Restored Isolated Score: Amistad

[Holko 9,530]

Next in my series is another JW masterpiece, based on LLL's wonderful new expansion, which revealed lots of previously unknown unused tracks, alternates, and filled in major gaps in the soundtrack album as well as restoring the proper order of cues revealing a structure of a wide range of seemingly disconnected musical elements converging and coming together satisfyingly, mirroring the movie's theme of distant cultures growing to understand each other. As usual I will explain the cues' film usage where it's fitting.

 

The spotting is certainly not wall to wall, though since I didn't restore even the source music found on the LLL set, let alone all the "needledrop" recordings used in the film, it's a  tiny bit misleading if we'd want to look at purely music, not score:

The state court scenes are mostly left unscored, but nearly all of the final 40 minutes are scored all the way through.

 

Starting with this project, I'm doing something some previous ones like Presumed Innocent could've benefited from: burning subtitles into the video to help with cues for dialogue-heavy scenes where the sync points aren't necessarily for shot changes or physical actions but for a specific line that changes the tone or topic, of which there are several in this movie.

 

Syncing up cues helped me appreciate many cues in a new light or a deeper way - like Discovering the Bible, really seeing how the initially 2 disparate textures start melding and come together by the end; or Adams' Address to the Court, where I was initially confused by the usage of obvious synth voices in this fantastically varied choir-heavy score - the first one scores Isabella's complaint letters about American courts, probably illustrating her "unnatural" views of courts as mechanical toys to play with, to do as she says, instead of idealistic independent entities, the second, darker one scoring Adams reading aloud the article about how slavery is the natural order of things, hopefully no need here to describe why the usage of "unnatural" synth voices instead of a real choir could be appropriate.

 

Thanks to @Jay for helping with the selection and answering some background information questions!

 

 

Introduction is actually a wild vocal take the music people used here, but I included it because why not.
Retribution is fully unused, and to be honest I can see why, even if it's a great piece. If synced up to the final film footage (the opening may have been extended), the percussion and flute scores Cinque's struggle as it's starting to bear fruit, the male choir scores him lifting the nail, the choral Cinque's theme scores his newfound chance, and things start to escalate as he frees himself. The rhythm kicks up as the captain picks up his musket and Cinque approaches him, then it fades out when the new captain removes his Excalibur from the old captain's body like he removed the nail. I removed the second wild humming take that's included in the film and LLL since it would overlap with the next cue,
July 4, 1839, which is mostly unused. The dark soundscape scoring the uncertainty (unused) temporarily clears up as the helmsman states he'll head for Africa. JW's emotional shot-specific scoring for the night scene was replaced by a choral take of Cinque's theme, dropping the twinkles for the stars, its descending variant scoring the turn, and the Seven Years in Tibet/RotS strings with added choir scoring Cinque desperately taking over and correcting the course himself.
Steering East is again unused, and in my opinion should be here where the title doesn't describe it very well, for the scene of the new crew landing on what they think are African shores, gathering water and coming across a man on a proto-bicycle. (For an alternate sync idea that might actually work better, see this post.)
The Capture is mostly used, only a small portion was edited out when the ship lands (the film was edited down a bit at this point too), and the ending was replaced with one of the wild solo humming takes, removing the only musical representation of the Queen of Spain coming from JW, since the rest of her scenes contain source music at most.

 

 

Introducing John Quincy Adams is used as is.
Meeting of the Minds is a strange case - it's more like semi-wild mood music than specific scoring adhering to sync points, and it runs longer than the scene, where it's only partially used.
Counsel Meets Client, The Ship Remembers, Visiting Adams and What Is Their Story? again are used as is, but Learning To Count is the same case as Meeting of the Minds - not really specific and runs a lot longer than its scene.

 

 

Tale of the Lion's Tooth is used as is.
The Capture of Cinque and The Crossing are complicated - for this video I had to shorten the storm/birthing scene and entirely remove the feeding scene between the suicide/lashing and the mass drowning scenes. In the film, parts of Capture of Cinque are looped over these and other parts of the same track, and even mostly in place of or over The Crossing - only the opening minute and the Spanish guitar part remains from it, edited, then the ending's replaced by solo humming again.
Tales of Horror remains untouched except for a percussion overlay coming from The Ship Remembers (if you don't count that the original take's ending was replaced by the second revision, replicated here instead of sticking with the LLL edit), same with Discovering the Bible.

