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The Rise of Skywalker - COMPLETE SCORE Discussion - SPOILERS ALLOWED!


Jay

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I think any limitation an amount of information is a relic of a bygone era. Maybe Williams doesn't care enough to care.

 

The fact - is for most people, music is going to exist as a streaming option, either on youtube or spotify or some other service. That is 99% of the public is soon going to consume their music. Discs might not survive.

 

And when music is primarily streaming, there are no limitations or curation that needs to be done. Pass the buck to the listener. Make it easy for yourself. Dump all you have recorded online and let people enjoy what they will. 

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1 hour ago, Giftheck said:

It's obvious they took 'phantom theme' to mean Duel of the Fates when it clearly meant the Emperor's Theme.

 

Even if Duel of the Fates was in the score I don’t think I ever could have been convinced that that’s what he meant lol

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And so it begins

 

That is a fan edit made by combining the OST album with the FYC album.  It was made by a JWFan user named @HorizonFX using the editing guide I posted here, using cover art made by JWFan user @heidl that was posted here.

 

And you're not allowed to link to forums that offer copyrighted music for illegal downloading.  Please familiarize yourself with the rules of this forum before posting again.

 

https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/20175-forum-rules-please-read-before-posting/

 

Thank you!

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Like a few other people have said already, I wasn't a big fan of TLJ's score when it first came out. The Mickey Mouse-ing moments didn't sit very well with me, and there were no new themes that really stood out to me. But having the isolated score, microedits and all, really helped me appreciate it so much more, and now, it's without a doubt one of my favorites. If there's an isolated score for TROS, I think I'll like it better. And I'm not saying it's bad--it's just that there's a lot missing that I wish was on the album or the FYC.

 

So when Don said that all the themes would return for TROS, did they get cut out of the final version of the film, or was he only talking about the major themes? I don't remember his exact quote, so maybe I'm misrepresenting what he said.

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4 hours ago, mstrox said:

I didn’t want or care about Duel of the Fates.  I’m inferring based on the social media complaints of the Star Wars Conspiracy Theory Dinguses (Est. 2017) - they post on r/saltierthancrait, and that’s where this dumb new conspiracy theory appeared.

 

Sure. I'm just pointing out that despite the whole thing being basically a conspiracy theory, all that particular comment seemed to indicate was that there was a mismatch between what JJ had original heard for the scene Vs what had ended up in the cut he saw. Interesting if true, but most likely not. Even though people were being silly and wanted Duel of Fates, I don't think there was enough info for that leap to be made. Especially when several other comments were so pandering (ie "They fly now")

6 minutes ago, dylanskie said:

Like a few other people have said already, I wasn't a big fan of TLJ's score when it first came out. The Mickey Mouse-ing moments didn't sit very well with me, and there were no new themes that really stood out to me. But having the isolated score, microedits and all, really helped me appreciate it so much more, and now, it's without a doubt one of my favorites. If there's an isolated score for TROS, I think I'll like it better. And I'm not saying it's bad--it's just that there's a lot missing that I wish was on the album or the FYC.

 

Personally, even after the isolated score, I still prefer TFA and TROS to TLJ for score. It's close though. I don't really listen to the Iso that much anymore. I find the Album works enough for me, which is shocking. TROS I certainly feel some gaps.

3 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

I think any limitation an amount of information is a relic of a bygone era. Maybe Williams doesn't care enough to care.

 

The fact - is for most people, music is going to exist as a streaming option, either on youtube or spotify or some other service. That is 99% of the public is soon going to consume their music. Discs might not survive.

 

And when music is primarily streaming, there are no limitations or curation that needs to be done. Pass the buck to the listener. Make it easy for yourself. Dump all you have recorded online and let people enjoy what they will. 

 

I agree honestly. I don't understand the limitation excuse when it comes to digital. I do still buy discs for certain scores and for the specialty expansions of course, but there's quite a bit I just buy digitally now. And digital doesn't have the limitation of discs or space on a disc or anything like that. My assumption is that people still pretend their are discs in the digital realm for...idk performance rights purposes, licensing purposes, cost purposes? Honestly I have no idea, I'm just spit balling

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7 minutes ago, TSMefford said:

Personally, even after the isolated score, I still prefer TFA and TROS to TLJ for score. It's close though. I don't really listen to the Iso that much anymore. I find the Album works enough for me, which is shocking. TROS I certainly feel some gaps.

