John Conducts Oscar

The following is a press release from some organization called A.M.P.A.S. Apparently they hand out an award called "the Oscar." I'm not too familiar with it, but I'm certain it'll never have the prestige and gravitas of the Golden Globe.

Beverly Hills, CA - Oscar(R)-winning composer John Williams will return to the Oscar podium for the first time since 1975 to serve as music director for the 74th Academy Awards, telecast producer Laura Ziskin announced today. He will co-conduct with Mark Watters.

"It was a dream of mine to have John Williams be a part of this year's Academy Award telecast," Ziskin said. "He is the absolute best at what he does. His musicianship and showmanship will add incalculably to our show.

"John will be joined by Mark Watters, with whom he appeared at this year's Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies, and I am pleased to welcome this wonderful musician as co-conductor for our event."

"It's a privilege to be conducting this year's Oscar orchestra as we inaugurate the new Kodak Theatre and celebrate the unifying power of film in a year that hopefully will be remembered as a time of progress and healing," Williams said.

This will be the third time Williams has conducted the Academy Awards orchestra, and the first time for Watters. Williams was Music Director in 1972 for the 45th Academy Awards and in 1975 for the 48th.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2001 will be presented on Sunday, March 24, 2002, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland(R) and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5:30 p.m. (PST). A half-hour arrival segment will precede the presentation ceremony at 5 p.m.
 

It will be interesting to hear Williams conduct Horner's Beautiful Mindmusic, which we'll probably be hearing far too often at the ceremony as Mindis likely to win a lot of trophies--Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay and Director, though I'll be curious as to how much of the show Williams conducts and how much Watters does. Will they just bring Williams out for the big pieces (like the score medley, assuming they have one) and have Watters conduct all the lead-ins?

The Walnut High School Symphonic Orchestra presents "The Magic of Movies & Music" with special guest conductor Elmer Bernstein, this Thursday, February 21st, at 7:00 PM at the Walnut High Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for students and seniors.

Mr. Bernstein will be conducting music from his jazz-oriented film scores, such as Walk on the Wild Side,The Rat Race (the 60s film, not his rejected score for the Jerry Zucker comedy) and The Man With the Golden Arm.

Buddy Clements, music director at Walnut High School, can be reached at his office at (909) 594-2263. The city of Walnut is located east of Los Angeles near Pomona, a city whose biggest cinematic claim to fame was when Bruce Willis referred to it as "Ramona" in the original Die Hard.

From: Robert Froehner <robertf@THEREMIN-SAW.COM>

As part of their 50th anniversary season, on Saturday, February 23, 2002, the Cobb (Georgia) Symphony Orchestra will present A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: CLASSIC WESTERNS. The concert, conducted by Steven Byess, will be held at the Cobb Civic Center at 8:00 PM. The program includes a world premiere by Eric Alexander, as well as three world concert premieres from classic western films of the 1950's. The program will be repeated on Sunday, February 24, at 3:00 PM at the Grand Theatre in Cartersville, GA.

Eric Alexander - OVERTURE FOR A NEW FRONTIER (2002) -- World Premiere
Elmer Bernstein - THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)
Elmer Bernstein - TRUE GRIT (1969)
Alfred Newman - HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1963)
Dmitri Tiomkin - A PRESIDENT'S COUNTRY (1966)
John Barry - DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
Henry Mancini, Irving Gertz, William Lava - SMOKE SIGNAL (1955)
--World Concert Premiere
Herman Stein - LAWLESS BREED (1952) -- World Concert Premiere
Hans Salter - WICHITA TOWN (1955) -- World Concert Premiere

For more information:
http://www.cobbsymphony.org

Andromeda - Matthew McCauley*
Trouble Every Day - Tindersticks

*"Andromeda" is being released by GNP Crescendo, and I've noticed that GNP discs tend to take a while to filter into the record stores, so I wouldn't bet on finding it at Tower first thing this morning. If you need it in a hurry, I'd recommend trying the online shops like Intrada, Screen Archives, and Footlight.

Ads for Wherehouse Records in the Los Angeles area trumpet the soundtracks to The Shipping News (Christopher Young) and Kate & Leopold (Rolfe Kent) as "ON SALE NOW!", with the fine print noting that the sale ends "Monday, February 25th."

This is unfortunate, since neither album will be released until the following day, February 26th.

In the LOTR soundtrack, The song "Concerning Hobbits", is that a flute that is played at the start??? If it isn't what is it???? And what note is it??? I really want to know. If you don't can you give me the address of someone who does????

From: Corey C. Witte <galt1138@prodigy.net>

Dear Scott,

Congratulations on your joining the FSM team. I'm glad to see that most of the responses to your first "Film Score Friday" were positive. It doesn't appear that you need any validation, but I would have to wholeheartedly agree with you regarding Moulin Rouge. I saw it at the Zanuck theatre on the Fox lot and it was a painful experience, literally. It amazes me the vehemence with which some love this film (I've gotten very vitriolic responses to posts I've made on the "Development Forum" board at IFilmpro. You'd think I was insulting these people's children).

Also, I appreciate how you're continuing the tradition of humor at FSM. I'm a professional in the film industry (I work with an independent producer based at Fox) and thought there was nothing in your article offensive or in bad taste. The second "Film Score Friday" was also quite good.

I am a little more sympathetic to people's defenses of Moulin Rouge when I notice how many people regard my beloved A.I. with abject horror. On my second viewing of A.I., I saw the movie with my best friend, and she practically raced to the lobby at the end. Many friends were horrified that I would see A.I. a second time, much less a fifth.

I can take small comfort that A.I. grossed more than Moulin Rouge, but Rouge got four times as many Oscar nominations. Flawed as it is, A.I. richly deserved its nods for score (one of many career highs for Williams) and visual effects, though I was a little shocked at its effects nomination. Not that it didn't deserve it. The effects are superb, and the mixture of music and visuals in the flight through the flooded Manhattan was a cinematic highpoint of 2001.

I saw the filmmakers' presentation of A.I.'s effects at the Academy's "Visual Effects Bake-Off," where the effects supervisors of the eight finalists (this year's were A.I., Black Hawk Down, Cats & Dogs, Fast & Furious, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park III, Lord of the Rings, Pearl Harbor) briefly explain their film's effects, show a 15 minute reel of effects highlights, and then briefly answer questions about specific effects.

Most of the effects were remarkable, as you would expect. Shaky a film as Pearl Harbor is, its computer generated effects are stunning, with crystal clarity and a wonderful attention to details of light and shadow. Rob Legato's introductory speech to the Harry Potter reel was very amusing, and he even stuck his name card on the stage's giant Oscar as a "subliminal" reminder to the audience, which consisted mostly of the Academy's effects branch voters.

However, the A.I. reel was weakly edited, wasting too much of the allotted 15 minutes in giving a narrative overview of the film while clumsily chopping out both views of the World Trade Center from the stunning New York sequences. Just as damagingly, the brilliant Dennis Muren emphasized the filmmakers "vision" in his speech over effects specifics, and Stan Winston even denied the use of digital eyeblink removal on Haley Joel Osment, claiming that Osment never blinked once.

Yet despite this shaky presentation, A.I. won an effects nomination (and a score nod, of course--I almost forgot this was a film music column), but the work of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, production designer Rick Carter, and actors Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law were sadly ignored.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com