 

 

After a long unscored section, including the victory on state level, The Letter to Massachusetts and Cinque's Legal Mind are used as is.
The footage for African Violet had to be edited very slightly.
Adams' Address to the Court and Adams' Summation are used as is.
The Verdict is edited slightly in the film.
Liberation of Lomboko is used as is, Going Home starts with the choir only mix, the soloist only comes in starting with the Civil War shots. The film starts the credits with a third solo humming take, then used Dry Your Tears, Afrika as is on the LLL, with more obvious Lomboko tracking edit points and the ending cut short - if we use only it and The Long Road to Justice like I did here, they fit the credits' length well.

 

 

The Capture (alternate) is basically a different mix of the main program version.
The Ship Remembers (alternate) is a slightly different take with different percussion overlay usage.
What Is Their Story (alternate) is the original take, featuring another Adams rendition in place of the revision's DYTA.
The Crossing (alternate) was written for an even shorter cut, I couldn't really come up with a good way to edit it down.
Tales of Horror had an original take with Cinque's theme scoring his outburst, more as a low moment where he can't hold in his despair any longer - I had to shorten this footage for this original ending. The first revision doubles down on this idea and utilises the longer edit to add in another statement that helps the theme climax, still scoring Cinque's despair. The second revision, ultimately used in the film, takes the first revision's structure but pulls Dry Your Tears, Afrika onto it, making it a moment of uplifting triumph, where Cinque stands up for himself and demands the justice he'll ultimately receive. The third revision keeps the DYTA idea, but tones it down significantly, more as a quiet release than a triumphant climax.
Discovering the Bible (alternate) is a different original approach - while the revised film version starts with representing the Africans with percussion, the Bible discussion with harp and Cinque on flute, and the church scenes with semi-religioso strings and brass, and eventually starts melding them, moving Cinque to different instruments and stops changing styles with the latter back and forth cuts, this version represents the Africans with sad strings (probably coming off of one of the Cinque versions of Tales of Horror), the Bible scenes, while still prominent in harp, are also scored with strings and multiple kinds of woodwinds while the church is mostly brass-based - they still meld but the cutting back and forth is not so obvious. I had to extend the ending a bit so Cinque's theme entering would sync up with the cut back to the jail.
Cinque's Memories of Home, a revision of Cinque's Legal Mind, sets the "communication" theme on cello, solo vocal humming and percussion - IMO moving the material a bit too far to the east from the US, possibly why it wasn't used.
Going Home (alternate) is the choir take without the solo vocal, as it is partially  used in the film.
And finally, an idea by @BrotherSound: Cinque's Theme (solo flute) is also 2:06 long, like Going Home, why not try to see if it fits. In my opinion, it kind of does, many of the percussion hits and phrase borders match with shot changes.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

This is awesome! Thank you. I would love to see the unused music restored to the film with the film’s audio intact as well so as to really experience how the scenes would play out as composed and conducted by the Maestro for the film, especially for Retribution. Until this release, I never knew that the opening sequence originally had a whole cue done by the Maestro, nor did I know about Steering East, not to mention all the alternate cues and unused sections of a couple of cues, such as The Crossing (though, I don’t think anyone outside of those present at the recording sessions knew either).

[JohnnyD 1,223]

One observation: I think Pamilla Dillard’s second take at the end of Retribution should have been included as it was also in the film. So what if it overlaps with the beginning of July 4, 1839? Also, why was Prisoners’ Song not included in the restored isolated score videos? It is part of the score proper (unlike the two guitar source cues).

[Jay 37,373]

@Holko, this looks great! I hope I can find time to watch this all real soon!

[Holko 9,530]

5 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

So what if it overlaps with the beginning of July 4, 1839?

I think that means that it wasn't JW's intention to put it there, they just recorded wild takes. The rest of the cue was replaced by tracked music (or nothing), not a revision.

 

5 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

Also, why was Prisoners’ Song not included in the restored isolated score videos? It is part of the score proper (unlike the two guitar source cues).

To me it seems like it is more source music than score, even if it isn't explicitly that. Also it's likely another wild recording with no real sync point, and the scene where it's used is half/two thirds as long as the cue.

