James Newton Howard's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

[Richard Penna 3,686]

I only have one track from the last two Hunger Games, and it's 'The Hanging Tree', a track which gave me false hope for the rest of the score. I didn't even notice the music in either Mockingjay movies.

 

Air Raid Drill sounds like it's one of his better action cues from that score. I just hope he's stayed away from his synthy approach for Fantastic Beasts. The entire finale from Kong is an amazing sequence of music - that's what I want to hear.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

21 hours ago, Will said:

Potter films tend to open dark so it's actually kind of cool that, seemingly, we'll get a more joyful opening.

Yes, please!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

20 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

All this talk about about how JNH has gone downhill just reminds me how underrated his Nightcrawler score is.  Not a showy score but there's so much I really enjoy on that OST and it fit that brilliant movie perfectly.

While I appreciate that score for not going down the predictable Trent Reznor route, it just comes across as hokey in the film.  

[Disco Stu 15,495]

14 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

While I appreciate that score for not going down the predictable Trent Reznor route, it just comes across as hokey in the film.  

 

No waaaay

[crocodile 8,006]

22 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

While I appreciate that score for not going down the predictable Trent Reznor route, it just comes across as hokey in the film.  

Which is actually perfect for the main character.

 

Karol

[leeallen01 2,136]

Apparently JNH sent a demo of his music to get the job for Fantastic Beasts. So clearly he was passionate about doing it and not just asked to.

 

Which kind of backs up my theory that he originally wanted to do Potter back in the early 2000's, but never got the gig, so he gave us what he would have done in Peter Pan. 

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2016/10/24/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-score-james-newton-howard/

 

 

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Quote

 

Although composer James Newton Howard has many scores to hit films under his belt - the "Hunger Games" franchise, "The Dark Knight," and "The Fugitive" to name a few - he still pitched himself to be a part of J.K. Rowling's upcoming "Harry Potter" spinoff film, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

 

"It seemed like an incredible musical opportunity so I submitted a reel of my music," Howard says.

 

One of his compositions for the film, "Tina Takes Newt In/Macusa Headquarters," premieres on Speakeasy today.

 

Howard says he started thinking about the music for the film early on, after conversations with director David Yates and producer David Heyman - the goal was simple. "We talked about how the score would need to encompass many different styles of music and have a broad emotional range," he says.

 

This portion of the score clocks in at just under two minutes and features two different, whimsical sounding parts. The title refers to the two main characters - Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and Porpetina "Tina" Goldstein (Katherine Waterston). The film is set in 1926 and brings Rowling's world of wizardry to the U.S. She recently announced that this is the first of five planned films.

 

The original "Potter" films were scored by John Williams and later, Alexandre Desplat ("The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Argo"). "One of my biggest goals in writing the music for "Fantastic Beasts" was to create memorable melodies," Howard says. "J.K. Rowling's world has always had a great musical legacy and I was hoping to continue that tradition."

 

 

Damn, such an encouraging interview!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

9 hours ago, leeallen01 said:

Apparently JNH sent a demo of his music to get the job for Fantastic Beasts. So clearly he was passionate about doing it and not just asked to.

 

Which kind of backs up my theory that he originally wanted to do Potter back in the early 2000's, but never got the gig, so he gave us what he would have done in Peter Pan. 

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2016/10/24/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-score-james-newton-howard/

 

 

Yeah well he also said he was inspired for Snow White and looked how that turned out. You can get hyped by the PR all you want, but at the end of the day it's the music that matters.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Nice little bit of score in this clip:

 

 

[Richard Penna 3,686]

Nice, but nothing exciting.

 

So far the only thing setting off alarm bells is the opening cue. I hope that's an anomaly in the score.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Yeah, so far the music is nothing totally unexpected, but that main title track is the one thing so far that really just lacks the kind of panache that I hope for from these types of scores, and that's disconcerting since it is the opening of the movie. Kinda feels like any marginally talented composer could have written that and for a lot of different things. But I'm enjoying the rest of these little bits and pieces, they're at least instantly recognizable as JNH and sound like he's having fun, using his chops, playing with colors, engaging with the fantasy. All I want (though a new classic would be a nice bonus! )

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Well, so far, the music in that clip is the one I liked the most. This is slowly looking more and more interesting... Still wary about the action music, though...

[mrbellamy 6,278]

The thing I immediately liked about this little cue is I think it really captures the jolly menace of the Williams scores. The other composers wrote a lot of nice "magical" stuff but a lot of it to me would either be a little too flighty without an effective dark undercurrent, or else not playful enough amidst the doom and gloom. It's a very subtle thing, Desplat probably got it best IMO in Part 1 with stuff like "Detonators" and the unused "Lovegood" but in general I didn't feel they rode the line quite so effortlessly and enjoyably as with Williams where he just had these endless melodies and textures that could sound so amusing yet also vaguely alien and threatening. That's Potter and this hits a nice sweet spot for me. She's just doing a cutesy trick but even still the music feels slightly skeptical of the magic which is how it should be.

