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Potterdom Film/Score Series Thread


John Crichton

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7 hours ago, Skelly said:

 

Fun fact - the wizard in the Leaky Cauldron in Prisoner of Azkaban is doing just that.

 

ianbrownandbook.jpg

Ian Browne!

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Bloody Baron had more presence in the computer game than he did in the film. The Hogwarts Ghosts didn't really get much screentime in the films, unfortunately.

I believe the actor for the Fat Friar infamously filmed parts for FIVE of the movies but all that was left was his brief cameo in the first film.

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On 30 August 2016 at 10:21 PM, mrbellamy said:

I'm sure the play is very well-produced and entertaining -- I would like to see how they pulled off some of the things in there onstage -- but just as a reading experience and continuation of Potter it was fairly disappointing and a little irritating to me in how much it contradicted the books, mostly in small ways but a few big ones as well. Just didn't really convince me overall that it was written by somebody who really knew those books, the characters and the "rules" of that world inside and out, and some of the new ideas and developments cheapened the original stories for me instead of enhancing them. Felt like it was geared more to casual fans, which is fine, I don't mean that in a condescending way but it's easy to see why most people who read the series more than once seem to be dismissing it. Surprising given JKR's involvement but there it is.

 

So I'm not really looking forward to a potential adaptation. Part of me kind of hopes there'll be some major recastings so it'll be easier to ignore altogether :whistle: although funnily enough, the story would probably make more sense as a sequel to the movies. There are things about the play that you really have to stretch to actually incorporate into the books, but the films have a lot more wiggle room in that regard.

Yep.  I saw the play, and it was a lot of fun, and truly wondrous the way they created that world on stage.

Then I picked up the book and found it to be...unreadable. I literally could not get past the first third and put it down. The deficiencies in plot and dialogue are definitely masked when you see the production.

That said, even in the play the whole thing just feels off. It definitely has a fan fic vibe to it.  I do think it detract from the story, and for my part I consider the Potter story to have ended with Deathly Hallows. The sad part if Rowling is really done with Potter like she said, why would she allow the final word on the series to be written by someone else?

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  • 3 weeks later...

on the topic of scores, I found this lovely little suite from the Order of the Phoenix video-game. because the released soundtrack has been altered to remove any references to Hedwig's theme this was a pleasant find:

probably the best treatment of William's themes and integration I've ever heard (other than from Williams himself ofc :p).

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10 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

probably the best treatment of William's themes and integration I've ever heard (other than from Williams himself ofc :p).

 

I played the game once and thought that the Hedwig's Theme references were a little heavy-handed near the beginning, but overall I agree.

Whenever Hooper quoted the theme it was always so forced. It was like Hooper was midway through a cue and said, "Oh yeah, this is Harry Potter! I've gotta put the Harry Potter theme song in here!"

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Hooper has some nice moments (rewatched OotP Monday night) flying down the Thames and Foreworks are nice pieces and I couldn't imagine a more perfect theme for Umbridge. The whole thing just seems too big for him though. 

 

I do like his Hedwig theme statements. 

 

Two favourite non Williams' uses of the theme are Doyle's intro in GoF and Desplat's Dragon flight. 

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Yeah but based on Yeat's four films and the scores for him that was most likely a Yeats thing. Saying that, I don't really know how that theme would really work in that scene. 

 

 

I dont actually mind Yeats as a director. I just don't like his approach to the music. 

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5 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

 

Hooper always seemed most at home writing in the spirit of Williams's little music box melodies and folk lullabies in chamber settings. He's a half-decent tunesmith, albeit more like a jingle writer than a true Romanticist. Some of his more emotional and atmospheric colors were quite nice too, like his little love motif in HBP which often doubled as an identity for Felix Felicis on glass harmonica (?). Whenever he was called to really engage in mystery, suspense, or more intense action, though -- as opposed to his more successful light comic setpieces like "Fireworks" or "Ron's Victory" -- it often came across like he was just winging it, sometimes painfully so. It's disappointing to say the least that he apparently worked on his Potters for like 18 months each and yet so much of his work feels like a first draft.

 

JWFanners love to characterize Nicholas Hooper as this musically illiterate doofus and I mean, clearly he was the least sophisticated of his peers....I found the soundtracks pleasant on first listen but hard to get much enjoyment out of anymore apart from select highlights. Part of me is a little curious how he might have coped with Part 1, probably not totally unfair to say Part 2 may have ended up a near-disaster. Still for someone considered to be like, a "dunce" (lol or whatever people think :P), his scores are modest and goofy fun, tuneful, colorful, and emotionally sensitive with a healthy sense of humor, which is more than I can say for some of our favorite Hollywood punching bags.

 

 

Yes, his individual set pieces are quite strong and as you say he is a decent tune smith. He would definitely be more suited to something shorter like an episode of TV or something but Harry Potter was just too big for him. Especially with what followed. 

