Production Credits
- Shantel Carrasco: Editing and Jaws Clips
- Oddmund Nesbakk: Harry Potter clip
- Dominique Ellis: Star Wars Clip
- Peter Quigley: Schindler’s List Clip
Filmography
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 2001 (Chris Columbus)
- Jaws 1975 (Steven Spielberg)
- Schindler’s List 1993 (Steven Spielberg)
- Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 1999 (George Lucas)
Media & Society Essay
Music Composition has always been an important part of Hollywood film industry. The music helps develop the story line and is able to set the mood for viewers in any scene they are watching. One of Hollywood most recognized and famous music composers is John Williams. He’s composed famous music titles such as Stars Wars, Jaws, Harry Potter, and Schindler’s list. His music is driven based by emotion, making the viewer pay attention not just to the scene they are watching but the music as well. The purpose of our IMovie is to illustrate not just John Williams’s most famous work but to also show the music stylistic patterns that set the mood of the scene as well as how John Williams composed his work. It can be said that John Williams is an auteur artist due to his recognizable artistic vision of composing music that is emotionally driven that help gives each of his films a distinctive feature compared to other films.
The music composition of Jaws demonstrates one of John Williams’s most famous works. The music makes the film more frightening because of the added suspense in the music itself giving the viewers a “sitting on the edge of your seat” type feeling. The jaws theme is a scary tone that is recognized even if people have never seen the movie Jaws. The heavy orchestral beat of Jaws starts of in slow tone that slowly builds up a dramatic pace. It has a distinctive note that makes the film scary. That because the music is at the same pace as the shark movement. Viewers are aware of how close the shark is towards its victim just by the song. This is why the attack scene of Jaws was put in the IMovie because it demonstrates how the music is a warning to the viewers, that the shark is about to attack. It starts of has a slow pace and slowly builds up to a dramatic point and suddenly cuts off as the shark attack it victims. I think this clip gives an example of how Williams is an auteur artist because after this song was published and heard viewers everywhere became accustomed to associate this theme song with daily threats not just sharks.
In some of the sources used John Williams’s talks in an interview what his vision is when he is composing music. In one source called Williams versus Wagner or an Attempt at Linking Musical Epics, by Paulus Irena John Williams explains unlike other music composers he doesn’t try to base the music on how the movie is but instead uses the music to explain the movie in a unique style with music. He states how “It was not the music that might describe terra incognita, but the opposite of that, music that would put us in touch with very familiar and remembered emotions” (Williams vs. Wagner 154). The source helps explain our view in our IMovie and how the various clips used are placed in it to invoke a certain reaction in the viewer when they listen to the music in scene. Like Jaws for example the music used in the clip invoke suspense and fear onto the viewer while they are watching the clip. The article also discusses how he wrote symphonic scores at a time when such scores were a rarity in the film. This helps explain more the idea of how his an auteur artist because John Williams composed music that was unlike other music composer, his idea and the emotionally driven composition is sometimes rare to find in Hollywood industry and John William is one of the few music composer that has this style.
Not only do audiences recognize John Williams’s genius but other people in the Hollywood industry as well. The Source “The Force is with Him” by Wessel David, professionals talks about how Williams’s musical career has made him the “Million Dollar Composer.” ( David 1) His stylistic patterns in the film are what brought such fame and recognition in the Hollywood music industry. This relate to Jaws in the sense that the music is extremely well known and it often used in out context situation when danger is around the corner. Other reviews comment on how his music has a distinctive tone to it that makes it unique and has such rarity in the music industry. This is the reason why the music and clips chosen in the IMovie are part of movies that wildly known for the music then just the title. Through the music alone a viewer can understand why Williams became so famous and also relates to the idea of him being an auteur artist. The source again says how Williams’s music composition is rare in Hollywood film industry and that no other music composer has such a unique emotionally driven vision in his music.
