John Powell's CALL OF THE WILD (2020)

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Fascinating

[Jurassic Shark 12,065]

He's more of an insulator than a conductor now.

[Loert 2,511]

I can't remember when I heard it, must have been a few years ago now, but there was this interview where I'm pretty John Powell said something like "I don't like to conduct."

[PrayodiBA 517]

You can hear the action score in this clip!

 

 

^^

some of it sounds a bit experimental-y, new Powell.

Well to be honest, it's not really clear with all those sound fx ( as always the case with Powell's score, sadly, well i hope it's not in the final theatre mix)

But in all, sounds really promising ( as always the case with Powell's score) and what looks to be a great main theme too!

2 weeks guys!

 

[Evanus 217]

Sounds fun! 

[Richard Penna 3,685]

Kind of sounds like typical Powell action really. I'm not getting that feeling I did when I heard Hidden World for the first time. It does feel like the right sort of project for him, but depends whether it's inspired him to come up with something truly new.

 

But you know, never judge a score by 60 seconds buried under sfx.

 

Also, those are some distractingly dodgy CG dogs.

[TSMefford 1,509]

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

Kind of sounds like typical Powell action really. I'm not getting that feeling I did when I heard Hidden World for the first time. It does feel like the right sort of project for him, but depends whether it's inspired him to come up with something truly new.

 

But you know, never judge a score by 60 seconds buried under sfx.

 

Also, those are some distractingly dodgy CG dogs.

 

They are. I feel like it was a bit too early to attempt a movie like this. We haven't quite gotten to the point that we can make full CGI dogs look real. TBH, if the whole movie was CG it would probably feel less distracting. I mean, the whole movie basically is CG anyway, but...you know.

[publicist 4,643]

It's Balto!

[Edmilson 7,435]

The movie seems dreadful, although I hate this subgenre of "dog and his owner" movies. The CGI doggos are very off putting, but I applaud the movie on the decision of using only digital animals and therefore not endangering any real dog.

 

As for the score, it doesn't appear to have the brilliance of the Dragon scores, but seems like a fun score anyway. Bring it on!

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

So did they turn this story into Balto?

[Arpy 4,145]

If this wasn't another anthropomorphic children's film, I'd be completely disgusted that Disney, with their monied army of CG artists and effects companies, would put this out there as anything other than a borderline experimental film.

 

Here's the rub, filmmakers: If the CGI can't convincingly portray whatever it is you're trying to show, DON'T do it. 

 

If they'd made this a fully animated feature, the dog's uncharacteristic motions might've come across as somewhat charming.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,065]

Yeah, I've never seen Harrison Ford looking so fake.

[Arpy 4,145]

I didn't see him in the clip, only the woman in front. Are you sure it's him?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Lookth thit

[Jurassic Shark 12,065]

He looks like an old dog!

[Arpy 4,145]

Harrison Ford should've voiced the dog and the human character could've been dodgy CGI.

[Holko 9,520]

They should have asked Dreamworks (there's the Powell connection) for some help; a "How to Train Your CG Artist" course.

 

" Actor and stunt coordinator Terry Notary stood-in for the CGI creation of Buck " oh god because that makes it so much simpler right?

" The movie was not shot on location, extensive use was made of CGI. Some of it was also shot on sets in Los Angeles and some exteriors in Santa Clarita, California " because how else would you do a story about nature.

 

Well, at least we get a Powell score out of it. Otherwise it should have been made in the 90s after Homeward Bound. Broughton would've done well too!

[Arpy 4,145]

Disney dog movies are a given these days; wasn't there one with Willem Dafoe last year?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

So we can't even call this a Fox movie anymore. Despite the "20th Century Studios" rebranding, everyone still calls it a Disney movie. They may as well have abandonded the "20th Century -----" branding altogether if that's where we are.

[Arpy 4,145]

Who cares at this point?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Well I do! When I was a kid, Fox was the big boss studio everyone else wanted to be but couldn't because they sucked.

[Thor 7,494]

The film looks dreadful from the trailer (I'll easily skip this), but the score is promising. However, I do wish Powell did more 'serious' adult film fare.

[Arpy 4,145]

45 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

Well I do! When I was a kid, Fox was the big boss studio everyone else wanted to be but couldn't because they sucked.

At this point, my philosophy is to trust in artists and not studios and corporations. 

[Richard Penna 3,685]

2 hours ago, Holko said:

They should have asked Dreamworks (there's the Powell connection) for some help; a "How to Train Your CG Artist" course.

 

" Actor and stunt coordinator Terry Notary stood-in for the CGI creation of Buck " oh god because that makes it so much simpler right?

" The movie was not shot on location, extensive use was made of CGI. Some of it was also shot on sets in Los Angeles and some exteriors in Santa Clarita, California " because how else would you do a story about nature.