 

What about the Rey training cue? :shakehead:

 

For now, a simple combination of the OST and FYC for TROS works just fine for me. There are definitely gaps like you said, but it's also a great album on its own.

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2 hours ago, dylanskie said:

 

What about the Rey training cue? :shakehead:

 

For now, a simple combination of the OST and FYC for TROS works just fine for me. There are definitely gaps like you said, but it's also a great album on its own.

 

Yeah that's true. I mean there's a couple cues here or there that I listen to, but I hardly play through the whole ISO.

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30 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

I love the sentimental string cue when Leia first talks to Leia after the training scene.  I think that melody repeats at least once later in the movie.

 

I assume you mean Rey? But yes that one is gorgeous!!

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45 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Rey looks into the distance and sees a vision of Luke and Leia smiling at her, and as The Force Theme begins, arranged exactly like it was for Finale from The Last Jedi

 

Superb work on this write-up Jay, very well done.

 

My only note is that the final cue of TROS is actually the same arrangement as the final cue in The Force Awakens, not The Last Jedi (which reused the arrangement from Revenge of the Sith).

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57 minutes ago, Jay said:

and there is a brief comedic interlude and Poe sees Finn and she rejects his advances.

I think you mean Poe sees Zorii. And you can here Poe's Theme in that moment. 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Leia's Theme plays as Maz gives Chewie the medal Leia was seen holding earlier in the film. 

I think it is Yoda's Theme. 

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I noticed the music at the beginning of Journey to Exegol has the same motif as  On the Waterfront 

 

Maybe it's a "braving the elements" sort of theme

 

 

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Many thanks for these incredibly detailed analyses, @Jay. They're super useful!

 

The FYC and OST for "Approaching the Throne" both have a statement of the Victory Theme at 3:10 not mentioned in @Jay's analysis, I'm guessing because you're going by the film first. That statement is not in the film as it is instead replaced with a repeat of 2:31-2:46 of the same track. It looks like that Victory theme was going to accompany the destruction of the navigation tower by Finn and Jannah. Maybe they felt it was too soon to have the Victory Theme since the First Order just moved the navigation signal to the command ship.

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On 1/4/2020 at 6:17 AM, JJA said:

I think the Luke+Leia appearance is a case of expanding the purpose of a theme beyond its original conception, kinda like the Force Theme began as Obi-Wan’s theme. Remember that the scene is implying that Jannah is Lando’s daughter. So it has now become a ”emotionally satisfying kinship revelation theme”, rather than representing that merely for L&L.

 

Fair reasoning. Also I guess with Luke and Leia being important figures in the film, maybe he just wanted a place for it at the end.

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Thanks to you guys and everybody who has provided corrections/updates/additions/etc, it is really really appreciated.  I definitely favored getting the posts up as quick as possible, knowing I could fix everything after the fact, instead of tweaking and tweaking until it was all right before posting.

 

I encourage everyone to let me know anything I got wrong or isn't clear or whatever so I can make these all more accurate!

 

I will begin making some of these new corrections right now

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8 hours ago, Smaug the iron said:

I think it is Yoda's Theme. 

I second that. It's the same moment when Monaghan hugs Klaud. Makes sense, because it's a theme which originally was meant to show that an unremarkable alien could also be a great hero.

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15 hours ago, crumbs said:

My only note is that the final cue of TROS is actually the same arrangement as the final cue in The Force Awakens, not The Last Jedi (which reused the arrangement from Revenge of the Sith).

 

Fixed!

 

15 hours ago, Smaug the iron said:

I think you mean Poe sees Zorii.

 

Fixed

 

Quote

And you can here Poe's Theme in that moment. 

 

Sadly, Poe's Theme only appears on the OST version, it is completely removed from the film version.  The film version jumps from 1:02 right to 1:39, omitting Poe's theme and most of Yoda's theme as well.

 

Maybe instead of rejecting Poe, in the cut Williams scored to Zorii accepts and they hug as well, set to his theme?  Or he goes from that comedic scene to doing something else? 

 

Quote

I think it is Yoda's Theme. 

 

Fixed

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On 12/22/2019 at 8:01 PM, Jay said:

Here it is, listen and report back!