 

I definutely think he could have produced something decent for DH1 but not as good as what we got and definitely wouldn't have been able for the final film. 

 

He might actually have been more more suited to FB! There's some jazzy style stuff in HBP which would probably have been appropriate. 

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2 hours ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

He might actually have been more more suited to FB! There's some jazzy style stuff in HBP which would probably have been appropriate. 

 

He probably could have turned out something pretty fun for Beasts, yeah. I obviously expect to prefer JNH ultimately but from what we've heard, anyway, Hooper probably could have done about as well as that first track and his tunes are comparable to the two demos that came out.

 

I'm of two minds on his Potter work. There's part of me that will always whine and pout about Williams never coming back and compared to Doyle or Desplat, Hooper's music often lacked in compelling gravitas and orchestral finesse. On the other hand, just looking at the broader landscape, I always think it's sort of heartening that my least favorite composer on this massive blockbuster series was a humble talent who was far more interested in the opportunity to write little elegies and jigs and extended bassoon solos than in doing this to the audience:

 

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And that's part of why I have a soft soft for TV music scores. Composers have a lot less to work with and so often have to make up for it with really catchy themes and ditties that are just plain fun to listen to.

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On 10/12/2016 at 7:54 AM, mrbellamy said:

 

Hooper always seemed most at home writing in the spirit of Williams's little music box melodies and folk lullabies in chamber settings. He's a half-decent tunesmith, albeit more like a jingle writer than a true Romanticist. Some of his more emotional and atmospheric colors were quite nice too, like his little love motif in HBP which often doubled as an identity for Felix Felicis on glass harmonica (?). Whenever he was called to really engage in mystery, suspense, or more intense action/spectacle, though -- as opposed to his more successful light comic setpieces like "Fireworks" or "Ron's Victory" -- it often came across like he was just winging it, sometimes painfully so. It's disappointing to say the least that he apparently worked on his Potters for like 18 months each and yet so much of his work feels like a first draft.

 

JWFanners love to characterize Nicholas Hooper as this musically illiterate doofus and I mean, clearly he was the least sophisticated of his peers....I found the soundtracks pleasant on first listen but hard to get much enjoyment out of anymore apart from select highlights. Part of me is a little curious how he might have coped with Part 1, probably not totally unfair to say Part 2 may have ended up a near-disaster. Still for someone considered to be like, a "dunce" (lol or whatever people think :P), his scores are modest and goofy fun, tuneful, colorful, and emotionally sensitive with a healthy sense of humor, which is more than I can say for some of our favorite Hollywood punching bags.

 

"Dumbledore's Army" is also great.

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5 hours ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

Nothing super special, but I always enjoyed Hooper's cue for when the group flies off on the thestrals to save Sirius. One of the few cues from him that evoked a feeling of wonder for me.

 

 

ah yes I remember that one! if I'm not mistaken that's not on the soundtrack, is it? I love the emotions this piece evokes but I feel like I haven't heard it since I last watched the film.

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4 minutes ago, DarthDementous said:

ah yes I remember that one! if I'm not mistaken that's not on the soundtrack, is it? I love the emotions this piece evokes but I feel like I haven't heard it since I last watched the film.

 

It is indeed, good sir! Easy to miss though. It's within the cue "The Sirius Deception." 1:36 on or so. 
 

 

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I had actually never heard this rumor about Bruce Springsteen recording a song for a Harry Potter movie, but I guess he's confirmed it now?  The article doesn't say which movie it was for, anybody know?  Sounds like something Yates would want (being the guy who used Nick Cave in Deathly Hallows).

 

Bruce Springsteen Says He Wrote a Song for Harry Potter, But “They Didn’t Use It”

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I had actually never heard this rumor about Bruce Springsteen recording a song for a Harry Potter movie, but I guess he's confirmed it now?  The article doesn't say which movie it was for, anybody know?  Sounds like something Yates would want (being the guy who used Nick Cave in Deathly Hallows).

 

Bruce Springsteen Says He Wrote a Song for Harry Potter, But “They Didn’t Use It”

 

 

 

Another article I read said it was PS.

 

also:

On 19/10/2016 at 9:23 AM, Bilbo Skywalker said:

Always disappointed to see this thread bumped for something other than the PoA leak.

 

 

Damn you all to hell.  

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

On 19/10/2016 at 9:23 AM, Bilbo Skywalker said:

Always disappointed to see this thread bumped for something other than the PoA leak.

 

 

Damn you all to hell.  

 

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Yeah, I would have been fine with him showing up at the wedding scene.

I wonder how many decades it'll be before WB finally lets some of these deleted scenes really see the light of day?

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5 hours ago, Once said:

I think he's just describing the scene that is in the book.

 

Difference is in the book Krum's appearance at the wedding spurs Ron to ask Hermione to dance himself, not look on jealously. Point being to show he'd grown up a bit since the Yule Ball. One of a handful of examples in the films where they sorta neutered his character from what he was on the page.

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