Post Notes: Finale
Finale
February 10, 2005
I'm no musician, so I'm certain there are nuances to each performance and recording session that breeze past my amateur ears. Nonetheless, there are feats I suspect would impress me no matter what level of knowledge I possesed. I am continually amazed by the level of skill exhibited by the London Symphony Orchestra, particularly when the players perform a piece for the first time. I don't know what I assumed exactly, but I figured there'd be a more involved rehearsal. That the musicians wouldn't be tasked to play a piece cold, at first look, not having been previously acquainted with the sheet music.
There's no lengthy rehearsal. Upon turning to a new cue, the orchestra plays it once, without a click track, without video playback. Composer John Williams and Scoring Engineer Shawn Murphy listen for trouble spots. Williams revisits any troublesome measures with words of guidance or necessary modifications -- oftentimes, the music sounds different with all 110 musicians assembled within the studio space, necessitating a tweak here and there. And then, a take is recorded.
For the first cue of today, there was perhaps more familiarity with the music than with other pieces. "Good morning, people," says John Williams to the orchestra members. "We'll start with 7M8: the end credits."
As all Star Wars fans know, the end credits sequence follows a very specific structure. With the iris out of the last frame of the film, there's a triple-attack of brassy fanfare that kicks the music into the main title theme. The up-tempo rendition of the Star Wars theme -- Luke Skywalker's theme -- continues until it is overtaken by a new theme. Then what follows is a reprise of the main themes of the film, before fading out or ending triumphantly.
With the end of Episode III serving double-duty as a finale to the entire saga, but also the end of the first trilogy, the end credits are slightly different this time around. They contain a major piece of music that otherwise has no place in Episode III.
After the fanfare of the main theme dies down, the glide of a harp segues into Princess Leia's theme, now indelibly associated with peacefulness of Alderaan, one of the closing worlds of Revenge of the Sith. It is, perhaps, the most passionate and emotional cue in all of the Star Wars saga. In the recording session, when it builds to its final crescendo, Williams finishes to a rousing applause and cheers of appreciation from the orchestra.
"It'll be another 25 years before we do this again," jokes Williams.
"That's my goosebump fix for the session," says Scoring Assistant Andrew Dudman.
As the end credits are always a montage of multiple themes, this cue is not recorded as one piece. Rather, Williams isolates the sections. He picks up the piece around measure 58, where the new "Revenge of the Sith" dueling theme appears. This then segues into a surprise, and not an unwelcome one.
The stately "Throne Room" from Episode IV, the music that accompanies the Yavin 4 awards ceremony, appears in the End Credits. It's the unedited version of the piece, that is different from what appears in A New Hope. It's been recorded as a concert piece this way: instead of the iris out to Episode IV's end credits, it goes into a reprise of Princess Leia's theme.
"We haven't recorded it in this configuration here with this orchestra since the very first film," says Supervising Music Editor Ken Wannberg.
With each cue running over six minutes, Shawn Murphy describes the next two pieces as "monster cues."
"In the old days, when we were using those little reels, each one would have taken up a reel," points out George Lucas.
The first of the two, "Scenes and Dreams" starts off sweetly, with a violin playing during a tender exchange between Anakin and Padmé. It is night on Coruscant. She has changed into her nightgown and stands on the balcony of her apartment, while Anakin leans against the curving wall, admiring the beauty of his beloved wife. The "Across the Stars" love theme plays, and unlike some of the other Padmé and Anakin scenes, there's no nebulous threat lurking in the lower registers, no undercurrent of uncertainty.
This makes the contrast to the music's next turn all the more pronounced. Anakin experiences a chilling nightmare, played with shrill strings in an increasing crescendo that peaks with his sudden awakening. He leaves his shared bed with Padmé, dons a robe and heads outside, to the airy verandah to stew over his unsettling vision.
Padmé soon joins him, and the music brings up Anakin's innocent boyhood theme from Episode I. Very fitting as he notices the token of affection he gave her all those many years ago, the japor snippet Padmé wears around her neck. There's a fragile twinkle of bells to accompany the shot of the jewelry. The music is moody as Anakin explains his fears to Padmé.
These somber tones continue as Anakin next confers with Yoda about his vision. There's slight intonations of the Force theme on a bassoon as the discussion turns philosophical. An interjection of brass moves us away from the moody introspection to more objective issues, as Anakin arrives late to the Jedi briefing room, and then the cue ends.
The next lengthy cue, which ends the day's recording session, is named simply enough "Moving Things Along." It isn't very thematic -- mostly background music to establish mood, with flourishes to accompany establishing shots. With the visual introduction of fiery Mustafar, we're given a bellicose, percussive passage with blasts of hard brass. The camera glides in to the mountainside processing facility, soaring past platform-riding Mustafarians skimming the molten rivers for precious ores, past the flea-riding aliens that walk along the hardened surface of the lava flows.
The music gets more atmospheric and smoky as we cut inside the facility, and see Darth Sidious holographically communicating to the Separatist leaders.
Before the cue's end, we'll hear Darth Vader's theme and the Emperor's theme -- which is truly appropriate as it accompanies Palpatine's formal declaration of a New Order.
It's a satisfying finale for this leg of my personal Episode III journey. The scoring sessions will continue for another week -- including isolated percussion and choir sessions, but I am returning to the U.S. after today. Expect Post Notes to return to their ILM focus, with perhaps a look at the mix preparation at Skywalker Sound.
As I write this, there are less than 100 days before the world gets to experience Revenge of the Sith.
Let Peter Cavanna's once-in-a-lifetime experience prove the maxim: it never hurts to ask. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he beams. "I've done that all my life: I've always asked for things that were sort of impossible."
During Rick McCallum's online chat on February 8th, a Hyperspace member with the screen name GazelleUK boldly ventured the following query:
Rick, I live just a few miles from those studios. Any chance of me coming down now and having a prevue???
The answer was classic McCallum, a shoot-from-the-hip, take-everyone-by-surprise response:
It's too late for today. But if you're here at 10:30 tomorrow, I'll let you have a little peek. Ask for John Singh. But if you tell anyone else, I will have you terminated.
Now, I typed that for Rick, and I wasn't a hundred percent sure if he was serious. John Singh, (LFL International Publicity) and I exchanged an incredulous look before asking Rick if this was for real. "Yeah, let's do it," he said. So, John made it happen by sending GazelleUK (a.k.a Peter) an email inviting him to the studios.
"I thought he was just joking," says Peter. "You can't just do that! Not on a forum, where everyone can read that. I mean, who knows who else will show up?"
As he recounts it, Peter wasn't entirely willing to believe it was real until he showed up at Abbey Road studios this morning. "I didn't tell my girlfriend or anyone anything about it, because I thought it wasn't going to be true."
John Singh met Peter, and took him upstairs to briefly meet Rick. From the Producer's Lounge, Peter got a bird's-eye-view of the orchestra as they performed the End Credits sequence for Revenge of the Sith. "I'll admit I was a little bit confused. I was trying to think how that particular music would fit in. In my head, I thought this a very familiar tune that will appear in a very unfamiliar place," he says.
"My eyes were watering just listening to that music," he continues. "Not only is this Star Wars, but they're great musicians as well and it just sounds fantastic. I thought, these people aren't making movies; they're making magic. And it was absolutely magic."
