TheAvengerButton 175 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 For instance, if his original trilogy action compositions were Thematic, and his prequel cues were Cacophonic, then what would his ST cues be? They are really all over the place for me. Some action cues are carried by a shredding string section (Battle of Crait, Kylo Ren Arrives At The Battle, The Supremacy) some are carried by their melodies more (Battle of the Resistance, The Speeder Chase, The Resistance, I Can Fly Anything). But I think the majority of tracks are very rhythmic. The melodic content is often focused on a rhythmic idea (Follow Me and The Falcon, The Battle of Crait, Chrome Dome, the beginning of On the Inside FYC) or otherwise based on shorter, punchier melodies. I'm not sure how I would describe this sound using one term--but I'm leaning toward Rhythmic. I'm working on a little project about William's evolving writing style, so I thought I'd get second opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,385 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Frenetic. (alternatively focussed, but that would apply only to scores up to and including 2005). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,612 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Good Bayesian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jay 37,045 Posted February 4, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted February 4, 2021 Noice BrotherSound, crlbrg, Andy and 2 others 2 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,457 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 His action music is now very complex. He has adapted very well to the frenetic editing of modern movies, despite his age I would say, without making any compromises to the melodic aspect. We know it, the new "thing" of modern composers seems to write more atmospheric or rhytmed actions cues, which are, at the end... pretty interchangeable between them. But the action cues of John Williams remain structured and strong, thematically consistent, and altough we "hear" all the scene changes in his action music, it remains surprisingly substantial. Sorry, more than one word! Chewy and Bayesian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawel P. 738 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Powerful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manakin Skywalker 4,854 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Omphalophobic. Bespin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joni Wiljami 1,205 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,890 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 ST = Star Trek? If so, nonexistent. His Sequel Trilogy action music is Neo-classical. Like the fugato for March of the Resistance. Which to me draws a wonderful parallel to his early action music like his Shark Cage fugue from Jaws. With JW, the beginning is the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. His late style draws back to his earlier style beautifully but in a more complex way. Through ST we understand the composer better. To quote T.S. Elliot, “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we startedAnd know this place for the first time. Through the unknown, remembered gate When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; Muad'Dib, crocodile and Smeltington 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 4,613 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Intelligent GerateWohl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,235 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Sturdy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Datameister 2,019 Posted February 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted February 5, 2021 "Heterogeneous"...because I can't think of one word that fits all three scores' action music. Individually... TFA: lean(er) TLJ: Ludlow TROS: timpani I don't think I'm doing this right. crlbrg, Jay and Smeltington 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Mr. Big 4,621 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Provocative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artguy360 1,839 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Modular With a few exceptions, like Follow Me and the Falcon, the ST action music seems to be a series of very short musical statements, whether motivic, melodic, or rhythmic, that can be switched around in any order and re-arranged like modular furniture. It's almost like Lego blocks that can be reconfigured to make new objects out of. Bayesian and TheAvengerButton 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Mr. Big 4,621 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Luscious mstrox 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Parker 3,040 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Metal, as in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverTrumpet 638 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Heavier. It has way less of the bells and whistles and speed that the prequels had, and a lot more hanging onto big brass notes, and the speed of the tracks in a lot of cases aren't as fast as the previous trilogies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,457 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Ok I found it in one word: EXPENSIVE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,505 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerateWohl 4,283 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 I could not put it into one word, but rather in a phrase: Bigger than the sum of its parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,612 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAvengerButton 175 Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 7 hours ago, artguy360 said: Modular With a few exceptions, like Follow Me and the Falcon, the ST action music seems to be a series of very short musical statements, whether motivic, melodic, or rhythmic, that can be switched around in any order and re-arranged like modular furniture. It's almost like Lego blocks that can be reconfigured to make new objects out of. Ah, that is great. This is exactly what I was looking for in a response. Modular is a fantastic word to describe the Sequel scores. Williams has several different tricks that he uses here and you broke it down exactly how I would have. Motivic, melodic (or thematic), and rhythmic. The Tension music you hear in some of the action scenes is very motivic. The Battle of Crait is reliant on a very rhythmic musical idea, as is Follow Me and the Falcon. He has so many different ways here of conposing action music that are a lot less uniform than his previous trilogy scores. And then you have thematixlc, melodic material like The Fathiers and Speeder Chase that rely on thematic material to carry the song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Falstaft 2,097 Posted February 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted February 5, 2021 How about "skittish"? If, instead of one word, you'd be willing to indulge ~12,000, an essay of mine on Williams's post-2000 action scoring style just came out. Doesn't focus exclusively on the ST, and barely mentions TROS, which premiered right as I was finishing writing. But touches on some of the ideas raised here. Maybe this is a bit of oversimplification, but the ST action style does represent a kind of synthesis of OT and PT approaches, doesn't it? You have the former's quite thorough integration of leitmotifs, and the latter's more frenetic, less set-piece-theme driven measure-to-measure material. A unique aspect of ST is that when JW chooses to synchronize the action, he goes all out with the mickey-mousing, to an extent that's more exaggerated and precise than practically anything in OT or PT, and almost defiantly old-fashioned considering how action is generally scored nowadays. (The examples that come immediately to mind are "New Alliance," "Chrome Dome," the complete "The Fathiers," "Final Lightsaber Duel.") Cerebral Cortex, Fabulin, Smeltington and 3 others 4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,496 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Frisky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joni Wiljami 1,205 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryant Burnette 654 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 persuasive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew 590 Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 Syncopated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 4,613 Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 Second word: Daisyphilialiscious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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