[Indianagirl 298]

VERY IMPRESSED

[JohnnyD 1,223]

One thing I observed: in the film, there is percussion that overlaps the transition from the end of Tale of the Lion’s Tooth to the beginning of The Capture of Cinqué. Was this percussion isolated and tracked from a different cue?

[Holko 9,530]

It's from later in The Capture of Cinqué, as I say, parts of it were tracked and looped all over the flashback scene.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

Got it. Still, I think that isolated percussion overlap is a cool way the film transitions from the end of Tale of the lion’s Tooth to the beginning of The Capture of Cinqué.

[Holko 9,530]

It's a cool way to transition from Tale but I think it's a pretty badly done transition back to Capture's real opening.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

8 hours ago, Holko said:

I think that means that it wasn't JW's intention to put it there, they just recorded wild takes. The rest of the cue was replaced by tracked music (or nothing), not a revision.

I see. I knew that a portion of July 4, 1839 was used in the film and then a portion of Tales of Horror was tracked for the rest of the scene with the final note of July 4 used as intended. I was only asking about the end of Retribution possibly overlapping with the beginning of July 4.

[Holko 9,530]

2 minutes ago, JohnnyD said:

I was only asking about the end of Retribution possibly overlapping with the beginning of July 4.

I meant that if the solo humming at the end was intended to be a replacement for July 4's opening by JW, he'd have probably revised the rest of the cue too instead of it being mostly dialed out or replaced by tracking. It was likely just put there by the music people/editors afterwards, so i decided to ignore it rather than loop the footage.

[Jay 37,373]

Pamela Dillard's hummed renditions of Cinque's theme were the very last things recorded for this score, and it's unlikely any footage was running on the screen to sync to - she surely just sang each of them wild.

 

It is therefore logical to assume that they were never a part of his original vision for the score when initially composing everything, but were a later idea.  In fact, it was either on this episode of The Legacy of John Williams, Jeff Bond's liner notes of this release - or maybe both? - where Sally Stevens talks about Pamela Dillard's vocals impressing JW so much, he decided to write more for her to do.

 

So there you go.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

3 hours ago, Holko said:

I meant that if the solo humming at the end was intended to be a replacement for July 4's opening by JW, he'd have probably revised the rest of the cue too instead of it being mostly dialed out or replaced by tracking. It was likely just put there by the music people/editors afterwards, so i decided to ignore it rather than loop the footage.

Got it, although the footage would not need to be looped, since using Pamela Dillard’s vocal as used in the film would simply overlap with the beginning of July 4, 1839 and not interfere with anything.

 

3 hours ago, Jay said:

Pamela Dillard's hummed renditions of Cinque's theme were the very last things recorded for this score.

 

It is therefore logical to assume that they were never a part of his original vision for the score when initially composing everything, but were a later idea.  In fact, it was either on this episode of The Legacy of John Williams, Jeff Bond's liner notes of this release - or maybe both? - where Sally Stevens talks about Pamela Dillard's vocals impressing JW so much, he decided to write more for her to do.

 

So there you go.

I understand. Her vocals are extraordinary, by the way.

 

[JohnnyD 1,223]

I thought of something. Did you ever consider having Steering East occur at an earlier point, specifically in the next scene after July 4, 1839? The cue would possibly start after the next morning scene where Jose Ruiz reassures Cinqué that the ship is heading “East.” Steering East would possibly start at the beginning of the nighttime scene, where we see the other Africans chanting and Cinqué is speaking with Yamba. Perhaps the cue would end at a moment or so after Cinqué spots the leisure vessel approaching; maybe ending either when Ruiz hides the manifest or when Cinqué points the gun at him. Possibly?

[Holko 9,530]

Not a bad idea actually. This is the best I could quickly do without reediting the footage:

 

 

[Brando 1,864]

I really hope this movie gets a 4K remaster soon. I've seen it twice, but I don't want to buy the Blu Ray only for it to be released on 4K a month later.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Not a bad idea actually. This is the best I could quickly do without reediting the footage:

 

 

 

Yes; I believe this is where Steering East was scored for. Thank you.

 

58 minutes ago, Brando said:

I really hope this movie gets a 4K remaster soon. I've seen it twice, but I don't want to buy the Blu Ray only for it to be released on 4K a month later.

 

While the Blu-Ray is a phenomenal remaster in both picture and sound, I agree that the film deserves to be restored in 4K. In fact, were there not plans for it be be restored in 4K to coincide with the 25th anniversary? Delayed perhaps?

