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Cameron Moody - exceptional musical talent


michael_grig

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I just came across this YouTube channel and am absolutely astunned.

Of the musical examples I can hear there, this one comes as close to Mr. Williams in its orchestration, motivic work

and overall brilliance as I've never heard before!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIWGJ520wBmsp_AWf8elP1g

Check his work out and let me know what you think!

He even writes the same way - with pencil and sketch paper

 

and even ?? talks ?? like John Williams.

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Wow, he's still a teenager - 19! One comment on YouTube said he studied under Conrad Pope and Bill Ross. I'm definately gonna keep an eye on this kid's sites.

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I just discovered this :lol:. I wanted to compare their sounds and revisited the Centennial Overture. Their sound is almost the same! Amazing. 

 

 

 

This piece literally sounds like The Last Jedi.

 

 

 

And the opening from "The Spark".

 

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1 minute ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

I think he deserves his own thread.

But then why don't you dare to mention his name? Neither in your thread title nor in one of your posts on him?

I think, his name deserves to be mentioned in his own thread. ;)

 

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I already fixed it

 

 

50 minutes ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

 

Can anyone figure out what the sequence starting at 01:14 reminds me of?

 

 

I'm watching this short right now - he made those references on purpose! This scene is like when Kylo Ren gets into Snoke's chambers in TLJ. (from 01:13)

 

 

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2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

But then why don't you dare to mention his name? Neither in your thread title nor in one of your posts on him?

I think, his name deserves to be mentioned in his own thread. ;)

 


Cameron Moody sounds like the name of a character from an 80’s John Hughes flick.

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On 07/08/2022 at 2:20 PM, Loert said:

JW: "Steven, I think you'll need to find a better composer than me for this film."

SS: "I know! I'll call Cameron Moody."

Well, he will need someone to score his films after JW's retirement.... And I'm not sure he'll choose Silvestri after Ready Player One, and obviously not Giacchino.

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59 minutes ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

Well, he will need someone to score his films after JW's retirement.... And I'm not sure he'll choose Silvestri after Ready Player One, and obviously not Giacchino, because then we'd lose John to a sudden heart attack.

 

You realise, of course, that if anything "sudden" happens to Williams now (and it is a 90-year-old man we're talking about), we're going to blame you.

 

We don't...speak of such things.

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The older people get, the more their ages converge.  Spielberg ain't young .  That being said, whoever he chooses (or continues to choose, in this case) would not be the "next John Williams" merely because they are scoring his films, unless that is that all you mean by the phrase.

 

For what it is worth, I am not sure if there will ever be another John Williams in any substantive sense of the phrase--the greats leave an indelibly unique mark on their craft.   There may, of course, be people who achieve a similar impact in the music world, but I doubt their music will sound like his.    

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11 hours ago, Tom said:

For what it is worth, I am not sure if there will ever be another John Williams in any substantive sense of the phrase--the greats leave an indelibly unique mark on their craft.   There may, of course, be people who achieve a similar impact in the music world, but I doubt their music will sound like his.    

I agree completely with this statement.

John Williams is John Williams. There won't be anyone after him that is the 'new' him, just like he is not the 'new' version of another composer.

Each composer has their own style etc. so every composer is their own thing.

 

There aren't any 'new' Goldsmith's, Morricone's, Herrmann's, Poldedouris's, Steiner's, Waxman's, Bernstein's, Horner's, Kamen's etc.

Sure, there are composers who sometimes sound like them, or make scores which are a sort of ode to them, but there won't ever be anyone like them. They are unique, just like the composers today, if you like them or not.

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1 hour ago, JNHFan2000 said:

I agree completely with this statement.

John Williams is John Williams. There won't be anyone after him that is the 'new' him, just like he is not the 'new' version of another composer.

Each composer has their own style etc. so every composer is their own thing.

 

There aren't any 'new' Goldsmith's, Morricone's, Herrmann's, Poldedouris's, Steiner's, Waxman's, Bernstein's, Horner's, Kamen's etc.

Sure, there are composers who sometimes sound like them, or make scores which are a sort of ode to them, but there won't ever be anyone like them. They are unique, just like the composers today, if you like them or not.

I once put out a thread here with the question if Howard Shore might be the new Bernard Herrmann because I saw a lot of similarities between the both, not necessarily in musical style, but obviously in their taste of movies they work for, the way they aproach a film musically, their non-film work and their repetitiveness. Of course I was immediately told, that this is some kind of blasphemy to even ask something like this.

Bottom line, it seems, in the world of motion picture scores there never seemed to exist something like "the new <someone>". All too individual. And times are changing.

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The works on YouTube are fine enough but basically sound like someone doing a really good JW pastiche (a la Kevin Kaska or Peter Boyer and others) and if they were previously unreleased brief JW fanfares or score cues, you'd not be super surprised but all of them you could trace back to one or two existing JW pieces. I'm not suggesting he isn't a gift composer who could do some good work, but they almost sound like study pieces (like when composition students are tasked with writing a fugue in the style of Bach type thing). I guess he possibly doesn't have a bad chance of becoming "the next whomever" film composer because if there's a director who wants a JW style score then he could be someone to ask but, as has been pointed out time and again, most films don't want/need a JW score, especially these days where even a project that screams for a JW or JW imitation score (cough Obi-Wan cough) doesn't get one.

