Star
Wars: The Force Unleashed
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Iron Man
The Hulk
Utima X Odyessy - Additional Orchestration
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Star Wars: Racer Revenge - Music Director
Star Wars: Obi-Wan - Music Editing & Additional Music
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Additional Music
Composition
Sam and Max: Freelance Police
Rayman 4: Raving Rabbids
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Jedi Star Fighter
Gladius
Composition Credits (VG Trailers)
Van Helsing
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Medal of Honor: European Assault - Trailer Music
Call of Duty3
Trailers:
X-men 2
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Tristan and Isolde
The Scorpion King
The Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Hulk
The Day After Tomorrow
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Star Trek Nemesis
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man
Serenity
Road to Perdition
Planet of the Apes
Peter Pan (2003)
Minority Report
Kingdom of Heaven
King Kong
Jurassic Park 3
I, Robot
Hellboy
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Equilibrium
Cabin Fever
"JOHN WILLIAMS, who is a living
legend, is the one who defined that sound. So there is a big
expectation there. The music needs to live up to his level. It can't
get too far away from what he has established."
Mark Griskey
Tracksounds was able to talk with composer Mark Griskey
about his work on LucasArts next big game, THE FORCE UNLEASHED.
He shares about following in the tradition of John Williams, the
unique challenges posed by the game's story, and recording the first
Star Wars game score at Skywalker Sound. This interview was
originally held in February 2008.
CC: You've done music
for KNIGHTS OF THE OLD
REPUBLIC II, JEDI
STARFIGHTER and other
STAR WARS games, and
now you've done THE
FORCE UNLEASHED. After
so many Star Wars
projects, do you still
feel the weight of
taking on a project
with the STAR WARS
brand on it?
MARK GRISKEY: Yes.
Definitely. There is a
certain audience
expectation for
anything "Star Wars"
The look, the style,
but also in terms of
audio, There are so
many signature sounds:
the lightsabres,
blasters and for
certain vehicles. Then
for the music... it's
big, symphonic,
action-adventure score
in that
Golden-Age-of-Hollywood
style. JOHN WILLIAMS,
who is a living
legend, is the one who
defined that sound. So
there is a big
expectation there. The
music needs to live up
to his level. It can't
get too far away from
what he has
established. So, yes,
it always remains a
challenge for me.
CC: So what sorts of
things do you do to
prepare for a score
like THE FORCE
UNLEASHED?
MARK GRISKEY: I always
have to sit down and
get myself living and
breathing the music
first. I have the
music from the films
playing constantly.
Even if I'm heading
out to the store with
my wife, I ask her,
"So honey, what do you
want to listen to?
Episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
or 6?" And she just
rolls her eyes because
she'd much rather
listen to some
rock-and-roll or
something. I also
listen to a lot of
composers who actually
inspired John Williams
- composers from the
Romantic era. I try to
figure out the
elements he (Williams)
is using to give it
that "Star Wars
sound."
CC: In Revenge of the
Sith, Williams built
some significant
musical-bridges from
the prequel trilogy to
the original trilogy
and THE FORCE
UNLEASHED is set
between Episodes 3 and
4. How is this
transition
incorporated into your
score?
MARK GRISKEY: It was
definitely something
the team wanted to do
- something they
talked about from the
very early stages. It
was always a goal of
the music to bridge
the gap of those two
episodes. We wanted
the music to start off
sounding more like the
prequels but ending up
with music JOHN
WILLIAMS did for the
original trilogy. The
arc of the main
character's storyline
lends itself to this.
As you get immersed in
the game, it gets a
bit darker. As the
character proceeds
through the story of
the game, his mindset
changes and the music
reflects that.
CC: Talk about the new
themes you've written
for the game.
MARK GRISKEY: There
was a lot of
characters and
locations shown in the
last film that
resulted in a number
of brand new original
characters for the
game. Of course there
is an original plot as
well. There are a lot
of locations from the
extended universe,
that were never or
briefly in the films.
This all gave us a lot
of room for new
themes. I came up with
a number of themes for
key characters and for
different locations.
For example: Raxis
Prime is a droid
junkyard planet with
space-ships and droids
and all sorts
mechanical
devices...and its
alive. Things are
still living there.
They are fixing each
other. Seeing the
artwork on it really
helped me understand
just what sort of vibe
was needed for this
place. It definitely
needed a certain
instrumentation and
orchestration. So I'd
pitch a lot of these
concepts to the team.
I'd get feedback, make
revisions, and finally
got those themes to
the point where
everyone is going,
"Yes! That's the sound
for that level."
CC: Who were some of
the key people you
worked with on the
project?
JESSE HARLIN, who is
the music supervisor
at LucasArts, actually
came up with the main
menu theme for the
game. At some point we
were going down
different paths,
trying to find the
right direction and
sound, and he had a
concept that he shared
with me. We then took
it to the team and
they loved it, so I
ended up doing an
arrangement of his
theme. That was the
other cool thing with
this project in that,
Jesse (Harlin) knows
Star Wars and its
music inside and out
and is also an
excellent musician and
great
composer/arranger. The
audio lead on the
project, DAVID
COLLINS, is also an
excellent musician
with classical
training. The producer
on the project also
has a musical
background, so a lot
of key people,
involved in the
creative process on
this game, have a
serious musical
background. From a
big-picture stand
point, it was great to
have this group of
people to discuss the
sort of vibe we wanted
and to bounce ideas
off of and get
feedback that was
perhaps a little more
detailed than usual.
CC: How was it that
you became "the guy"
the composer for THE
FORCE UNLEASHED?
MARK GRISKEY: Like
anything else, I
guess, because I had
done it before
[laughs]. When they
first started
developing the concept
of what this game was
going to be all about,
they stayed in the
brainstorming stage
for about a year...
perhaps more. I didn't
come in until perhaps
two years after these
talks started. When
they started doing
mock-ups and
pre-visualization for
the game, and showing
them to George
(Lucas), they had
temped a lot of it
with JOHN WILLIAMS'
work, of course, but
also with some of my
work from THE KNIGHTS
OF THE OLD REPUBLIC 2:
THE SITH LORDS. So my
music was already
being cut in and
people were digging
the direction of it. I
was also a staff
composer for LucasArts
for number of years
and after I left the
company, I maintained
good relationships
with that department.
It was understood that
if they ever needed
any help that I would
be thrilled to work
with them. And so they
came through. They
told me they needed
somebody to run with
THE FORCE UNLEASHED.