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My Symphonic Forces Series (Released)

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 (Edited)

Hey all.

I’ve been doing some edits for a while but I’ve never posted on here about them before. One of my favourite composers alive is John Williams. His ability to compose is second to none. I hope to one day be able to compose music that is thought of as fondly as his.

In my ever growing attempt to learn what he does (in essence apprentice myself to him from afar) I’ve been studying what he does, the decisions he makes, how he orchestrates those decisions, and just about everything I can learn about him musically speaking.

As my understanding of him grew, and I began to branch out from his albums into more curious areas of research like the actual scores themselves (because the album edits are just that, edits of the scores), I began to learn more. Certain tracks I was always curious about made me wonder where they came from and such.

For example, there was a cue on the Jurassic Park album that I never listened to, and ironically enough, it’s the track that Steven Spielberg specifically speaks about in his notes of the album. “Raptor Attack.” I never listened to it because it didn’t mean anything to me. It wasn’t in the film, it was mostly atonal and not really listen able.

As I began to study the Jurassic Park score, I realized that some of that cue was used in the film during the kitchen sequence, so I layered the rest of the cue over the film and viola! That’s where it was meant!..

And thus began my growing attempt to understand John Williams, his film presence, and the decisions made in post production with the films to better understand the entire process.

I made a few videos about Jurassic Park, but then I branched off into some other films like Star Wars.

I thought I’d make a thread, and talk about the videos, post links to them on from youtube, and allow you all to comment and talk about them here.

I know a few people have done this before, but when I started it I was completely unaware. I found a few of their videos and I have to say, I don’t think they really went to the full extent that I do in these.

I take the DVD’s, rip the video and the 5.1 audio, remove all the un-needed sound/music, and remix in the correct or alternate music.

So lets begin!
 


 

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces: Volume I "Binary Sunset"
 

What better way to begin this process than to look at one of the most iconic moments in Star Wars history.

To better understand this scene we have to look back to 1977 and John Williams career up to that point. John Williams was not the ever-day household name he is today. In 1977, John Williams had, however, done many scores, but most of them in television.

None had matched in the scope or wide acceptance that Star Wars would offer excluding perhaps the disaster flicks from several years earlier and the great “Jaws.”

Because of these factors, one might say that John Williams was still not entirely sure of himself or how best to fit the film musically.

One must also remember the changes that the film scores through John Williams career up to that point had gone through. The previous scores had been very small and intimate. Some were even very dated such as his score to “Daddy-O” or films with a jazz/beach boys like score lol. Then you had other films that called upon his jazz backgrounds but were more pure jazz such as “Cinderella Liberty.”

Again, excluding Jaws (the film that got him the recommendation for Star Wars) and a few other scores, John Williams had not scored many serious orchestral scores.

With all this in mind, John Williams ear, as wonderful as it was, saw/heard things differently than George’s.

When George heard the original composition for the scene Binary Sunset, he asked John for something else. John’s original piece was much more darker, and forebodings. It called upon no real thematic material, but rather upon raw emotions that Luke must have been feeling or sensing, or as an audience member, telling us that whatever Luke sees as his future, or wishes for his future, we know that it is much darker than he could realize. His loss of his only family, the moving into the cold loneliness of space, the dealing with the loss of a friend, fighting for the survival of all his new ones, and his eventual and unavoidable fate of dealing with the Empire and its dark Lord Vader.

Lucas, however, saw the scene as hopeful. Luke looked out to the suns and perhaps in his naive-ity, wished for things much greater. And it is this insight into the character–along with a grand statement of his theme–that Lucas wanted.

The Special Editions released by RCA in 1997 have a booklet and the booklet speaks to this:

Note: Ben’s Theme, The Force Theme, and Luke’s Theme are used interchangeably.

"The subsequent cue, Binary Sunset, begins with flutes playing Luke’s theme, with clarinet interjecting with a key change. Ben’s theme is used to accompany Luke as he gazes longingly at the desert planet’s twin sunset, beginning with French horn and soaring magnificently into full orchestra. Williams originally scored the scene with a darker, mysterious cue that did not utilize thematic material (see track 13). It was revised when George Lucas suggested that Ben’s theme would more effectively convey Luke’s dreams of leaving Tatooine. Three themes then round out the track: flutes briefly state the Rebel Fanfare, Luke’s theme returns with solo clarinet, and a flute/horn combination plays Ben’s theme, punctuated by celeste and chimes. "

Furthermore, the sequence of Luke leaving to go look at the setting suns, as well as the scenes after it, discovering that R2 has run away, are also orchestrated much darker as well.