 

I could reiterate my photocopy of a photocopy comment, but at least in this case, it's a pretty decent first generation copy!

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Is that you Minority Report ? 

 

Actually, it is very cool that someone can emulate Williams like this.  For what it is, it's impressive.  It's not innovative, but sure I'd prefer if modern scores sounded more like this.

 

 

 

Also interesting to note in his description of this rescore, he admits that "action is not in my wheelhouse".  This works pretty well for me, and I'd like to see this person's style mature and evolve, because he's off to a great start.

 

 

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Yes, let me add to my comment.  I think Moody is a very gifted composer and one who has a bright career in front of him. I would not be surprised if as his composing evolves, he  even develops a sound quite distinct from Williams.  He is one to keep an eye (or ear) on.   

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2 hours ago, Andy said:

Is that you Minority Report ? 

 

Actually, it is very cool that someone can emulate Williams like this.  For what it is, it's impressive.  It's not innovative, but sure I'd prefer if modern scores sounded more like this.

 

 

 

Also interesting to note in his description of this rescore, he admits that "action is not in my wheelhouse".  This works pretty well for me, and I'd like to see this person's style mature and evolve, because he's off to a great start.

 

 

 

These two great examples of Moody's score show again, that it really really gets underestimated how uplifting and enchanting that kind of music for a movie is, something these hybrid electronic / orchestral mesh-up scores with all their soundeffects can never do. Yes, they can push and bring tempo to the scene, make my pulse watching it rise, but there is no elevation of that level and no... yes,  enchantment. I can't put it better. This makes my heart fly and not just run.

Also a reason, why these new Star Wars scores like The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi don't work for me.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Yavar Moradi said:

I noticed Moody’s name as one of three “additional music” composers at the end of Nope when I saw it last night (primary composer: Michael Abels)

 

Yavar

Yup:

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1 hour ago, Yavar Moradi said:

I noticed Moody’s name as one of three “additional music” composers at the end of Nope when I saw it last night (primary composer: Michael Abels)

 

Yavar

How was the score? And you recommend the movie? I wanted to see that one too ....

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1 hour ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

How was the score? And you recommend the movie? I wanted to see that one too ....

 

Despite a few minor issues... probably my favorite film (and feature film score) of the year so far. Both are SUPER eclectic... I would describe them as "genre-fluid" (it's a sci-fi/western/horror commentary on Hollywood? but that doesn't even quite cover it...) But wonderful.

 

The finale features the best Morricone western pastiche I've heard since Kundo: Age of the Rampant:

 

I'd be curious which cues Cameron Moody did.

 

Yavar

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39 minutes ago, Loert said:

 

To add to this, no composer has ever become famous for being the "next XXX". The greatest composers in the past have been those who successfully broke the mould

 

I wouldn't completely agree to that. Tori Amos was advertized at the beginning of her career as the new Kate Bush and pretty much imitated her style in many ways, and from there evolved and formed her own style. But this "the next..." was a door opener in many ways.

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1 hour ago, Stu said:

I'll be damned to Hell if the opening cue wasn't temped with Copland

 

The opening cue in the movie itself was very horror-sounding, so I doubt it. But if you're referring to what I think you may be referring to, you should know that a previous concert piece by Abels was part of the inspiration for the more "cowboy" aspects of this score... and it's actually apparently the piece by which Jordan Peele discovered Abels in the first place!

 

 

 

Pretty badass piece IMO.

 

Yavar

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1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

I wouldn't completely agree to that. Tori Amos was advertized at the beginning of her career as the new Kate Bush and pretty much imitated her style in many ways, and from there evolved and formed her own style. But this "the next..." was a door opener in many ways.

 

Same can be said of Brahms, who was touted as the next Beethoven, but that's not why he's played in concert halls today.

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17 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

I really don't care. 

Seems like an insult to John

Why does this seem to be an insult to JW? We know that he is very curious about and engaged with the new generation of film composers and young talent.

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12 hours ago, karelm said:

His early stuff was Beethovenesque.  Richard Strauss' early stuff was Brahms rip off.  Elderly Brahms was interviewed in the book "Talks with Great Composers" around mid 1880's before Richard Strauss had written any of his famous works.  His style at that time was very conservative and influenced by Brahms.  When asked who the next great composers were, after some hesitation, he listed some names none of which have stood the test of time except for a then young Richard Strauss who was known for pastiche of Brahms and his entire reputation exists in a mature style he hadn't yet developed.  

 

Cameron is a very talented composer and very modest and nice guy.  I love everything I've heard from him and his passion.  As you can tell, he's a huge JW fan and others are taking notice as he's received impressive commissions and consistently delivered.  Conrad Pope is also quite impressed with him, and I'll tell you, Cameron listens to feedback and constructive criticism.  I have no doubt he'll go far if given the right opportunity with a similarly talented creative filmmaker.  Like most composers, his early style might not sound much like his later style but he's consistently impressing his colleagues and just needs the right project.  

