Star Wars Without John Williams?

When you think of the Star Wars movies, it's hard to not think of the music in some way or another.  It's easily one of the most iconic components of the Saga and is instantly recognizable, even to people who wouldn't consider themselves fans of Star Wars. The music of John Williams is so crucial to the Saga as a whole that it really helped in shaping its identity. In fact, I would argue that Star Wars wouldn't have been as much of a success without Williams' music. His music is the glue that brings it all together. It's just so hard to imagine any Star Wars movie without it

That's why some fans are a little skeptical of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which will be the first time a live action Star Wars movie is not scored by Williams. In his place will be Alexandre Desplat, a French composer who has had numerous successes in his own right. His numerous credits include the score for Godzilla, The Golden Compass, and even contributions to the Harry Potter series of films. But the simple fact that he isn't John Williams is enough to make some people concerned, and that's reasonable given the impact that Williams has had on Star Wars as a whole.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that one day, this will be the norm. There will come a movie that will be the last Star Wars movie ever scored by John Williams. That seems far away, but with Williams being hesitant to return for Episode 8, it may come sooner than we Star Wars fans may want.

It's going to happen, there's nothing we can do to change it, so we might as well just accept it. But what does the future hold? There's the possibility that Lucasfilm will find a unique composer for each movie. An argument could be made for this decision, since you could say it will make each Star Wars film feel distinct and unique. But, I personally disagree with it. As I mentioned earlier, I believe that the music is the glue that holds the entire franchise together. Having the music be the one thing that's a constant throughout the years seems fitting. However, I can agree with having a different composer for each of the Star Wars Stories, since these are by nature supposed to be different and a little separated from the main saga.Aas long as they still retain some of the basic musical themes, I have no objections to branching out a little bit for the Stories.

The other option is for Lucasfilm to find a successor to Williams that will score all Star Wars films for the foreseeable future. There's definitely plenty of composers out there who can emulate Williams' style, some of whom are currently involved with various Star Wars projects, whether its video games like Star Wars: The Old Republic or the popular Star Wars Rebels TV series. But if Lucasfilm wants a big-name Hollywood composer, Michael Giacchino seems more than capable of taking over the helm from Williams. His credits, to name a few, include the Star Trek series of films and numerous Pixar films including the Incredibles and Up. More recently, he composed the score for Jurassic World, and has even provided Star Wars-style music for the Star Tours attraction in the various Disney Parks. With these two projects, he's proven that he's not only capable of breathing new life into existing music composed by Williams, but is also capable of creating brand new pieces that blend in seamlessly.

No matter what route Lucasfilm decides to take, the simple truth is that eventually Star Wars music will change. Nobody can say how much it will change, but if I'm being honest, I would hate to hear the same three musical themes over and over for the next three decades worth of Star Wars movies, so we do need some change. There's people out there that can bring change to the music while still utilizing the foundation that John Williams has so artfully created. Replacing Williams would be a monumental task, and a monumental decision to find the right composer(s), but when the time comes (and I hope it isn't any time soon), I have confidence that Lucasfilm will do everything they can to make the best decision. Lately they have proven that they don't take any decision lightly and I get the sense that everyone involved in these new Star Wars films is truly trying to make the best movie they can. So I have faith that whatever they ultimately decide will be the right choice.

New Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Official Trailer!

As the release date for Rogue One gets closer and closer, marketing for the film is continuing to ramp up. 

With just a little over four months to go until the release of the film on December 16, we finally have another official trailer. Check it out, and make sure to watch until the very end!

Animal Characters

I’m sure that most, if not all of you know that one of the primary functions of a main character in a story, whether it’s a book, movie or video game, is to be relatable to the audience. If a character is relatable, it helps the audience be connected with and immersed in the story. When we relate to the characters, we see some aspect of ourselves within them, and as a result get some sort of satisfaction out of them achieving their goals or overcoming their hardships. Of course, that’s an extremely watered-down version, but with even this little bit of knowledge its easy to see why animal characters tend not to work so well and why the entertainment offerings they are involved with tend not to succeed.

We’ve all seen or read a story that has an abundance of animals in the roles of the main and supporting characters. From cartoons to children’s books and even summer comedies, there are more than a few handfuls of stories that involve primarily animals. Almost 100% of the time, these animals are at least somewhat personified, that is, they’re given human characteristics. If it weren’t for this simple fact, almost all stories (there are probably a few exceptions) that involve excessive use of animals would fail outright and utterly. If they weren’t given human traits and didn’t suffer through pseudo-human trials and hardships, then these animal characters would serve no purpose in a story other than being cute and cuddly. Because at its heart a story needs some form of audience connection, the personification of these animals is a necessity.

Even so, personification can only get these creatures so far. No matter how anthropomorphic an animal character is the audience still subconsciously knows that the character isn’t human, and is therefore less relatable. It is this fact alone that is responsible for the lack of success that an animal-driven story has when trying to convey any story that is mildly serious or substantial. They may evoke or imply themes that are more mature and serious, but for the most part, what’s on the surface is fairly simplistic and dull.

This is why animal-driven stories are usually reserved for children’s TV shows and cartoons, books, and movies. In these genres, the characters are usually less relatable anyway. Animal characters excel in particular in cartoons, however, because at their nature they are meant to deliver comic mischief and humor, rather than anything substantial (not to put them down). One might argue that characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny are just as relatable as any standard human character. Indeed, they are fairly relatable, but in part I believe this is due to their longevity. Anyway, at the heart of their respective cartoons, these characters never really dealt with any serious or complicated stories, we as an audience just simply watched their cartoonish antics and adventures. In fact, these characters are in situations that are so outlandish that by comparison these characters seem more human than others. We’ve simply come to associate with those characters because of the long history and their place in popular culture.

Characters such as these present a special case of animal characters, and I’d like to continue on that further in the next article. Thanks for reading!

Creators of High Quality Entertainment

In the present day in age we are almost constantly surrounded by entertainment. It's almost harder to not be exposed to it than it is to be surrounded by it. However, the fact that we are consistently exposed to entertainment doesn't mean that the majority of it is good, quality entertainment. In fact, I'd argue that most entertainment today is passive and designed to do nothing more than make a quick buck. Sure, it's still entertaining, but there's nothing about it that resonates with us or is open to interpretation or any kind of discovery.

Fortunately there are companies and individuals who almost consistently create and distribute high quality entertainment, the kind that you can look at 50 times and still find something new, or the kind that opens up an entire new world for you imagination even after the end credits have started rolling or you put away your game controller. Entertainment associated with Disney, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Bungie Studios, and Peter Jackson are just a few of my favorite, and some of the more popular creators of high quality entertainment.

More often than not these individuals and organizations understand entertainment on a deeper, more psychological level, giving them knowledge of how to effectively produce and apply the power of entertainment. Makers of high quality entertainment understand that the best final product is often fashioned out of hundreds, possibly thousands of hours passionate creation. Putting in the extra effort required not only make the end product more monetarily successful but connects with the audience and gives them something more to do than just watch a movie or play a video game. Entertainment that has such a profound effect on its audience is bound to build up an extremely positive reputation for the company or individual and practically guarantees the success of their next product. Once you take this into account, it's not hard to see why more and more entertainment is being crafted in a more careful manner.