At the Spielberg seminar, we spent (of course) quite a bit of time on Close Encounters<\/i>. Spielberg told the story of the meteor shower (in Part 1), and also said that it had always been his dream, or fantasy, or deepest hope – whatever – that whenever there was some kind of “close encounter” between the human race and another race – that it would be a benign meeting. That was the entire point of the film, really – and why I think it works so well – it taps into something primal, something deeply felt and is “the substance of things wished for”. I mean, sure Independence Day<\/i> is fun and all (and hello, I cannot wait for War of the Worlds<\/i>) – but there is a deeper and more childlike part of all of us, the part that stares up at the sky and wonders what is up there – that treats what is unknown as a curiosity, not as a threat. That’s one of the main impressions I get from the wondrous faces of all the scientists (led by Truffaut!) in that last scene. What is coming out of that ship might kill them, might vaporize them – it is completely unknown. And yet they deal with their fear not by blowing the unknown aliens away, but standing there, watching, agog. It’s very moving. This was what Spielberg set out to portray.<\/p>\n
He talked about working with John Williams, the composer, and how he wanted the music in Close Encoutners<\/i> to be another character. Equal to the lead actors. Not music that is added on, not mood music – but a CHARACTER. In only one other film (Jaws<\/i>) does music in a Spielberg film take on such a life of its own.<\/p>\n
Spielberg said that, for whatever reason, he wanted it to be 5 notes. (If you haven’t seen Close Encounters<\/i>, then there is absolutely no hope for you. See snob post <\/a>.) He kept saying that to Williams: “It needs to be 5 notes. It needs to be 5 notes.” (This is what I mean when I say that alongside the pragmatic moviemaking craftsman, is this childlike imagination. Why 5 notes? He didn’t question it or second-guess it. It WAS 5 notes.)<\/p>\n Williams said, “Couldn’t it be 7 notes? Something a bit longer?”<\/p>\n Spielberg said he just knew in his gut that it had to be 5 notes, and not 7. He said something like, “I just felt like 5 notes would be much more like a HELLO. And 7 notes would suddenly sound like a melody. I didn’t want a melody. I wanted a greeting.”<\/p>\n Williams came up with the 5 notes that we all can hum at any moment. Hum it right now! I know you can!!<\/p>\n Williams and Spielberg spent months in the recording studio (before they even started shooting – which is a reversal of the normal process) coming up with the musical communication between the mother-ship and the scientists. The growing complexity, the same underlying theme … They both knew that it needed to progress: from the equivalent of toddler’s blunt speech to a far more sophisticated level of language.<\/p>\n Spielberg’s vision, dream – was that the people most equipped to deal with such a close encounter – were the scientists, the dreamers, the ones who could try to get on the wavelength of the aliens – as opposed to try to dominate them. It was the scientists who could do this.<\/p>\n In the beginning of the seminar at my school, Spielberg talked about his childhood, of course. His parents divorced when he was a kid, which was a wrenching change for him – but up until then, he had a very happy time. His mother was a concert pianist, and his father was a computer scientist.<\/p>\n During the conversation about Close Encounters<\/i>, my cheese-ball Dean of the Program (Lipton) made an observation – something which took Spielberg completely by surprise. I still remember the goosebumps rising up on my arm. To see someone realize something about his work … something that he didn’t even know was there …<\/p>\n Cheeseball said to him, “It occurred to me the last time I watched this film – as I was doing research for tonight – Your mother was a musician. Your father was a computer scientist. And how do the scientists communicate with the spaceship? Through music made on their computers.”<\/p>\n I have this seminar on tape – so I can see in close-up what I was only able to sense<\/i> in the room at the time. You can see this observation land<\/i>. It lands – and then he recovers for a second, grinning, “You know, I would love to say that that was all conscious, and that I planned that – but honestly – I had no idea … until this very moment …!”<\/p>\n The subconscious at work. Amazing. Everyone started laughing, because Spielberg was laughing – but he said to Lipton afterwards: “Thank you so much for that observation. Thank you so much. I had no idea that that’s what I was trying to get at. I had no idea. Thank you.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the Spielberg seminar, we spent (of course) quite a bit of time on Close Encounters. Spielberg told the story of the meteor shower (in Part 1), and also said that it had always been his dream, or fantasy, or … Continue reading