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

7 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

The thing I immediately liked about this little cue is I think it really captures the jolly menace of the Williams scores. The other composers wrote a lot of nice "magical" stuff but a lot of it to me would either be a little too flighty without an effective dark undercurrent, or else not playful enough amidst the doom and gloom. It's a very subtle thing, Desplat probably got it best IMO in Part 1 with stuff like "Detonators" and the unused "Lovegood" but in general I didn't feel they rode the line quite so effortlessly and enjoyably as with Williams where he just had these endless melodies and textures that could sound so amusing yet also vaguely alien and threatening. That's Potter and this hits a nice sweet spot for me. She's just doing a cutesy trick but even still the music feels slightly skeptical of the magic which is how it should be.

 

Completely agree. I always  thought Hedwig's Theme has an absolutely wonderful undercurrent of malice to it which is so very necessary for this world. And it is the main franchise theme!

 

He has of course gentler melodies which are more wholesome -like his family theme and hogwarts theme and wondrous world theme. But hedwig's theme definitely has menace as it should. Even the double trouble theme - it has a sense of mischief and a touch of the macabre which are very fitting.

 

To use a single word, I think Williams music was very clever. Something which normal composers would not usually bring to a film.

[leeallen01 2,136]

Absolutely. A great way of putting it. I think he captures that uneasy magical feeling well in the first piece of this track; 'Tina Takes Newt In,' especially the frantic Williams-esque strings at 0:21, and the lovely, intriguing theme at 0:53. 

 

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

5 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

Completely agree. I always  thought Hedwig's Theme has an absolutely wonderful undercurrent of malice to it which is so very necessary for this world. And it is the main franchise theme!

 

He has of course gentler melodies which are more wholesome -like his family theme and hogwarts theme and wondrous world theme. But hedwig's theme definitely has menace as it should. Even the double trouble theme - it has a sense of mischief and a touch of the macabre which are very fitting.

 

To use a single word, I think Williams music was very clever. Something which normal composers would not usually bring to a film.

Very perceptive & well said.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

'Normal composers'?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Yes, everyone who isn't JW. You know, the peasants, the flea-ridden beggars...

[DarthDementous 1,059]

22 hours ago, leeallen01 said:

Absolutely. A great way of putting it. I think he captures that uneasy magical feeling well in the first piece of this track; 'Tina Takes Newt In,' especially the frantic Williams-esque strings at 0:21, and the lovely, intriguing theme at 0:53. 

 

 

the more I analyse this track the more hope I have for the film. this really does feel like a return to a more Williams style scoring in ways more than superficial resemblance. barring the sound of the some of the strings, I'd be able to accept 0:21 to 0:53 as Williams himself. another thing that is showing is the commitment to memorable themes. I'm not very fond of short motifs so to hear a lovely long theme like 0:53 that actually sticks in my mind is very encouraging, and coincidentally I think one of Williams' specialities is in long themes. 

[toothless 963]

I don't know if it's been posted before but here is the tracklist (1h38mn) on spotify with 2 tracks available to listen : 

 

 

 

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Third track:

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Woodwinds. How novel.

 

Otherwise, a pretty random hodgepodge that track.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

I'm enjoying that with every track or little trailer snippet we've gotten, there's some new brief little self-contained melody in there that we haven't heard before. We've gotten like 5 or 6 distinct tunes already including the one at the beginning here (this reminds me a little bit of some of the stuff Hooper wrote for OOTP actually). Hopefully a few of these actually get, you know, developed  but from the outset I like that he's taking such a melodic approach, starting to feel like he was inspired by the first score and its abundance of themes and motifs and one-off tunes.

 

Oh wait, I don't know what I'm talking about, that glockenspiel tune is the same as the one at the beginning of "Tina Takes Newt In/Macusa Headquarters." Also just clicked with me that the big choral rendition is also simply a variation on that same theme. Nice!

 

And another film clip with score:

 

 

[KK 3,307]

30 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Oh wait, I don't know what I'm talking about, that glockenspiel tune is the same as the one at the beginning of "Tina Takes Newt In/Macusa Headquarters." Also just clicked with me that the big choral rendition is also simply a variation on that same theme. Nice!

