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GORDY HAAB should compose a score for a standalone movie

Discussion in 'General Stand-Alone Movie Discussion' started by Ammianus Marcellinus, Sep 25, 2017.

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Do you like Gordy Haab's Star Wars Battlefront score?

  1. yes

    4 vote(s)
    80.0%
  2. no

    1 vote(s)
    20.0%
  1. Ammianus Marcellinus

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  2. srg

    srg Force Attuned

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    I don't know... Gordy Haab has talent for orchestration. He's a highly skilled craftsman and he nails John Williams' sound, but I can't help feeling his Battlefront music is style over substance for the most part. A lot of it is too chaotic to draw attention, but maybe they didn't want it to stand out during gameplay. It definitely helps creating the Star Wars feel, but that's about all it does. It doesn't bring much to the table. Some of the Battlefront tracks are rip-offs of original Star Wars cues (and as far as I know, his Indiana Jones scores have the same problem). Here's an example - one of the Scarif themes. There's a bit too much of the Separatist march and the arena theme "inspiration" going on there.



    Another one would be this Death Star cue. It was clearly based on Kylo's secondary theme. Check it out:



    There are more bits and pieces like this in the game and it makes me feel like I'm not getting enough originality and focus from Gordy Haab. Sure, maintaining Star Wars musical vocabulary is absolutely essential, but it's not enough to throw Williams-isms at the listener over and over again. Granted, Battlefront is an action game and there's not much room for theme development. It definitely lends itself to fast-changing action cues (so that players wouldn't notice looping) but I can't say that what I hear in the game is enough to make a worthwhile spin-off score.

    We'll see what Gordy does with the story mode of Battlefront II, because I imagine this is the most cinematic Star Wars opportunity a composer could get aside from scoring a film. I've heard just a brief snippet of Iden's theme so far and to me it came across as a mismatch, but it's not fair to judge based on that fragment. I'm looking forward to his work in Battlefront II and I hope to be positively surprised.
     
    #2 srg, Sep 25, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2017
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  3. RockyRoadHux

    RockyRoadHux Ginger General

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    He definitely knows how to create the Star Wars feel. And although I can see where @srg is coming from- saying that a lot of it is too chaotic to really draw attention, I'd say that this chaotic feel actually is essential for making it sound Star Wars-y. Take 'Your Father Would Be Proud' from the R1 soundtrack for example- the melody goes exactly where you expect it to. Williams' melodies tend to be far less predictable.

     
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  4. srg

    srg Force Attuned

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    Well, that wasn't my main point. ;) In fact, chaotic was probably a wrong word to use, because I didn't mean the frantic action sound of Williams. I just think a lot of what I hear in Battlefront lacks direction, focus and identity.

    In my opinion Michael Giacchino handled Rogue One perfectly. I think he did the best job out of all non-Williams Star Wars composers ever by far. He struck the balance between his own style and the Star Wars feel. "Your Father Would Be Proud" is a great example of his personal imprint. The whole score is definitely based on Williams' vocabulary, but it doesn't feel as overdone as in Battlefront. The X factor of SW music are themes and Giacchino introduced a couple of very strong ones.
     
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  5. FN-3263827

    FN-3263827 First Order CPS
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    maybe i just like predictability because i enjoy the R1 score.

    and i know it's blasphemy, but i'm not super-crazy about a lot of Williams' music.
    it could be the difference between liking something like jazz (which i don't, and which is, like you said, unpredictable), and classical music (which i do, and which is, mostly structurally predictable).

    i have no ear for music whatsoever, so i can't say one is better or worse.
    i just know that predictable resonates for me stronger.
     
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  6. Jake Jar Binks

    Jake Jar Binks Rebelscum

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    he did wonders on the old republic score, if they ever make an old republic movie or tv series get him.
     
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