<p>As the chopper enters the vicinity of ‘Jurassic Park’, John Hammond says in excitement, “There it is!” Immediately, the scene cuts to the helicopter flying over the Hawaiian sea waters closely joined by rousing trumpets making the scene one of the greatest theatrical moments. In fact, even after 30 years, the scene still holds up due to John Williams’s exhilarating score. Such is the impact the virtuoso has had through his sublime scores over the last five decades. Now, in the twilight of Williams’s career, as a tribute to the master, a documentary film by Laurent Bouzereau is currently streaming on <em>Disney+ Hotstar</em>.</p>.<p>The documentary follows Williams’s career chronologically, beginning with his childhood. Williams’s father was a drummer and percussionist and his mother was a singer. Williams had two brothers, both were musicians, and a sister, a piano teacher. ‘She plays better than me,’ Williams says in the film. </p>.<p>From his young days, Williams was compelled to learn piano by his father. Apart from his occasional flirting with the trombone during his teenage days, Williams remained loyal to piano practicing it for hours. With music being an integral part of his family, Williams admits he had never thought of any other career beyond music.</p>.'Secret World of Sound' Movie Review: Unmissable docu-series on nature’s sounds.<p>When Williams turned 15, the family moved to California. His father began playing in orchestras for film scores. Williams remembers his father bringing score sheets home and that’s when he got the idea of working in films. He initially worked as a pianist for composers like Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, and Henry Mancini. Gradually, he was asked to arrange and conduct orchestras by other composers before becoming a full-fledged composer in Hollywood.</p>.<p>Williams’s first breakthrough came in 1971. He got his first Academy Award for Best Score Adaptation for the film ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. He had to wait for three years to win one for Best Original Score. Meanwhile, during the late ’60s and early ’70s, Hollywood was slowly moving out of its classic golden age and studio dominance. There came many young directors with novel ideas and unique story-telling methods. These filmmakers paved the way to the New Hollywood era — ‘The Wild Bunch’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘The Godfather’, ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Chinatown’, ‘The French Connection’, ‘The Conversation’, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, and ‘Five Easy Pieces’, among others. </p>.<p>Among them was a whiz kid who had made a few telefilms and was about to make his first theatrical movie. Besides, the novice director himself, a great admirer of film soundtracks, was desperate to find the right composer for his debut movie. ‘The Reivers’ featuring Williams as the composer caught his attention. The young director was Steven Spielberg. Williams made music for Spielberg’s first feature, ‘The Sugarland Express’. Thus, began the greatest director-composer partnership in Hollywood — 29 films in a span of 50 years.</p>.<p>For the film ‘Jaws’, Spielberg had used the music of ‘Images’, also composed by Williams, as the reference. The score was majestic and grand. Spielberg expected something similar — a complex piece. But Williams played a piece using just two notes. Spielberg expressed his idea of using a full-blown orchestra. But Williams believed this low-note theme would be the perfect leitmotif to create tension, suspense, and anxiety whenever the shark appears on screen. As they say, the rest is history, the shark theme became a sensation. The score also earned him his second Oscar.</p>.<p>Basking in the glory of success, there came another wonderful opportunity. George Lucas, a close friend of Spielberg was looking for a composer. Spielberg insisted Williams take up the opportunity when the latter was reluctant. To say without exaggeration, ‘Star Wars’ not only made Williams a household name but also changed the perception of classical musicians.</p>.<p>For the first time in his career, Williams hired a symphony orchestra to compose the score for ‘Star Wars’. When the movie was released in theatres, the title theme began in style with a brass section and percussion kicking off on a grand scale. Upon hearing this, the audience went hysterical.</p>.<p>Close on the heels of ‘Star Wars’, Williams’s scores in the movies ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘Superman’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, and ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ made him the undisputed champion of film scores.</p>.<p>The final part of the documentary turns sombre as Williams expresses his concern about the future of film scores. He is one of the last few composers in Hollywood who still uses orchestra. Williams says, except for a few instances, he never liked using electronic synthesisers. He strongly believes electronic music can never match, deliver, or support a movie like a full-fledged orchestra. Williams’s scores stand as the last link to the orchestral music in Hollywood.</p>