 

Yes. The opening of this, and the cue you mentioned appears to be the main "magic" theme. It was in the first preview of the score as well:

 

And the rest of the new track posted seems to be a variation of the theme in the second half of the preview as well.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Yep you're right. I recognized the choral piece from the preview but somehow didn't connect that it's streamlined from the bouncier melody. Or I guess you could say the latter is an elaboration.

 

And yeah given the title "Kowalski Rag" that second half of the preview seems to be a theme for the Muggle character who tags along with Newt and the witches.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

Third track:

 

 

 

Feels like it'll work fine in the film, but be a cue that didn't need to be included on the album.

 

I highly suspect I'll be making a custom OST for this.

[leeallen01 2,136]

I love the little variation at the start of the piece, of what we can likely now class as the Main Theme. I'm getting more impatient for the full score every single day. Cannot wait for 90 minutes of more of what we've heard already. 

 

Judging by that clip too, it seems the music is well represented (hopefully). And not buried under the sound of the film too much. I sincerely hope for some huge moments where the music can shine, and so a whole new generation can be introduced to the music of Rowling's world through JNH. 

 

 

Here's a great collection of quotes from JNH about his score and working with Yates etc. He says he was like an excited little kid when he got the job. And that he had 7 months to complete it, and apparently everyone wanted to score it, other than Williams.

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/fantastic-beasts-score-exclusive

 

 

[Richard Penna 3,686]

Sounds similar to Wyatt Earp, the liner notes for which explain that he personally lobbied the director to score it.

 

Hopefully an enthusiastic attitude and seven times longer than he had to write Kong, and we're going to get something really good...

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

It kiiiiiinda sounds Elfman-esque I guess, in the sound of the cooing children's choir or whatever choir they are using.

 

And he says in the VF article that Williams music might feature in the film, ONLY IN A MATTER OF SECONDS THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE.

 

I am guessing just first few notes on celeste when the logo comes up or something.

 

 

[DemonStar 57]

I like how there's quality writing and instrumentation even in the quieter cues like this, instead of just filler music like we get in a lot of scores. I'm eager to listen to the entire album, especially that long 12 minute track.

 

The interview is really nice to read.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

6 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

And he says in the VF article that Williams music might feature in the film, ONLY IN A MATTER OF SECONDS THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE.

 

I am guessing just first few notes on celeste when the logo comes up or something.

 

Well, then we've already heard it in the first track.

[Alex 2,835]

"Except for John" - Does this mean there was a brief moment where they tried to get him to score it?

[leeallen01 2,136]

With every film series that Williams scored, I'm sure every film maker with a brain at least asks him just in case. I'm sure he was casually asked about Rogue One, Jurassic World, and Fantastic Beasts. And I'm sure he didn't say "NO!" Instead he no doubt humbly and eloquently declined by saying that other composers should be allowed to have a go at such fun material. 

[TownerFan 4,983]

I found this part of the article particularly interesting and even revealing about current method (and woes) for film composers:

 

Quote

It was actually “the first piece” Howard crafted for Fantastic Beasts. “It was one of the pieces of music that David [Yates, the director] responded to extremely positively the first time he heard it,” he recalls. Pieces that elicited such a response were the ones with staying power, he says, whereas others were redone 20 to 30 times, before eventually being edited back to sound like their original version.

 

Pieces redone 20 or 30 times? I hope it's an exaggeration. I don't envy the position of the composer in these circumstances, where music-making is treated by directors and producers as a disposable tool like a library of sound effects.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

1 hour ago, leeallen01 said:

I'm sure every film maker with a brain at least asks him just in case.

 

Why? What kind of logic is that? Is it not possibly to consider the eventuality that some filmmakers just might not be interested in the kind of music Williams write and thus wouldn't want him for their film?

[Richard Penna 3,686]

I'm guessing Williams is a tad busy right now with all things SW and Ready Player One.

 

I would take leeallen's comment in context of franchises that Williams started, and not for any random film.

 

Given that Yates has only ever worked with Hooper, and JW is likely occupied, I can see how the composer selection would be wider than normal. Surprises me that WB would be unfamiliar with JNH's work, but I guess sending a musically deaf suit some samples of music is the quickest way to get on that shortlist.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

9 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I would take leeallen's comment in context of franchises that Williams started, and not for any random film.

 

Well, that's how I took it too, so my comment still stands.

 

There's no legal nor moral obligation for the director to ask the composer who started the franchise if he wants to score the sequel, if the director himself has no interest in his music.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

Of course there's no obligation, but if you're continuing the franchise and need to find a composer, asking the one who started the franchise is going to make a lot of things easier.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Not necessarily, if you're going to have creative differences with said composer.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

Wasn't there a rumour around for some time that JW didn't really care for Yates' tracking choices for DH2?

