Preview

John Williams

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
818 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
John Williams
John Williams has composed over one-hundred film scores of which he has received forty-five Academy Award nominations. He has become a household name through his memorable music motifs. These themes capture the essence of the film and as one fan summarized:
"John Williams has composed some of the best known themes and scores ever. You can't deny that the Star Wars scores, for all the movies, especially the Imperial March, are incredible. He invented the famous Jaws theme, which is a standard now in any shark scene in movies. And you can't forget Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park…all of which wouldn't be nearly as good without Williams' scores."
This kind of excitement and familiarity of John Williams' compositions is a typical response when his name is welcomed into a discussion. When asked what comes to your mind when you hear John Williams' music, the most popular answers are heroic, dramatic themes that bring about pleasant memories. These responses uncover the origins of why John Williams is the biggest name in the history of movie music. His award-winning technique of scoring a film allows true emotions to capture the character's essence, which in turn allows the audience to fully connect with the character. These figures which John Williams brings to life are familiar archetypes that we have grown to love through our childhood fairytale stories. This familiarity grabs the listener in so that you are hearing something that reminds you of pleasant memories.
Williams is best known for heroic, rousing themes that encompass the adventure and fantasy of the films. To achieve this bold, masculine sound, Williams uses powerful wind instruments to represent the hero and villain. The effectiveness of the music relies on the interrelations between the soundtrack and the rest of the film's system. Williams' technique of scoring a film is unique and relies on human instincts and emotions. Through this creative interrelation, the audience is able to connect

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Sound Of Music Analysis

    • 1532 Words
    • 7 Pages

    What made this musical so popular, was the combination of Rodgers and Hammerstein nack of producing successful songs and lyrics but also they argued to be the right men at the right time. H comment that that the first ten minutes of any musical theatre piece should define the style and themes to follow” this advice given from H is clearly presented within the beginning of the creation of the sound of music.…

    • 1532 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steven Bryant was born in 1972, in Little Rock, Arizona. He is the son of a professional trumpeter and a music educator. Bryant learned composition at The Juilliard School with John Corigliano, who won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize, at the University of North Texas with Cindy McTee, a composer, and at Ouachita University with Francis McBeth, a composer and conductor.…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Homework Questions 2 2

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. How did George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein both straddle the worlds of Classical and popular music?…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shoe-Horn Sonata

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Through the use of techniques and themes, a composer is able to create distinctively visual images when describing the setting and characters in detail which help us to understand and form meaning of what the composer is trying to convey in their texts. The use of techniques such as body language, symbolism, lighting, music and photographic background slides create distinctively visual images same with themes that are being used within the texts such as truth which is evident in the dramatic text ‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ by John Misto, the song ‘Lose Yourself’ sang by Eminem, and the film ‘The Eye’ directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud featuring Jessica Alba. These three texts demonstrate how the responders are impacted and what is interrupted within the text and there similarities that help shape meaning.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Williams’ brilliant compositions elude to the themes of the previous movies, and those connections are in part what makes the pieces so effective in conveying their intended message – whether it be the hope of the force prevailing, or the impending doom when the dark side of the force advances. In tandem, the strength and effectiveness of the musical elements that these themes are made up of makes them so memorable and emotional for the…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Movies use music and sound to the fullest extent, even in some ways to control the audience's mood and emotion. In “A river runs through it” the director of the movie, Robert Redford, uses sound and music specifically to assist the audience with determining the emotion of the scene. During almost all of the fishing scenes the same slow symphonic calming music is played. The choice in music is important because it allows the audience to remain calm and come closer to feeling at one with nature much like Paul, Norman, and their dad…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through the exploration of the themes relationships, bullying, death/loss the composers develop realistic events that impact on their respective protagonists.…

    • 918 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is significant to understand that it was a decisive work for Spielberg and his entire career was depending…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Star Wars Movie Analysis

