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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2?


Zach

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Yeah but I just wished he impressed me more with the Twilight New Moon score which was fairly recent. It's good but not great...

The question is:

Is he good enough to wrote a timeless classic in the same league that John Williams could, or even maybe James Horner could ?

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I think his scores usually fit the movies like a glove, although I imagine Desplat must be looking at this as his chance at becoming top dog, to score what is one of the biggest franchises around and have his work on display to the biggest possible audience, like MG for Star Trek (although he did previously had Pixar). I like to think he's far too good a composer to blow a chance like this.

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Well some composers have given us timeless classics "out of the blue", like David Arnold for Stargate and Independence Day. But I'm saying Desplat needs to pull out this caliber

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I'm probably going to P**s off a lot of people, when I say that, in a strange way, I hope that J.W. does not score D.H.pt.2. I believe, that by scroing the second D.H. film, he will destroy musical continuity between pt1., and pt.2. Imagine if Howard Shore had scored FOTR, and TTT, but was replaced, for ROTK by John Barry. Or, to take another example, if Jerry Goldsmith was replaced for TFC by Ennio Morricone. Or even if J.W himself was replaced for ROTJ by John Scott. It doesn't bear thinking about. The Harry Potter films have made a large effort to provide both visual, and sonic continuity (scores excepted) for the series. The final film(s) provides an oppertunity for a composer (Desplat?) to really get to grips with the (extended) finale of the series. J.W. did a wonderful job of setting up the musical world of Harry Potter; now let someone else finish it.

My post on this matter got buried somewhere on page 8, so I will copy and paste it again. Richard; you're just wrong. DH may be nothing like the LOTR movies. Here was my response to Koray when he stated something similar:

Koray, you're a bit of about Kill Bill.

Kill Bill is one movie and at the same time two different movies as well.

Tarantino intentionally created the more action packed Vol. 1 and the more introspective Vol. 2.

From what I read, Yates and WB always intended Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2 to have a different feel.

One story, yet two seperate movies.

This would validate the choice of having two different composers. I dislike this 'holier than thou' attitude of some who claim that Desplat should score both films because otherwise it would compromise the integrity of Deathly Hallows.

Nobody knows that. Actually nobody knows shit around here as proven yesterday (and a year ago when people were swearing Avatar would bomb based on the teaser trailer).

The fact of the matter is: DH could very well be edited intentionally as two films with a distinctive feel. A different composer could perfectly add to that creative decision.

Or they go for more unity of the seperate parts and keep Desplat. It all depends on the final decisions made by Yates and WB.

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Desplat is restrained, yes, until he pulls out all the stops! I've said this before, but this is a guy that, much like Williams, will actually build up the score towards something. People who think he cannot score big setpieces should take a closer listen to The Golden Compass, Hostage, and Largo Winch.

Frankly, I couldn't be more excited about a second Desplat score for the last Potter film. And to be honest, as big as a fan of Williams I am, I'm not entirely sure Williams would do a better job, taking into account what he's done to the last Star Wars and last Indiana Jones film. It would be brilliant, I'm sure, but I fear there would be too many reprises in it. Besides, I don't know if he would be able to top the magnificent score for Prisoner of Azkaban.

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There's an interesting contingent of listeners (many of whom I respect greatly) who think Desplat's score for The Golden Compass is one of the great fantasy scores of our generation. In one sense, I'm tempted to agree -- but it would be in the sense that its apparent quality says more about the current state of Hollywood film music than about the actual artistry of Desplat's work.

Desplat's talent as an orchestrator is substantial. His orchestrations are amply informed by fastidious care and personal idiosyncrasy. But his work is not altogether untrammeled by modern convention. This is true of any artist, including Williams, but I would say that Desplat is more beholden to current trends than his admirers are letting on. Large swaths of the action material in The Golden Compass are remarkably unengaging -- not because of any supposed European reserve on Desplat's part, but rather the opposite. The music swoops and thunders with all the requisite aggression and intensity North American audiences have come to expect, but it's all technique. The sweeping, overarching melodic lines are there, but the kind of broad emotional immediacy that Desplat is aspiring to (and that Basil Poledouris made into an art form) in these passages is clearly not his strong suit, and they end up sounding oddly redolent of warmed-over Elfman. When Desplat is called upon to go epic, his vaunted timbral ingenuity ends being largely peripheral, little more than a tinkering around the edges.

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I wonder whether this whole thing has come to JW's attention... :lol:

He was the one who started the rumor...

Now that you mention it... didn't he spend the summer in Brazil this year? :)

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I wonder if Desplat will give Voldemort a new theme... After all, in the first part he appears only in two scenes. It would be cool if he twisted Williams theme and gave it another dimension.

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Some still haven't gotten the message:

http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/16260

Hmmmm, I wonder whether John Williams is at least thinking of returning...

In my mind, at this point, there are 3 possibilities:

1. It's already decided that JW will return, but WB is hesitant to announce it yet, because they don't want to take the spotlight away from DH-I.