[Brando 1,864]

8 minutes ago, JohnnyD said:

In fact, were there not plans for it be be restored in 4K to coincide with the 25th anniversary? Delayed perhaps?

I tried Googling this last night to see if I could find a scrap of information regarding a remaster and came up with nothing.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

17 hours ago, Holko said:

To me it seems like it is more source music than score, even if it isn't explicitly that. Also it's likely another wild recording with no real sync point, and the scene where it's used is half/two thirds as long as the cue.

Any possibility of including Prisoners’ Song for completion sake? 
 

I’m surprised Dry Your Tears, Afrika (Alternate) was not included.

 

I know it’s a stretch, but how about doing the two guitar source cues for the fun of it?

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The spotting is certainly not wall to wall, though since I didn't restore even the source music found on the LLL set, let alone all the "needledrop" recordings used in the film, it's a  tiny bit misleading if we'd want to look at purely music, not score:

The state court scenes are mostly left unscored, but nearly all of the final 40 minutes are scored all the way through.

 

That's an interesting graph to look at!  I guess I hadn't realized that the state court scenes are largely unscored, then the supreme court scenes largely are.  I guess it gives more weight to the final outcome that way!

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Starting with this project, I'm doing something some previous ones like Presumed Innocent could've benefited from: burning subtitles into the video to help with cues for dialogue-heavy scenes where the sync points aren't necessarily for shot changes or physical actions but for a specific line that changes the tone or topic, of which there are several in this movie.

 

I think this is a great idea and I'm glad you're doing it!

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Introduction is actually a wild vocal take the music people used here, but I included it because why not.
Retribution is fully unused, and to be honest I can see why, even if it's a great piece. If synced up to the final film footage (the opening may have been extended), the percussion and flute scores Cinque's struggle as it's starting to bear fruit, the male choir scores him lifting the nail, the choral Cinque's theme scores his newfound chance, and things start to escalate as he frees himself. The rhythm kicks up as the captain picks up his musket and Cinque approaches him, then it fades out when the new captain removes his Excalibur from the old captain's body like he removed the nail. I removed the second wild humming take that's included in the film and LLL since it would overlap with the next cue,

 

I forgot that you typically put huge chunks of cue together in long videos instead of each separate, so here we go!

 

It's interesting to see how much unscored footage there is in between Introduction and Retribution; The way Mike crossfaded them together for the LLL album is a great choice that makes the whole track more thrilling (and if you didn't know they were separate recordings, it sounds perfectly plausible that it was always written like its presented).

 

Yea, seeing Retribution synced to the footage you can tell why it was removed.  The music is an awesome album opener, but the film didn't need it.  There isn't a lot of syn points either, which makes me wonder if Spielberg re-edited the opening after the cue was recorded.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

July 4, 1839, which is mostly unused. The dark soundscape scoring the uncertainty (unused) temporarily clears up as the helmsman states he'll head for Africa. JW's emotional shot-specific scoring for the night scene was replaced by a choral take of Cinque's theme, dropping the twinkles for the stars, its descending variant scoring the turn, and the Seven Years in Tibet/RotS strings with added choir scoring Cinque desperately taking over and correcting the course himself.

 

I love those twinkles for the shot of the starry sky!  The powerful music that kicks in when Cinque takes over the steering is so awesome when watched with the visuals!

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Steering East is again unused, and in my opinion should be here where the title doesn't describe it very well, for the scene of the new crew landing on what they think are African shores, gathering water and coming across a man on a proto-bicycle. (For an alternate sync idea that might actually work better, see this post.)

 

Yea this music doesn't seem to fit the visuals here very well, and as you said the title makes no sense if this is the right spot, as the steering is all over by this point.  I'll watch the referenced video in a bit!

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Capture is mostly used, only a small portion was edited out when the ship lands (the film was edited down a bit at this point too), and the ending was replaced with one of the wild solo humming takes, removing the only musical representation of the Queen of Spain coming from JW, since the rest of her scenes contain source music at most.

 

Wow, this was a pleasure to watch, as during the duration of just five minutes, the cue and the film covers a lot of ground!  The subdued passage in the middle of the cue is pretty nifty with the shots of the outside of the jail, and the unsettling music as the other prisoners are shown is really cool too, I like how its backed by the African percussion when the slaves come in.  

