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John Williams To Possibly Compose Deathly Hallows Films


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I guess I'm just disappointed that the film wasn't treated as its own entity; beyond a sequel. That's why I love the PoA score so much, it oozes its own personality while still retaining the magical qualities that made the first score. It makes sense to track the Quidditch music from the first movie into the second, but I'd still rather something more original (and I haven't even mentioned the abysmal addition of AotC music in that). I mean, just because it fits doesn't mean it should be the final product. It feels like I'm watching the rough cut of the film, with temp tracks scattered throughout.

All the weaknesses you mentioned come back to William Ross.

JW scored only selected scenes himself (which are great), and he wrote the concert pieces. The rest was up to William Ross. He could have adapted the music, but he didn't. He didn't do any adapting. He just copied the music from PS and put it where he thinks it fit!

So yeah, it IS a mess. But OVERALL (if you're a typical moviegoer and don't pay attention to EVERY cue) it's well-scored, I think. By that I mean the music is quite effective.

No it is not William Ross's fault. He did exactly what John Williams and the producers asked him to do.

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Been away most of the week and found this, I don't have the time to read all 11 pages but this is certainly an interesting development although I still won't get too excited. I will say this, if he has plenty of time to do both DH and Tin Tin that's great, but if he has to do both almost at the same time I'd rather he only did Tin Tin.

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If JW has already started work on Tintin then probably adjusting Deathly Hallows in his schedule shouldn't be much problem because Lincoln and Interstellar are still far off, and David Yates recently mentioned they completed filming 85% of the first part. At least I hope so! :P

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The main obstacle I see in this situation is simply that of stamina. It's all well and good if the schedules work out, but JW is not as young as he once was. The last time he took on multiple projects in a year was quite detrimental to his health. I've read people saying "he can handle two scores in a year", but what is that based on? Would we really want him to score these movies if it meant his health went downhill? (I already know the answer a lot of you will have, but I still thought I'd point it out).

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If JW has already started work on Tintin then probably adjusting Deathly Hallows in his schedule shouldn't be much problem because Lincoln and Interstellar are still far off, and David Yates recently mentioned they completed filming 85% of the first part. At least I hope so! :P

I hear Heyman will be sacking Yates and hiring Richard Lester to complete the film.

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The main obstacle I see in this situation is simply that of stamina. It's all well and good if the schedules work out, but JW is not as young as he once was. The last time he took on multiple projects in a year was quite detrimental to his health. I've read people saying "he can handle two scores in a year", but what is that based on? Would we really want him to score these movies if it meant his health went downhill? (I already know the answer a lot of you will have, but I still thought I'd point it out).

Well, four scores a year, two scores a year, where do you draw the line? Who knows. In 2008, Williams had the energy not only to score Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but to write half a dozen concert pieces based on it, write music for Obama, write his Duo Concertante and conduct the usual string of Film Night and Tanglewood concerts, among other things. He's slowing down but he's far from stopped.

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Also, I think he put more effort into Geisha than he does for most other films.

Good point. Writing that score would put most mere mortals into a coma.

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My appreciation of CoS is based on the album and not what ended up in the film ,which is mixed too low to hear most of it anyways

Is it mixed lower than in PS or PoA?

Hmmm, never noticed it, but it could be true.

The last time he took on multiple projects in a year was quite detrimental to his health.

Really? Do you have a source for that?

No, of course not. Because it's bs.

Well, four scores a year, two scores a year, where do you draw the line? Who knows. In 2008, Williams had the energy not only to score Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but to write half a dozen concert pieces based on it, write music for Obama, write his Duo Concertante and conduct the usual string of Film Night and Tanglewood concerts, among other things. He's slowing down but he's far from stopped.

Aren't you one of the people who all but PROMISED JW won't return to HP?

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I saw the film last night and really, really enjoyed it. I'd say it's one of the best in the series. :beerchug:

Musically, I thought the score was weak. There were a couple of shots over the castle which were just crying out for the Hogwarts theme! And did I notice a slightly altered version of Umbridge's theme when Harry & friends are mixing the potions? :P

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I saw the film last night and really, really enjoyed it. I'd say it's one of the best in the series. :beerchug:

Musically, I thought the score was weak. There were a couple of shots over the castle which were just crying out for the Hogwarts theme! And did I notice a slightly altered version of Umbridge's theme when Harry & friends are mixing the potions? :P

So how many times would you say was Hedwig's Theme heard?

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Three times:

1. The teeniest, tiniest hint of it over the flying WB logo (and then perhaps a distorted version of it, sung by choir over the title)

2. Harry's arrival at the Burrow and interaction with Ginny for the first time

3. First shots of Hogwarts Express.

That's it, finite incantatem.

Umbridge's theme inexplicably appears during Slughorn's first potions lesson, Fireworks plays during Weasley Wizard Wheezes, replacing the actually quite good original cue Hooper wrote for that scene, and Fireworks again appears during the Quidditch tryouts. Possession appears in the cave scene (again, not sure why) and the End Credits are made up of Fireworks and presumably In Noctem. Fireworks appeared far too many times in lieu of original score cues - I think maybe David Yates wasn't all that happy this time around.

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The Quidditch: Third Year horn motif was used during the Quidditch match, but wasn't resolved very well. It is incorrectly credited on the soundtrack as being an adaptation of The Quidditch Match, which would be the PS cue, not the PoA cue and Hooper said he looked closely at the PoA score, not the others.

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And no other JW theme was used, right?