Here, you can view the original “Binary Sunset.”
 


 

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces: Volume II "Pod Racing"
 

Perhaps not one of my better edits (as I had a lot of trouble ripping this, it kept ripping at a really really slooow speed and I tried to speed it up as much as possible but it never quite fit right, not to mention the original music protruding through).

From the first edit, we now go to Episode I.

For the first time in twenty years, Lucas and Williams return back to the Star Wars universe and bring us the tale of Anakin and his turn to the dark side.

One of the scenes Lucas most wanted was a “high speed race,” but being in Star Wars, it had to be alien yet familiar, so he created the pod races. Most of this sequence is without music up until the sabotage that Sebulba left on Anakin’s Pod-Racer begins to take effect.

The music in the film begins with the correct cue, “Sebulba’s Evil Deed,” but the second the piece of Anakin’s pod falls off, the cue is replaced with “Escape from Naboo.” This cue plays all the way until the two pods get connected, and then another cue is tracked in, “Gungan Escape” which then plays to it’s end, several tense moments before Anakin crosses the finish line.

Perhaps the best explanation for this change is those few moments without music. Williams original cues play all the way through and then segues into “Hail to the Winner.” In the film, those tense moments gives you a sort of “Wait? did he just? He did! HE’S GONNA–! HE WON!” sort of moment… where as the original Williams version you continue on with a sort of excitement of knowing he’s done it before he’s done it, which can often be a problem with film scores at times, telling you somethings going to happen before it happens. Imagine hearing the “Jaws theme” before he arrives. You know he’s there. Same sort of problem here.

(Ironically, “Gungan Retreat” is tracked to replace “Pod Racing,” (the cue right after “Sebulba’s Evil Deed”) and “Pod Racing” is latter tracked into the film to replace “Gungan Retreat.” This may also be another reason why. With the Battle for Naboo completely re-edited and restructured, the need for music to cover some of it was imperative. “Gungan Retreat” is much shorter than “Pod Racing,” so using “Pod Racing” instead was a simple answer.

The problem, however, is that Tatooine has a certain sound to it. There are two things musically usually used to signify Tatooine. One is this motif that plays as R2 and 3PO fall to Tatooine in the escape pod from the Tantive IV and also in Episode I as the Queen’s ship arrives at Tatooine. The second is a certain percussive sound that I call the “Tatooine Percussion.” First heard in A New Hope as the Tuscan Raiders attack Luke, this percussion in A New Hope consists primarily of tuned logs, slap sticks, and steel plates to create an appropriately savage sound. Here, some of that percussion is used again in a very similar motif to the beat used in A New Hope, but re-orchestrated of course without using the percussion as the center-piece like in A New Hope.

The problem then of course becomes what to do about the percussion. Well, modern recording processes have changed greatly since 1977. The percussive tracks of any recording can be tracked in and out at will. (Did you know, for example, that Escape from Naboo had a much more active percussive track, as did Arrival at Coruscant. Both are all but tracked out and minimized.)

In doing so, you create alternates (hence why my set lists the alternates as percussive alternates and the others as “Tatooine Percussion.”

Here, you can view the original intended usage of the two cues “Sebulba’s Evil Deed” and “Pod Racing Complete”

PS: Sorry about the occasional moments where the original sound comes through. This was back before I had the great programs I have now heh.
 


 

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume III "The Arena"
 

Jumping now from Episode I to Episode II, “The Arena” is perhaps one of the most sought after changes to Episode II.

The reasons for this change are explained a bit in the DVD to Episode II. Ben Burt, sound designer and head editor of sound for the 6 films is somewhat notorious in John Williams circles.

Ever since the release of the Special Edition films, his name has circulated with a bit of a stigma. One of the biggest changes made to A New Hope, was the 90% tracked out fanfare as the Rebels begin to turn into the Death Star trench. Many fans, when watching the new version of the film were appalled by this change that seemingly occurred for no reason except perhaps to highlight the SFX of the newly re-done shots.

In Episode II, Ben Burtt experimented with creating a “music sound” of his own, utilizing all sorts of sounds. This was originally meant to accompany the Factory scene which Burtt was really excited to work on because from a sound effects level, this would be the apex of sound design.

Ultimately, Lucas decided to ask Williams to record a cue (quite late in the game) to use for this moment in the film. Most of the music was unused and edited past recognition, but the damage perhaps had been done.

Burtt then fought to use his percussive sounds in a different scene: The Arena.