 

The lengthy development of Cinque's theme for the ensuing scenes is really cool to see in context, and wow yea, I had no idea that that harpsichord ending was for the transition to Isabella II, that was nifty!  Too bad Spielberg didn't use it!

 

 

On 02/01/2023 at 3:12 PM, Holko said:

Not a bad idea actually. This is the best I could quickly do without reediting the footage:

 

It's interesting that even in this video, the music all takes place after the steering has already happened, but maybe Williams titled it that way more to mean that they wereheading East?  Anyways, this placement of the cue makes more sense than the initial video, I'm glad you took the time to revisit this! 

 

Once again there's some nice wondrous music for a shot of the starry sky

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Capture (alternate) is basically a different mix of the main program version.

 

Well sure, but the new choral opening gives the opening scene of the American ship arriving a different feel - and one that I like better!

 

Cinque's time underwater is different here too, not sure which I prefer though.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

I recently watched the film again while playing the unused music in the respective scenes; it was very cool. By the way, there are instrumental hits in the percussion in Retribution that actually sync with the lighting as Cinqué is about to free himself of the shackles. I thought that was really cool.

 

By the way, Steering East was in fact meant to be the way it is presented here:

On 2/1/2023 at 3:12 PM, Holko said:

 

 

[BrotherSound 2,242]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

And finally, an idea by @BrotherSound: Cinque's Theme (solo horn) is also 2:06 long, like Going Home, why not try to see if it fits. In my opinion, it kind of does, many of the percussion hits and phrase borders match with shot changes.

Hmm, thanks for trying that out! Though, now that I see it, even though it fits in terms of timing, it seems like it’s too low key for the scene. Of course, that could be the reason it wasn’t used here, but I think it’s more likely it was also recorded wild as another possibility to track into places that ultimately used Pamela Dillard’s vocals.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

On 2/1/2023 at 3:12 PM, Holko said:

 

@Holko, you might as well insert this into the first video as the last cue and have the next video be just The Capture.

[Holko 9,530]

2 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

@Holko, you might as well insert this into the first video as the last cue and have the next video be just The Capture.

What?

Anyway I edited the text to point to it, rerendering it and waiting a day for Drive to process it is more hassle than it's worth, it's here up already.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

I only suggest it because that first attempt at Steering East, while… interesting and a nice guess, is not where that music was meant for and it does not really match as @Jay suggests, while the second video actually matches and is where Steering East was meant for.

[Holko 9,530]

3 minutes ago, JohnnyD said:

while the second video actually matches and is where Steering East was meant for.

Source? Do you have sheet music with sync point markers?

[JohnnyD 1,223]

The liner notes. Also, the title of the cue refers to the ship Steering East, as @Jay suggests; not to mention that Ruiz “reassures” Cinqué that the ship is heading East when Cinqué wakes up the next morning. Also, as @Jay suggests, the music matches a lot more.

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Introducing John Quincy Adams is used as is.

 

Oh man I forgot that he's introduced in the movie (seemingly) asleep, that's pretty funny.  It's amazing to watch this while hearing great music written by JW the whole time, when another director might have not thought these scenes needed any music in them at all.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Meeting of the Minds is a strange case - it's more like semi-wild mood music than specific scoring adhering to sync points, and it runs longer than the scene, where it's only partially used.

 

Yea I definitely feels like something written without sync points and recorded without picture playing

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Counsel Meets Client

 

I like the way the music gets a bit more dissonant when it cuts to the foggy exterior

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Ship Remembers

 

I forgot this cue started while Baldwin is still talking to Cinqué.  This beginning part of the nicely captures Cinqué almost disappearing into the fog.

 

The tonal change when it cuts from the outside of the ship, to the close-up of the chain inside the ship is pretty cool.  I really like Morgan Freeman's facial acting throughout this sequence!  The Give Us Peace choir overlay covering the series of shots showing all the chains is very effective.  Morgan Freeman's acting here, man!

 

I love the entrance of the percussion as the papers are found.  It gives the scene a drive, like a bit of an "aha!' moment, now there's new information.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Visiting Adams and What Is Their Story? again are used as is

 

It's interesting to see that when this was revised to introduce the Dry Your Tears Afrika melody earlier in the picture, it was spotted to do so right after Adams lays out that Joadson is an ex-slave dedicated to abolishing slavery, and specifically starting on a close-up of Joadson's face acknowledging this, rather than as Adams is saying it.  Really nice touch.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

, but Learning To Count is the same case as Meeting of the Minds - not really specific and runs a lot longer than its scene.

 

Yea, definitely seems to be recorded wild as well, I'm sure

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Ship Remembers (alternate) is a slightly different take with different percussion overlay usage.

 

It's interesting to hear percussion used for the first few clues Joadson finds, and then starting up again as he leaves the ship, instead of being saved for Baldwin finding the papers.

 

I like the main program version more, I think.

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

What Is Their Story (alternate) is the original take, featuring another Adams rendition in place of the revision's DYTA.

 

Not just that, the entire piece here is a different recording, and there are orchestration differences even in the parts that are largely the same in the revision.  This version really goes deeper into the Americana sound than the revision or any other cues in the score, I'd say.  I feel like the revision fits in better with the rest of the score, even without the addition of the Dry Your Tears Afrika melody

 

It's interesting that in this version, no special weight is given to the shot of Joadson agreeing with Adams' assessment.  I wonder who it was that decided this was the moment to introduce the melody.

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Tale of the Lion's Tooth is used as is.

 

That was awesome to watch with just the music, but still have the subtitles to know the beats of the story being told.  Very cool!

 

I love these rare, very long cues in Williams career!

 

And oh, man, the segue from this into The Capture of Cinque was something I was not expecting.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Capture of Cinque and The Crossing are complicated - for this video I had to shorten the storm/birthing scene and entirely remove the feeding scene between the suicide/lashing and the mass drowning scenes. In the film, parts of Capture of Cinque are looped over these and other parts of the same track, and even mostly in place of or over The Crossing - only the opening minute and the Spanish guitar part remains from it, edited, then the ending's replaced by solo humming again.

 

This footage is all so hard to watch in any format.  Interesting that you had to delete scenes out to make the music fit.  I wonder what happened with all that.

 

The abrupt change in tone in the music when it switches from drowning women to the shores of Cuba is interesting.

 

Also interesting how the spanish guitar shows up once you see its Spaniards buying the slaves.  The low male humming backing Cinque's theme on flute being played over a reprise of footage seen in the opening "Retribution" scene is really nifty!

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Tales of Horror remains untouched except for a percussion overlay coming from The Ship Remembers (if you don't count that the original take's ending was replaced by the second revision, replicated here instead of sticking with the LLL edit)

 

Wow I hadn't realized that the bible is first seen in this scene, and Williams even accentuates Yamba viewing a page with Jesus on it in the music.  Neat!

 

It's amazing that this footage is people talking in the courtoom, and yet Williams' music increases the drama and tension so much!  Some of the blocking and camera angles do that too, but the music is like the gel that binds it all together.

 

This powerful revision for the Give Us, Us Free scene is just amazing to me every single time I hear it, and again it's just a guy talking in a court room, yet the whole scene is changed by the music.  Can't wait to watch the alternates synced to it in a bit.

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

, same with Discovering the Bible.

 

 

I think this scene is sort of goofy and unnecessary, but the music is just incredible, I love it.

 

Again Jesus's first appearance in this scene is accentuated by Williams, neat.

 

I can't wait to compare this to Williams' original intentions, since this revision is largely just Cinque's theme and I think the original might have more scene-specific sync points.  We'll see!

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Crossing (alternate) was written for an even shorter cut, I couldn't really come up with a good way to edit it down.

 

Yea not much to say about this.  The transition to Cuba is completely different than in your first video!

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Tales of Horror had an original take with Cinque's theme scoring his outburst, more as a low moment where he can't hold in his despair any longer - I had to shorten this footage for this original ending. The first revision doubles down on this idea and utilises the longer edit to add in another statement that helps the theme climax, still scoring Cinque's despair. The second revision, ultimately used in the film, takes the first revision's structure but pulls Dry Your Tears, Afrika onto it, making it a moment of uplifting triumph, where Cinque stands up for himself and demands the justice he'll ultimately receive. The third revision keeps the DYTA idea, but tones it down significantly, more as a quiet release than a triumphant climax.

 

 

Wow.  Fascinating.  "Dry Your Tears Afrika" just works better for this scene than Cinque's own theme does.  Both those versions make more sense than both Cinque versions.

