Potter Scoring Project

@bored Wow! So happy you went and made this alternate version of my alternate version, haha. Never did I think people would take this project and run with it. I’m glad we’ve both got our interpretations out there! I like the way you handled the transitions in this one.

Absolutely! You planning to just post them here? We’ve been careful about trying not to upset WB.

And finally, we have the last post for Deathly Hallows 2: the OST presentation! There are no concert works unique to this film, but there is an extended version of the Epilogue ("All Was Well") in its place. The OST and the full score are both available for download as FLAC/MP3, and there are now clean openings and endings for continuous cues in the full score if you'd rather have those. Thank you so much for going on this journey with us! Hearing from all of you on JWFan has meant the world to us both. We hope you'll stay tuned for future updates when we finish remastering Goblet of Fire. Until then, we're going to enjoy having 8 complete Potter scores in the style of John Williams! We would love to hear everyone's thoughts, as always. And thanks @mstrox! It's unexpected for someone new to comment now, so I'm curious what you'll think now that the whole project is out there. Hope you like it if you get the chance to listen further. Thank you for your comment! MS

The complete score is here!! https://sites.google.com/view/ravendor/extras/dh2-score-presentations As always, can't wait to hear your thoughts and hope you enjoy! *note: the continuous cues are set up for gapless playback right now. I'll upload clean endings with the OST. MS

For our first of the post-score releases, we've got our usual Temp Score Demos and Deleted Scenes. We didn't actually end up temp scoring the Deathly Hallows films like we had with all the previous ones, but rather just filling in our favorite/most essential moments that we wanted to try out. We've shared the most significant ones today. For the deleted scenes, we chose four this time and used material from both part 1 and part 2 of Deathly Hallows. @bored pretty early on in the process, I had also tried out Gryffindor Wins over the last Great Hall scene! We synced it up a bit differently though. Other than that, we've got alternates of the opening, epilogue, and King's Cross (I'd never waste an opportunity to use Artificial Intelligence!!) Next two weeks will be OST/complete score. Thanks for listening! MS

Before I get all nostalgic and start reflecting on the journey of these scores - here they are! The final end credits!! We have our normal post-film releases coming in the next few weeks, but this is the end of a long journey that we've been so honored to share with you all. It's really made all of this so worth it to read all of your comments, thoughts, critiques, and support. I know I've said this before but we've enjoyed it so much! Hope you like Cue No. 58: End Credits - Deathly Hallows Part 2 version -MS

@bored Thank you so much! And thank you for your passionate response! It means a lot that this project would spark such a great discussion. I will do my best to answer you comments so here we go: DH2 was by far the hardest score to do because it was a balance of “does this go in or that? There’s only 90 seconds so only one will work” when it came to reprising things. Not to mention it’s the longest and most active of the five scores despite it being the shortest movie. So I can both agree with you on Gryffindor Wins the House Cup working at the end, and also say it came down to which one I felt was best to put in given the score surrounding it as well. Lonely First Night doesn’t appear in the original Sorcerer’s Stone film either, so technically it’s not a reprise, which made me feel like I was getting away with something . And as far as Wondrous World representing the trio, I can meet you halfway on that one, but I think because the concert work (and JW) speak about it as Harry’s viewpoint into the world he comes to love so much, my brain has always strongly associated it with his perspective. When you say the bridge/flying theme from Hedwig’s Theme, I’m going to assume you mean the B theme of Nimbus 2000 material. (If you mean the literal bridge of Hedwig’s theme, we can discuss that too). As far as the Nimbus 2000 material goes, I personally always saw that as just part of “Mr. Longbottom Flies” within the context of a scene. I know it’s popular via the concert work, but it doesn’t get air time (pun intended) outside of that scene anyway. This is also a good example of how many different options were available during the project. Even at the outset, I knew that I had to just write what I felt might work best, knowing that there were plenty of options available, and that listeners were certainly chime in and give is their take. I appreciate this so much! The Voldemort 2 question is a good one because it’s both something I didn’t even recognize until you brought it up. I think, looking back, that I began shortening it regularly because harmonically it takes a lot of screen time to unfold. Additionally, the end of the full theme always cornered me harmonically, and I think leaving a theme open-ended allows for both a turn in a different direction, and more anticipation within the scene it appears. I’m going to have to go back and listen though. This is so interesting! Regarding the tone and orchestration of Hallows, I tried to stay away from my own writing as much as possible in this project (as you know of course) until I came to a scene where there really was no previous reference available. There was also a creative decision early on that Sorcerer’s Stone had to be the sound template for Deathly Hallows when it could be. That way, the nostalgic moments don’t feel like a random emotional grab like the tracked moments in the actual score for DH2. Desplat wrote an amazing DH2 score for example, but his style is so different from Williams that the moments of actual Williams in that score jolt the audience out of the mood and it feels like a cheap attempt at nostalgia. Here I did my best to smooth that out. Of course like you say, nothing’s perfect, but as an alternate version of what might have happened, I felt that this was my best swing for where my writing is right now. But I do appreciate all of the cues you mentioned, where you felt it was captured - those were all more my own writing style rather than being focused on adapting and tweaking. This actually brings us to the use of Williams’ themes. The example you bring up from The Forest Again was actually completely on purpose since Harry has never known his parents, and therefore has never developed a real relationship with them. I didn’t feel that there was any different between this scene and the mirror scene where I took the material from in terms of emotional growth. Harry, of course, has grown immensely, but while talking to or seeing his parents, I imagine he’s still internally 11 years old, and just a boy. I used Window to the Past the same way here. Harry sees a relationship frozen in time, so it wouldn’t be able to grow beyond where it was. You make great points, and an alternate version of that scene for sure exists (obviously since this score is basically fan fiction). Hopefully my reasons can explain why I made my choices though! Thank you SO SO much for everything you mentioned though. I truly appreciate that someone would take the time to comment so thoroughly. Not just now, but through the years. Order of the Phoenix is Molly’s favorite too, haha. Personally I’m a HBP guy, but I’m gonna need some distance before I actually know which is my favorite. After doing all the research and writing them, I become attached to certain scenes or ideas and can’t step back really until it’s done and in the books. And we've still got end credits to finish! BP

