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SKYFALL — Once the phrase "Bond, James Bond" is uttered, I can't help but hear the sort of heavy twangy guitar of the original theme.
I don't know how the composer did it, but the theme lives on the polar ends of bold and mysterious with a cool-as-ice twist, which is just as any good super spy should be described. Sure, the theme could never be topped, but that should never stop the world from paying homage to it.
For his nod to the iconic British spy and his theme song, local violinist Rob Landes borrowed some James Bond swag to make a slick, Bond mashup video. Landes and U.K.-born classical pianist Christopher Janwong McKiggan worked together to arrange and perform the mashup of the original James Bond theme and Sam Smith's Bond song "Writing's On the Wall."
The video itself is impressive and includes the spectacular Stein Eriksen Lodge as a backdrop, an Aston Martin, a Bond girl or two, and a pair of tuxedos that would make Daniel Craig jealous. But perhaps more impressive is the time frame Landes and McKiggan worked within to make the video happen.
Landes said they had been working on some ideas, but hadn't solidified any arrangement by the time he picked McKiggan up at the airport on a Saturday afternoon.
"The rest of the night we finished arranging the Bond together, and he stayed up until very late trying to figure out how to seamlessly layer the Sam Smith song on top of the Bond theme, when he had a 'Eureka!' moment and finished writing it out (at) 3 a.m."
But that was just part of the timing hurdle. The duo had to practice, record and mix the track the following Monday morning before they could shoot the video as planned on Monday night.
You'll just have to watch the video to see how successful they were in their short time frame. But just like James Bond, these artists seem to work well under pressure.
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What you should know before seeing 'Spectre'
While all the movie focus lately has been on "Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens," it was easy for another one of 2015's biggest films to get lost in the shuffle. That's right, the 24th James Bond film, "Spectre" is now in theaters and here are a few things you should know about it.Martha Ostergar is the former video productions manager of KSL.com. She has moved on to write elsewhere, but she can't break her habit of cruising the Internet for amazing videos and writing about them. You can follow her on Twitter at @monstergar.