 

The final instrumental DYTA version is a really interesting idea, but really only the idea used in the film is the one that makes the scene transcend to something more than what's on screen.   I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see how Spielberg and Williams discussed each of these versions!

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Discovering the Bible (alternate) is a different original approach - while the revised film version starts with representing the Africans with percussion, the Bible discussion with harp and Cinque on flute, and the church scenes with semi-religioso strings and brass, and eventually starts melding them, moving Cinque to different instruments and stops changing styles with the latter back and forth cuts, this version represents the Africans with sad strings (probably coming off of one of the Cinque versions of Tales of Horror), the Bible scenes, while still prominent in harp, are also scored with strings and multiple kinds of woodwinds while the church is mostly brass-based - they still meld but the cutting back and forth is not so obvious. I had to extend the ending a bit so Cinque's theme entering would sync up with the cut back to the jail.

 

Wow, fascinating to see this!  Really subdued compared to what you know from the film.  I can never decide which version of the cue I like more.  As far as supporting the film, I suppose the revision does a better job.

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

After a long unscored section, including the victory on state level, The Letter to Massachusetts and Cinque's Legal Mind are used as is.

 

The Letter To Massachusetts is a great one to watch isolated like this.  Just the music and reading the letter through the subtitles tells the whole story.  I love how Spielberg shows the journey of the letter and Adams' reaction to it, and the music is perfect accompaniment, like with the trumpet solo coming in on the closeup of his face when he seemingly realizes what he needs to do.

 

Cinque's Legal Mind is another fun one, the music really gives the scene a nice drive and momentum

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The footage for African Violet had to be edited very slightly.

 

Wowzers, what a cue (I still can't believe this was an obvious candidate to be on the original album).  It's so fascinating to watch the noble Adams theme go through such an amazing long-lined development as they talk, and then the way the music shifts to the ethnic flute and percussion for Cinque talking about his ancestors is amazing, and then the way that goes back into Adams' theme now on warm lush strings as he seemingly ponders what he said, just incredible.  This is a great cue that both stands on its own and supports the film perfectly, and again I'm surprised Williams didn't include it on the album.

 

I'm curious about what you said about editing the footage; Did it look like Williams scored a longer cut or a shorter cut?

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Adams' Address to the Court and Adams' Summation are used as is.

 

Adams' Address To The Court is another fun video.  It really shows how amazing of an actor Anthony Hopkins is, even without hearing his voice the way he commands the attention of everyone in the room for 7 straight minutes here, and the numerous different acting choices he makes for every different part of what he's saying is great.  I do wonder why he chose to drink so much water...

 

Williams support music is awesome, especially the dark passage underscoring Adams' reading from a southern person exposing why slavery should be acceptable and is just the nature of things.

 

Adams' Summation - wow.  The return of the ethnic music for Adams talking the Mende tradition of summoning their ancestors for support is awesome, especially as the scene transitions to Adams referring to America's founding fathers and needing their support and guidance now.  What's really fascinating is the introduction of the Dry Your Tears Afrika melody, which would have been the first time it's heard in the film/score before it was back-filled into earlier scenes via re-writes.  It's interesting to see that it comes in as Adams talks about triumphing over fear and prejudice to do what's right, even if it leads to civil war, the hopeful last battle of the American Revolution.  It isn't even introduced in dialogue having to do with Cinque's case specifically, but more the overall theme of progress as humans.  Fascinating.

 

 

[Holko 9,530]

50 minutes ago, Jay said:

Did it look like Williams scored a longer cut or a shorter cut?

By "edited" I usually mean editing down, in the other case I'd use "extended". I only had to shorten a shot or two by very little.

56 minutes ago, Jay said:

This is a great cue that both stands on its own and supports the film perfectly

Bring woodwinds back!

[Jay 37,373]

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The Verdict is edited slightly in the film.

