Tag Archives: score

Star Wars Day: Emojis tell ‘The Force Awakens’, and J.J. Abrams & Lin Manuel Miranda perform the new Cantina song

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Today is May 4th and you know what that means: it’s Star Wars Day! To celebrate the annual occasion, Disney dropped this incredibly adorable version of The Force Awakens…as told by emoji! In under four minutes, the cute clip breaks down the seventh installment in the Star Wars franchise, hitting most of the major beats of the film. Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, Han Solo, and the rest of your characters pop up throughout in emoji form, and the animation makes fun use of GIFs, apps, and recognizable iDevices. Enjoy, and May the Fourth Be With You!

Now, those of you who picked up a copy of John Williams’ score from The Force Awakens likely scratched your head and went, Huh, where’s the new Cantina song? Well, here it is now! In honor of Star Wars Day, Lucasfilm is finally making “Jabba Flow” available to stream and purchase. The track is written and performed by director J.J. Abrams and Hamilton creator and star Lin Manuel Miranda. Watch them perform it live, for the first time ever, in a video recorded earlier today; it’s embedded below. Continue reading Star Wars Day: Emojis tell ‘The Force Awakens’, and J.J. Abrams & Lin Manuel Miranda perform the new Cantina song →

‘American Crime’ creator & composer discuss the series’ powerful score

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If you watched ABC’s midseason entry American Crime, then you know just how vital a role music played in its critical success. In addition to setting the tone at the top of nearly every episode with its signature, speedy strings, the composition also helped define the flawed characters and their relationships.

As originally shared by Deadline, here is an American Crime featurette with commentary by series creator John Ridley and his talented composer Mark Isham. You’ve got to love how Ridley describes his show: “American Crime is really about the cascade effect that crime has on people. It’s not a procedural, it’s not an investigation, it’s really an examination of human nature.” He gets teary-eyed in the clip when he likens Isham’s composition to an “emotional freight train.”

American Crime will return for a second season with a new cast of characters, a new story, and hopefully a starkly different yet equally impactful score.

Update: Ridley Scott gives TVLine clues about American Crime season 2. “[In Season 1] we dealt with race and faith; in Season 2 we want to deal a lot more with class. We want to deal with gender issues, sexual orientation and sexual identity.” He went on, “It’s going to be a whole different set of circumstances. We’re hoping that we can not only make it provocative, but humanize people as well. If there’s one thing that American Crime did very well, it took issues that are generally just a headline and put faces on them. I’m hoping we can do that in the second season.” The setting is moving from Northern California to the midwest, and as far as the cast is concerned, he “would love to get as many of [season 1’s stars] back for the second season as I can.” So far, Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman are confirmed to return.

Update 2 (6/16): Regina King has been confirmed as a season 2 regular. “Regina is phenomenal in all regards, and is going to be at the center of a story that deals with physicality, sexuality, and societal boundaries with the same urgency as our first season dealt with race and faith,”  said Ridley. “We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to speak on subjects as no other show does, and a cast which can do so with such a high degree of emotional honesty.”

Hans Zimmer scores big with Despicable Me (+ Pharell Williams) and Inception soundtracks

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German composer and producer Hans Zimmer has played a part in over 100 films, and his latest two ventures do not disappoint. Zimmer teamed up with N.E.R.D. frontman Pharell Williams and Heitor Pereira to compose the score for Universal Pictures’ Despicable Me. I fell for the score last September when the first teaser trailer for the animated flick came out. When it was made known that Pharell would have a hand in the music production, there was little doubt that the soundtrack would attract moviegoers. The movie opens with the slow tempo “Despicable Me” track and it hits the ground running as other Pharell-infused songs add an extra touch to support the gorgeous animations. The soundtrack features four solo cuts from Pharell; he also produced and wrote songs for a number of the characters including “Minion Mambo” (co-written by Lupe Fiasco) and “The Unicorn Song.” Robin Thicke, The Bee Gees, and The Sylvers lend their voices to the soundtrack, too. Preview and purchase the soundtrack at iTunes, or at least get the catchy “Despicable Me” track.

Having worked magic on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan decided to call up Zimmer’s services a third time to formulate the score for Inception. The soundtrack is, in a word, brilliant. Zimmer was going for “a very electronic score”, and after researching how it would be best to mash together “the playfulness” of math and music he succeeded in making a score that perfectly matches the dizzying and exciting on-screen action. From the chilling “Half Remembered Dream” track that was featured behind the theatrical trailer to the heavy, melancholy “Dream Is Collapsing” and “Dream Within a Dream” tracks to the final track “Time” that is both uplifting yet ominous, Zimmer manages to capture the suspense and thrill of the movie in music. Download the soundtrack at iTunes.