Digital Booklet - Super 8

Music From The Motion Picture

Music by

MICHAEL GIACCHINO

the spirit with which the movie was being made; Super 8 was not just a film in love with the idea

of being a kid, it was a film in love with the idea of being a kid in love with movies. It was as

much about the influence of the films of our youth as it was about being young and geeky. It

was a reminder of why we were inspired to try and get into the movie business in the first place.

As always, Michael is a storyteller. He writes his scores from the inside out; he understands

the math of the structure of the story (often suggesting notes which greatly improve it), but then

finds the brilliant inspiration to create musical themes and motifs which emphasize or illuminate

the heart of the moment. He turns scenes into emotional experiences, making them more

exciting or heartbreaking or suspenseful or terrifying. And there are some scary bits (after all,

there’s a monster in this movie too; it is a cocktail of many genres and Michael handles them all

with his usual flair and artistry).

But, with this score, Michael did something else. He remembered that time. The purity of the

age. The sense of optimism, curiosity and fear and uncertainty and romanticism of being a boy

and looking forward to all that is ahead. He remembered that time, felt it, and found a way,

using his remarkable gift, to turn it into music.

I’m grateful to Michael for so much here. The foreboding theme of the mysterious creature,

the glorious evacuation theme, the bus attack and tunnel sequences — wonderful, powerful

cues and just what the doctor ordered. But it was always Joe’s family theme and the Alice love

theme that mattered most. This was the heart of the movie. This was the kids’ point of view

and, if that didn’t work, nothing else would have mattered.

When we were on the scoring stage, listening to the one-hundred-plus piece orchestra

(extraordinary musicians, all) perform the suite to Super 8, I was standing beside Michael.

The music was beautiful and transportive and emotional as hell and, just about mid-way through,

my eyes started to fill with tears and I was so embarrassed I just kept looking forward.

I wasn’t going to cry! I wasn’t going to cry!

But the score just mercilessly continued

and, as one of the passages swelled,

I couldn’t help but turn to my friend,

the composer, in gratitude. And there

he was, eyes wet. And he laughed.

“Doesn’t that sound like our childhood?”

he asked. And it certainly did. It was.

A childhood shared, three thousand miles

apart.

— J.J. Abrams, Paris, 2011

We had each lived our lives, for nearly three decades, as strangers. But when I met Michael

Giacchino, there was an odd feeling that we had shared a childhood.

The year was 2000 (which still sounds futuristic to me, but is now eleven years past). I was

about to direct the pilot episode of Alias, the script for which I had written, blasting the synth

score from Run Lola Run in my headphones — alternating that awesome soundtrack with works

of iconic composers like John Williams and Ennio Morricone. So who in the world was going to

write a score to give the pilot the scope and energy and emotion it needed? A score that was,

at turns, synthetic and orchestral? It was around this time that I came across some brilliant music

written for a video game called Medal of Honor; the score was as engrossing as the game itself.

I emailed the composer, one Mr. Michael Giacchino, and asked if he was at all interested in

scoring for TV. I later learned that Michael had been hired for Medal of Honor by the game’s

creator (and our mutual hero) Steven Spielberg. At the time, I could have only dreamed that

one day we might all collaborate on a project.

When Michael and I met, we hit it off instantly. But it was more than a friendly meeting —

there was that uncanny feeling that we had somehow grown up together. Though we had been

raised on opposite coasts of the United States, he in New Jersey, me in Los Angeles, in different

cultures and climates, it was as if we had been friends, as boys, all along. There were many

points of similarity, but possibly the most profound was that of Super 8 film; Michael and I had

both grown up making movies as kids. We both shared dreams of epic adventures that we

attempted (and, of course, consistently failed) to realize on screen. We recruited friends. We

blew things up, applied monster makeup, choreographed fight and battle scenes, and filmed it

all. We found many of our happiest younger days behind those cameras.