 

Well, at least we get a Powell score out of it. Otherwise it should have been made in the 90s after Homeward Bound. Broughton would've done well too!

 

Yep, either this should have been made in the 90s when they'd have actually travelled to somewhere snowy, and some dog handler would receive top billing for making the dogs 'act'.

 

... or just do the whole movie in CGI. I'd prefer this option,

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

3 hours ago, Arpy said:

At this point, my philosophy is to trust in artists and not studios and corporations. 

 

The logo important 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

Does no one know how to do sound mixing in action scenes anymore? 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

14 minutes ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

Does no one know how to do sound mixing in action scenes anymore? 

 

They use more bass than you hear in real life.

[Fargo 297]

There was some serious Shrek 4 “Rumpelstiltskin” vibes in that track. 

 

Someone solve a mystery for me: who contributed more to Chicken Run & Shrek? HGW or JP?

[Edmilson 7,435]

About the Powell/HGW collabs, the only thing I'm sure is that this cue is certainly Powell.

 

 

[Arpy 4,145]

Apparently there was some backlash to the music (I have no clue why, it sounds like Powell's style) to which he responded with a lengthy post. I just don't understand how the music of all things is what people are calling out!

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

53 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Apparently there was some backlash to the music (I have no clue why, it sounds like Powell's style) to which he responded with a lengthy post. I just don't understand how the music of all things is what people are calling out!

Not really backlash. I read the comments in his last Instagram post, it’s just some weird guy complaining that the movie itself is unoriginal (nothing to do with the score). And then l read Powell’s “statement”, it’s a silly story where he talks about music becoming sentient. Strange, but not what it seems.

[publicist 4,643]

I think it's more about the derivative nature of this movie, by virtue of being the 80th variation on Jack London's story. He doesn't really talk about music but probably would be the first to admit that machine-tooled Hollywood movies are not the first place to look for innovations.

[KK 3,307]

#getmelornebalfe 

 

Quote

A Friday Musing...

 

After seeing some comments inspired by our last post, and questions arising from the “originality” of what we were doing, I feel I should address this issue and come clean.

 

FINALLY, someone has really understood how “film composers” work in this crazy movie business. I always thought we were being disingenuous by leading people to believe we wrote “new” music for each film and whilst there have always been rumors of certain composers “borrowing” from each other’s “scores”, no one has ever really nailed the terrible and shameful truth of music in films:(

 

So here it is... my admission.

 

The music for this clip was probably first hummed by a man called Jack London in 1903 as he wrote the story of a huge dog, Buck and his travails from the comforts of a Santa Clara home to the snows of Alaska. It was to become a very famous book called “Call of the Wild”. Some time later, one of my favorite composers, Cy Lennt, May have been the first composer to use music for this scene; in a movie from 1923 named “Call of the Wild”.

 

Cut to 1935, Hollywood giant Alfred Newman, then takes music and to great effect made it work in another film starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young called “Call of the Wild”. Not long after that Hugo Friedhofer and Charles Maxwell captured what we were starting to call “score” and inserted it into a not dissimilar scene for 1936’s “White Fang”.

 

To the best of my knowledge music was then lost, or at least left dormant for some time until the great Italian composer, Carlo Rustichelli was opening an old suitcase he bought for his young daughter Anna. As you can imagine he was shocked as music leaped out, stretched itself and ran around his office, eventually making itself comfortable in his lap. Realizing the gift he had received, Rustichelli used it to great effect in the 1972 film “White Fang” and then again in the great Charlotte Heston starrer, 1972’s “Call of the Wild”.

By this time, music had clearly become sentient and it was able to insert ITSELF into scenes, so we then find it in everything from 1974’s “Challenge to White Fang” through 1974’s “White Fang To The Rescue” showing just how malleable music was despite these films’ OBVIOUS differences. Briefly in 1976, composer Peter Matz managed to catch the ever emboldened music and brilliantly lure it into a 1976 film he was working on; “Call of the Wild”. Alas during the final dubbing process, musicescaped and was last seen running along Ventura Blvd shouting something about “MECHANICALS!”.

 

As music spiraled into a life of sordid arrangements and late-night drug-fueled jingles, it strangely showed up in 1978’s ”What a Nightmare Charlie Brown” and then a 1981 anime called “Call of the Wild: Howl Buck”. But by 1991, I would finally enter this story.

 

It was during Hans Zimmer’s re-scoring of “White Fang” that, as an assistant, I was able to see the destructive nature of untamed music. Over a Xmas and New Year break, we attempted to make music that would work for the film. Alas, it was not to be and eventually, the great Basil Poledouris was burdened with an ugly cleanup. A tragedy that is still to this day surprisingly common in the film composing world (#getmelornebalfe).

