Even within this section, repetition occurs to maximize hummability.
There’s more notes here and they last longer, which provides a rhythmic variance from the quick-paced A/chorus section. The heroic brass punctuations of the A section are replaced by sentimental, compassionate strings in the B section. The B section, like the bridge to a mainstream pop hit, switches up the feeling and pace of the theme. Prior to the brass instruments hitting those massive notes of victory, the melody descends down the scale for a few notes - so when it reaches the high notes, we notice a “pronounced sense of heroism through strong melodic leaps.”Īt the end of each melodic phrase, the orchestra unites to play the final notes together, emphasizing “a grand sense of power” as each instrument joins forces. This ties into the movie’s theme of suddenly coming back together (i.e., Han Solo returning to help Luke on the Death Star run) to achieve great goals. The Star Wars theme has two in the A section:
Additionally, hit songs employ what Penn calls “clever WOW factors” that accentuate the melody and make the song more memorable. In the A section, rhythmic and melodic repetition abounds, with each independent melodic segment being short enough (4 to 5 notes) to encourage immediate impact and memorability.
Principal (Keep It Simple and Singable) that works in pop choruses applies to the Star Wars main title’s A section (only in this case “keep it hummable” is more appropriate). This is similar to how mainstream hits increasingly forgo a verse before the first chorus. According to Penn, the K.I.S.S. After the 20th Century Fox Fanfare, Star Wars opens with orchestral fanfare of its own that - even in 8 seconds - previews the film’s central storyline of this heroic (Luke), adventurous (Han) and regal (Leia) battle against a military foe.įollowing the opening fanfare of the intro, the Star Wars main title heads directly into the A section, its equivalent of a chorus. Like a mainstream hit, the intro clocks in close to 10 seconds. Under that, via some lightsaber action, there’s a graphic showing how the various sections of the Star Wars main title correspond to a hit pop song’s parts.įor a deeper dive on the various sections of the song, read on. Using a breakdown of the Star Wars theme provided by Hit Songs Deconstructed, we’re digging into what makes Williams’ “Main Title” so readily identifiable and unforgettable.īelow is a graphic showing how Hit Songs Deconstructed broke the song into five parts for us (set against the Death Star).
#20th century fox star wars intro movie#
Comparing the main title to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 during the third quarter of 2015 (when this interview was conducted), Penn discovered the theme shares many structural characteristics of a mainstream hit.Īnd while the same can be said of a few other movie themes in the post-George Lucas landscape (Williams’ film compositions in particular), the Star Wars main title is especially built to “reinforce the theme’s primary hook/payoff in the listener’s head.” According to Penn, the theme is “arguably the most recognizable and iconic theme in cinema history.” And that’s not simply a function of the film’s popularity bolstering the music.
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