 

I liked seeing that the solo horn Adams theme opening covers the lawyers alone pondering the case, with the strings only entering when we're back in the courtroom and the judges are reading the verdict.  And then that Adams's theme intro melody comes back as soon as the judge decrees that they are not slaves, but free individuals.  The build up to the Dry Your Tears Afrika melody finally beginning as the handcuffs are removed is great, as is the return of Cinque's Theme as he shakes Adams' hand.  The solo horn version of Cinque's theme covering him giving the tiger's tooth to Joadson was interesting, as a lusher arrangement of his theme is then used for his handshake with Baldwin.  BTW @Holko, there's no subtitles for whatever Baldwin says to him at the end here.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Liberation of Lomboko is used as is,

 

This reminds me so much of Empire of the Sun, the way there's this poppy end credits song for a bleak movie, and just a few scene before the end credits, a similar arrangement appears as a score cue. I'm still not sure if the movie or scene deserves such up-beat music here, but it's really quite Spielberg-ian to do so.

 

Man, I never noticed before how shoddy the miniature work was for the wall that gets destroyed by cannon fire.

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Going Home starts with the choir only mix, the soloist only comes in starting with the Civil War shots.

 

Hmm, seeing this I think Spielberg was right to leave out the Dillard for the first half in the film.  I love it being here the whole way through for the album's main program, though!

 

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

The film starts the credits with a third solo humming take, then used Dry Your Tears, Afrika as is on the LLL, with more obvious Lomboko tracking edit points and the ending cut short - if we use only it and The Long Road to Justice like I did here, they fit the credits' length well.

 

Oh man I just like this so much better.  The way Dillard's voice tapers down as the film fades out, and then the vocal intro of the song starts as the end credits do is just great here.  I don't know why Spielberg thought he needed to change it!  Nor why the OST album had to recreate this hodgepodge to open the album!  So thankful we don't have it on the LLL.

[Holko 9,530]

15 minutes ago, Jay said:

BTW @Holko, there's no subtitles for whatever Baldwin says to him at the end here.

He says it in Mende! It's "Thank you, Cinque", I think/assume.

[Jay 37,373]

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Cinque's Memories of Home, a revision of Cinque's Legal Mind, sets the "communication" theme on cello, solo vocal humming and percussion - IMO moving the material a bit too far to the east from the US, possibly why it wasn't used.

 

It still sounds to me more like a concert arrangement of this theme than it does a real score cue.  The original version of the cue is indeed better in the film, and also in the main program, I'd say.  This music is nice to have on its own, but I like it better as a bonus track.  

 

It's kind of funny that if this was indeed written for this scene, Spielberg didn't use it, removing Dillard from the film here, but then when on to track Dillard all over many other scenes in the film...

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

Going Home (alternate) is the choir take without the solo vocal, as it is partially  used in the film.

 

It really is more moody and ethereal without the Dillard, more fitting for the somber tone throughout the scene.  This could have worked if used throughout the whole scene instead of just the first half I think, but I do like the film mix of having her show up for the second half to end the film.

 

On 31/12/2022 at 5:50 PM, Holko said:

And finally, an idea by @BrotherSound: Cinque's Theme (solo horn) is also 2:06 long, like Going Home, why not try to see if it fits. In my opinion, it kind of does, many of the percussion hits and phrase borders match with shot changes.

 

That's "Cinqué’s Theme (Solo Flute)", not horn

 

Hmm.  This actually works mostly OK for the scene here, though it's hard to say any of it is better than the actual cue.  One need sync point, happenstance or not, was some kind of deep drum hit right when it shows an explosion in civil war footage.  I had to take a second to make sure I wasn't hearing sound effects, lol. When the later deep drum hits aren't synced to anything at all, I guess that makes it a coincidence.

 

 

 

Phew!  Finally found time to watch all this.  Thanks so much Holko, this was really great.  You are doing really good, really important work here!

 

I wish more people watched and commented.  I hope you find motivation to keep going through more of his scores!

[Holko 9,530]

24 minutes ago, Jay said:

I'm still not sure if the movie or scene deserves such up-beat music here, but it's really quite Spielberg-ian to do so.

I dunno, the moment when they start giving the command to fire and the theme gloriously restarts is when I always start tearing up.

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

I wish more people watched and commented.  I hope you find motivation to keep going through more of his scores!

Hasn't stopped me before, it's the process of restoring that I enjoy far more than the watching. I had a ton if fun with Black Sunday, for example. Thank you for this series of detailed reactions anyway!

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

When the later deep drum hits aren't synced to anything at all, I guess that makes it a coincidence.

Hmm, I'm not sure I could bring up any examples off the top if my head but this isn't the only time in his career JW introduces some phrase as a reaction to a sync point but then just builds it into the music.

[Jay 37,373]

Hmm, true