Whedonesque : Comments on 7248 : (SPOILER) SERENITY soundtrack samples on UK Cantstopthesignal site.

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July 18 2005

(SPOILER) SERENITY soundtrack samples on UK Cantstopthesignal site. Hear 4 clips from the movie score.

First time posting a story, so I hope I did this right! Anyway, the root site at http://www.cantstopthesignal.co.uk/ also has a nonfunctional link for the international trailer. Perhaps it's coming online soon?

Edited to add spoiler tag; one of the tracknames gives away a scene setting in the movie. Not a huge spoiler, but for those staying pure as the driven snow, you've been warned.

orphea | Firefly&Serenity | 01:32 CET | 40 comments total | tags: serenity, soundtrack, music, score

I appreciate the link. I love the tempo variations on "The Trading Station," multiple emotions going on their. Part 2 is a bit of a trip. "Serenity" has me almost tearing. Looking forward to seeing these in the film. It's interesting to hear how heavy on the oriental influences these songs have.

Mack | July 18, 01:42 CET

I love the last 50 seconds of The Trading Station part 1. And the others are great too.

eddy | July 18, 01:52 CET

Is there a reason why it's not Greg Edmonson (music on Firefly) that made the music of the movie?

Has Newman been imposed by the production? Edmonson's music was great for the series, he really brought something to this 'verse...

BTW, you might consider putting a "SPOILER" on this thread: I have just downloaded "The Trading Station" but the exact name of the file is kinda spoilerish for the movie (and I regreat having been spoiled - even so little - since I managed so far to get my ears and eyes far from anything too specific about the movie... :( ).

Le Comité | July 18, 01:57 CET

You didn't expect that to be in the movie? Come on :)

And I don't think he was imposed. The studio just wanted a 'name' composer. Someone who had experience scoring big movies already. TV music is different.

eddy | July 18, 02:00 CET

As far as I know, the story is that Universal did not want Edmonson because he doesn't have any experience in writing for film scores.

lalaa | July 18, 02:01 CET

Sorry about that Le Comite, it hadn't occurred to me! I edited the original post to indicate spoilishness.

orphea | July 18, 02:05 CET

Hmm... has some ok elements, but I have got say, overall this does not compare to Edmonson.

MalContent | July 18, 02:27 CET

It's too bad these clips won't play in the Mac version of Windows Media Player. Why do people do that?

(Also too bad the "international trailer" link off the main UK "signal" page leads to a file doesn't exist. Heh.)

Ah, but I notice a bit later that VLC plays them just fine.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2005-07-18 00:32 ]

The One True b!X | July 18, 02:28 CET

Someone who had experience scoring big movies already. TV music is different.

And actually, the "Serenity" clip at least has a nice "big movie Western" sound to it.

The One True b!X | July 18, 02:35 CET

I'm really excited to hear this, when I saw the movie it was with fake temporary 'music place keepers'. I love the way these sound and I'll be very excited to see the film (eventually) with the finished music!

[ edited by embers on 2005-07-18 03:11 ]

embers | July 18, 02:40 CET

huh, when listening to the first song I thought that I accidently tunned in to the Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack...okay, I'm gonna go back to listening now.

MySerenity | July 18, 03:31 CET

orphea, thanks for the post. One thing: you (and every other poster) need to add a period at the end of the link title (if it's a completed sentence).

SoddingNancyTribe | July 18, 03:32 CET

Yep, I'm buying this when it comes out.

TVsBrent | July 18, 03:44 CET

I made MP3 versions to send to gossi, when I hear back there should be copies that more people can listen to.

C. A. Bridges | July 18, 05:13 CET

Holy wow. I had a total Moment with "Serenity," which I assume is the theme. Seeing something like "A Joss Whedon film" and then the logo come up over that is going to raise some pulses.