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

That would make sense.  Didn't Yates track The Dark Knight into Half Blood Prince? (that fucking idiot)

[leeallen01 2,136]

2 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Why? What kind of logic is that? Is it not possibly to consider the eventuality that some filmmakers just might not be interested in the kind of music Williams write and thus wouldn't want him for their film?

 

 

I'm referring to the film series that are specifically scored by Williams, hence why I said the film series scored by Williams...

 

If you don't at least ask Williams to score a new Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones film, then you are an idiot.

 

Fantastic Beasts is slightly different because of it being a completely outside of Potter, and the fact that 3 other composers have scored Potter, but Star Wars for example, not asking Williams is retarded. 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

You didn't answer the question: why? Why is it retarded?

[Alex 2,835]

I was never expecting Williams to score this film anyway. It would have been a pleasant surprised. I'm glad they went for someone like JNH and not another Hooper.

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

I would say MOST films would benefit from Williams contribution (specially those of the Hollywood variety).

 

But alas, the man can't score everything. 

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

5 hours ago, TownerFan said:

I found this part of the article particularly interesting and even revealing about current method (and woes) for film composers:

 

 

Pieces redone 20 or 30 times? I hope it's an exaggeration. I don't envy the position of the composer in these circumstances, where music-making is treated by directors and producers as a disposable tool like a library of sound effects.

 

Let's not be too haughty about the untouchable nature of music for film against, say, sound effects for film. Every part of cinema is important, requires hard work to be created and changed, and is subject to review by the director.  What may seem excessive might in fact be, but it could also be meticulous devotion to a cinematic vision. 

 

Not saying that's Yates' deal, though. 

[TownerFan 4,983]

Absolutely, I think the composer must always act as a collaborator and also has to be flexible toward the director's vision. It's a mutual collaboration. 30 redos for a single cue sounds like an impossible task, though. I understand the temptation and even the pleasure of trying many different roads for a single scene (especially when you have the luxury of a long schedule), but sometimes I think modern filmmakers simply don't trust the composer that much and start to micro-manage them over minutiae like a 10-seconds transition harp glissando or the phrasing of a flute over a dialogue line or a string pedal and so on, especially since composer have to demo every single cue. Directors obsess over details like these since the dawn of filmmaking, but there was a time when the composer was granted a little more respect and, once established the aesthetic roadmap and dramatic needs, they were let free to write their own music, which of course it's their own personal vision of the film itself.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

5 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

There's no legal nor moral obligation for the director to ask the composer who started the franchise if he wants to score the sequel, if the director himself has no interest in his music.

 

Of course not, but in theory, I think anybody interested in doing a Star Wars or Jurassic Park movie (for reasons that they would generally be hired to do the job) would probably be jumping up and down if John Williams would agree to do it. I think calling somebody an idiot or a retard who might want to try going a different musical direction is obviously ridiculous but it makes sense that if there's an opportunity to get Williams, then the kind of person who is going for that job would probably want him if possible.

 

As far as Potter goes, as much as I would have killed to have Williams score all the films, I also completely understand and even still kind of admire Yates's choice to bring on Nicholas Hooper, whatever the artistic results. People always gloss over the personal loyalty displayed in that situation and would rather call Yates a fucking moron for not automatically going back to Williams. The door had been left open for a new composer and Yates knew his long-time friend and collaborator would love the opportunity. It's just a film score, you know. It's just a movie.

 

Yates has said that Jaws was a huge movie for him in his childhood desire to be a director and that Spielberg continues to be an influence on his filmmaking, and all his Potter movies have had orchestral scores with themes, motifs, and musically-driven sequences and this looks to be the same...so I don't see why it's so unbelievable that maybe he really did ask Williams for the last Potter, maybe there really was a relatively small window where Williams could have done it -- War Horse was originally scheduled within a month of Deathly Hallows: Part 2's release and so Williams was scoring that in the spring, along with maybe Tintin stuff? -- and maybe the film really wasn't ready. Given how much Yates apparently stresses out over the music in his films, perhaps he really did have some insecurity about taking a partially-finished film to the great Maestro and rushing through a scoring process, especially on the big finale where he was probably in a constant state of internal panic. And maybe the music wouldn't have been that great in those circumstances and/or treated horribly as a result and therefore it was ultimately a better decision to go with Desplat who had full availability. Maybe.

 

And maybe Yates asked again with Beasts and Williams was busy again or simply passed on it as JNH implied. But I guess I wouldn't expect JWFan to be great at the benefit of the doubt thing when it comes to Satan incarnate...

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Now that is an articulate and reasonable answer!

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Another day, another clip, another bit of underscore: