Hello and welcome to this first episode of "What Lies Beneath". I'm Vito Lo Re and here beside me is my partner, friend, and colleague Fabrizio Campanelli. Now I need to take profile pictures to the right, profile to the left, and then center profile. And we're good. As they used to say in Crime Novel. So...

But do they know what we do? Do they know what we do? I think they do, but if they don't, we'll tell them. Our job - it may sound strange - but we write music for images so... But I don't think our music has ever killed anyone. No, that's an advantage.

But you know, in advertising... someone already might object. Ah, because advertising is, after all... a delicate topic. It's a cobra's stuff. Let's not talk about advertising here let's talk about something much more interesting.

I believe especially because those watching us. So, we thought of utilizing our years of experience that makes us seem old but in reality... we're differently young. to analyze together with you in a quite light manner I'd say... I wanted to wear a jacket and tie but you advised me against it. In a rather light way, some well-known, famous movie scores that music enthusiasts or students of music for movies or musicians in general might find interesting in the way we decided to present it.

That is, how? And to tell them! Also because then we won't just talk about the scores of soundtracks but also everything that revolves around maybe the sound, of a movie, the instrumentation, the orchestration. A bit of everything that happens in the making of. It could be a process of debunking ourselves or Freudian analysis. I mean, what's the idea?

The idea is: we start with something musical, from a scene that we will show you, we'll see the music flowing over that scene, we'll comment on it, we'll explain it to the extent of our ability to enter the composer's head, at least since certain dynamics are... Entering the mind of a serial killer. And here we return to the idea of killing someone. Then, of course, we will talk about all those topics that are related to soundtracks, so as Fabrizio said, the orchestra, recording, microphones, samples when there are samples and we will also touch on legal or contractual issues, in short, it's a vast ocean that should give us the opportunity to make many videos. The subject is so broad that we have to make a lot of videos. Absolutely need to slice it up.

Slice it up. And we start with an island. Treasure Island? No. Celebrity Island. No, but we're close because actually it's an island in Hawaii.

I discovered it, because then this thing also leads you to discover a lot of things, They shot it on an island in Hawaii! Thanks to Wikipedia. "Isla Nublar" So, I know this. I think they know it at home too; it's the island where a scientist, not sure if mad, but anyway someone who has the fantastic idea, he's got the big idea! Yes, actually more than the scientist it's the mind, the entrepreneur, the producer, it's the film producer, basically! He's the one who puts in the money, even if today producers don't put in money anymore.

But he's the one who has the idea, the one who has the big idea, says, I want to do this thing here. And he manages to do it. Now when someone wants to do something and manages to do it and also spends a lot of money and builds an island to lock up prehistoric animals I wonder why then at a certain point something goes wrong. Not something; everything goes wrong! Otherwise, what would the movie be about? It would be really boring!

And so the score of this movie called "Jurassic Park", obviously. I think they got it. The original music is by John Williams, who is one of the greatest! He has given us one of the most beautiful soundtracks in the history of cinema. And also one of the most famous. Which not always go hand in hand!

There are beautiful ones that no one knows and there are others perhaps very famous but not exactly legendary. But it also gives us the opportunity to look a bit from the inside at how some mechanisms, some patterns he uses He always has this very large orchestra. Today's director would say "But a bit less..." Also because we'll see that a large orchestra yes but... we'll discover some little, not flaw, let's say some trick. Saint John doesn't do flaws, but some trade tricks yes. We managed to remove the dialogue, that nightmare of any musician and any director because when there's dialogue they always say: "Eh, but be careful because the music interferes with the dialogue, And also in the mix, lower it, keep the level low".

Instead, Johnny solves it with a full orchestra. He doesn't remove it. He also places the trumpets without any problems. He always solves it with that sixty people. Yes, yes, even while they're talking. And they don't just simply lower the general master level because… Absolutely not.

… everyone can do that, right? Absolutely not. He solves it much better. He solves it elegantly. First of all, with a change of tempo. Let's rewatch the scene, starting from this great panoramic view of the sea with this beautiful heroic theme beautiful.

And then you'll see that when we enter the helicopter, so you won't hear it because it's been removed, but there's dialogue there, the tempo changes, first of all, it switches to 12/8 and we see how he… how he handles it. Let's start with the big theme! A little flutter of flutes We see that while the theme - very tonal - is exposed it also gives us a chance to see the rhythm on the horns which is a triple rhythm of a gallop which then transforms into a kind of Barcarolle in the dialogue. While the helicopter gallops towards the surprise, towards the magnificence of what the mad scientist - or less mad - has managed to create The visionary scientist! You know, it's said that only the poor are mad; the rich are eccentric. Here, along with the helicopter's flight, we have the flute's flight.

He always likes to accompany in an almost mimetic way symbolically we have a flight of flutes up high then descending which immediately brings us to the idea of the helicopter's flight; so it's a flight that leads us towards fantasy, towards the future, towards expectations. He always uses very high timbres very light, very quick designs, that are above the theme. The theme, the same thing we'll now do with the trumpets. Let me point out these beautiful trumpets that progress by fifths, like the second act of Bohème, in the face of parallel fifths. And of all the manuals. You don't do parallel fifths, rightly, John says: "But you know what?..." There are more parallel fifths in beautiful music written than...