Not that I know of. But I could be wrong. You usually notice more things if you watch something a couple of times, but I've only seen it once.

I think I picked out two, of the three, Hedwig's Themes. I remember the one at The Burrow, and certainly the one from The Hogwarts Express (was this cue just lifted from HP1? It sounded just like the "Prologue" track.)

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Seems to me it was just the Prologue cue, which then resolves into a new motif by Hooper, presumably representing Ginny. The unfortunate thing is that this theme has been intriguing me for months as I was eager to see how it would be developed and intersect with Hedwig's theme as Harry and Ginny's relationship developed, but alas that was the only mention of it - quite a waste!

I actually found that track surprisingly moving in the film. The scene is well done and it does give a nice resolution to the In Noctem theme. It is, at least to me a better send off than the doomed character in OotP got. I found the final track The Friends, which played during the final scene involving the trio and Fawkes the Phoenix to work well in the context of the film, but had me wondering why the Fawkes theme from CoS wasn't used as it was a perfect opportunity to bring that theme back. Likewise, I'd have loved for the Chamber of Secrets theme to be expanded to represent horcruxes in this film, considering the significance of Riddle's diary to the remainder of the saga and because it is a brilliant theme that was sadly underutilised in its respective film.

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I agree, had Williams been completely involved in Chamber of Secrets I imagine the score would have been phenomenal. The Chamber theme is one of my favourite Williams themes of all time and would have liked to see it coupled with Voldemort's theme in the finale. Dueling The Basilisk is a great action track - the choir really gives me chills.

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I agree, had Williams been completely involved in Chamber of Secrets I imagine the score would have been phenomenal. The Chamber theme is one of my favourite Williams themes of all time and would have liked to see it coupled with Voldemort's theme in the finale. Dueling The Basilisk is a great action track - the choir really gives me chills.

If JW did come back for DH, is there a chance of the CoS theme being reused? I haven't read the book, so I don't know.

But I would assume that CoS theme was a theme just for that one chamber, right?

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The Chamber of Secrets does appear during the final battle and apparently the Chamber has been redecorated and shot with Ron and Hermione, as this is where their big kiss is going to happen. The circumstances might not be dangerous enough for the theme to recur though, although a reference to it would be splendid.

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Fawkes - no, his departure from Hogwarts at the conclusion of HBP was the symbol of that's book/film's doomed character's departure from Harry's world. Dobby - yes, in a very major role too.

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This is very spoilerish, but Dumbledore does reappear throughout the book in various ways, so its likely Fawkes' theme could be reestablished/expanded into a Dumbledore theme.

If you don't mind spoiling yourself, the invented tracklists I posted earlier in this thread give a rundown of possible recurrences of Williams' themes.

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This is very spoilerish, but Dumbledore does reappear throughout the book in various ways, so its likely Fawkes' theme could be reestablished/expanded into a Dumbledore theme.

I highly doubt that.

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Well, if Williams does indeed return he has numerous options for Dumbledore: Fawkes' theme refurbished, Hooper's In Noctem reimagined or a brand new theme.

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Well, if Williams does indeed return he has numerous options for Dumbledore: Fawkes' theme refurbished, Hooper's In Noctem reimagined or a brand new theme.

A brandnew theme, most likely.

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I tend to think he'd have no recollection of his themes from CoS, since he wrote them and sent them off. So yes, if DH is Williams'-scored I imagine we'll be in for mostly new material.

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I tend to think he'd have no recollection of his themes from CoS, since he wrote them and sent them off.

:)

I think he knows how to listen to his own soundtrack albums...

So yes, if DH is Williams'-scored I imagine we'll be in for mostly new material.

I was only talking about the Dumbledore theme. JW never wrote a theme for him, so we get a new theme most likely (or no theme at all).

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Suddenly I'm getting the feeling that Hooper was simply NOT asked back by the producers. That's why he came up with all this "stress on the family" excuse.

I think Yates has SOME say in this, but after all, he's a hired gun himself so ... the producers have the final say.

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That's why he came up with all this "stress on the family" excuse.

How do you know this is just and excuse? What's your source?

Who says that I know this? I said, "I'm getting the feeling that..."

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Hooper suggests in that interview that Yates is quite specific about the music and made Hooper rewrite a lot of stuff. Evidently this rewrite wasn't done during the release date delay, since I saw a making-of special of HBP on Australian TV that was dated November 2008 and used pieces of Hooper's HBP score. Something is fishy with this situation - a whole new score could easily have been created during that time.

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That's why he came up with all this "stress on the family" excuse.

How do you know this is just and excuse? What's your source?

He's Steven Spielberg! He has all the insider info!

That too, yes.

In fact, JW invited me over to his condo for dinner tonight. Afterwards he wants to play the new TinTin theme for me on the piano.

You guys want me to ask him something?

Hooper suggests in that interview that Yates is quite specific about the music and made Hooper rewrite a lot of stuff. Evidently this rewrite wasn't done during the release date delay, since I saw a making-of special of HBP on Australian TV that was dated November 2008 and used pieces of Hooper's HBP score. Something is fishy with this situation - a whole new score could easily have been created during that time.

Well, why would you think that Yates wanted Hooper to rewrite EVERYTHING?

In all likelihood, he made Hooper rewrite SOME cues or tracks that he didn't feel was strong enough.

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That's why he came up with all this "stress on the family" excuse.

How do you know this is just and excuse? What's your source?

Who says that I know this? I said, "I'm getting the feeling that..."

I wouldn't accuse someone of making up famliy problems without some serious evidence. That's crossing a line.

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