Tag Archives: george lucas

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How is Gustav Holst still inspiring modern movie composers today?

Pictured is the composer Gustav Holst
Pictured is the composer Gustav Holst

Image via swerveevents.com.

The English composer Gustav Holst is still inspiring modern movie composers today, almost 100 years after his death.

Gustav Holst is most well-known for his orchestral suite, Planets that featured five dramatic movements focusing each on a planet in our solar system, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter. These movements have inspired many movie composers since, and in many ways the score has made its way into a majority of modern film.

For instance, the rhythmic ostinato featured in Gustav Holsts’ Mars is heavily featured in the final scene of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The concluding act sees Luke Skywalker firing his proton torpedo into the exhaust port of The Death Star, with a dramatic sequence ensuing. During this time, the score crescendo’s, becoming louder and louder, building tension. This dramatic composition is almost identical to that of Gustav Holst’s Mars, a piece written in 1919.

John Williams, the composer for Star Wars was actually told by George Lucas himself to make the score for the scene equal to that of Mars. We could talk about John Williams ‘using’ pieces from other composers another time, that can certainly be a separate discussion altogether.

Digging deeper it’s found that there a huge selection of movies that feature Gustav Holst’s work fairly heavily, many composers at the very least drew inspiration from Holst’s Planets. The Alien franchise (most notably Aliens) features a variation of the score during the scene where Ripley fights off the Alien queen with a powerloader. Other notable mentions include Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Terminator, Predator and the fairly iconic Inception soundtrack.

There’s undoubtedly a pattern here, almost all the films that use this score fall within the science fiction genre.

Mars is certainly a fitting score for science fiction films in general. The piece was written with the titular planet in mind and was featured in the orchestral suite Planets, which included movements for other planets such as Venus and Mercury. Not to mention the fact that Mars was also titled, “The bringer of War”. Clearly, Gustav had science fiction in mind from the start.

Gustav Holst can be seen as unintentionally being one of the greatest movie composers of all time, inspiring many film scores of the last 50 years.

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Time is running out to visit Tatooine

The fictional city of Mos Espa is located within the sand dunes of Tunisia. The characters from Star Wars are walking down the marketplace with many domed buildings and sci fi structures around them.
The fictional city of Mos Espa is located within the sand dunes of Tunisia. The characters from Star Wars are walking down the marketplace with many domed buildings and sci fi structures around them.

Image via starwars.wikia.com

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, 1999 and Tunisia to be exact, George Lucas gave Star Wars fans the most detailed and strikingly beautiful location that the series had to offer. Just ask any Star Wars fan of the first city that springs to mind, they’ll undoubtedly think of Mos Espa, the hometown of one Anakin Skywalker. Fast forward well over a decade however, this real world location may soon be a thing of the past.

Located just to the west of the Tunisian city of Tozeur, lies one of the most detailed Star Wars sets ever built. Nestled amidst the dunes are around 20 buildings covering an area of around 10,000 square meters. One of the largest Star Wars sets produced, many tourists stumble upon the location thinking they’ve been transported in time.

This area was prominently featured in the first of the Star Wars prequels, Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace and has since become one of Tunisia’s key tourist attractions. Tourists can currently visit Mos Espa and get the feel as though they are on the fictional planet of Tatooine, the only thing that’s missing are the twin suns.

CNN reports however, that this iconic area may soon be lost by the very location it resides in. The sand dunes next to Mos Espa are currently moving at a rate of around 4cm per day, with the fictional city lying right in its path. Very soon, Mos Espa may be lost forever.

A domed hut is shown with sand creeping up the already decayed walls.

Image via holidaycheck.com. The sand is starting to surround the already weathered Mos Espa buildings.

This news comes at a devastating loss for Tunisia, as the area is frequently included in various holiday packages and draws many visitors, all wishing to gain an insight into this iconic fictional city.

In an interview with CNN, Tahar Karya, an expert in the sand dunes of Tunisia and George Lucas’ personal driver during filming, had this to say about how Tunisia benefited as a result of Mr Lucas:

“More than 1,500 background actors were employed. Agencies and hotels also benefited. Over a period of two-and-a-half months, (Lucas) brought activities to the region and beneficial economic activity. We hope he comes back here again.”

Perhaps George Lucas will return to Tunisia to film the latest Star Wars films? He’d better bring a spade.

The set has remained unused since 2003 after Lucas finished filming Episode 2, the final film that featured Mos Espa. At the time of writing, those interested can still visit the set, but for how much longer?

Better book those tickets sooner rather than later Star Wars fans, as Mos Espa may soon be swallowed up by the Sahara Desert itself. Perhaps a few centuries from now future civilisations may uncover the location and mistake it for a functioning city of our time and not that of a film set.

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John Williams, the man behind the music

Image shows composer John Williams conducting one of his many pieces.

Image via: eddieonfilm.blogspot.co.uk

You probably already know by now who John Williams is. The famous composer has written more scores than you shake a musical stick at (or a conductor’s baton if you prefer). Most notable scores include Saving Private Ryan, Superman and my personal favourite, Jurassic Park. How did John Williams achieve such great recognition in the movie industry?

Born on February 8th 1932 in New York, to an already musical family, John Williams was destined for a life of music. Attending the University of California in 1952, John studied with Italian composer, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. His musical career had begun.

After his time at university John Williams worked as a jazz pianist, playing in many clubs in and around New York. He then worked on television production for shows such as Peter Gunn and Days of Wine and Roses. His first credited film score didn’t come until the 1960 film, Because They’re Young, moving away from his television work.

For many years, John was nominated for musical awards in film, but never took home an award. In many ways, it was director Steven Spielberg who introduced John Williams into the limelight. A then new director on the movie scene, Steven asked for John Williams to compose the score for his first film, The Sugarland Express. The film gained critical acclaim, and showcased the power the duo have in the movie industry.

Since then, John Williams has scored all but two of Spielberg’s movies, The Twilight Zone and The Color Purple being the only exceptions. In 1977, John Williams was approached by another up and coming director, George Lucas.

The director pitched the idea of a science fiction space opera titled, Star Wars. John happily accepted and his since provided the score for all subsequent sequels and prequels. The most distinguished score, “Force Theme” can be heard via the YouTube video below.

Surely, it must be a given that John Williams will be composing the score for the newly announced Star Wars trilogy?

John Williams has since composed the soundtrack for another series of George Lucas directed films, starring an archaeologist called Dr Henry Jones. Other notable film scores include the X-Men series, The Adventures of Tintin and the Harry Potter films.

During his career, John Williams has won 40 awards for his musical achievement in film and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end there. John has already started work on his composition for the upcoming Jurassic World and it looks more than likely that he’ll be composing the score for the new Star Wars films. May the score be with you John.