In the end we know what won. Most of the Arena sequence didn’t use score. Instead, if you watch the film and listen carefully, you can hear the crowd noises and the percussive beats of unknown percussion.

Also, with the removal of the music, Lucas was able to go back and re-edit some of the sequence, extending and shortening certain moments.

Interesting side note: some of this cue is unavailable and isn’t on the album, however this should replace the original music with only minor edits.

Here, I have gone back and replaced the music in the mix so you can hear how “The Arena” was meant to sound.
 


 

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume IV "Boys Into Battle"
 

Perhaps one of the first things I noticed when I saw Episode III for the first time was the missing intro to “Boys Into Battle,” or “Battle over Coruscant” as some call it. On the album, as the Opening Credits finish, there is a loud fanfare of activity which then goes into a percussive rendition of the theme from Star Wars.

Like the last video, simple percussion is used instead of the full music by John Williams. The removal of the transition leaves the scene rather quiet and instead of the full orchestra, they do a complete opposite of removal of the percussion in “Pod Racing” and remove the orchestra, all but two loud Taiko drums from the cue give a beat until the music is tracked back in after the two jedi fighters fly by.

The tracking out of the music gives the sequence a much more “What’s going on?” feel than it would if John Williams original music had been left in. The length of the missing music is rather short, but the change is quite powerful.

This is where you can view “Boys Into Battle”.
 


 

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume V “General Grevious” and "The Elevator Scene"
 

This next video from Episode III highlights two other scenes meant to have music accompany them but were ultimately left without music (or at least most).

After I made this video, it was brought to light that the music that accompanied the landing of Obi-Wan and Anakin in the hangar of the Invisible Hand was also different.

In the film, you hear most of the cue “Get 'em R2” which has the Rebel Fanfare in it. The film, then edits most of the rest of the cue out, and instead jumps to a bit of music from the end of the cue, then to a bit of music from the scene itself and finishes off with music that was meant to be latter, as Obi-Wan and Anakin head off into the Invisible hand. Most of the second half of this cue is unreleased and completely unheard except for a few moments in the film. The last minute or so of the cue, however IS available. Had I known that the music was meant to accompany the scene from when Obi-Wan asks R2 to find the Chancellor up to when they give R2 the communicator, the video would have started earlier.

If you’d like to view that, I have it in the first few moments of my edit of Count Dooku’s death in my Episode III re-edit thread.

This video, however, starts from when General Grevious is first introduced in the film. The film, however, limits the usage of his theme and simply ends it very promptly after a single statement, once he begins to talk. The cue itself is partially heard on the album, but for the most part is unreleased (except in video games).

This cue finishes in the video. There is some controversy over the shot between these two scenes when R2 sees the two Battle Droids enter the hangar. This may or may not have been in the original edit.

The next sequence is “The Elevator Scene.” This video presents the Album alternate of this cue. There are two versions: one as heard on the album, and one that has some extra percussion in the beginning. In my Count Dooku’s Death re-edit video, you hear the latter of the two.

This video, however, preserves the original Album version of the cue. It’s possible, however, that the percussive version was meant to be the one used as most of the cues in the beginning of the film use a great deal of snare drums and other percussive instruments, highlighting the military-esque aspect of this section of the film.

Here is where you can view “General Grevious” and “The Elevator Scene.”
 


 

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VI "Grevious Flees"
 

Coming Soon! hehe… I’ve got too many of these to do at the moment… But I thought I’d post this now…


Is it not sad that in this time, we are more surprised by acts of love than acts of hate?
-Me

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Hey, I didn't think I'd get to these tonight, but it looks like I will so I'll continue where i left off:

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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VI "Grevious Flees"

On the album, there is a cue called "Grevious and the Droids." Back when I was editing my Episode III score, I noticed that only half of this cue was used here. The other half was actually used during the chase through Utapau latter in the film. I wondered where it had been intended to go, so I lined it up and layered it over Episode III and found it fit perfectly.

The cue begins right after Obi-Wan and Anakin get captured by the ray shields, when R2 flys into the hall in in hot pursuit by two droidikas.

The cue continues on, showing the Invisible Hand in space, and then on through their conversation.

In the film, the music doesn't begin until after Anakin has freed Palpatine. It would play up until the Invisible Hand begins to break in half, right before General Grevious' escape pod ejects.

Here, I continue the music up until it's completion. Why most of this was tracked out is not really known. It's possible that Lucas simply felt there was too much music in the beginning of the film. Most Star Wars films don't have much music in the beginning, but the battle sequences at the end of the film usually have a lot, so John Williams naturally composed music for quite a bit of the opening sequence.

