The AFI Master Class is a way of taking these encounters and making them work for the greater benefit of the directing fellows attending the institute. Bringing aspiring film artists together with established ones gives young hopefuls an enviable opportunity to learn directly from the masters. In the AFI Master Class with Steven Spielberg and John Williams (2011), students get to learn from one of the best and most influential pairings in the history of cinema.
It's no exaggeration to say that the pairing of composer John Williams and director Steven Spielberg has been one of the most fruitful pairings in film history. It may not even be an exaggeration to say it has been one of the most fruitful pairings in art history, period. The two have worked together so often, and so successfully, that it is difficult to think of one without the other. In fact, when one finds out John Williams has scored a movie, it's practically assumed it must be a Spielberg production, even if it's not. Likewise, if one hears of a new Spielberg movie, it's almost certain the composer of its score is Williams. In fact, Spielberg and Williams have collaborated well over 25 times and show no signs of slowing down.
During the master class, Spielberg and Williams talk to the students directly, relating to them stories of their own collaborations but also introducing scenes from other movies where they felt the music was exceptional or worked exceptionally well with the scene. The first one they show is from another extraordinary director/composer duo, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann. Williams introduces the clip from Vertigo where James Stewart see Kim Novak's character transformed for the first time from Judy to Madeleine. The love theme that swells and carries the theme is discussed as an example of music completing a scene. Spielberg also mentions how the music stands on its own and can be listened to out of context without seeing the movie. However, watching the scene without the music is a different thing. Without the music, Spielberg says, the scene wouldn't work.
Other scenes are used for different purposes. The music behind a gladiator fight in Spartacus emphasizes the conflict between the gladiators. The music in On the Waterfront is used for the same idea. Amadeus is used to show the music as a third character in a scene where Mozart and Salieri flesh out one of Mozart's works. After each scene, Spielberg and Williams discuss the impact of the music on the scene and the possible reasons why the composer and director may have chosen to go in that direction.
Finally, Spielberg and Williams take questions from the students and most of them cover the same ground, which is, essentially, "tell us how you two work together?" Fortunately, Spielberg and Williams have enough stories and ideas to keep fleshing out the answers, something that probably helped the two of them understand their relationship even better than they had.
The cinema is no different than any other art form or discipline in that learning from those who came before is the best way to hone a craft. The AFI Master Class affords students the opportunity to not only learn from those who came before, but from those active in the field now. And with Steven Spielberg and John Williams as the teachers, it's an opportunity that can't be missed.
By Greg Ferrara