2. It's not certain yet. The HP producers are still waiting to hear from JW, that's why Desplat hasn't been confirmed as the composer for DH-II yet.

3. It's already decided that JW will NOT return, but Desplat is hesitant to sign on for the second part for whatever reason of his own.

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Well, Pope said that Williams would love to return, so my bet is somewhere between the first two. My guess is that Williams wants to do it, but they're trying to arrange the scoring schedules so that they won't clash with War Horse. And also the orchestra contracting in the US, as he won't travel.

To simplify things, he could send someone else to conduct the stuff for him, and maybe mantain contact and control via live video or something like that.

Edit: Any news, compos24?

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Jesus Christ!

I wake up a few hours later to find that people have changed my information back to the same unconfirmed rumors!

Check it out! i'll be changing it soon, though. [As of 11 a.m., this information has been changed]

Wikipedia: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

Ugh... I wish The Leaky Cauldron would retract their friggin' statement now. Their "source" has - why won't they??! dry.gif

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But I do think Michael Giacchino blew it with Star Trek

lex-luthor-wrong-590x245.jpg

And to everyone that's convincing themselves that Williams will be doing DH2: don't get your hopes to high, you'll likely end up being disappointed.

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And to everyone that's convincing themselves that Williams will be doing DH2: don't get your hopes to high, you'll likely end up being disappointed.

??? Over here NO ONE is *convincing* themselves that Williams is doing DH2. Basically everyone is waiting for an official confirmation and see it - at this moment - as merely a possibility that Williams MIGHT return.

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I have up hope like, 6 years ago? Whenever Goblet Of Fire came out. How often does a composer take back a series?

Ten years and four movies for Goldsmith on Star Trek (TMP, 1979 - V, 1989).

I guess John Barry was never so far removed from James Bond that one could claim he had to "take it back."

1971-1974 was a gap, 1974-1979 was a gap, and 1979-1983 was a gap. If he were to return to score the next one, well, the 1987-201? gap would be tremendous to "take back," but he seems to have retired.

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Well I hope so

But I do think Michael Giacchino blew it with Star Trek

Indeed he did KM, indeed he did.

As for JW on DHpart2, like the judge in Miracle on 34th Street, I will keep an open mind.

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Well I hope so

But I do think Michael Giacchino blew it with Star Trek

Indeed he did KM, indeed he did.

As for JW on DHpart2, like the judge in Miracle on 34th Street, I will keep an open mind.

I agree. Giacchino seems able to construct short motivic based themes all right and vary them but I honestly have yet to hear a really well developed long theme of his. LOST basically has those sparse piano chords which he seems to have superimposed onto his newest outing Let Me In. Even his much lauded UP! theme basically works off of that 4 note alternating motif. This might be nitpicking because Giacchino is far from the worst composer working in Hollywood- he's competent that's for sure, but I am hard pressed to really enjoy his music on its own especially if I have not seen the film. This is what separates him from Williams, Goldsmith, Horner, Goldenthal, and for me, Alexandre Desplat. I don't have to see a film to get his music. I find Benjamin Button amazingly emotive and well developed. I was listening to New Moon on the way home and there are so many nods to Williams (who Desplat has admitted is one of his inspirations) in how he shapes lines, orchestrates, and uses harmony as a dynamic means to shape the course of the music. For all the accolades, I have become quite disappointed in Giacchino's development or lack thereof in my eyes. I took a long while to jump on the Desplat bandwagon (I'm actually sure there isn't one) but I am endlessly fascinated with his take on music. His theme from Lust Caution is amazing. And boy can he write for strings!

Honestly, of all the blokes working on Hollywood these days, I'm so happy they gave it to Desplat. The guy can write melodies. I wish he would be given the opportunity to score a Star Trek film. Or else Chris Gordon.

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Yeah but since the Season 5 the theme's development leave a little to be desired. It's like they always sound the same with a few minor orchestration changes. There's a few new themes like Jacob's Theme but a few tracks cover the range it has

But when Williams whips up a new rendition of The Force Theme or Raider's March it's always exciting

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Giacchino Star Trek is so repulsive.

I don't know what the deal is with the Harry Potter sequel scores. There's no reason for them to be as mediocre-poor as they are. Half-Blood Prince would have been perfectly suited for a Williams score. You had a lot of lighter stuff, character focuses and multiple romances prime for Williams' thematic style, the darker stuff, mystery elements, action and tragedy. It's a very well-rounded film and the score doesn't deliver on any front. What a disappointment the last few scores have been indeed.

Also, this has nothing to with Deathly Hallows or how much Hooper, Doyle's and Giacchino's respective scores blow, but I'm listening to the first Williams Potter. You know what I love? How his various themes, ie Hedwig's Theme, Nimbus 2000, Harry's theme, etc. aren't exactly attached to any particular character or thing in the film. Like Harry's theme becomes a theme for him and his friends, Hedwig's Theme and Nimbus 2000 are used generally to represent the magical elements of the wizard world and even Harry himself as opposed to just the owl and the broom. Even that theme for the Philosopher's Stone is also used in conjunction with you-know-who, the mystery of the break-in, Nicolas Flamel and even the dark mysteries in book two. The various themes are so compatible with the material, Williams can bend them this way and that way and apply them to various things and situations and it ALWAYS works.

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Yeah but since the Season 5 the theme's development leave a little to be desired. It's like they always sound the same with a few minor orchestration changes. There's a few new themes like Jacob's Theme but a few tracks cover the range it has

But when Williams whips up a new rendition of The Force Theme or Raider's March it's always exciting

When I first heard the Luke/Main theme at the end of ROTS I got shivers down my back the way Williams made it a more contrapuntal string version than he ever had in the original trilogy. It warmed my heart to hear it. Totally amazing.

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The various themes are so compatible with the material, Williams can bend them this way and that way and apply them to various things and situations and it ALWAYS works.

Well, Williams composed those themes, that's why he can vary them and alter them so well within a score. It's just most of the time the composers that use his material just don't integrate it properly or deconstruct it in a new, fun way. It's usually verbatim quotes of motifs or the first few bars woven into the score to accompany the film's title.

Desplat isn't like that. He loves Williams' work and loves the theme music, so that alone is a mark of respect. And he has a distinct, appealing writing style. The only thing I'm worried about is the darker, violent scenes in Part One and how he'll approach those.

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But when Williams whips up a new rendition of The Force Theme or Raider's March it's always exciting

Yeah Mark? Really?

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ANAKIN'S THEME? HUH? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED MAN?!

...

/showstopperforanythemedevelopmentargument

When I first heard the Luke/Main theme at the end of ROTS I got shivers down my back the way Williams made it a more contrapuntal string version than he ever had in the original trilogy. It warmed my heart to hear it. Totally amazing.

I squirmed and writhed with discomfort.

As for Desplat, his themes often sound like what I imagine an encyclopedia would sound like if it was music. Rich, complicated, and utterly boring. But hey some people like that.

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Well all it's renditions within TPM are outstanding .There's a kind of musical magic that only Williams is capable of when you first hear it when Padme meets Anakin

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But when Williams whips up a new rendition of The Force Theme or Raider's March it's always exciting

Yeah Mark? Really?

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ANAKIN'S THEME? HUH? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED MAN?!

...

/showstopperforanythemedevelopmentargument

Erm... Anakin's Theme *is* a new rendition of Vader's Theme. You sort of proved Mark's point.

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Well, it's a completely new theme that contains a twisted fragment of Vader's theme hidden in it.

In a sense, yes, but it was never intended to be a new recurring theme -- evidently -- and justified in that it was retroactively composed for a character who already had a theme. It was varied sufficiently (based on the material) in TPM, and then when the second film suddenly discarded the boy prodigy character, launching headfirst into a romance, "Anakin's Theme" was likewise essentially discarded to become hidden within "Across the Stars" and other more relevant hints of Vader's Theme and March appeared.

But obviously it's well established that the evolution of Vader's Theme is weak. Coincidentally so is the evolution of the character and the trilogy.

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Well, it's a completely new theme that contains a twisted fragment of Vader's theme hidden in it.

Actually it's not only a hidden fragment: the whole piece is constructed out of the Imperial March. It's probably the only time Williams went really into a true Wagnerian variation.

On a side note, I think it's unfair to compare Giacchino or Desplat with Williams' uncanny ability for variation/permutation/modulation, not to speak his gift for melody and thematic writing. I mean, there are very few living composers in the world who can rival Williams in those departments.

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When I first heard the Luke/Main theme at the end of ROTS I got shivers down my back the way Williams made it a more contrapuntal string version than he ever had in the original trilogy. It warmed my heart to hear it. Totally amazing.

That part gets me every time.

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I lost faith in the quality of musical direction from the producers of the HP franchise.

I watched the episode scored by Patrick Doyle. I remember how much I felt it was lucking in every way

in magic that Williams injected in the film with the incredible first Harry Potter.

But after listening to Nickolas Hooper's terrible music I changed my mind. Patrick Doyle did a very descent job bless him.

I am not holding my breath for the music. I hope Desplat will not screw this up but the music for Harry Potter has been

destroyed in my view. If he does a decent job then fantastic, but evidents so far indicate the opposite...

But I do think Michael Giacchino blew it with Star Trek

lex-luthor-wrong-590x245.jpg

And to everyone that's convincing themselves that Williams will be doing DH2: don't get your hopes to high, you'll likely end up being disappointed.

I have to agree with King Mark here. I have never in my life regretted spending money on a CD as much as I did when I bought Star Trek.

The compositions are beyond terrible. A major disappointment for somebody whom I had high hopes for, even the mix was horrific.

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