But again it's hard to say. I personally like all the music written for the whole opening sequence but it's hard to say except perhaps personal choice on Lucas' part to remove it and perhaps give it a feeling of being slightly longer than it is, with a heightened reality.

Here is where you can view "Grevious Escapes.".
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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VII "Probe Droid" Alternate and "Ice Planet Hoth" Complete

Perhaps one of the strangest changes I've seen to a film was this.

The opening to Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back begins with the usual "Star Wars" opening, about a 1:30 of music. Then, the next cue "Probe Droids" begins, but not when it's suppose to. Rather, it begins slightly late, and then is dialed out. Next, the alternate of Probe Droids" begins, removing some of the beginning. The rest of the cue plays, never quite being where it's meant to be against the film.

Then, as we see Luke from the sky, the remainder of the alternate plays up until we have a close up of luke. This then goes back to the original cue which plays until look is attacked and is being dragged away.

As he's being dragged away, another cue is tracked in as Han enters Echo Base, and the rest of the music is, for the most part, left out up until Leia confronts Han about leaving. This plays, but is slightly off from where it is intended to sync, which continues up even past R2 and 3PO come out from the hall. Most of the rest of the cue is not used in the film.

Here, I replace all the original music, synced correctly and completely in the film as originally intended by John Williams.

Why Irvin Kershner decided to do this I'm not quite sure. I know a lot of times if the music is meant to sync up directly with certain actions in the film, a lot of times the music will me moved slightly off the mark so as to change the intent and make it less blatant. But the amount of changes and tracking in and out of music here is daunting.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Lucas doesn't like Empire that much is because of it's slightly more jovial attitude towards the characters and the scenes. Not being taken that seriously seemed to have had an effect on the score by Williams and his score. Some of the cues seem to have a very different feel than those of the original film, and seem like a grave departure from the original score. Perhaps for this reason as well, and to remove that heightened sense of "somethings different," his score was mostly unused and replaced.

This is where you can view my edit of "Probe Doird" and Compelete "Ice Planet Hoth".
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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VIII "Droid Invasion" Complete and "Introduction of Jar Jar"


Perhaps one of the strangest moments in the score to Episode I is a small omission made as Qui-Gon runs through the forest with a myriad of other animals being persued by the Droid Transport Tanks. He runs into Jar Jar and then manages to fall out of the way of these tanks that both float and are apparently going so far they will run you down (lol right).

Anyways, the music meant for this sequence is unused in the film. A little later, As Jar Jar introduces himself and talks about Otta Gunga, the music meant to accompany this is unused. Instead, it comes in much latter when he jumps into the water but is tracked Incorrectly, causing a small portion as they step onto the landing to get into the main bubble to have to be removed.

In my video, I replace all the music and sync it correctly with the film.

Why then changes were made is hard to say. It may simply be because that small portion as Qui-Gon is being chased didn't fit well enough, and that the SFX by Ben Burt, which were very well tediously done, worked better alone. The omission of Jar Jar's theme may have been because they felt that the thematic material for Jar Jar wasn't necessary and detracted from the story, so they left it out until Jar Jar jumped into the water. The music here, having been synced differently caused them to have to remove a small repeating section near the end in order to fit the sequence correctly, so that removal is obvious.

This is where you can view this edit of "Droid Invasion" and "Introduction of Jar Jar.".
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Although not Part of the Symphonic Forces Series, I felt now would be a good time to talk about a set of three videos I did replacing the original score as written by John Williams for Battle for Naboo re-edited as it had been intended and seen by John Williams.

The last videos to be edited using Window Movie Maker, these edits can be a bit rough at times and were quite hard to make. I tried at first using Audio with them, and remixing the music into the film, but there were so many edits, and so much going on, that it quickly became impossible to sustain good sounding audio with the new music mixed in over the old for all the videos, so I opted to simply have video and music.

Star Wars: Battle For Naboo Re-Edit Part I

In this first video, we see the final moments of Sidious telling Nute to "Wipe them [the Gungans] out. All of them."

The first bit of music heard is the alternate to the "Gungan March." As mentioned earlier, the percussion can be isolated and used separately. For this reason, several alternates surfaced of this. Firstly you have this original version, then you have the percussive alternate, then you have the version on the 2 Disc Phantom Menace Set, then you have the film version which differs only slightly from the 2 disc set version so it's not entirely worth mentioning.

After this, begins the cue "The Battle Begins," which most will recognize as the music used as the Droid Army Comes to life and begins to march towards the Gungans. The dramatic difference, and yet amazing ability for the cue to be used in both cases is astounding and speaks to John Williams creative ability.

