Final Thesis - John Williams - ScholarsArchive at Oregon State ...

Introduction
The Art and Craft of John Williams
In 2004, John Williams was honored for a lifetime of achievement at the
Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. The introductory speech was given by his
longtime friend and colleague Steven Spielberg. His speech, which has been included
below, creates a powerful image of who John Williams is, not just to the film
industry, but for the world, and the incredible impact he has had in many lives.
Well, it's a great honor to be here, to stand in the long shadow that
John Williams casts, and attempt to shed some light on it. John
Williams reinterprets our films with a musical narrative that makes
our hearts pound during action cliffhanger scenes, gets the audience
to scream when we were hoping that they would do so, and pushes
that same audience from the brink into breaking out into applause. It's
not Hollywood he writes for, he writes for all of you. Did you ever hear
a 7 year old hum the first 9 notes from Darth Vader's theme? Or see a
bunch of kids jumping into a swimming pool going "duh dun, duh dun,
dun dun dun”?... And John you're the greatest thing that has ever
happened to my career, and for that I want to thank you. And I
congratulate you for this exceptional honor (“John Williams –
Kennedy Center Honors”).
It is the goal of this paper, to bring more attention to the film scoring
community who are often overlooked as masters of their craft, and significant
contributors to the overall atmosphere and success of a film. Without the
contributions of such artists, many films ranging in quality would have lost their
sense of completeness and fluidity that a well-crafted score brings. John Williams is
one such artist who, throughout his career, has been able to bring emotion and a
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