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Snoke Death Analysis

The document provides an analysis of the music score from the scene in The Last Jedi where Kylo Ren kills Supreme Leader Snoke. The music starts with tension as Snoke tries to turn Kylo against Rey, then shifts to a heroic tone when Kylo hands Rey her lightsaber. It then closely accompanies the fight between Kylo, Rey and the Praetorian Guards with hits and gestures. The score uses thematic material from Snoke and the Jedi themes, and is diatonic with some chromatic elements. It starts moderately tense and becomes more urgent as the fight intensifies. Dialogue is handled discreetly without distracting from the spoken words. The choice of orchestral instruments works well

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18 views3 pages

Snoke Death Analysis

The document provides an analysis of the music score from the scene in The Last Jedi where Kylo Ren kills Supreme Leader Snoke. The music starts with tension as Snoke tries to turn Kylo against Rey, then shifts to a heroic tone when Kylo hands Rey her lightsaber. It then closely accompanies the fight between Kylo, Rey and the Praetorian Guards with hits and gestures. The score uses thematic material from Snoke and the Jedi themes, and is diatonic with some chromatic elements. It starts moderately tense and becomes more urgent as the fight intensifies. Dialogue is handled discreetly without distracting from the spoken words. The choice of orchestral instruments works well

Uploaded by

nakasan3107
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Analysis The Last Jedi

Santiago Nakakawa Bernal

1. Name of the clip and composer.

The Last Jedi, Snoke Death Scene, John Williams.

2. Main feeling of the cue.

Tension, struggle and danger at first, then after killing the main antagonist it has a slight
heroic tone and then struggle and tension come back as they fight the rest of the guards.

3. What is it about? What is happening in the scene?

It’s one of the climatic plot points of the movie, as the hero is about to be executed by
the supposed antagonist when suddenly in a change of heart he kills the main
antagonist of the movie, revealing that he is more of an anti-hero character rather than a
villain, and decides to join forces with the hero as they fight back together against the
evil reinforcements.

4. Scoring approach. Is it thematically written? Does it seem to lock in with events


on the screen or to be more a general feeling, or impression,of the movie?

Yes, it is heavily thematic, as the whole saga is. At the beginning of the queue we can
hear a less orchestrated version of Snoke’s Theme as he lures Kylo into killing Rey, and
then the well-known Jedi theme as Kylo returns the lightsaber to Rey, after killing Snoke.
After that the music falls more into a mickey mousing of the fight sequence, working as a
close narrator of what we are seeing on the screen, with hits and gestures having
constant musical accents in the background and highlighting the important actions
during the fight.

5.Tonality. Diatonic, chromatic, ambient sounds, pop styles, electronica, etc.

It is mainly diatonic, it has some chromatic colors as tension builds up in the fight scene.
I would say it uses extended harmony textures, as a lot of accents are based on
extended chords to make them sound more dissonant.

6.Tempo. Does the scene seem to be moving quickly or slowly?

The tempo starts I would say in a moderato pacing with very tense character, as it builds
into a more grandioso character as Rey is handed the lightsaber. Then as the scene
goes from slow mo into the fight at full speed, the tempo clearly goes upbeat into an
agitato as the characters fight the guards.

7. Rhythm. Is there a noticeable“engine”? Are the instruments providing repeated


rhythm?

There is not an engine per se during the scene, however rhythmic figures and accents
(mostly in the brass sections it seems) are used to bring more tension into the scene. It
is very interesting how even when keeping the same tempo, the introducing and
withdrawing of these rhythmic textures give the illusion of more focus into the characters
during specific points of the fight. One would even think that the tempo is slowing down
to give more insight to the characters during the sequence, but it is the addition and
subtraction of rhythmic patterns that give this narrative effect to the scene, giving a nice
pacing feel to all the scene overall.

8. Instrumentation. What do you hear?

We have a symphonic orchestral sound in the sequence: Strings, woodwinds, brass and
percussion sections all working together.

9. Dialogue Issues. How is the dialogue handled? Does the music stop when the
characters speak or become static?

There is music constantly during the queue. However, during the dialogues it has a more
discreet nature, building up tensions but lacking rhythmic or timbric textures that could
distract us from what is being said in the movie. As the fight breaks out and dialogues
become more of a group of screams and hustles, music becomes the protagonist of the
scene along with the sound effects. However even in the last part of the sequence,
dialogues are clearly mixed in a higher volume than the music (as usual), so even with
the dense orchestration it’s easy to hear the screams at the end between the characters.

10.Use of Electronics. Anything worth noting?

Speaking strictly about the music, I did not hear any electronic elements, as it seems all
electronic textures are reserved for the sound effects in the movie.

11.Why did the composer use this type of music and choice of instruments? Why
did they make the musical choices they did?

I think it is a wonderful choice from the composer to go to the classic symphonic


orchestral sound because the universe of Star Wars is a very technological world, where
there are way too many elements that already emit a fair amount of electronic sounds
and landscapes, so by choosing an acoustic, orchestral sound, he achieves for the
music to have its own voice within the movies without it getting in the way of the actual
world that is shown to us.

12.Does the music work with the film? Are there any dramatic issues that seem to
not work with the music?
Are there any other issues? What would you do differently?

The music works perfectly with the movie. It’s a classic approach where the music acts
as a narrator of what the characters are actually feeling. The establishment of leitmotifs
and then the development of all of these themes throughout the whole saga is a
masterclass in how to evolve a piece with the characters and the universe they live in.

Personally, given the enormous catalog of themes of this saga, I would have personally
highlighted way more Snoke’s theme (which was established as a huge male choir in the
previous movie) to bring a more accurate representation of his character’s arc and
conclusion. Would have been very interesting to introduce this choir with his theme and
then suddenly shut it out just as we get the plot twist surprise and Kylo kills him, or even
better having the orchestra resembling the force theme in the high frequencies
(representing Kylo’s struggle in his heart) for it to gradually grow up until the climatic
point where Rey gets back her lightsaber and we get the force theme lashing out in a
triumphant tutti perhaps. The fighting sequence works perfectly for me as it is shown, I
think I wouldn’t change anything.

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