The second half of "The Battle Begins" is used in the film, as Padme and the group enter the courtyard in Naboo, however the scenes is slightly extended in the film and some of the music is looped, causing most of it to be incorrectly synced.

The next cue, "The Battle for Naboo I" begins earlier than it is used in the film, this caused a lot of the edits in the film because of the incorrect syncing. Again, like mentioned before, sometimes editors will move scores to be slightly off their mark so as not to heighten certain moments as much. Some of the scene as Nute speaks is extended in the film, which wouldn't work for the score so it was looped. Originally, Darth Maul even had a line here.

The shot then cuts back to the Gungan Battle. Notice that in the film, they seemingly enter into the Hangar Bay almost instantaneously. In the film, it seems to give the illusion that the Hangar Bay is on the other side of those doors, but anyone with a keen eye looking down from an aerial shot of Naboo would realize that the hangar Bay couldn't begin there. This created some continuity issues, but the original edit fixes them.

Back in the Gungan Battle, the music here lays completely unused in the film and unheard to most people as it's not available on the album.


From here we jump to the Hangar with "Battle for Naboo II." A lot of this sequence I had to cut, which stands to reason why they use different music in the film: so they could extend it. I wasn't quite sure how this music was meant to go as they got into their ships but when you get to the moment where the ship gets hit by the laser blast and falls to the ground below, I knew that I'd gotten it at least mostly right.

The music then jumps around and shows us on the bridge of the droid control ship, as the attendant is being told to activate the droids. The music here is quite different than what's heard in the film obviously as we just talked about that. Most won't recognize this music either as it's not released.

One of the many things I ended up having to do was reincorporate many unused shots including one here as the starfighters come up from the bottom of the screen towards the Droid Control ship. This music then segues into "Hangar Battle," as the ships begin dog fighting in space.

Another shot is of the starfighter being hit by enemy fire and falling down away from the camera. (notice the cymbol crash as it gets hit).

The film cuts back to the hangar as the group walked towards the door which opens, revealing Darth Maul. Here is where most people might get confused. In the film, we're use to hearing the choir begin singing Duel of the Fates. In the original, however, we arn't sure if they were suppose to. There isn't much space for them to, and from the score we've discovered, it doesn't appear that they did.

Star Wars: Battle for Naboo Re-Edit Part II

This second video begins with "The Duel Begins." You'll notice as the sequence begins, there is no music. Some argue that there must have been music for this but if there is, I have yet to find it.

As "The Duel Begins," listen for the two horn notes as the Jedi open their lightsabers. Also notice the exchange between the flute and the horns with the Duel of the Fates motif as the camera angles change, jumping between Maul and Obi-Wan. Agian, I had to incorporate some unused footage, but because of the limitations of the program I had, I was unable to incorporate it properly.

This then cuts to the group being held up by the Droidikas. The cue "Anakin Takes Off" begins. This predominately how it is in the film except for some minor switching around of shots.

Listen for the little moments that match up such as when the fighter gets hit by the laser blast and the flutes fly up. Then the timpani accent the beats as Anakin activates the fighter, it begins to ascend, and as the shots change (this is how it is in the film).

In the film, some of the shots are extended, such as Padme and the group running down the hall, and as such, the music is looped in the film. I shortened them to replace the music as it had been intended.

The transition to "Duel of the Fates" is a bit of a mystery. No Duel of the Fates recording has surfaced that seems to match this short battle so it is believed that a fully orchestrated version of Duel of the Fates found, just like the album version but with extra percussion and notation, was to be edited over this fighting as seen here.

Notice the extra cymbal crashes and flourishes. This is exactly like how it is in the film, except a different Recording.

This then cuts to the Gungan Battle. The question becomes "What were the droids doing all this time?" It's hard to say. The pacing of the three battles was so much, that it becomes hard to get any editing done in such a manner that is shows what needs to be shown, but also does what needs to be done without stretching too much of the battles.

In making these edits, I noticed that almost ALL of Jar Jar's lines and stunts were completely removed. It would seem that a great deal of the Gungan Battle was not in the original edit and for that reason, plus the pacing, it's possible th Lucas went back and completely re-edited this sequence. He speaks on the DVD about how difficult editing the three sequences together was, that there were several versions and that he exploited Jar Jar and his "bumbler"-ness to tell more of the story of the Gungan's so it would seem this part to be true as well.