Michael scored the Alias pilot and, luckily for me, everything I have directed since. Those

scores — and his work on a number of other films — represent some of the most affecting,

compelling and moving music I have ever heard. But I had never been so excited to collaborate

with Michael than I was with Super 8. I knew this was going to be a revisiting, for both of us, to

a time and place that we both treasured.

Of course Michael wasn’t the only collaborator here who shared this early love of making films;

Steven Spielberg famously made movies on 8mm film as a boy. Our Director of Photography,

Larry Fong, made Super 8 films when he was a teen — in fact I met Larry when I was thirteen

years old, both of us making movies in the neighborhood. But what I was aching to hear was

the score that Michael would create as he recalled those early years. I knew this soundtrack

would be especially personal for him. Not just because of the subject matter, but because of

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Music by

MICHAEL GIACCHINOSoundtrack Album Produced by Michael Giacchino

Executive Soundtrack Album Producers: Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams & Bryan BurkExecutive in Charge of Music for Paramount Pictures: Randy Spendlove

Executive Soundtrack Album Producer for Varèse Sarabande: Robert TownsonSoundtrack Album Coordinator: Jason Richmond

Music Performed by The Hollywood Studio SymphonyMusic Orchestrated and Conducted by Tim Simonec

Music Recorded & Mixed by Dan Wallin • Score Coordinator: Andrea DatzmanOrchestra Contractor: Reggie Wilson • Music Preparation: Booker White

Additional Orchestrations by Ira Hearshen, Brad Dechter, Cameron Patrick, Chris Tilton, Andrea Datzman, Larry Kenton, Mark Gasbarro,

Norman Ludwin, Peter Boyer, Marshall Bowen Music Mixer Assistant: Michael Aarvold • Assistant to Michael Giacchino: Dave Martina

Supervising Music Editor: Alex Levy, M.P.S.E. • Music Editor: Paul Apelgren, M.P.S.E.Music Supervisor: George Drakoulias

Music Recorded and Mixed at Eastwood Scoring Stage, Warner Bros. Studio and Newman Scoring Stage, 20th Century Fox Studios

Recordists: Tim Lauber, Tom Hardisty • Protools Operator: Vincent CirilliScoring Stage Engineers: Denis St. Armand and Ryan Robinson

Scoring Stage Managers: Tom Steel, Greg Dennen, Jamie Olvera, Richard WheelerScoring Stage Assistant: Mick Giacchino • Mastered by Erick Labson

Music Published by Paramount Allegra Music (ASCAP)Projecting Super Special Thanks to: My Music Crew and Orchestra, your talent,

professionalism and friendship are no small part of the contents of this and every score I write. Bryan Burk, your unerring support, honesty and friendship is appreciated more then you know.

Steven Spielberg, you gave me my start and for that there are not enough “thank you’s” in the world.J.J. Abrams, making movies with you is like being 10 years old again. Best gift in the world. Thank you!

My Mick, Gracie and Griffy, you guys keep me sane through insanity.Paramount thanks: Dasmarie Alvino, Mary Jo Braun, Julie Butchko, Dan Butler, Eric Caldwell, Sheryl Carlin,

Denise Carver, Jennifer Cornett, Jayne Edwards, Adam Ehrlich, Robert Gasper, Jeremy Geltzer, David Gueringer,Sonia Jauregui, Denise Luiso, Steven Lundy, Elise Mann, Liz McNicoll, Aron Pinsky, Jeannie Pool, Jennifer Schiller,

Kim Seiniger, Susan Siering, Linda Springer, Hallie Volman, Linda Wohl, Eric Ybanez

ViolinClayton Haslop

(concertmaster)Ken Yerke (principal 2nd)Belinda BroughtonVladimir PolimatidiTiffany HuJim SitterlyRebecca BunnellJoel DerouinJohn WittenbergPeter KentMark RobertsonRon ClarkCharles BisharatSid PageTereza StanislavBarbra PorterAlan GrunfeldJosefina VergaraCameron PatrickDarius CampoAlexandr ShliferShalini VijayanShari ZippertNorman HughesAlyssa ParkHaim ShtrumTerry GlennySungil LeeGalina GolovinMiran KojianAnatoly RosinskyLarry GreenfieldCarolyn OsbornRazdan KuyumjianRafael RishikArmen AnassianMarina Manukian

