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John Williams Writes New Theme for ESPN College Football Championship - OF GRIT AND GLORY


DangerMotif

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18 minutes ago, toothless said:

That piece is full of energy it’s wild. That made my day.

It never lets up, never runs out, and ends with a bang.  

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53 minutes ago, Jay said:

From the FSM thread:

 

If anyone's interested, I was able to take the audio from this video, use an A.I. stem separator program (as some people use to remove vocals from existing recordings so they can sing along with the backing tracks for karaoke) and create a somewhat reasonable version of the audio that doesn't have talking over it. The music is there, but at times there is some crowd noise and a cannon explosion sound towards the end, so until a truly clean version of the theme is released (and I'll take this down once it is), this will have to do.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fodnzsizbtkieu/ofgritandglory.mp3?dl=0

 

https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=150154&forumID=1&archive=0

 now it's upgraded to Satellite Celebration bootleg sound!

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24 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

I won't listen to this fantastic piece again until it's released in proper form...

that probably means never again

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8 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

The music is built around the narration 

So was American Journey originally but the music was then recorded and released without it.

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I think there is a big difference between this piece and Dear Basketball, in which the music and narration were conceived as fully integrated.  Grit and Glory is more like a mini film score and there is no reason why it can’t be enjoyed separately from the montage.  Anyway, that’s my two cents.

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Quote

Khodabakhshian and his co-director and editor Michael Sciallis of Victory Pictures had dreamed about getting the world’s most famous film composer to write music for their opening sequence. .....

“There’s no better person on the planet to write about emotions and the things that come with the biggest night on ESPN’s biggest stage, our Super Bowl, than John Williams,” Khodabakhshian says. Adds Sciallis: “We wrote about the emotions of bringing people together, not just the competition side of it, but how audiences are affected.” ....

 

The “giddiness and excitement” associated with a new Williams anthem for their big college football game was palpable throughout the ESPN executive suites, Sciallis says.  ....

 

Khodabakhshian confesses he broke down in tears after meeting the maestro. “I’m so overwhelmed and grateful because he’s the GOAT!” .....

 

...no plans for a commercial release have apparently been discussed.
 

 

That makes no sense! There, I said it. I've been holding that in for a few days now. 

 

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2 hours ago, Tom said:

What's the deal with your depressing picture of JW?  

 

2 hours ago, Jay said:

 

It's fitting as KM's signature since he's the Eeyore of JWFan!

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But he couldn't have scored the final video as it shows him conducting... unless they added old footage or placeholders. I'll have to watch it again. I hope Williams saved the most heroic moments for the scenes of him conducting!

 

I'm guessing that instead of the extremes of Williams scoring to the film and just writing the music, the process was probably more collaborative. It would be interesting to learn more about the process

I just had an idea. Ask the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to invite Williams over for another concert, request that piece open the concert, and then release the concert or just that piece. Problem solved! Sorted! 

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Watching this again, I cannot help but have the following thought: While this piece is (and I do not say this lightly) an instant classic and a throwback to a time when he had more regular instant classics, and, while it had an audience in the millions, I cannot help but to think the whole context and video was beneath his dignity.

 

Am I crazy?  And, if so, am I still right?  

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9 minutes ago, Tom said:

Watching this again, I cannot help but have the following thought: While this piece is (and I do not say this lightly) an instant classic and a throwback to a time when he had more regular instant classics, and, while it had an audience in the millions, I cannot help but to think the whole thing context and video was beneath his dignity.

 

Am I crazy?  And, if so, am I still right?  

I don't know about beneath his dignity. JW has done many odd commissions. How do you feel about him doing the NFL theme? 

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7 hours ago, Tom said:

Perhaps a dumb question, but if Williams scored the already existing video, wouldn't that classify it as a short film ala "Dear Basketball?"  

 

It wasn't released theatrically, so no.

4 hours ago, Tom said:

Watching this again, I cannot help but have the following thought: While this piece is (and I do not say this lightly) an instant classic and a throwback to a time when he had more regular instant classics, and, while it had an audience in the millions, I cannot help but to think the whole thing context and video was beneath his dignity.

 

Am I crazy?  And, if so, am I still right?  

 

He scored "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home."  So yes, you are crazy.

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10 hours ago, Tom said:

I cannot help but to think the whole thing context and video was beneath his dignity.

 

He's (also) a film composer. The dignity of film composers necessarily stretches very, very far. But I don't think this is in any way undignified (even though I don't care for football at all).

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10 hours ago, artguy360 said:

I don't know about beneath his dignity. JW has done many odd commissions. How do you feel about him doing the NFL theme? 

The Sunday Night theme was the official theme of the broadcast going forward, not a score to a video that may never be used again.  

 

5 hours ago, Bryant Burnette said:

 

It wasn't released theatrically, so no.

 

He scored "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home."  So yes, you are crazy.

I would think it beneath him if he took that commission at this point in his career.  

1 minute ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

He's (also) a film composer. The dignity of film composers necessarily stretches very, very far. But I don't think this is in any way undignified (even though I don't care for football at all).

The video he scored just seemed very "cheap," if that makes sense. 

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I reckon it's John Williams's business to determine what is and what isn't beneath his dignity.  Something tells me that if he thought this was, he wouldn't have accepted the job.  Therefore, it isn't.  Simple!

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4 hours ago, Bryant Burnette said:

I reckon it's John Williams's business to determine what is and what isn't beneath his dignity.  Something tells me that if he thought this was, he wouldn't have accepted the job.  Therefore, it isn't.  Simple!

Perhaps, but according to that principle, a person could never choose anything contrary to or beneath their dignity.

 

I know that it is not that big of a deal, but it just feels to me one step away from Williams scoring a McDonald's commerical or something.  

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7 minutes ago, Tom said:

 

 

I know that it is not that big of a deal, but it just feels to me one step away from Williams scoring a McDonald's commerical or something.  

 

Like the Coca Cola commercial he scored in 2001?

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I would feel better if ESPN had just said this would be their college football (or at least playoff) theme going forward.  Why make this a one-off?  Were they waiting to see if the piece would be well-received before making a decision to use it in the future?  Maybe instead of my terminology of beneath his dignity, I should say ESPN is disrespecting him a bit (and I don't like that he is going along with it).  At the end of the day, something about this is just not sitting well with me. 

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2 hours ago, Tom said:

I would feel better if ESPN had just said this would be their college football (or at least playoff) theme going forward.  Why make this a one-off?  Were they waiting to see if the piece would be well-received before making a decision to use it in the future?  Maybe instead of my terminology of beneath his dignity, I should say ESPN is disrespecting him a bit (and I don't like that he is going along with it).  At the end of the day, something about this is just not sitting well with me. 

I suspect ESPN did not take your feelings into consideration regarding use of this new JW piece. I also suspect JW does not feel disrespected and doesn't notice that you feel disrespected on his behalf.

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1 hour ago, artguy360 said:

I suspect ESPN did not take your feelings into consideration regarding use of this new JW piece. I also suspect JW does not feel disrespected and doesn't notice that you feel disrespected on his behalf.

No need to be an ass.  

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18 hours ago, Tom said:

Perhaps, but according to that principle, a person could never choose anything contrary to or beneath their dignity.

 

I know that it is not that big of a deal, but it just feels to me one step away from Williams scoring a McDonald's commerical or something.  

 

I trust John Williams to know where that line is much more readily than for you to know where it is on his behalf.  Williams is a populist a large chunk of the time; it makes complete sense for him to have done this piece for a live event that was watched by millions upon millions of people.

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