The next cue is "Battle for Naboo III." It took me a while to figure out how this cue was meant, but once I re-inserted an unused bit from the battle between the Jedi and Maul, I realized exactly how it was at least meant to start off. I love how the instruments really bring out the motions of Maul's lightsaber. The spinning action, as it hits the Obi-Wan's saber. And even as Maul jumps up to the second level it works really well. I'm sure there was probably more to that shot, but no more has been released so I couldn't do anything but cut to the next shot.

The script, unfortunately, was of little to no help in these chances as the script available was pretty close to whats seen in the film and not what the previous edits had been.

The battle then jumps to the hallway battle between the droids and Amidala and her group. In the script, though, it described this as not being split up as seen in the film. Padme says to Panaka "We don't have time for this, Captain." He then says "I have an idea," and looked to the window and explodes it open. In the film, the scene is split in two and put inbetween more of the space battle. Here I edited it together and it worked wonderfully.

The film then cuts to Anakin in space getting close to the battle, then back to the gungan battle. I shorten most of that cut though.

Then we're back in space as the squadron spins into the deflector shield. In the film, this music does accompany this but again, is slightly pushed off the mark. If you watch in my edit, the first boom of the timpani hits as one of the fights explodes, then you see the others shoot their bombs, hitting dome and the dish and exploding with further "booms" from the timpani. Also that matched up because of this, when Anakin's controls are released, the orchestra flares with the change in color on the controls.

Also, as one of the enemy fights explodes as it hits a pylon, the cymbals crash as well.

Then as we're back in the hall way, Padme turns to Panaka who blows the window while the orchestra flares. The music in the film here is synced a bit differently as I said, but this seems to be the way the music was intended.

Star Wars: Battle for Naboo Part III

In this final video, we begin with "The Great Battle." Seen being recorded on the DVD, this cue is not used in the film. Instead, an edit of Duel of the Fates takes its place.

This cue plays until the three become trapped by the force fields. Then the cue "The Invisible Wall" begins.

The next shot, we jump to "Gungan Retreat." Again, much of the Gungan battle is underplayed in the film. Perhaps seen as unimportant and merely a decoy in the original, it really left a lot of the story about the Gungans out. As stated in the Pod Racing video, the film version of this utilizes the tracked cue "Pod Racing," but without the tatooine percussion. It allows for the extending of the sequence past this short insert.

The next scene takes us to where we left off from Padme and her group. Notice the statue in the background? It looks to have been added latter as in the next shot, taken from a bit latter in the film (but according to the released script would have been the next) it is no longer present. This is perhaps to give the illusion of them having traveled further by simply removing the statue and saying "they're in a different hall now."

This next cue is "Anakin's Crash Landing," After Padme and her group are captured, it jumps to Anakin being grazed in his ship and crash landing in the hangar of the Droid Control Ship.

The next cue "Qui-Gon's Death (Original)," is the album take on the cue "Qui-Gon's Death." The film version has many different things layered in to try to spruce up what John Williams had. As you'll notice, only the strings and the choir whispers are present as Maul and Qui-Gon battle, but in the film, tracked winds and other slight percussion is tracked in, filling in more of the sound which would have been slightly empty.

This is a more modern practice. The didn't use to be able to do this until recently when we started recording instrument sections, percussion and wind and such, all at once, but miked separately so they could be removed or isolated in a mix. Past that most of this music is how it is in the film.

As Padme is brought to the throne room, there is a small glitch, but when she gets her guns and manages to get the throne room to herself and the group, in the film, the music is looped to show her shooting more droids, but in the original edit it wasn't meant that way.

That is, as best as I can tell, how the original edit was meant. After recreating the original score from the video games, albums, dvd and such, and finding an incomplete cue list, we managed to figure out and deduce that this is what the original intent behind the Battle for Naboo was by John Williams, which required me to re-edit the film itself, otherwise I wouldn't have.

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And finally, my most recent edit that I just uploaded will by my final entry for now. If anyone has any other they think I should add, let me know. I have a few ideas floating around in my head from the OT and such that I'd like to try. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume IX "Through the Flames" and the alternates to "Leia's News" and "Funeral Pyre for a Jedi"

In the film, after the death of Darth Vader, we cut to seeing Wedge and the Millennium Falcon getting to the Death Stars Main Reactor. In the film, the music for this moment is replaced with a much more foreboding, dark, and more solemn sounding piece tracked from Empire Strikes Back as Leia decides to turn around to get Luke from the Bottom of Cloud City. This is more somber than the fanfare originally intended for the scene.

Here I replace those first few moments.