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Star Wars Theme and Darth Vader’s Theme are know in almost every household. And who made these themes was none other than the wonderful, loveable, John Williams. You may not know it, but he composed a ton of music in iconic movies such as Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and 3 Harry Potter movies. There is also sounds, and who can remember the beautiful shssh of a lightsaber, or R2-D2’s innocent beep-boops, and the wonderful Darth Vader breath. All of the sounds were made by the astounding Ben Burtt. He also was the “voice” of the dear Wall-E. But he was not the one who did the Wilhelm scream. What’s the Wilhelm scream? Its that scream that you here in almost every George Lucas and Steven Spielberg movie when someone falls or gets shot. The scream is thought to first appear (But some people say it was used before) in the movie “Distant Drums (1951)” when a man behind from his group is crossing a river. A crocodile creeps up behind this man and take a bite at him. This was before the “Charge at Feather River (1953)” so it wasn’t as popular as when Private Wilhelm got shot in the leg. The scream have appeared in many Spielberg/Lucas films such as; Indiana Jones and a lot of Disney…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    tedd williams

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ted Williams is known as one of the all time greats in baseball. During his long baseball career, Ted skipped some seasons and served as a Marine Corps pilot. During his time in WWII and the Korean War, we would all assume that Ted gained tremendous leadership skills. These skills helped him on the baseball field, and throughout his entire life.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Gershwin

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    George Gershwin (1898-1937) was taken from this life tragically at the early age of 38 by a brain tumor. While he was here he demonstrated to be not only one of the great songwriters of the contemporary time period, but he was also considered one of the most gifted composers of the twentieth century whose contribution to music history included conjoining the genres of popular and classical music. George Gershwin’s impact has been felt on Broadway as well as the jazz world through his various works. Along with the work of other significant songwriters such as Cole Porter, many of Gershwin’s popular songs have become standards, easily recognizable by several generations of music lovers. He was inspired by French Composers of the early twentieth century. In addition, his range of musical talent allowed him to compose everything from popular tunes to jazz masterpieces and opera.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hank Williams

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Hank Williams is the father of contemporary country music (CMT).” Hank was an American singer and song writer who is regarded as the most important musician to country music of all time. Hank’s career was cut short by a sudden death at the early age of 29.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Planet of the Apes

    • 989 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are certain films that are just meant to become classics, to be seen as masterpieces, even if not during their heyday but after a few decades. Such an example of a film like this is Planet of the Apes, which the eccentricity of its origins gives it a boost when it came to the awesomeness of the film. However, this essay is not meant to explain the storyline, rather to give a description of the musical score of it. The story began aboard a spaceship that was on its way to an unknown place around the constellation of Orion, in which had no background music until the crew landed in an unexpected manner. The music started playing suspense fully where despair seemed as the emotion that ran across everyone’s minds and hearts when the crew had crash landed in the middle of the ocean. Luckily, they were prepared for such events and managed to survive, except for one crew member.…

    • 989 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Russell Williams

    • 1456 Words
    • 4 Pages

    With regards to psychology there are many different theories and perspectives of the human mind however, I will be focusing on Sigmund Freud’s theory of human behavior. Freud believed that “human behaviour is driven by desires and the suppression of the same desires”. Concerning the case of Col. Russell Williams, he was a paraphilic; he stole lingerie and then took photographs of the women he sexually assaulted. According to Freud’s theory of human behavior, Williams did not possess the ability to control his desires. He started off as a “voyeur”, but somehow transformed into a perverted sex offender with a dark fixation for violence. Sigmund Freud compared the mind to an iceberg. Everything we are aware of is just the tip, while our unconscious mind is the majority of the iceberg which remains under the surface. According to Freud the unconscious mind keeps all impulses and “primitive wishes” under control. Colonel Russell Williams started by spying on females, he then began breaking into their homes, stealing pieces of underwear and masturbating on their beds. It is clear to see that Williams’ inner desires were not even remotely normal. “It 's very unusual for a guy who 's got his act together like that ... to all of a sudden start committing crimes at a late age,” said Professor Quinsey of Psychology at Queens University.…

    • 1456 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Juilliard School

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Juilliard is noted for its notorious alumni such as Yo-Yo Ma and John Williams. Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 and studied at Juilliard at a very Young age. He has won fifteen Grammys (“Yo-Yo Ma”). John Williams is an American Composer who attended the school in 1955. Williams has written many notable film scores such as Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jaws, and Superman. He has won five Academy Awards, seventeen Grammys, three Golden Globes, two Emmys, and five BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) (“John Williams”).…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays