# Drone Star Wars: Original Score Referencing JW themes - Blakus



## Blakus (May 24, 2016)

Hey fellow midi tweakers!

I recently just finished creating the score for this Corridor Digital video! It was a real blast; drones, Star Wars, and the opportunity to fiddle with Williams' themes, are some of my favourite things! :D Time was tight so there's a lot of things I wish I could change/fix. The idea was to bring Star Wars feels with a bit more drive, and then take it up a notch at the end. I hope you enjoy!

Here's the video with the score only.


You can see the full version with sound design here:
Full Video - Corridor Digital


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## Quodlibet (May 24, 2016)

Phenomenal!!


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## dannymc (May 24, 2016)

fantastic.


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## Patrick (May 24, 2016)

Swept me right of my feet, what a powerfull arrangement. Great work!


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## Blakus (May 25, 2016)

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it! I also fly fpv drones so this project was a match made in heaven for me haha!


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## devonmyles (May 25, 2016)

Terrific stuff.
Just seen a reaction over on the book of face,
when one of your cues arrived - very funny.


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## SamiMatar (May 25, 2016)

Lovely work Blakus!


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## dannymc (May 25, 2016)

Blakus can i ask how many man hours it takes you to put an arrangement like this together? 

Danny


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## Andrajas (May 25, 2016)

Amazing work! Can we expect a walktrough?  awesome arrangement and production!


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## AlexRuger (May 25, 2016)

This one hell of a mockup and mix. Amazing job.

I will say, though, that the use of the Leia theme didn't make much sense in context. Beyond that, though--badass.


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## erica-grace (May 25, 2016)

Andrajas said:


> Can we expect a walktrough?



Yes, please!!!!


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## Blakus (May 25, 2016)

dannymc said:


> Blakus can i ask how many man hours it takes you to put an arrangement like this together?
> Danny



I did this one in about 3 and a half days. Would have loved to be able to spend a bit more though!


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## DR BOOWHO (May 26, 2016)

Blakus said:


> Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it! I also fly fpv drones so this project was a match made in heaven for me haha![/
> My wife bought me a drone for my birthday Its so addictive!! : )


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## Blakus (May 26, 2016)

Here's a music only version to visual. (So you can see how much I over scored it, lool!)


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## constaneum (Jun 1, 2016)

Hey Blakus, what strings and brass were used in this composition?


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## Blakus (Jun 1, 2016)

AlexRuger said:


> This one hell of a mockup and mix. Amazing job.
> 
> I will say, though, that the use of the Leia theme didn't make much sense in context. Beyond that, though--badass.


Thanks! Sorry, I missed this! I hear what you're saying. That theme was something the client actually suggested I include, so I squeezed it in just a little for fun :D


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## novaburst (Jun 1, 2016)

Nice work Blakus, detail in this piece is incredible.


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## Blakus (Jun 2, 2016)

devonmyles said:


> Terrific stuff.
> Just seen a reaction over on the book of face,
> when one of your cues arrived - very funny.


Haha yes! Their reaction was hilarious! It's always a nice feeling when your clients respond so positively!
Here's the reaction video


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## OleJoergensen (Jun 3, 2016)

It sounds great.


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## synergy543 (Jun 3, 2016)

Blakus said:


> Their reaction was hilarious! It's always a nice feeling when your clients respond so positively!


Sweet reaction.

However, I still think they mixed the music way too low compared to the FX. Maybe you could get the FX track and try your own blend? I'm sure it can be better if you bring the music out.


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## Blakus (Jun 3, 2016)

synergy543 said:


> Sweet reaction.
> 
> However, I still think they mixed the music way too low compared to the FX. Maybe you could get the FX track and try your own blend? I'm sure it can be better if you bring the music out.


Ah you're telling me! :D I totally agree, even just a few more db overall would have helped tie everything together a bit better.


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## Grim_Universe (Jun 16, 2016)

@Blakus
You and this french dude HeadShot are years ahead from us in terms of sample orchestra  Great job, music sounds fantastic, but too much reverb for my taste.


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## ROCKYIII (Jun 16, 2016)

Blakus said:


> Ah you're telling me! :D I totally agree, even just a few more db overall would have helped tie everything together a bit better.


The brass in this is huge and absolutely amazing. Is that samplemodeling? Can you give us a few tips?

Also, when you started putting different chords underneath the force theme, that was really well done and dramatic. Great job!


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## Blakus (Jun 16, 2016)

Grim_Universe said:


> @Blakus
> You and this french dude HeadShot are years ahead from us in terms of sample orchestra  Great job, music sounds fantastic, but too much reverb for my taste.


Thank you! Ha, yes - I am a sucker for reverb


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## Jorgakis (Jun 18, 2016)

At first I thought, ok star wars themes are a win, so what will it be like. But I think it's an really great reinterpretation in a hybrid style. It's a nice mix between classical orchestration and contemporary elements. I wished the epVII trailers had been like this:D


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## Polarity (Jun 18, 2016)

Awesome Blakus!
I really enjoy your rearrangement of the SW themes for this action cue!
Great fun with the drones video too! :D


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## BigImpactSound (Jun 22, 2016)

Fantastic job!


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## JanR (Jun 23, 2016)

Blakus said:


> Hey fellow midi tweakers!
> 
> I recently just finished creating the score for this Corridor Digital video! It was a real blast; drones, Star Wars, and the opportunity to fiddle with Williams' themes, are some of my favourite things! :D Time was tight so there's a lot of things I wish I could change/fix. The idea was to bring Star Wars feels with a bit more drive, and then take it up a notch at the end. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> ...




Freaking LOVE this!!!! :D


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## Blakus (Jun 27, 2016)

Thanks again guys!


Jorgakis said:


> At first I thought, ok star wars themes are a win, so what will it be like. But I think it's an really great reinterpretation in a hybrid style. It's a nice mix between classical orchestration and contemporary elements. I wished the epVII trailers had been like this:D


Ha! Thanks Jorgakis, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

It's interesting to me really. Some have told me that they think the direction I took towards the end here is just a "Hi, check out this chord progression", cheap moment. And I get it - but, I really wanted to take this cue and build it in a way that was accessible to many, including the large population that responds to good old chord progressions (don't we all, come on, be honest :D ). I busted my gut a little in the first 3 minutes there, trying to pretend I was some kind of John Williams hack. But the simple re-harmonisation at the end (easily the quickest section to write) is what people seemed to react most positively to. That is if SoundCloud comments are anything to go by. Just another valuable reminder for me to keep things simple :D

There's something really cool about taking the familiar, and then slowly changing it up on them.


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Jun 27, 2016)

Blakus said:


> Thank you! Ha, yes - I am a sucker for reverb


Beeing a bit ironic is quite funny,Blakus. You probably know that you did a great job here and still there are different kind of tastes / philosophies out there when it comes to reverberation. I think your reverb sounds good though I am also not the fan of samples drown into a massive reverberation. (And that has several reasons which would be off topic here). In your case the reverb works, though I would also prefer less for that kind of williams esque writing style.


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## Jorgakis (Jun 27, 2016)

Blakus said:


> But the simple re-harmonisation at the end (easily the quickest section to write) is what people seemed to react most positively to. That is if SoundCloud comments are anything to go by. Just another valuable reminder for me to keep things simple :D




That's something I think you did with the Hobbit track you posted a while ago, too. But I think it's totally legit and still surprising.


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