<p>As the chopper enters the vicinity of ‘Jurassic Park’, John Hammond says in excitement, “There it is!” Immediately, the scene cuts to the helicopter flying over the Hawaiian sea waters closely joined by rousing trumpets making the scene one of the greatest theatrical moments. In fact, even after 30 years, the scene still holds up due to John Williams’s exhilarating score. Such is the impact the virtuoso has had through his sublime scores over the last five decades. Now, in the twilight of Williams’s career, as a tribute to the master, a documentary film by Laurent Bouzereau is currently streaming on <em>Disney+ Hotstar</em>.</p>.<p>The documentary follows Williams’s career chronologically, beginning with his childhood. Williams’s father was a drummer and percussionist and his mother was a singer. Williams had two brothers, both were musicians, and a sister, a piano teacher. ‘She plays better than me,’ Williams says in the film. </p>.<p>From his young days, Williams was compelled to learn piano by his father. Apart from his occasional flirting with the trombone during his teenage days, Williams remained loyal to piano practicing it for hours. With music being an integral part of his family, Williams admits he had never thought of any other career beyond music.</p>.'Secret World of Sound' Movie Review: Unmissable docu-series on nature’s sounds.<p>When Williams turned 15, the family moved to California. His father began playing in orchestras for film scores. Williams remembers his father bringing score sheets home and that’s when he got the idea of working in films. He initially worked as a pianist for composers like Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, and Henry Mancini. Gradually, he was asked to arrange and conduct orchestras by other composers before becoming a full-fledged composer in Hollywood.</p>.<p>Williams’s first breakthrough came in 1971. He got his first Academy Award for Best Score Adaptation for the film ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. He had to wait for three years to win one for Best Original Score. Meanwhile, during the late ’60s and early ’70s, Hollywood was slowly moving out of its classic golden age and studio dominance. There came many young directors with novel ideas and unique story-telling methods. These filmmakers paved the way to the New Hollywood era — ‘The Wild Bunch’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘The Godfather’, ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Chinatown’, ‘The French Connection’, ‘The Conversation’, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, and ‘Five Easy Pieces’, among others. </p>.<p>Among them was a whiz kid who had made a few telefilms and was about to make his first theatrical movie. Besides, the novice director himself, a great admirer of film soundtracks, was desperate to find the right composer for his debut movie. ‘The Reivers’ featuring Williams as the composer caught his attention. The young director was Steven Spielberg. Williams made music for Spielberg’s first feature, ‘The Sugarland Express’. Thus, began the greatest director-composer partnership in Hollywood — 29 films in a span of 50 years.</p>.<p>For the film ‘Jaws’, Spielberg had used the music of ‘Images’, also composed by Williams, as the reference. The score was majestic and grand. Spielberg expected something similar — a complex piece. But Williams played a piece using just two notes. Spielberg expressed his idea of using a full-blown orchestra. But Williams believed this low-note theme would be the perfect leitmotif to create tension, suspense, and anxiety whenever the shark appears on screen. As they say, the rest is history, the shark theme became a sensation. The score also earned him his second Oscar.</p>.<p>Basking in the glory of success, there came another wonderful opportunity. George Lucas, a close friend of Spielberg was looking for a composer. Spielberg insisted Williams take up the opportunity when the latter was reluctant. To say without exaggeration, ‘Star Wars’ not only made Williams a household name but also changed the perception of classical musicians.</p>.<p>For the first time in his career, Williams hired a symphony orchestra to compose the score for ‘Star Wars’. When the movie was released in theatres, the title theme began in style with a brass section and percussion kicking off on a grand scale. Upon hearing this, the audience went hysterical.</p>.<p>Close on the heels of ‘Star Wars’, Williams’s scores in the movies ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘Superman’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, and ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ made him the undisputed champion of film scores.</p>.<p>The final part of the documentary turns sombre as Williams expresses his concern about the future of film scores. He is one of the last few composers in Hollywood who still uses orchestra. Williams says, except for a few instances, he never liked using electronic synthesisers. He strongly believes electronic music can never match, deliver, or support a movie like a full-fledged orchestra. Williams’s scores stand as the last link to the orchestral music in Hollywood.</p>