Another Scene added onto our IMovie is the music composition from Schindler’s List, in which John Williams wrote the score for the entire movie. The reason why we choose this clip for the IMovie is because the song composed in this scene is called “I Could Have Done More” and the violin is played by Itzhak Perlman. This piece builds off of the main theme played throughout, in which the violin replays the same heartbreaking melody. With such a distressing topic such as the Holocaust, John Williams’ simplicity in his music plays a key role in the stylistic pattern of the score and the emotional feeling that arouse from its responsibility. The score “I Could Have Done More” offers are reoccurring pattern of depth and delicacy in which the gentle orchestra in accompanied by striking violin outbursts. The music seems very associated with the ‘classical tradition’ where an orchestra or an orchestra instrument dominates the composition. This piece evokes an infinitely sad feeling in the audience that constructs a foundation of Jewish suffering in one’s mind and heart. As Itzhak Perlman’s violin plays gently above the orchestra, a feeling of sorrow arises, this correlates directly to the suffering and torture of the Holocaust. The song, “I Could Have Done More” plays through occasional loops throughout the scene, in which the violin is the main focus. Throughout these loops, the melody of the violin sounds almost as if the violin itself is crying, which evokes a depressing feeling as the memory of millions lost Jewish souls strikes the audiences’ hearts. This scene accompanied by John Williams’ composition illustrates good evidence for the support of John Williams as an auteur. The music in this scene is a prime example of John Williams’ ability to construct a tune and sound which perfectly complements the mood of the film. This score credits John Williams as one of the composers to use classical scores instead of contemporary songs. Through this work, Williams is constant in his theme, meaning that the use of the orchestra is distinguishable through the reoccurring sounds of strings and percussion. Although Williams reinvents soundtracks, he remains close to orchestra classical themes, which support John William as auteur artist.
This scene from Schindler’s List offers music composed by John Williams that seem central to the idea that John Williams invokes a great deal of emotion through his music and the delicate use of orchestra is his film music. In this section of the movie, John Williams’ music conveys a feeling that intensely compliments the theme of the scene. In an article written by Ian Lace, John Williams’ music is describes as providing “an emotional pull for the audience that isn’t there until you introduce music into the scene” (Lace 1). This scene shows the importance of John Williams’ music as a role to amplifying emotion. The way the music loops and gently strides throughout the scene show how John Williams tries to pull audiences in a direction where a certain feeling is introduced. John William’s music is described as having “real integrity- it is superbly crafted with a richness of invention of themes, melody, harmony, dynamics, texture and orchestration” (www. music-web-international.com). “I Could Have Done More” offers evidence that supports this statement in that he directly creates this piece in relation to the sadness of the lost Jews. The layering of the orchestra as well as the harmony he incorporates brings the audience on an emotional ride that correlates directly to a John Williams’ sounds and tone. The way his music strikes emotion through the use of an orchestra is key to identifying a style of film music as John Williams’, which supports the idea of him as an auteur theorist.
A review by music-web-international.com, John Williams’ music in Schindler’s List is discussed. In this professional review, John Williams’ music in this movie is described as one of his greatest scores in his career with his best ‘artistic effort’. Williams’ is notably recognized on his ability to precisely mirror Spielberg’s own passionate restraint in the production process. This shows that audience how Williams constructs his scores off of the emotion the director attempts to convey. Williams approaches the horrors on screen in such a beautiful manner that the score expresses heartbreak at each harmonic loop. The orchestra theme really captures the emotional feeling dispersed through this scene as well as the rest of the movie. This review describes the theme of John Williams’ music as remembrances. The scores takes advantage of the heat-wrenchingly simple harmonic progressions ironically combines to form a theme that, despite these very basic movements, is a unique and lasting memory for many listeners. The importance of this statement is that John Williams composes music in movies through these orchestra instruments, which convey emotion through music. The choice of these instruments seems very important because each instrument offers almost a secondary voice. In this way, John Williams presents his own auteur theory. The way he connects each instrument in the orchestra to the theme of each scene as well as it amplifying emotional effects shows how this style is known to be connected to John Williams.