HOLLYWOOD STUDIO SYMPHONY

ViolaDarrin McCann

(principal)Karie PrescottHarry ShirinianRichard RintoulMarda ToddCaroline BuckmanEvan WilsonJorge MoragaPam GoldsmithAlan BusteedKaren ElaineMaria NewmanJennie HansenDenyse Buffum

CelloSteve Richards

(principal)Victor LawrenceAlexander ZhiroffSuzie KatayamaTimothy LandauerStefanie FifeRichard NaillKevan TorfehVahe HayrikyanDane LittleJohn Acosta

String BassDave Stone (principal)Karl VincentNorman LudwinCharles NennekerPeter DoubrovskyTim EmmonsRichard FevesNick Rosen

FluteBobby Shulgold

(principal)Dick MitchellSteve Kujala

OboeJohn Yoakum

(principal)Joseph Stone

ClarinetMichael Vaccaro

(principal)Don MarkeseJohn Mitchell

BassoonRose Corrigan

(principal)Andrew RadfordAllen Savedoff

French HornRick Todd (principal)Brian O’ConnorJohn ReynoldsJoe MeyerSteven BecknellSteven DurninBrad WarnaarMark Adams

TrumpetRick Baptist (principal) Jeff BunnellJon LewisPaul SalvoLarry Hall

TromboneAlex Iles (principal) Alan KaplanSteven HoltmanBill Reichenbach

TubaJohn Van Houten

(principal)Douglas Tornquist

HarpGayle Levant

(principal)Eleanor Choate

GuitarGeorge Doering

Piano/CelesteMark Gasbarro

B3 Organ/SynthMark Le Vang

PercussionDan Greco (principal)Emil RadocchiaAlex Neciosup-AcunaBernie DreselWalter Rodriguez

Timpani Don Williams

*Not contained in film �2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. Motion Picture Artwork & Photos �2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Manufactured by Varèse Sarabande Records, Inc., 11846 Ventura Blvd., Suite 130, Studio City, CA 91604. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. 0 302 067 101 2 0

www.VareseSarabande.com

Music by MICHAEL GIACCHINOSoundtrack Album Produced by Michael Giacchino

Executive Soundtrack Album Producers: Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams & Bryan BurkExecutive in Charge of Music for Paramount Pictures: Randy Spendlove

Executive Soundtrack Album Producer for Varèse Sarabande: Robert TownsonPerformed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony

1. Super 8 (1:44) 2. Family Matters (:28) 3. Model Painting (:39) 4. Acting Chops (:40) 5. Aftermath Class (5:52)

6. Thoughts Of Cubism (:48) 7. We’ll Fix It In Post-Haste (:43) 8. Productions Woes (:34) 9. Train Of Thought (:35)

10. Circle Gets The Cube (1:05) 11. Breen There, Ate That (1:11) 12. Dead Over Heels (:48) 13. Gas And Go (1:33)

14. Looking For Lucy (:48) 15. Radio Haze (1:06) 16. Mom’s Necklace* (1:33) 17. Shootus Interuptus (2:33)

18. Thoughts Of Mom (1:40) 19. Woodward Bites It (1:53) 20. Alice Projects On Joe (2:28) 21. Neighborhood Watch - Fail (4:44) 22. The Evacuation Of Lillian (3:39) 23. A Truckload Of Trouble (:57) 24. Lambs On

The Lam (2:39) 25. Woodward’s Home Movies (2:39) 26. Spotted Lambs (1:35) 27. Air Force HQ Or Bust (1:03)

28. World’s Worst Field Trip (3:35) 29. The Seige Of Lillian (2:56) 30. Creature Comforts (10:07) 31. Letting Go (5:15)

32. Super 8 Suite (5:51) Bonus Track: 33. THE CASE Original music from the film by Charles Kaznyk (3:28)