 

Hey!  Sorry for the very late reply.  So, yeah, it's absolutely the same beginning :)  But in your clip it's higher (by maybe a semitone or a tone).  Funny!  But as someone else already commented, it does makes sense indeed thematically (at least the Episode VII part), as this theme was used when Finn talks about his Stormtrooper past, as is the case in the Episode IX scene.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

Thank you so much for this, this is a brilliant observation!  I've gone ahead and rewritten the entire entry for Approaching The Throne, notating two different spots that the final film is different from the FYC, I also added back in a setting of Rey's Theme I hadn't pointed out when first posted.

 

And how interesting that JJ was still tinkering so late, that even after the FYC was locked he made changes that invalidate it from being an accurate representation of the music as heard in the film.  It makes me wonder if that's why it was taken down and put back up.  I wonder if anybody ever checked when it went back up the second time to see if this track was changed then?

 

I've also gone and added entries for the two concert arrangements.  I hadn't realized before how much of The Rise of Skywalker comes only slightly altered out of the end credits and Farewell!  At least it has a unique new bridge with both themes in it...

 

I think it might be minor so won't disqualify him.

 

The academy's rules state that - 

 

Quote

The music ... must be representative of the score and may not differ from the music actually used in the finished film.

 

https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/92aa_regulations.pdf

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I am pretty sure part of The Bombing Run from TFA that leads to the Rey theme statement is dialed out in the film, but is on the FYC. No one seemed to care then. Doubt they will now.

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Yeah FYCs often include music dialled out in the mix, for whatever reason. I guess it's still "active" on the sound mixer's music channel, just with volume set to zero.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

And how interesting that JJ was still tinkering so late, that even after the FYC was locked he made changes that invalidate it from being an accurate representation of the music as heard in the film.  It makes me wonder if that's why it was taken down and put back up.  I wonder if anybody ever checked when it went back up the second time to see if this track was changed then?

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think @thx99 checked all the re-uploaded tracks and verified that they were the exact same ones that were put up originally.

 

Also, there are two minor edits in Rey's Death and Reunion for the film. In Rey's Death (Farewell), 0:03 - 0:05 is cut out (the third and fourth notes), so it skips from the second note to the fifth note. I don't have a piano in front of me right now so I can't tell you the notes, but if you listen, you'll hear it. And in Reunion, 2:25 - 2:29 is cut out (chimes version of Rey's theme, but a pitch higher than the first statement). Both are really small edits, but they stick out to me when I watch the film.

 

Another thing I noticed is that the statement of Rey's theme in Prologue (FYC) is different than when that section of Prologue (0:56 - 1:28) plays when Rey goes to Exegol. It's hard to hear with all the sound effects (damn it JJ!) but there are much less instruments that play Rey's theme on the FYC track than when it appears later in the film. They also certainly could've been dialed out for the FYC track.

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7 minutes ago, dylanskie said:

Another thing I noticed is that the statement of Rey's theme in Prologue (FYC) is different than when that section of Prologue (0:56 - 1:28) plays when Rey goes to Exegol. It's hard to hear with all the sound effects (damn it JJ!) but there are much less instruments that play Rey's theme on the FYC track than when it appears later in the film. They also certainly could've been dialed out for the FYC track.

 

Yep, I noticed that too -- same ostinato & key but it's a completely different rendition -- first time is quite atypical (G-Bb-F#-G-C-D), second pretty accustomed (C-Eb-G-C-F-G). [Comparison below]

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q8smqh9EiI3h8lUM9M93RfQTXy0IlniJ

 

Just adds to the weirdness of everything having to do with the original Prologue.

 

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Yea, I'm really starting to think that the music heard as Kylo flies to Exegol (FYC Prologue 0:56-1:28) is actually an alternate for Rey's arrival at Exegol, that was just tracked into the prologue for Kylo's journey there.

 

It sounds similar enough to the bulk of Journey to Exegol that it seemed like it could have just been a portion of the cue that Williams microedited out of the OST track (which would be funny, because it would mean he edited out the actual journey to Exegol from the track he titled Journey To Exegol), but the more I listen to it and listen to Rey's arrival the more I think it is just tracking.

 

Especially because Kylo arriving there really has no reason to use Rey's theme.


Which begs the question, why did he title the track containing music that takes place entirely on Mustafar, Journey to Exegol?

