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GSWSP (review from StarWars.com)

Synchronicity Discussion

"I talked to James sometime ago about reviews he'd gotten about his SW synch film project. I was more facinated with the mass media attention it was getting more then the project itself and it let me follow synch activity from non-Arkive members".

**Funny** Notice how many synch occurences he mentioned there being for DSotR. Teehee.

FROM STARWARS.COM:

The Dark Side of the Death Star: More Synchronicity
August 28, 2006
By Bonnie Burton

Imagine if John Williams' epic score as the saga's music soundtrack was replaced with your favorite records. Would Metallica's heavy guitar riffs add intensity to Luke and Darth Vader's exciting duel? Or perhaps dialog between C-3PO and R2-D2 would oddly make sense when backed by rap lyrics from Public Enemy?

This isn't a brand new experiment concept. In 1994, some Pink Floyd fans created a similar experiment called "Dark Side of the Rainbow" in which they would simultaneously play Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon while watching the film The Wizard of Oz to see if certain film scenes and song lyrics link up.

Florida fan James Greene, Jr. came up with the idea after he heard about another fan who was watching all six Star Wars movies at once while documenting the few strange little coincidences throughout. "Naturally, this reminded me of the whole 'Dark Side of the Rainbow' thing," Greene says. "So I started to wonder about the possibility of there being an album out there that synchs up with Star Wars in the same way. The first album I ever tried -- White Zombie's La Sexorcisto -- yielded about 20 moments of synchronicity. That's not many compared to the 60 you get with Dark Side and Oz, but it was enough to get me excited. After I told a friend of mine about my experiment he remarked somewhat cynically that almost any album would probably synch up with Star Wars, and suggested I devote an entire blog to my synchronization tests. It sounded like a great idea to me, so I did it."

Even though all the films in the saga are fair game for the Synchronicity Project, Greene enjoys testing the possibilities of the original trilogy the most. "The movies I'm most excited about using are the original three -- A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi -- because I think they're the ones that the general public are most familiar with," Greene says. "Plus, they're the movies that I love most. For the project I'm using the unaltered versions -- the 1995 THX 'Faces' set, to be exact."

Since late last year, Greene has tested albums by Beastie Boys, Green Day, Blondie, Bad Religion, Meat Loaf, The Damned, Dr. Dre, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Public Enemy, and of course, Pink Floyd. After each test, he details exactly where the albums synch up with various film scenes, and explains why certain albums seem to work better than others, on his blog.

"The record with the most interesting synchs to date is Green Day's American Idiot with A New Hope," Greene says. "There are 35 total! I'm not really sure why that worked out so well, other than maybe the fact that it's a rock opera with lots of short little songs-within-songs and quick tempo shifts."

Greene also tests other movie soundtracks against the films including Ghostbusters, Cable Guy, Lost Highway, Less Than Zero and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. "The Ghostbusters soundtrack worked best with A New Hope probably because there's just a good mix of styles including orchestral stuff, old time rock n' roll and cheesy '80s ballads, not to mention the movie's famous title song," Greene explains. "Interestingly enough the line 'I know it's worth it all to spend my life with you' is heard in 'I Can Wait Forever' as C-3PO and R2-D2 are conversing onscreen. It reminded me how much the two act like an elderly married couple."

However, not all the musical experiments are a whopping success. "Oh, there are tons of flops," Greene laughs. "Any album with lots of love songs like Blondie's Greatest Hits with Empire never works because there aren't many lovey-dovey moments. Hardcore punk records are usually too short and fast as well. I tried the Led Zeppelin box set which ended up being a wash. Extensive guitar solos don't translate well to synchronicity."

For those fans wanting to try to synch their favorite albums, Greene offers a few tips. "I generally hit play twice real quick on the CD player to pause the CD before the music starts," Greene suggests. "Then right after the second drum roll in the 20th Century Fox fanfare, I unpause the VCR or DVD player. I do that so there isn't that brief lag between hitting 'play' and the start of the music CD. Also try to use albums that you think will have a greater propensity for synchronization. And be sure to go to the bathroom before you sit down with a 70-minute CD. That can be torture."

To read more about the latest experiments, visit the Star Wars Synchronicity Project blog here: http://starwarssynch.blogspot.com

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R_Sammy's picture

hmmmm...

I'm dubious about his approach. I think his random smashing of dozens of albums to star wars is a very wrong approach to synching and makes synchers look like obsessive wierdos (Okay, maybe MORE obsessive than we really are.) His criteria for primarily looking for lyrical synch moments is missing the importance of how the music feels with the images and flows with the movie. The best synchs are not random and demand to be put together. When they work it creates this harmony that can't be quantified by the number of matches.

Experimenting With Star Wars

This is definitely an interesting site. I should try that Episode IV: A New Hope & American Idiot from Green Day sync sometime. However, before I found this Star Wars site out, I did make a sync of my own which used A New Hope and the album FutureSex/LoveSounds from Justin Timberlake.

Here's what I posted on the blog to tell people about this discovery:

"I never knew there was a synchronicity site dedicated to the Star Wars movies. One time I was telling people about some music/movie synchronizations I've experienced and one my buddies was wondering if I could find a movie that would work with the Justin Timberlake album FutureSex/LoveSounds. I tried the first ever Star Wars movie (Episode IV: A New Hope), because I felt the movie was pretending to be as futuristic as the album (keep in mind that the actual setting for the movie is "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away").

I played the album after the opening music in the movie ended, and I got some interesting results. For example, everything just gets chaotic and pretty hilarious once "SexyBack" comes on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWJfPafy9H4

Darth Vader tosses his victim to the beat of the song. Princess Leia starts sneaking up on "A freaky special, it's behind your back". C3PO says "Take it to the chorus!" and he and R2D2 go into a call and response sequence in time with what Justin Timberlake and Timbaland do in the chorus. They use the escape pod on the words "Get your sexy out". Leia is captured at "You see these shackles baby, I'm your slave". She gets dismissed by Darth Vader the next time Timbaland says "Go 'head child!" (Leia is Vader's daughter, so that's pretty effective). Vader says later on "I'm bringin' sexyback. Motherf**kers, watch your eye, attack." and the way "motherf**kers" is said in that song is actually how I would picture it if Darth Vader said that word (with the strange breathing sound on the letter "u"). R2D2 asks C3PO "You ready?" and they drift off into the dessert.

I hope this synchronization is given a try and that it will break the American Idiot record of 35 connections."

Jaydingo's picture

Intent of mulitple synchs

I still stand by my theory (if you can call it that) of esp. At least thats my personal experience. I do not personally think the intent theory holds much water. Not to say that this could never happen. I hold coincidence & subjectivity as definite (but not the only) factors in synching. Besides, not having tried any of these myself, they could all be bong-wash for all I know. If SW did appear to have a series of multiple synchs to go with it, I would look into experimenting with other "operatic" style films to see if they too fall under the multiple synch catagory. Again, this is just my opinion & not meant to bring forth a hailstorm of angry comments from intent theorists.

Nice find

But i dont have any of the albums. Do you guys think that multiple syncs for the same films (or using the same album) suggests that there isnt really any intent with synchs - its all coincidence/subjective?

My SW Synch:

Ok Jedi
http://leightonjonesy.googlepages.com/synctemplate9

arkiver's picture

very interesting...

that is VERY interesting... I'll have to visit the blog.

peace,
--mj
arkiver

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