 

With brief flings with 1997’s “The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon” (an adaptation of a GMC advert of the same name) and the French art film “La Nature Sauvage A Crié Mais Personne Ne L’Entend” (‘The wild called out but no one heard’) this now musical score seemed to finally be lost.

 

So to my admission. Whilst searching on UTube last year, following link after link of “ear wax removal” videos, my eye was drawn to what seemed to be an old man humming as he scribbled on rough paper. The video was dated 1903 and called “Old Timey Tunes For Stories of Dog Sled Avalanche Massacres”.

 

Intrigued, I clicked and immediately knew I’d found the perfect vehicle for expressing something natural, something dangerous and exciting: my own genius! Yes, music like this had been used MANY times for similar, if not exactly the same scenes but it was my job to find a way to make the filmmakers happy, so like many film composers who had come before me, I really couldn’t be bothered to think of something original to write.

 

John Powell

Los Angeles, February 7th 2020

 

(Please note for those of challenged humor, this is merely a story, thus all composer names mentioned, including me, did indeed write “all original music” as per signed obligations set out in various paragraphs of various composer contracts and it would be very stupid of me to infer otherwise. So I’m not. Definitely not inferring anything... otherwise...)

 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

On 2/4/2020 at 12:40 PM, publicist said:

It can mean anything on any given project, really. In this case it's a nice way to get the name of the guy on a few covers and into a few databases.

More or less, this. Balfe’s producer credit on Sherlock Holmes was a big boost for his career at the time. 

[Edmilson 7,435]

According to the bootleg, Lorne did a few cues on the first Sherlock: 3m19-20-21S Blackwood Resurrection - Street Source, 6m42A Holmes Smokes Coward and 7m46B End Titles Pt. 1.

 

But I'm pretty sure he did more than just write these three cues.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

He was heavily involved with the sequel. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,065]

That explains a lot!

[PrayodiBA 517]

New clip, with nice little theme at the end

 

 

It becomes apparent why they went with CGI. Aside to not harm real animals, i think they wanted to add more animated expression onto animal's face.

But the final product, judging by the clip, is up for debate

 

Anyway,  a guy from FSM board just posted his initial review of the score:

"I went to a screening of this film this week and as expected the score is great. Very much Powell in his HTTYD mode (one theme in a couple of cues almost seem like straight lifts). Lots of classic Americana orchestrations with fiddles, guitar etc, lots of energetic highlights and some beautiful mystical material. Can’t wait for the album!"

 

In 1 week!

[Edmilson 7,435]

[Jurassic Shark 12,065]

32 minutes ago, PrayodiBA said:

But the final product, judging by the clip, is up for debate

 

Ford's beard looks totally fake!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Why did they give the dog human eyes?? 

[Richard Penna 3,685]

The music in that clip reminds me of Bolt a little.

 

1 hour ago, PrayodiBA said:

Very much Powell in his HTTYD mode (one theme in a couple of cues almost seem like straight lifts).

 

That's not good... sounds like they likely temped the film with HTTYD cues.

[PrayodiBA 517]

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

The music in that clip reminds me of Bolt a little.

 

 

That's not good... sounds like they likely temped the film with HTTYD cues.

 

Both are a very good thing in my book, cant wait!

 

I second to someone who once said here that he missed the "old" sound of Powell, fun and not too serious ( Bolt, Ice Age, Robots, HAncock, anything pre 2010 scores).

Hearing his score again, i did appreciate ( expecially in this age) that in Solo or HTTYD 3 ( or any recent work), he really tried his best to be inspired by classical music.

As if he created the score for the sake of the music itself. 

But to honest, if i throwback and hear it again, i get the feeling that the music seems "heavy" (?) ,and at some point, it becomes tiresome somehow

 

So if he indeed does emulate his Bolt into this, then i will be more than happy

[Richard Penna 3,685]

I don't mean to say that sounding like HTTYD is bad, but rather if the themes feel like lifts as the reviewer suggested.

[crocodile 8,005]

Perhaps all it means they sound like John Powell?

 

Karol

[Fargo 297]

As long as it isn’t as blatant as David Arnold reusing one of his Godzilla themes for his Narnia movie (Reepicheep’s theme was a cut & paste). 
 

To be fair though, I wasn’t too upset or annoyed about it because it is a fantastic theme. 
 

And yeah, that’s right - I remembered the fucking mouse’s name from that movie. 

[Edmilson 7,435]

The third Narnia flick is one of those movies only film score fans remember it ever existed, and only because of its score. 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

He likes doing animated films like this and dragons.

[crocodile 8,005]

I was just looking for a CD album but couldn't find one listed anywhere?

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 12,065]

Try vinyl.