Latter, we see Leia talking to Han, and revealing that she is Luke's sister. This version seems to highlight "He's my brother"much more than the film alternate because it moves more in this section rather than hanging onto the "re" note. Rather than stating simply Han and Leia's theme, it goes into a rendition of the Ewok theme as Wikit interrupts: the first welcomed interruption by someone.

We next see Luke burning what is left of Darth Vader. The film version is most similar, and is almost simply a lift of the film version of "Binary Sunset." Here, in this alternate, we hear a much grander version of the same theme, with completely different orchestrations and a melodically slightly longer version leading into the Ewok celebration.

The want for the changes are pretty much as stated. The transition from Anakin's death needed more time perhaps. Then the use of the Ewok theme was truly unnecessary and the Han and Leia theme worked fine in this moment. Then as Luke burned the body of his father, It's possible that Lucas wanted something with the melody of Binary Sunset. Williams original intent for Binary Sunset being different, he possibly felt that this might need an alternate and so decided to write two renditions using the same melody, but orchestrated differently.

Here is were you can view "Through the Flames" and Alternaes of "Leia's News" and "Funeral Pyre for a Jedi."

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Well, I hope you all enjoyed my break down. If you have any questions let me know. If there are any scenes you think I should do, I'd be welcome to hearing from you.

I thought you all might be interested in these changes and why they were made and be able to compare them for yourself and see which you feel you like more, in the end, giving us all more insight into the films we love.

Anyways, hope you all liked them, and there are more to come!


Is it not sad that in this time, we are more surprised by acts of love than acts of hate?
-Me

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This is fantastic Goodmusician.

I loved your extended scores sets you made available and have a very keen interest in score music for films especially Star Wars and John Williams.

Do you think in the future you may collect these videos onto a DVD or make them available for download? No rush but it would be nice at some point if this happened as I'm sure we would all like to add this to our collections.

Thanks again,

Wookielover
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That would be great.

Sort of like 'A musical journey' only different.

I've been trying to keep up with a ll your clips and edits GM but you are some kind of clip cutting machine. Keep it up
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Well all, its time for another installment. I'm currently uploading the next segment:

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces: Volume X Completed "Wampa Ice Layer" through to "Snowspeeders Take Flight"

Perhaps one of the most edit written of the three original trilogy films, Empire Strikes Back has never ceased to amaze me with what it does and doesn't use and how it uses these moments.

One aspect of film I haven't really spoken to much to is the idea of "tracked" music.

Perhaps one of the strangest and most widely used edit in the Prequel Trilogy is that of "tracked music." Williams was aware of this when he composed the music for Episode I and is perhaps in no small reason why his score for Episode I is as brilliant as it is: he knew that it would be used in the other films.

Episode II, as we all know, uses massive amounts of tracked music. Tracked music however wasn't always as widespread as it was in Episode II.

Sometimes, when a composer felt differently about a scene than a director, he/she would create an alternate. If even that alternate didn't suffice, the director might pull from other material.

Examples of this are present in many of the films of Spielberg. One particular scene that comes to mind is when ET is first taken out of his closet and Elliot explains many concepts to him from toys, fish, to eating. The original scoring of this scene is much more delicate using the friendship theme with light strings and harp.

In the end, however, Spielberg decided to cull from another cue called "Loosing ET," when ET lies, dead, in the freezer and Elliot speaks to him, saying goodbye. Both use this friendship theme and are good alternates for each-other and fit each scene almost identically so one could almost argue in the geniuess that went into this decision. Even little nuances such as ET eating the car and ET coming back to life line up perfectly with the same moment in the cue, a hopeful moment shining above the rest.

That is a good example of well done tracked music.

Empire Strikes Back is 129 minutes long. John Williams wrote 123 minutes of score.

Almost the entire film had music written for it which is a MASSIVE amount of music. The entire opening sequence from Main Title through to the end of "Snowspeeders Take Flight" was covered entirely in music. In the film, however, most of it lay unused. Then there is one scene without music (luke recouperating), then we're back on with wall to wall music.

This video presents a lot of what was left out. The end of "Wampa Ice Lair" which leads into the juxtaposition of Luke's wanderings across Hoth and Han searching for him, with this almost whimsical yet loud search motif full of many strange sounds building the tension between the scenes. This has one scene interjected of 3PO trying to Get R2 to come in from the cold. This shot makes use of the droid motif and works rather well in this shot, building the tension back up until Luke (and the music) fall with a boom of the timpani.

When we return to Echo Base, we move onto the beginning of the next cue, "Visions of Obi-Wan." This highlights the tension Leia is going through having lost both of her friends out in the ice and having to finally decide to close the door to the hangar of the base, to protect the inhabitants. As the door closes, a barely audible tense string portion plays outlining the tension.

After the doors close, Chewiee puts his head down in defeat and this is where the film tracks back in the cue. This plays through to the pull out from Han setting up the shelter. In the film, since they removed "Snowspeeders Take Flight," they omit the end of this cue which is a horn introduction using the two-note tension motif (very similar to the Jaws Theme).

Then the next cue would begin almost exactly where that l"Visions of Obi-Wan" leaves off, taking use of that two note tension motif. "Snowspeeders Take Flight," remarkably, is very similar to Jaws theme in orchestrations underlying the melody, using the same dun-dun, dun-dun, even with the triplet wind/horn parts from Jaws but goes off in a completely different direction that really is quite interesting. The usage of the tracked cue "Hyperspace" in the film is anyones guess as to why. Perhaps because they didn't want to use all that much music and rather open with a bit of simple SFX rather than straight into music (which the omission of music does help in giving the audience a reprieve subconsciously and can give the film a heightened sense of realism while also making it feel like more time has passed. The usage of music, especially John Williams cues, is used to tie scenes together. Omitting music tends to allow the scenes to stand on their own and can trick the audience into feeling more time has passed. The film does return to the cue once Luke and Han are found.

The end of the cue, however, is not used in the film because of unused material from the film itself (an omitted scene), so I simply use it for the end credits.

Anyways, you can view the video here.


Is it not sad that in this time, we are more surprised by acts of love than acts of hate?
-Me

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Hey all,

I've recently posted another video.

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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume XI "Probe Droid Renascence - Aboard the Executor"

Perhaps one of the strangest cues written for Empire Strikes Back, this cue starts out really interestingly.

There had to have been some minor editing but I don't believe that was why the cue was removed. There was both editing during the discussion in Echo base but also some in the establishment of Vader's fleet.

The cue starts off rather ominously and even goes into a great, subdued statement of Vader's theme when 3PO announces that the droid found might be Imperial in origin.

The cut to the droid, and the music surrounding it's destruction is reminiscent of the arrival at Hoth by the droid.

Once the droid is destroyed, the scene transitions to the Imperial Fleet. We hear, stated here rather strongly the Imperial March. There was a deal of editing here to extend the sequence and show more of the interior of the ship, along with the omission of most of the march segment of the cue it self, instead replaced with the Album Concert version of the theme.

The music does cut back in when we see the Admiral and General interrupted as they walk through the ship to be told of the find on Hoth.

The rest of the cue plays out as originally planned.

You can view the video here:

I had to talk the old video down. There was a sync error and the video also was mis-named within the credits as "Volume X" so I had to fix it.

The new link is here.


Is it not sad that in this time, we are more surprised by acts of love than acts of hate?
-Me

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So I just finished another video:

STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume XII "Luke's Nocturnal Visitor"

One of the cutest little cues, "Luke's Nocturnal Visitor" is pretty much not used in the film. Only the final 30 seconds or so are used.

Meant to underscore the introduction of Yoda and Yoda's theme, this playful piece would accompany Yoda rummaging through Luke's encampment. The playfulness uses Yoda's Theme but in such a way you almost don't recognize it as such (similar to how you aren't meant to realize that the character is Yoda until a few scenes latter).

Perhaps one of the most peculiar aspects of the cue is how it ends. Unlike how you hear it on the album, there seems to be a completely unreleased ending that is heard no where except in the film. It is similar to a portion just before and a little after, but where exactly it came from is unknown and it remains completely unreleased.

(Although there is some debate as to whether it may simply be tracked from another cue or another take).

Some of the nicer moments in the cue are when R2 reaches out to take the light from Yoda who fights for his light.

Moments latter, as Luke tries to have the little guy leave, he speaks about why he is there. And when he mentions Jedi Knight, a little tinkle of the triangle seems to symbolize a light going on in Yoda's Head.

"ooooh! Yoda, you see yoda!"

It is some really nice underscoring for a cue scene.

Why it is unused is perhaps to keep the scene from being too comical, a problem that Lucas feared when he decided to use a "Muppet" as a main character. The removal of this cue does seem to keep the scene a little more realistic and give it a more endearing quality than the more comical underscoring would have done for the scene.

You can view the video here.


Is it not sad that in this time, we are more surprised by acts of love than acts of hate?
-Me

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Man, I do love the music of ESB. That was nice.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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That was a great one. There is just a bit more 'magic' there with the extra music. I'd love to see all of these on a DVD some day...
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Awesome work, GM!
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.