Superman: "Helicopter Rescue" - John Williams (Score Reduction and Analysis)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 เม.ย. 2023
- We're staying in 1978 a bit longer with one of the most iconic cues in Williams' repertoire - the shirt reveal/helicopter scene from 1978's Superman: The Movie.
PDF link for your perusal: mega.nz/folder/MCoTzKqB#giz2z...
I found Mark Richards' analysis of the Superman March late into my work on this video, and as it turns out we both had some similar ideas, but it was very helpful and it's a great analysis, so check it out here: filmmusicnotes.com/2013/07/15...
Hope you're all going great, and get something from the video.
Quick note that you shouldn't expect another upload very soon - I'm heading into exam season shortly and then I'm going on a long holiday! Another upload probably won't come for a few months - but when it does it will be the Flying Sequence! I've got lots of stuff planned (including lots of the Superman score eventually), but unfortunately, not that much time to do it all.
Corrections:
- On the last page, when I mention the change to a 12/8 bar, I meant to say the 12/8 bar sounds more musically satisfying, not the 6/8. Sorry!
I own nothing!
My apologies if the audio is a bit dodgy on this one. For the majority of the cue, the score in the film is slowed down by about 2%, and perhaps as a result of this, the film recording is a few cents out of tune with the album recording. I tried to minimise the impact of this, but it's a bit here and there. Hopefully, you didn’t notice until you read this!
👍⭐🚁👍⭐🚁👍⭐🚁 Patrick, Bravo to you! This is hands down the most insightful, eloquently detailed look into this benchmark, nail biting scene from Superman! Your astonishing examination here clarifies in ways I've never seen done why the marriage of John Williams genius orchestral underscoring, intricate editing, stellar acting, production design and of course Richard Donner's heroic directorial eye all conspired to create one of the most EPIC, terrifying scenes ever filmed!~ Am in complete awe of your specific notation of William's 'tone change' when the music abruptly moves to the mournful strings. From the time I first saw it as a kid, THAT MOMENT and the orchestral change in tone was what really ramped up our anxiety... subconsciously saying to us... "Shit is REALLY getting serious now!" 😱 Superman, (and especially this scene) never gets old for me and even 40+ years later I still love showing it to friends who haven't seen it or have been brain washed to think crappy CGI is what it's all about. It's about the HANDS ON, practical magic right? And we're just loving that you did this... thank you for your incredible attention to detail.
Thanks so much for this lovely comment. Truly appreciated.
There aren't enough people responding to this superb analysis - THANK YOU! THIS IS GREAT!
Thank you for watching! Much appreciated.
Absolutely brilliant and thank you for the video pause to include the vamp/harp bit before the Lois theme.
Thank you! I’m glad you appreciate the pauses.
wow wow wow. amazing.
Cheers!
This is an excellent and well-produced analysis of an iconic scene of a classic movie and an equally classic score. The original soundtrack release from 1978 did not have the helicopter rescue music, and it took a couple of decades before it appeared in any release. So after all this time, I am delighted to see your focus on this score on TH-cam. Good job, and keep up the great work.
Thank you! That's very kind :)
Excellent job
Thank you!
@@patricksuiter can you please do Jurassic park when the guy sees the dinosaur for the first time?
1:05 anybody else hear a Bernard Hermann CAPE FEARE nod to the revenge motif?
There’s a more overt nod to that score in Jurassic Park so I’m sure Williams would have been familiar with it, so it doesn’t seem unlikely!
Excellent job! Can you also do a score reduction and analysis for the Superman sequence from Leaving Home through to Fortress of Solitude and his first transformation as Superman?
Thanks! Would love to. I will definitely get around to it at some point (hopefully late this year). This score is just full of gems.
Do you make these reductions in Musescore? If so, how do you notate those harp glissandos as seen throughout?
I do. In general I place a demisemiquaver, and then change the beam properties (from the palettes) of the following rest so that the beam ‘hangs over’. Then I just use the built in gliss lines. In cases like 3:44 when the harp glisses ad lib., I just place like 10 slurs (between some invisible notes) and then curve them and join them together so they look neat. It takes a bit of effort - in this case my project glitched out part way through and i had to do them all again, but it looks pretty I guess.. There’s probably a better way to do it, though if you find one i’d love to know!
So this sequence was longer and already scored before getting a little bit trimmed down? I would like to see the sequence in its form before the trimming.
Yep! It’s also likely that some of the effects shots weren’t fully complete when Williams scored it. You often see in more effects heavy sequences like this that Williams’ score was for a longer/shorter version of the scene, so the music has to be edited to it. I would love to the sequence in its original form too - there’s a lot of scenes that applies to! (like the Quidditch music from Prisoner of Azkaban, as you can see on my channel)
John Williams Isolated Score The Big Rescue 🛟
Hey, How or where did you get the original score? Because I assume this very cue is not in the concert score. Great Work!
Some of the original manuscripts have circulated online - I’m unable to share it with you currently, sorry about that.
This score aged not well... So naive :-)
What does this even mean??
I'm pretty sure your mother aged worst.
dumbest shit i've ever heard. williams is timeless.
@@asdfasdf7199 being uncritical is a sign of low intelligence
@@AndreyRubtsovRU what you said to begin with isn’t even critical, nor is it a proper sentence.