@bored wow, thanks so much for your really thoughtful review! I'll let Ben respond to the whole thing but it is great to read your thoughts. I'm still in awe that we've gotten to share it and have people listen, so this means a lot. That's awesome to hear! Also, just thinking as a listener myself, OotP is possibly my favorite too just because of how differently it made me see the film. This is so nice, thank you. A proper musical conclusion seemed like a huge impossible dream when we started this. It means a lot that it could actually happen! And nothing's perfect (plus of course we could never ever hope to be Williams, lol). But even with some of the newest JW scores, people discuss what themes could have gone where or some moments that didn't stick so I'm thrilled, honestly. I hope you've enjoyed listening as much as we have enjoyed your comments through the years! MS

Ah, you beat me to it! Sorry, we had to take some extra time with this one (even more than planned, haha). I look forward to hearing your thoughts. We apologize for being late to the Sunday release, but it's all done! We made it! Here is the finale of the Deathly Hallows, Cues 52-57. The end credits will be released in two weeks - along with the other huge pieces at the end of Hallows here, the credits are hefty and we want to do a good job on them. We really hope you enjoy and feel as nostalgic as we do with this ending. It's hard to believe this is the last one. Thank you all so so so much for listening over the years! We still have the usual stuff in store for the coming month, so this isn't done for good yet of course, but it's a big milestone today. Let us know what you think! MS

Happy New Year! We start off 2024 with Cue No. 51: King’s Cross. Next week, we’ll be taking a break from releasing cues because from here to the end of the movie, the music is continuous. Here’s a list of cues that will be released for you guys all at the same time on 1/28: Cue No. 52: In the Courtyard Cue No. 53: The Battle of Hogwarts Cue No. 54: Molly Duels Bellatrix Cue No. 55: The Destruction of Tom Riddle Cue No. 56: A Flaw in the Plan Cue No. 57: Epilogue and Finale Enjoy Cue 51, and we’ll see you all at the end of the month for the epic finale!

Happy Christmas Eve! We have some long-anticipated tragedy for you guys today. Enjoy Cue No. 50: The Forest Again!

We’re finally back to regular sized cues this week (even though this one is close to 9 minutes still!). We hope you enjoy Cue No. 49: The Prince’s Tale!

Thanks! Those were fun to put together, lots of last-minute ideas when we were compiling it.

It’s here! Thank you for your patience as we finished up this massive section of the movie. We will be back to weekly releases for the next month before another schedule tweak for the final 20 minutes of the film. Enjoy cues 42-48!! Cue No. 42: Battle Preparations

Hi all! We are so sorry to announce that our promised schedule has been bumped by a couple weeks. It’s a busy time of year, and Molly is especially swamped with her last year of DMA work in music school. Unfortunately, as much as we love working on this project, it’s had to take a backseat more than expected in the past month. That being said, we WILL be uploading cues 42-48 on December 10th for all of you. Thanks for hanging in there with us! We’re making sure that this can be the best final film possible, and would rather bump release dates and do a good job than rush through it and regret it later. (also, Patreon folks, look for a preview of the first two cues this weekend!) Thanks everyone. We’ll see you in December! BP & MS