joelparnis

Go check the tomato meter for any of the HP films vs any of the narnia films. There's your answer. And if we're talking about the scores, i'd still vote DH... but just by a hair

HBP was the first time the writing, direction and acting of Dumbledore felt right to me. I blame Mike Newell for GoF Dumbledore: everyone in that film was yelling a little more than necessary. The portrayal of Voldemort (while not so bad in GoF) has really improved under David Yates' vision aswell, as it seems like Newell liked the majority of his actors to deliver lines very much like THEY WERE REALLY REALLY ANGRY all of a sudden, throughout many of the scenes THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE FILM!!!!!!!!

Having seen the film again (hehe ) it has grabbed my attention that there is another motif that does not appear anywhere on the OST. It is first heard in the film when Harry is looking in his cupboard under the stairs. Also i'm pretty sure it underscores 'Ron Leaves' in the film, as well as the moment of a certain character's passing. I tried to commit it to my memory and pretty sure it sounds like this, bare in mind this is played by ear.

The only thing to my ear the remains unreleased (but when i go see the film again will really listen to here if its tracked from a different part of the score) is the alternate version of 'Ron Leaves' which underscores the scene in the film. The OST has quite a lot of music not heard in the film: - 'Snape to Malfoy Manor' - is longer than the version in the film - 'Polyjuice Potion' has many sections that fill in what are unscored moments in the film - the majority of 'At The Burrow' is missing in the finished film - 'Harry and Ginny' has a lot more on the OST - 'The Will' once again, contains more music than the film version of the score (including a version of Hedwig's Theme that does not appear in the film) - 'Ron Leaves' very different cue the version in the final film - 'Hermione's Parents' which also underscores the Silver Doe scene, again fills in a lot of unscored moments in the film, i guess to make a more cohesive listening experience - 'Lovegood' not heard in the film at all - 'Farewell to Dobby' is a little bit longer and goes through slightly more development than the film version

ROTK: - The Ride of the Rohirrim in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields -The Nature theme when the moth precedes the arrival of the eagles at the Black Gate TPM: - The force theme when Qui Gon is melting through the Blast doors ROTJ - Vader: 'If you will not turn to the dark side, than perhaps she will' Luke: 'NOOOO!' cue spine tingly music AI - Search for the Blue Fairy gets me pretty much everytime, but there are quite a few other moments in this score

I've always thought that the films have been unfairly bashed on these boards. They will always be flawed adaptations, yes. But i think the positive aspects of the films greatly outway the negatives, they are still wonderful stories told in a compelling way with (for the most part) excellent production values and loving execution from the film-makers. When a film series reaches 7 films without a box office drop off and with every one of the films certified fresh by the critics on RottenTomatoes i think it is a remarkable achievement. What other series can boast that? I honestly think if the films were as awful as many here make them out to be, then they would not have had the success that they have.

Having now seen the film more than once, there seems to be a lot of score on the OST that is not in film at all, like Desplat filled in the gaps musically to make a complete experience on record. The film has a lot of moments with no score. Really, the style of this film would not suit the style of musical writing of ANY of the other films in the series. After the first hour, the movie tonally feels closer to something like 'Saving Private Ryan' than the other Harry's (except maybe OotP, which is the closest counterpart tone wise to DHpt1)

I completely agree. I loved the fact that we were able to sit and feel the characters in this one. I loved this movie so so much. So many scenes were able to breath in a way that the series has never seen before. Possibly my favourite in the series atm. Also about Part 2; remember there is still all of Snape's backstory to be told, and hopefully with so much of the book already covered in part 1 that will be given the time it deserves on film.

Eh. Desplat is great. Sad to be you

If it couldn't be Williams, i'm happy its Desplat. Nay-sayers be damned, part 1 is a fine score and i look forward to hearing how the many motifs and thematic ideas are expanded into part 2. Also Sky battle is the best action HP cue since PoA, and one of the highlights of the DH score. Open your ears people.

Except 'Farewell to Dobby' has some actual emotion in the track. I love this track, it is the culmination of several musical ideas that Desplat uses throughout the rest of score, this track is the emotional and musical resolution of a lot of those motifs. It worked well for me. And i don't think i'm alone on this.

I do really miss hearing the B section of Hedwig's Theme...

No no, i hear ya! Hehe Its possible i suppose, and i guess we'll never know. I think the problem is that I just can't hear the Philosopher's Stone Voldemort theme suiting Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort. Then again though, I'm positive JW would have adapted it to make it work. The films and books really shift completely after the third though and i'm still not 100% convinced even Williams would have used a lot of the old HP sound. Since we've been discussing the role of the composer with the director, part of me now wonders how much the shift in music was up to Cauron. I think Williams would have made PoA a very different score from the 1st two films regardless, but perhaps he would have woven more musical ideas from the PS/CoS into PoA and Cauron really kept pushing him towards a new direction. As i understand it, Cauron was obliged to use Williams contractually and otherwise wouldn't have done so, and is it therefore also because of Cauron's desire for something very different that Williams went in such a radically new direction with PoA?

I love the films (warts and all) and agree that musically the series really could have been so much more. Williams himself left the old family theme at the door with PoA as well as many others. Some may say it would have been nice to hear 'Window to the Past' and other themes again throughout the series. But the fact of the matter is, that Williams was the man who made the choice to only retain Hedwig's Theme after CoS even though he scored PoA aswell. Perhaps if he'd kept another 2nd theme from the first films and carried that into the third aswell, we might have had another piece which the new composers on the series related to the musical identity of Harry Potter. But Williams was the one to break that consistency. Hedwig's Theme is the only consistent melody in the first three films, and therefore the only one that composers since have used. I for one love Desplat's use of it. And he references towards it far more often throughout the OST then the three tracks where it is clearly stated, he has integrated it beautifully into his score (the 'Sky Battle' version being my favourite so far) rather than having stick out like a sore thumb as something clearly written by someone else.

When we were discussing the score, FilmComposer518 put up very valid musical points to do with why the score has more going on, and why Desplat is a far more intelligent writer than people were giving him credit for. He did not just say "i'm in the industry, so i know the score is good". He used his technical and musical knowledge to back up his argument perfectly. The "working in the industry" is one line out of some lengthy posts; the fact that you clutch to this line shows that 1) you're apparently only able to communicate on that rudimentary niveau, and 2) that the rest of my posts is beyond your ability to comprehend.