 

A funny story I've mentioned a few times, once in an anonymous composer submission forum where composers give feedback of each other's music to help improve our skills, there was this big band piece that we all looked at each other wondering, who did this?  It was immediately clear who ever it was had significant talent.  The tunes were catchy and orchestration professional.  Without knowing who it was, we gave feedback about how well the composer understood the orchestra and how immediately engaging the music was.  The feedback was consistently praising the composer and when asked if the composer wanted to identify themself, Don Williams raised his hand and said it was something from his brother Johnny back in the late 1950's that none of us had heard.  Of course, we were all relieved no one was stupid enough to criticize it but it was obvious in hindsight that was the same composer who would go on to score such massive hits in decades to come though the style was quite unrecognizable to any of us.  JW was as much captive to his early influences of Benny Goodman, and others he grew up with as we are with him.  Those influences are slowly shed in time, but some elements remain and are part of the mature style of any composer though it can be hard to see the connection between the early composer and their mature incarnation.

Thank you, this is the best post I've read here in months.

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17 hours ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

Why does this seem to be an insult to JW? We know that he is very curious about and engaged with the new generation of film composers and young talent.

Really, you have to ask such an ignorant question? 

Are you even a fan of John's. 

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52 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Really, you have to ask such an ignorant question? 


How is that an ignorant question? You come in here out of the blue and say in two short sentences containing no explanation, that something seems to be an insult to JW…

 

What exactly are you saying is an insult? A specific piece of Moody’s? His music in general? And how is it an insult?

 

How is it an ignorant question to ask what you meant? I’m not sure what you meant either.

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Id laugh if it wasn't so sad.

 

I don't know a goddamn thing about Moody but drop the hyperbole.

 

John Williams is the greatest film composer of all time. He has a film catalog that is unmatched. He also had a unique set of circumstances that make him who he is.

His career is a result of amazing talent associated with film makers of amazing talent. John's musical journey is unprecedented and Moody may be amazing but he isnt and will never be THE NEXT JOHN WILLIAMS. 

for moody to do this he must have his own Spielberg and Lucas etc.

 

It is disrespectful of John Williams with such talk and it does a disservice to this young man. Let him be his own person without comparing him to the Greatest Of All Time.

 

Remember when Michael Giacchino was the NEXT JOHN WILLIAMS? Well he is not. In fact he isn't even close. He is mediocrity personified. 

 

 

 

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Since you guys can't seem to stop discussing an unimportant phrase here, I've changed the title of the thread. I think it's more worth talking about his wonderful music. (ugh, internet is an evil place)

 

I can't wait until he gets his first full-length film in front of his hands.:w00t:

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17 hours ago, karelm said:

A funny story I've mentioned a few times, once in an anonymous composer submission forum where composers give feedback of each other's music to help improve our skills, there was this big band piece that we all looked at each other wondering, who did this?  It was immediately clear who ever it was had significant talent.  The tunes were catchy and orchestration professional.  Without knowing who it was, we gave feedback about how well the composer understood the orchestra and how immediately engaging the music was.  The feedback was consistently praising the composer and when asked if the composer wanted to identify themself, Don Williams raised his hand and said it was something from his brother Johnny back in the late 1950's that none of us had heard.

I can relate to this. There is this rare, very specific feeling that whoever is on the other side pulling the rope must be a strong one. I once visited a small film theatre to watch an old black-and-white film and was positively blasted by the music; I waited till the end credit to see the name, and there it was... Shostakovich. Another time, I watched The Raging Bull and thought that there was no way anyone alive at the time of the film's creation wrote the music featured: indeed, it was by Mascagni.

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1 hour ago, JoeinAR said:

Remember when Michael Giacchino was the NEXT JOHN WILLIAMS? Well he is not. In fact he isn't even close. He is mediocrity personified. 

Well now, that is actually an insult. And I think, about every week I read on this board post, which can really be seen as disrespectful against the maestro in a way you wouldn't expect on a John Williams fan forum, things that really hurt like "Hope He lived long enough to finish Indy V" and such crap.

But I would have never counted that headline in. Using the phrase "the next JW" in context of a young talented composer, who is obviously a fan is a compliment in each direction. Such compliments don't imply, that Moody will have the same life or the same achievement but only that He might be someone who can achieve something great and remarkable on the musical foundation and invention that Williams build up, like Williams stood on the shoulders of Erich Wolfgang Korngold honoring the Tradition and building something remarkably new based on that and maybe becoming even greater. I cannot see there any insult.

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1 hour ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

Since you guys can't seem to stop discussing an unimportant phrase here, I've changed the title of the thread. I think it's more worth talking about his wonderful music. (ugh, internet is an evil place)

 

I can't wait until he gets his first full-length film in front of his hands.:w00t:

Your phrase was inappropriate and insulting.  But I hope he gets his shot. 

When he gets a ten year run like John's 1975 to 1984 let us know.

And Gerate it was an insult. One well deserved. MG is not a great composer. He has his moments. But most of his music is drab. 

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