Ok, whoever is reading this.. I apologise for what I am about to do. You see, some of you may or may not know that I am now a Film student! I should have done this a long time ago.. I can assure you, it's a hell of a lot more fun than Law.
I have successfully completed Film 101, Scriptwriting, and I'm currently doing, Film Editing and Music for Film. Thanks to Bex and Bif for lending me their MacBook and thus allowing me the pleasure of discovering GarageBand. If anyone out there, musically inclined, has never had a play..... get it anyway you can. It's awesome.
Anyway, as part of one of my many hundreds of assignments, I had to post a synopsis on the 'Blackboard Forum' about John Williams as part of my Music for Film subject and it got me thinking... 1. I friggin love the man and 2. Man, I haven't updated my blog for a while.
As I made a decision to diversify this blog (on all things non-cancer related as I come up to my 1 year anniversary of being in remission) I thought I could share my thoughts on John Williams also.
So... that said, I am about to bore the crap out of you, by ranting and raving about someone who I consider to be the greatest composer of all time. I can hear all the Americans applauding as I write this, but as a Hong Kong-Pom-Australian-New Zealander, I can assure you no geographical bias. I am simply a lover of all things John Williams.
I believe this love affair started when I was about 7 years old. I would sit, glued to the TV and play my beta video tape of E.T over and over again. Yes, I loved Elliott.. but that was back when I also thought Olivia Newton-John was the height of 'cool' and I would ride my bmx whilst listening to Madonna's 'Holiday' on my walk-man, so contextually speaking.. it's all relative.
It wasn't until I was in my teens, that I finally realised, every movie I had ever loved as a kid and then, as a teenager, turned out to be scored by the same guy! Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Superman, all the Indiana Jones films, Empire of the Sun, Born on the 4th of July, Home Alone, Hook, JFK, Schindlers List, the Jurassic Park films, Seven Years in Tibet, Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot, the Harry Potter films, Minority Report, War of the Worlds (and the list goes on). Unequivocally, I announce John Williams to be the greatest interpreter of film into music in modern history.
Proof of this statement is that today (nostalgia for my glorious youth aside) I cannot watch the famous scene where Elliott and E.T fly past the full moon on his bike as the stunning 'Flying Theme' crescendos (wow I am actually getting chills even as I write this!) without feeling tears prickling my eyes. The music sweeps you along the film, it's immense highs, lows, the chase scenes and the final devastation as E.T leaves. It is so wonderful, I still listen to the soundtrack today. At the 20th Anniversary of the film, the cast re-assembled at a huge theatre in LA and in what could be a first (certainly, I have never heard of this being done in recent times) they had John Williams and a full symphony orchestra play the soundtrack to the film live, in front of the audience (watch the bonus footage on the dvd if you can.. this was no easy feat!). Spielberg removed all soundtrack from the film and as a testament to John Williams, he was able to conduct the orchestra in perfect unison with the movie that was playing to a huge audience behind him. The result? The audience got the full blown effect of the stunning score and there wasn't a dry eye in the house at 'lights up'. To have been there to witness that... wow!
Talking about iconic themes... you cannot go past 'Jaws' as the quintessential benchmark for film scoring. John Williams, in all his brilliance composes a theme for a shark (no easy feat - go on.. I dare you to give it a try!). In the bonus footage of the 20th Anniversary edition of the dvd (Jaws is my favourite movie ever) there is an amazing scene where John Williams is sitting at his grand piano. Steven Spielberg has been called in to hear what John has composed. When John starts to play those simply, yet exceeding low, chilling piano notes, Spielberg is stunned to silence... and history is created in that moment.
Proving not to be a fluke... the collaboration between Spielberg and Williams continues to this day. Williams' filmography speaks for itself.
Other musical standouts being:
* Schindlers List (I defy anyone to get through the final scene where Oscar flees the Czech camp with a ring and petition of his innocence signed by the Jews whose lives he saved, without balling their bloody eyes out).
* The iconic and wonderful Indiana Jones films
* The Star Wars movies
* And another personal favourite of mine, Seven Years in Tibet. Williams is able to successfully translate his music into different cultures sublimely.
Ok, I guess that's enough (told you I would rant) this is a blog post, not an essay.
On a finishing note... if you are ever stuck to get a present for someone, who happens to be a film nut, or just a lover of music... buy them the definitive 3 cd collection of John Williams' greatest work. They will get a shock when they recognise 90% of his scores off the bat and it always makes for great fodder for any quiz night enthusiasts.
Enjoy :)
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