The First Weevil | July 18, 05:41 CET

I really liked what I heard. I did hear "western" overtones, mostle due to the use of guitar and the big sort of "french horn" sound (like in The Magnificent 7) also, some of the sections with the rhythmic drums gave me a bit of a Firefly flashback. I think it does a fine job dovetailing with the Firefly soundtrack.

Really makes me curious about what the first film composer (can't even remember his name) had in mind that was so wrong. Some techno-rock thing perhaps?

Znachki | July 18, 05:51 CET

They were giving these out at the Serenity booth at Comicon. Haven't listened to them yet though.

Rogue Slayer | July 18, 06:10 CET

*Squeals of delight* I love this music! I can imagine every scene, from the opening, to the sweeping flights of going for a ride to the battle scene of the last song. Oh man, I soooo hope they have the soundtrack in place when I get to see the movie in a fortnight! OK am having a Serenity moment. *many many more squeals*

nixygirl | July 18, 06:52 CET

(1) Bix: I'm on OSX, and the downloaded samples played just fine on my Windows Media Player. (Though of course VLC Player is now the default player for most of my media, too; it rules.)

(2) Znachki: The first film composer was the great Coen Brothers collaborator Carter Burwell. He was probably let go because of his lack of experience with action cues; Burwell is more of a ambient film-music writer (and a damn good one; when I heard that the man behind the wretched, too-quiet "Series of Unfortunate Events" score replaced Burwell, I was personally aghast).

(3) Rogue Slayer: They were giving these out at Comicon? As CDs?! Egad, that's gonna be a collector's item. Anyone who wants to unload theirs, or who snagged an extra I'll take it, and pay modestly for the privilege: culturepulp at gmail dot com.

As for my opinion of the samples: I'm cautiously optimistic. I had the good fortune to attend all three previews, and came to really enjoy the temp cues at several junctures, particularly in the opening and final moments of the film. It will actually be more jarring to hear this music replace it than it was to watch the effects improve. It could make or break the film, really.

HudsonVC | July 18, 08:11 CET

Bix: I'm on OSX, and the downloaded samples played just fine on my Windows Media Player.

Yeah this is the 2nd time I've heard that (although I'm hearing far more "unable to play" comments), and I don't get it. What OSX are you on? I'm still on 10.3.9, with current WMP, and WMP acts like it's playing the files but doesn't actually output any audio.

The One True b!X | July 18, 08:18 CET

Ok, the weird thing is, I redownloaded them all and now WMP plays them. So either there's a gremlin in my laptop, or I brainfarted on something originally and it was my fault that they didn't play before.

*shrug*

The One True b!X | July 18, 09:07 CET

I was most fortunate to attend both a preview screening in May and the screening last night of the final movie. This music made a world of difference for me. There are moments where the music brought tears to my eyes. I was really missing the Firefly-style music during the early screening, but the final version contains just the right mix of music that made the film even more spectacular. (and besides the music, the subtle adjustments in editing improved the film tremendously into a polished, cohesive, magnificent film. I think it is the best movie I have ever seen!).

And yes, the Universal people handed out CD's with the movie tickets. I will see if I can get an extra for you, HudsonVC.

I really wish you all could have been there. September (and October/November for some) can't arrive soon enough!

SaltyGoodness | July 18, 09:11 CET

Ok, Salty, you say you saw a May screening and this final cut. Can you describe the differences, beyond the score?

Not incidentally, the more I listen to these score clips, the more impatient I am getting to see the film again in its completed form. It sounds to me like the score is going to work really, really well.

The One True b!X | July 18, 09:24 CET

I will be posting MP3s of the music later today, assuming Universal don't mind.

gossi | July 18, 11:46 CET

As far as I know, the story is that Universal did not want Edmonson because he doesn't have any experience in writing for film scores.

Which is not entirely true: look at this.

Anyway, at least they took a director which has a huge experience of feature movies... ;)

Le Comité | July 18, 12:38 CET

Well I am very un-musical but I liked it a lot. The brief Serenity clip made me all stirred up, which for a person who is close to tone deaf means something.