The most significant aspect of the music of John Williams is the emotions he evokes in the viewer or listener. His choice of preference when it comes to instruments is the ones of the symphony orchestra. Instruments from the four instrumental families, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings, are almost always represented when Williams composes music for a movie. Many would characterize Hedwig’s Flight to be the main theme for the Harry Potter film series. Sorcerer’s Stone, which is the first of the Harry Potter films, starts off by playing Hedwig’s Theme. John Williams’ aim with this particular composition was to portray Hedwig (Harry Potter’s owl) the way he himself perceived him, as a white and beautiful owl. Even though one gets the feeling that Hedwig is a beautiful owl by listening to the music, one also senses the magic and mystery of the music. In the beginning of the suite there is only one instrument playing the theme which is the celesta. According to John Williams, he chose this instrument because of the lightness it represents. However, when the bell-like-sounding instrument has played the theme of the suite once, violins are included in to the picture. One gets the sense of the wind blowing in the trees or some kind of danger approaching, truly capturing the magic of the film. After this strange intermediate portion of the suite has been played a couple of times, the trumpets proceed to play the main theme of the suite again. While the trumpet is playing the wonderful theme of the suite, all instruments of all families are playing underlying themes that builds on the lead melody. This change in instruments playing the main theme, from the mysterious and magical bell, to the triumphant trumpet, captures the viewer to realize that the film is not going to be anything that he or she has ever witnessed before. John Williams’ ability to bring to mind emotions in the viewer is unique. Not only is he an expert in doing this, but he also evokes exactly the “right” emotions that the director of a movie wants to educe. John Williams is an auteur artist because he chooses the correct notes to represent a movie and also because he has been recognized many times for the work that he has done. Many directors use already made songs to fit a scene for their movie, John Williams on the other hand watches the scene and then composes the music for it.
John Williams is arguably one of the most famous and accomplished music composers for Hollywood films. Jeremy Butler stated in his book “Television: Critical Methods and Applications” that, “typically, sound without image is more self-sufficient than image without sound” (Butler 325). One of the reasons why this statement holds water, is because of the job that composers, and music in general, play in a movie production. Amy Alexander from Investor’s Business Daily interviewed Williams about how he works with his music for a movie, and his thoughts about it. According to the article, the well-known composer was writing the musical theme for Steven Spielberg’s film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and he had to find a five note motif to fit a specific part of the movie. Before John Williams had to come up with a note pattern that he was satisfied with, he had written down 350 possible themes (Alexander 1). Whether it is harder to write a five note motif than a theme song is hard to tell, but it is hard to imagine that John Williams does not work with the same kind of caution and perfectionism with a whole song as he does with a short passage. Even though the John Williams is talking about how he worked with his music for the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” he is most likely working in the same way when he composes music for other movies such as Jaws, Schindler’s List, and Harry Potter. People tend to approach a problem or task the same way if they have realized that what they did before worked well in the past. John Williams is not only considered an auteur artist because he has achieved great things in the past, but also because he is so consistent. If one were only to judge a person for an outcome, the process for how that person reached that end goal would not be significant. That is not true when writing music. The amount of work that a composer puts into a song, suite, or concerto is very important when judging an artist to be regarded as auteur.
Composing music is not an easy task. The composer has to choose the correct notes, instruments, and patterns for it to reach the listeners heart. The combination of picking the right notes for the right instrument is a difficult assignment, but when you have to do this for someone else’s vision, it becomes a lot more difficult. Two people in the movie industry that has developed an incredible understanding of one another’s capabilities, visions, understandings, and visualizations are Steven Spielberg and John Williams. They have worked together in many productions, and have over the years come to know each other very well as artists. Spielberg and Williams did an interview with Kimberly Roberts for The Philadelphia Tribune where they talk about each other as artists, and their relationship as coworkers. When Spielberg was asked what makes their professional relationship so special, Spielberg stated, “I have absolute trust and faith that John is right when he sees my movie for the first time, which I have already seen dozens of times, and John’s first impressions of my films are the impressions that I listen to” (Roberts 1). It is evident that Spielberg and Williams have a special bond, they have the rare ability to understand what the other person is envisioning and producing exactly that after just listening to the composition or watching a simple scene from a film. Spielberg is not the one to understate how important music is to a movie production. When talking about what Williams does to his movies he states, “he musically enhances it [the movie], and takes it to an entirely different level. That is, I think, what music does for movies” (Roberts 2). Steven Spielberg is most likely the director that John Williams has the closest relationship to, and for someone as prestigious as him to state these things about him truly shows how dedicated and well perceived Williams is in the movie industry. His ability to create just the right emotions for a movie is truly exceptional. He is without doubt a composer that can be perceived as an auteur artist.
