Hurwitz has said that he doesn't get offered many scoring gigs because he has a reputation for being 'the jazz guy'. I wonder if this might open him up to getting onto non-Chazelle projects! Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted August 29, 2018 Author Share Posted August 29, 2018 Here's the new trailer that arrived today btw. If you guys go back to Trailer 1 - that first bit before the Universal logos, that's from the score. SUH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 But nothing in this new one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted August 29, 2018 Author Share Posted August 29, 2018 14 minutes ago, Disco Stu said: But nothing in this new one? No Disco Stu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post antovolk 95 Posted September 3, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 3, 2018 Quote Throughout production, Chazelle’s composer, Justin Hurwitz, was conjuring themes and motifs for the film. He first started plugging away in March of 2017 as pre-production began in earnest. There were a few words right off the bat that Chazelle had in mind to help inform what Hurwitz was searching for at the piano: grief, loneliness, but also beauty, and that contrast was what would need to be baked into the music. “Damien told me a couple of years before we even got to the piano that this score had to sound completely different than anything we’ve ever done,” Hurwitz, a two-time Oscar winner for “La La Land,” says. “So I knew as soon as there was a basic theme composed, I had to basically start learning new things and ways to make it sound different.” Chazelle suggested a theremin early on, so Hurwitz picked one up and started learning how to play it. He got some vintage synthesizers, like a 1968-model Moog, and began learning by way of YouTube how modular synthesis works. “It’s this old style of synth where you have to patch it with all these cables,” Hurwitz says. “Then I started playing around with other production stuff, things that we would use to process the orchestra and make it sound different. We knew we were going to record a big orchestra for it because we needed it to be big and emotional, but we didn’t want it to sound like a traditional orchestra.” Hurwitz had never really produced music in the past, so he had even more to learn in order to develop the music in a unique way. He put all of the strings through a couple of processes that gave it a kind of “shakiness” that he thought felt organic to the way Chazelle and Sandgren were shooting the film. “Neil is so outwardly steady, but there had to be nerves there and I thought that maybe spoke to how he was feeling,” Hurwitz says. “And also, emotionally, he’s fragile, more fragile than he lets on.” Hurwitz became something of a mad scientist on the project. For example, he recorded all the strings — violas, violins, cellos — separately and ran them through a rotor cabinet that housed a spinning speaker. He then re-recorded the playback as they moved the cabinet around the room, placing it where the actual players had been. “That gave it this weird, other-worldly kind of flutter to it,” he says. “Then I put it through a tremolo to give it the second layer of flutter, and then violins, basses, cellos were all given different rates of flutter. So there were all these flutters that were in conflict with each other.” The result is something, indeed, completely different from his previous collaborations with Chazelle, and an element of the film that accounts for a considerable amount of the story’s emotional impact. https://variety.com/2018/film/awards/how-neil-armstrong-biopic-first-man-achieved-lift-off-1202925131/amp/?__twitter_impression=true SteveMc, The Illustrious Jerry, leeallen01 and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 The kid's got some interesting ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc 2,674 Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Mad scientist indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 Very good review from Variety: https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/first-man-review-ryan-gosling-damien-chazelle-1202920157/ Chazelle's goal "is to make a movie so revelatory in its realism, so gritty in its physicality, that it becomes a drama of thrillingly hellbent danger and obsession." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 2 hours ago, karelm said: Chazelle's goal "is to make a movie so revelatory in its realism, so gritty in its physicality, that it becomes a drama of thrillingly hellbent danger and obsession." Bad news for the score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc 2,674 Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 He wants to do what, with who, and how? He is trying too hard, it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 Well, they say the result is " turbulently spectacular and enthralling drama" that only losses them during the song and dance numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 Now available to pre-order. Looking the UPC up on other sites seems it will come in a digipak edition also https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GRLVRYG/?tag=gnugk-20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 TINY bit of the main theme from Hurwitz at the start of this SUH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted September 17, 2018 Author Share Posted September 17, 2018 SUH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted September 25, 2018 Author Share Posted September 25, 2018 Sorry, third time bumping this - some of the score in first 20 seconds of this - As well as throughout these: leeallen01 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 Sorry, *another* bump. Firstly - Secondly, thanks to the powers of Shazaming this preview (it was from the Paris premiere livestream , also has a short snippet of the Apollo 11 launch cue) got the full tracklist for the album (although it does look more like the 'complete score' cue sheet) out of order. Looks like we'll be getting an almost-complete 2CD release... Quote Crater Apollo 11 Launch Spin Dad’s Fine Moon Walk Squawk Box Translunar Whitey on the Moon (Leon Bridges) Multi-Axis Trainer Armstrong Cabin Karen I Oughta Be Getting Home / Plugs Out Tunnel The Armstrongs Good Engineer X-15 First To Dock News Report Elliot Naha Rescue 1 Home Pat and Janet Searching For the Aegena End Credits Another Egghead Sep Ballet (Bonus Track) The Landing Lunar Rhapsody (Les Baxter) Docking Waltz Houston It’ll Be An Adventure Contingency Statement Moon Baby Mark Neil Packs Quarantine Sextant SUH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Zimmer 211 Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 Like what I’m hearing. Hurwitz is gonna be a big one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Know 326 Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 That video has been deleted... anywhere else to hear this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted September 30, 2018 Author Share Posted September 30, 2018 19 hours ago, Dr. Know said: That video has been deleted... anywhere else to hear this? Yeah, Universal ended up blocking it... You can hear it (and the last minute or so of the Apollo 11 Launch cut) at the start here: Official cover art: Lord Zimmer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Zimmer 211 Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 I need that main theme NOW! Soooo good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 Some of the score here. clip obviously quite cut down. Would say don't watch it because it's something else on the big screen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 The theme is allegedly plagiarized from 'United 93' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 The main theme? No. But the staging of the finale (percussion and all) is somewhat similar. At the time, I was thinking more of The Last of the Mohicans though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 517 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 On 9/30/2018 at 6:55 PM, antovolk said: Yeah, Universal ended up blocking it... You can hear it (and the last minute or so of the Apollo 11 Launch cut) at the start here: ^^^ Wow, thats doownright plagiarism Yess, thats right. It'is very similar with the end of "The End" track of Powell's United 93, all the way to the final one note! Well, POwell music sounds way better though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted October 2, 2018 Author Share Posted October 2, 2018 3 hours ago, KK said: The main theme? No. But the staging of the Apollo 11 Launch cue (percussion and all) is somewhat similar. At the time, I was thinking more of The Last of the Mohicans though. FTFY Now I listen to it again and the U93 one, yeah the similarity is a bit striking - do wonder if that's what Chazelle temped onto the sequence when editing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lewya 360 Posted October 4, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 4, 2018 Two tracks from the score have been released exclusively: https://ew.com/movies/2018/10/04/first-man-score-first-listen-exclusive/ antovolk, Disco Stu, The Illustrious Jerry and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 I'm very sorry to say that, on first listen at least, I don't particularly enjoy "The Landing." Here's hoping my opinion changes with time and seeing the movie. "Quarantine" on the other hand is much more interesting and satisfying presentation of the same theme. Locrius 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1Ø66 4,714 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 They should just have tracked in Eno's Apollo for the moon scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Penna 3,686 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Can't say I'm a fan of either. They sound very quirky (which may be his style - I haven't heard Hurwitz' music before) and almost intentionally non-mainstream. Feels like the sort of score that would be a shoe-in for oscar consideration (for the wrong reasons). Although the controversy around the flag planting may stop that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted October 4, 2018 Author Share Posted October 4, 2018 Just as I come back from my second viewing! Finally.... EDIT: full ordered tracklist http://filmmusicreporter.com/2018/10/04/first-man-soundtrack-details/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Zimmer 211 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Y’all crazy, this is amazing stuff. Love Hurwitz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 I do really like the harp + theremin rendition of the theme. The Illustrious Jerry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 4 hours ago, Disco Stu said: I do really like the harp + theremin rendition of the theme. That's the best material in the film. That same idea does not translate very well into the "rousing fanfare" that "The Landing" tries to emulate. The harp idea and this nice bass-ey suspense motif are the two take-away ideas I remembered from the film. It's a decent score, not much more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 Yeah. It's pop, which is not bad per se, but it doesn't evolve. Seems a bit superficial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 It's ok, it's Richter and Mansell lite which is decent enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 Samples of the remainder of the score if you go on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/first-man-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1437211399 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 Had to be done: toothless 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 517 Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 23 hours ago, Lewya said: Two tracks from the score have been released exclusively: ^^ Idk, aside from the track being not engaging enough, i think the score (as a whole) is heavily temped with Powell's U93 I mean, you can pratically see the blatant similarity, begin with the percussion ( and to lesser extent, the overall progression and orchestration). Compare it with this U93 track: 23 hours ago, Lewya said: https://ew.com/movies/2018/10/04/first-man-score-first-listen-exclusive/ ^^ now this, on the other hand, is pure Huwritz's organic-indie-quirky galore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestat 348 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 What are you lot talking about? The similarity between Hurwitz and Powell's United 93 is only incidental, reliant on a few similar string gestures in the end. The percussion is different, the structure is fundamentally different. The Landing is clearly inspired by The Promentory from The Last of The Mohicans, from the insistive undercurrent to the structure of the piece (the breakout of the melodic part at about 2 mins). The instrumentation is very similar from the bass guitar used in the background to bring an appropriate 60s folk feeling to the whole piece to a nice and inspired nod to Jones' use of snare drums in The Fort Battle. Yet, Hurwitz' work stands out on its own, due to its incorporation of post-minimalist techniques and a clear unabashed sense of merging a jazzy melodic sensibility with massive Hollywood bombast. And this is only on the basis of one track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestat 348 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Learn a bit of film music history before making allegations. The score to First Man has practically no Influences from any other piece of music. Granted, Last of the Mohicans is the temp track for The Landing. The Rest - give it a go. No Hans Zimmer factory McDonalds nonsense here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antovolk 95 Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 41 minutes ago, thestat said: Learn a bit of film music history before making allegations. The score to First Man has practically no Influences from any other piece of music. Granted, Last of the Mohicans is the temp track for The Landing. The Rest - give it a go. No Hans Zimmer factory McDonalds nonsense here. I mean...there are some Goldenthal Heat vibes at the start of Apollo 11 Launch.... 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 I was just thinking it's been too long since a weirldy combative post from a relative JWFan stranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Mr. Big 4,639 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 I got worried when I heard that the score sounds like Last of the Mohicans but it actually sounds pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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