Ah, true, true. Then you see the measure of 2/4, because do we need a measure of 2/4? For image reasons, because where the 12/8 begins we entered the helicopter, plus, you see, how it takes us from inside to outside, or rather, sorry, from outside, to inside, with the glissando of the harp, which gives us the transition from outside the helicopter to inside the helicopter. And here in the score we have highlighted on the film, which is taken from the manuscript, from the original manuscript of Williams, which we, fortunately, own along with millions of other people. It's also nice to notice how he plays a lot with tempo. We have the violins that are on the beat in two, and the violas that make a figure in three, triplet, because rhythmically it creates a sort of rolling.

And this is beautiful because it maintains an elegance even in transitions that is his, is very his, it's a very his language, it's a very specific Williams language and this transition, this rolling let's say, it takes us inside the helicopter with the famous figuration under the dialogue, which we will listen to again. Yes, here it is: inside. Yes, here it is: inside. Okay, so here we have this unraveling of these triads of the bassoons with the bass clarinet, which create a very suspended dissonance, that takes us away from the feeling of being anchored to the very strong tonality we had in the theme's exposition. The helicopter theme is very centered on the tonality, works very assertively, is very assertive as a theme, under the dialogue instead we float, we float with a less marked perception of the tonal center, made with inversions, suspensions and with a theme that is still maintained, that is transposed onto the different sections of the orchestra, a lot on the woods. But since we have powerful means, we also separated this stuff.

Let's listen to it. Here we can see how it moves with the triads of the two bassoons above, the upper lines, the theme is exposed in orange. And the bass clarinet. It's curious because this movement that in reality, played by real instruments, is very soft. Yes, of course, this is... but this way you can also hear it better, in some ways.

I also suggest trying to play it at home. That would also be... Do it at home. Do it at home as an exercise. It leads us then to maintain the presence of the live orchestra but to create that cradle, let's call it so, that bed, on which the characters converse, move and we can therefore perceive not a detachment from what happened before, which was the expressed theme of the helicopter, as you said, therefore maintaining a coherence, but not being distracted by the music, because an excessive tonal centrality would lead us to an attention, to focus an attention. Johnny constantly changes tonality, but never really binds.

This is something that I've always found fantastic about his way of writing. That is, if you look at the scores, often they have nothing in key because rightly it's not relevant. But one could for exercise purposes and in some cases we've even done it bring something into key, not because it's necessarily that the tonality in which he's playing, but so, as a permanent center of gravity Battiato would have said. And this thing helps us a lot, it helps, him, it helps him a lot because never being anchored, and indeed constantly changing the reference to something vaguely tonal, allows him to stand. And since you hinted at it before the Barcarolle rhythm, which already from the previous gallop becomes Barcarolle rhythm, and therefore leads to all, well, we're in a sea scene, we're on the sea, to all the scenes, this rhythm, well, apart from being also in a lot of opera music, but well, in all the pirate movies of the '40s, '50s, Errol Flynn all have this Barcarolle rhythm, so dear old Johnny, well, did as they say a nod to that world which is always nice. And then it's curious to see also if one can, but also by ear one can hear if isolated, the movement of the bass that sometimes seems almost random..

It's the famous "random bass" of John. No, it's true now we won't use an expression a bit more colorful, but the sense is absolutely that: often and willingly you look at what the double bass does and you say: But what does this C have to do with it? It's not a passing note, it's not a harmony note, it's done on purpose to not give, to misdirect, to always take away the idea of tonality when your brain has started to create it. So when your brain has started... Ok, I got it, I'm here. To center itself on a platform, he immediately takes it away from you, or he takes it away with the bass, or he also takes it away, we'll see ahead in a harmonic and very refined way, to change you, to always shift your attention and thus leaving the dialogue on an interesting bed, that makes sense, because it's still conveying to you all the meaning it needs to convey, without however letting itself be distracted by the harmonic path and thus leaving the viewer the focus and attention on the dialogue.

Go! Here another change, always with the harp that did... Here, the trumpets, here it was great; here he was great, because I would have been afraid to place the trumpet so loudly under a dialogue, because I would have already imagined the director... "Ah, the trumpet!" Instead, being able to place the trumpet in a register still acute, it's heard, it's not a color, it's something absolutely thematic and strong. Johnny... he's great, he's great.

Last exposition of the countertheme on the clarinet and flutes. And here we notice something curious and in the original score obviously they are marked, now they emerge even having raised the music, removed the dialogue, raised the music, you can also hear the orchestral bells. Orchestral bells. And the thing is curious because instinctively we might not realize at least, the viewer doesn't realize, but receives this crystalline sound, of the little bells that call us to a world of celebration, inconsciously, indirectly, leads the viewer to the idea that there's something, a typically pleasant surprise, like can be that of Christmas. So much so that in other parts of the score Sleigh bells appear, that is, the classic Christmas sleigh bells. But you know, this is a topic we'll talk a lot about in these videos, that is, how many times it can be also a four-penny trick for the love of heaven, it won't be the brilliant find, but how much it's important to anchor a situation or a context maybe historical or an environment to something of sound that calls it back to you automatically as you said for the Sleigh bells, for example.

Now let's do a fast forward and the group reaches the island, reaches the island and we will notice in a funny way that despite the helicopter undergoing, bumps, but no one is worried, thanks to the music. Thanks, because anyway there's the helicopter that goes down, takes air voids, well, it could be a moment of tension wanting, but thanks to the music no one is worried neither actors, but especially the spectators. Exactly, so let's see in the next episode what happens in this darn helicopter because... Because now I'm curious... Exactly, and from there we will also continue to have our score on... Who knows?

Maybe yes, maybe no? Yes, I'm confident, we have it. See you next time!