It is no secret that John Williams is one of the most famous composers of all time. He has scored a countless amount of movies in which have been huge box office hits. One of his most famous scores is from the movie Star Wars. The clip chosen to analyze is the movie trailer, which plays some of John Williams’s most famous music, which is also the actual theme to the movie. The style of this composition is composed of three parts. The first part, which is about the first fifteen to thirty seconds of the clip, has a soft and calming tone. The tone goes along with the footage because it is just an overview of the city or town that the movie is going to be taken place in. There are no people shown in this part of the clip, just maybe a hovercraft flying by or something. The next minute or so is completely different. The music drops, and becomes extra loud, and very intense. The footage changes as well as the music. Things start becoming more action filled. If you were to hear the music without seeing the footage you would be able to tell that something intense or action filled is happening. The music has very hard-hitting notes, which enhances the viewer’s ability to feel some anticipation. The final part of the clip has a heroic tone to it. It is calm in the sense that the action is finished with, but it is more intense than the beginning of the clip. This tone of music makes the listener feel like whatever mission was trying to be accomplished was indeed accomplished. The clip also proves this true.
John Williams is not only the most famous composer to walk this earth, but he is very unique also. He is unique in the sense that he composes all of his music by hand. Technology now allows composers to use computers to make it easier to write music, but he decides to write all of his music with a pencil and lined paper. He does not use a computer for any of his compositions. John Williams is an auteur artist in the sense that he is very original and he writes music with what he feels like the movie is going to be like. You can tell that that he had a vision that the star wars movie was going to be action filled with the feeling of his music. It is said that John Williams is the only composer that can conduct a whole orchestra of his own music and have every piece of his music recognized by the audience. The Star Wars theme uses less classical style and more of a modernist approach.
Our IMovie was not only used to try and explain John Williams approach towards his music but it was also used to explain some the emotions invoked onto the film as well. This Project helped us learn a lot about Hollywood most famous music composer and as well as the difficulty in learning how to edit and produce an IMovie. It helped us in gaining a different perspective when it comes to movies because now we pay more attention to the detail of music then just the film. We learned that music is just as important to movie then just scenes. Music helps invoke certain emotions unto the viewer which was John Williams’s purpose and why his not only an auteur artist but one Hollywood most famous composers.
Bibliography
- Alexander, Amy. “Composer John Williams He Strives For Perfection with Every Note.” Investor’s Business Daily, Inc. [Los Angeles] 28 Mar. 2001, Leaders & Success sec.: n. pag. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Mar. 2013. <https://ezproxy.hws.edu/login?
- Roberts, Kimberly C. “Spielberg, Williams Talk Music and Movies.” Philadelphia Tribune [Philadelphia] 15 Nov. 2011, Entertainment sec.: n. pag. Black Newspapers. Web. 23 Mar. 2013.
- Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications. 4th ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.
- Paulus, Irena. “Williams versus Wagner or an Attempt at Linking Musical Epics.” International Review of Aesthetics and Sociology of Music No. 2 Vol. 31 (2000): 153-84. http://www.jstor.org. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.
- Wessel, David. “THE FORCE IS WITH HIM.” Boston Globe Newspaper [Boston, Mass.] 1983 July 1983: 1. National Newspapers Premier. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. http://search.proquest.com.
- Lace, Ian. “June 1999 Film Music CD Reviews.” http://www.musicweb-international.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/june99/txtjun991.htm>.
John Williams 