 

And what footage was Williams writing the music in the OST track #1 after the main title to?  It doesn't sound like Luke/Leia training music, and the end sounds like music for Kylo talking to the Emperor.  Did he simply pull a TPM/AOTC and include music from (originally) later in the film in the first track?

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On 1/4/2020 at 2:30 PM, Giftheck said:

It's obvious they took 'phantom theme' to mean Duel of the Fates when it clearly meant the Emperor's Theme.

 

I've been saying that to people on FB/Reddit for months, yet everyone kept saying "no, clearly Don was referring to DotF!". People just love hearing what they want to hear...

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26 minutes ago, Falstaft (hiatus til TROS) said:

 

Yep, I noticed that too -- same ostinato & key but it's a completely different rendition -- first time is quite atypical (G-Bb-F#-G-C-D), second pretty accustomed (C-Eb-G-C-F-G). [Comparison below]

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q8smqh9EiI3h8lUM9M93RfQTXy0IlniJ

 

Just adds to the weirdness of everything having to do with the original Prologue.

 

 

Thanks for posting that! Hopefully we'll hear more information about the original opening of the film as more information comes out over the next few weeks.

 

Since the OST track has that section of Palpatine's Seduction and his theme near the end, I think Williams could've possibly been writing for some sort of montage explaining how Palpatine came back. Didn't someone recently say there was originally way more information about how he came back in a previous version of the film?

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Shit, I hadn't even noticed Rey's Theme buried in that cue! That surely confirms Kylo's journey to Exogol was tracked from Rey's journey later in the film.

 

What a confusing mess this score is, especially when we don't know which parts of these tracks belong to which cuts of the film Williams scored, nor whether Williams recorded several alternates for various cuts (or just JJ wanting a different approach).

 

33 minutes ago, Jay said:

And what footage was Williams writing the music in the OST track #1 after the main title to?  It doesn't sound like Luke/Leia training music, and the end sounds like music for Kylo talking to the Emperor.  Did he simply pull a TPM/AOTC and include music from (originally) later in the film in the first track?

 

My best guess is this what Williams recorded for the original version of Kylo's first meeting with the Emperor, when it took place later in the film. Months later, Williams was told the sequence got moved to the beginning of the film and he followed suit with his soundtrack assembly (same as Rey Meets BB8 actually being R2 Wakes Up, but Williams named the OST track the way it was used in the film).

 

It seems Williams then re-scored the entire sequence with a more gothic/horror slant (the edit either changed substantially or the whole sequence was reshot) and he simply preferred his original intentions for the OST assembly.

 

33 minutes ago, Jay said:

Which begs the question, why did he title the track containing music that takes place entirely on Mustafar, Journey to Exegol?

 

This sounds like two different cues to me, with the first ending at 0:52 and the transition hidden by timpani hits. The second cue sounds like the music for Kylo Ren's raid on Mustafar, which was originally far longer and included Hux/Pryde as well.

 

The cue at the beginning sounds similar enough to Rey's journey to Exegol that this is probably what he wrote for Kylo Ren's journey there (before JJ tracked over it with the Rey version).

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7 hours ago, dylanskie said:

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think @thx99 checked all the re-uploaded tracks and verified that they were the exact same ones that were put up originally.


Yep!

 

On 12/18/2019 at 8:07 AM, thx99 said:

Disney reinstated the FYC site for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and changed the names of the MP3 files, thereby changing the links.  The "new" MP3 files are bit-for-bit identical to the original MP3 files, so no need to re-download them.  I have added the new links to the initial post above and removed the defunct status of the site.

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10 hours ago, Jay said:

And what footage was Williams writing the music in the OST track #1 after the main title to?  It doesn't sound like Luke/Leia training music, and the end sounds like music for Kylo talking to the Emperor.  Did he simply pull a TPM/AOTC and include music from (originally) later in the film in the first track?

The mostly accurate leaks on Reddit suggest that the opening scenes were in a different order (e.g. the 'Last Order' fleet appearing *before* Kylo meets Palpatine) with additional footage (with Pryde and Hux, more of Kylo slaughtering natives).  I'm curious to know if Williams scored any of the deleted 'Oracle' footage.

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Anakin's and Padmé's themes return briefly in all three prequels, but yeah - perhaps the more character driven study of the Sequels gave Williams more of an incentive to structure the scores accordingly. 

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