I prefer a rather more ‘in your face’ expressive and sweeping music to a film as subtleties are sadly lost on me. Pirates works for people like me big time, so I don’t think any similarities are necessarily a bad thing. I suspect this is true for many other people who are into more mainstream music.

I am not sure this post makes sense, I am rubbish talking about music. I liked it and I kind of got it and I am very happy with that.

Thank you also to the people who bothered to put this up for the rest of us!

miranda | July 18, 14:27 CET

Serenity started off OK, but ended up sounding like Pirates of the Carribean.

It's not bad, but it's very generic-movie-music. I do like that there seems to be some western influence.

I miss Greg.

mnspnr | July 18, 16:10 CET

Yes, thank you guys. Now tell me please, is the Firefly theme in the end credits of the final film? Or is it even alluded to in the score at all?

Willowy | July 18, 17:46 CET

theonetruebix, I don't know if this is the thread to talk about the other differences, but let me just say that I could feel the labor of love that Joss put into polishing this film. In the first screening, it seemed so fast-paced, intense, hard to catch your breath. The story is the same, but the music and editing gave you more time to process the story and some much-needed moments of peace to experience the story rather than speeding through it. It truly amazed me how much the music helped with this. I had really missed the western influences in the music in the first screening. You are right to think that it worked really, really, well. And it lightened up the tone a bit.

If someone starts a thread about the Comic-Con screening of the film, I will definitely post more info about the differences there.

SaltyGoodness | July 18, 18:29 CET

MP3s are now up!

C. A. Bridges | July 18, 19:11 CET

Don't have a sample of it, but they've redone the Firefly theme as an instrumental epic theme and put it at the very end of the movie.

gossi | July 18, 21:24 CET

I wish I'd known sooner about the CDs that were being handed out. Several friends of mine attended Comiccon and I would have asked them to try to find one for me.

:-<

ShelaghC | July 18, 21:57 CET

Thank you Chris!

Good to very good to great stuff. I think this put paid that Newman can't do action music.

bookrats | July 18, 23:28 CET

Thanks gossi, that's good to know. For some reason it was very important to me that the Firefly theme be included in Serenity...even if it was in some minor way just for us fans.

Willowy | July 19, 02:45 CET

These clips are growing on me each time I listen to them. It took me 4 or 5 listens to notice that there's a strain in "Serenity" which reappears in "Going" and "Trading" (part 2), and now I can clearly see other moments in the movie where I bet that same strain reappears in the score.

The One True b!X | July 19, 02:48 CET

I actually kept thinking "Braveheart" during the first couple clips, which all sounded pretty much the same to me. I know that US country music has Celtic roots, but that was all I was hearing. Of course I do not usually pay attention to the music during a movie unless it is brought to my attention somehow, so it probably does not matter what my reation to it is when it is disassociated from the movie. As long as it does what it needs to do in the finished product, I'm happy.

newcj | July 19, 02:53 CET

I was thinking that they should remix the Firefly theme and put it in the movie somewhere. Some people balked about that idea when I first said that, because they want the original theme, but I honestly don't think the it fits the movie. So, making it all instrumental and epic-y is a fantastic idea. Oooh, I'm getting all excited now! I can't wait to experience that. It's going to give me goosebumps, I just know it.

[ edited by electricspacegirl on 2005-07-19 01:01 ]

electricspacegirl | July 19, 03:01 CET

I've heard there is a possible bandwidth problem for the mp3s on the UK cantstopthesignal site. If you have a problem there, you can also pick them up here.

Hasufel | July 19, 12:14 CET

Awesome! I really like the "Serenity" one.

PurpleYoshi | July 21, 04:25 CET

Wow, these are pretty much as epic as you get, I love "Serenity"

Apocalypse | July 22, 18:10 CET

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