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

[DarthDementous 1,059]

overall the first track sounds rather flat. the orchestration is bland, the mixing is pretty loud but worst of all it doesn't feel like it musically fits in the Potterverse. I know this is a spin off franchise, but that compressed percussion and displeasing electronic accompaniment REALLY doesn't fit. especially when this is supposed to be set in the 1920s, it makes me wish for Williams on account of his jazz background. of course, there is the potential for the rest of the soundtrack to be different but I think that's highly unlikely. main titles usually set the tone for the rest of the score, so I'm expecting electronic elements throughout - but hopefully some more layered orchestration. then again Yates is the director, and if what was said about temp tracking the Half Blood Prince with Dark Knight is true, then this is probably the musical direction he wants to take Potter in which I am 100% opposed to.

 

personally I'd kill for the chance of having Jeremy Soule or James Hannigan composing for one of these Potterverse on account of their fantastic Harry Potter video game scores. they're the closest I've heard to Williams when it comes to pure magic and memorable themes for the franchise.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

4 hours ago, Will said:

Well, perhaps this means I am turning to the dark side (simplistic RCP-like music fandom) but I quite enjoyed the main titles. Are they simplistic? Sure. Is Hedwig's Theme used terribly? Sure. But emotionally it hits the right beats (although I do wish it was a little less electronic).

 

There is emotion in this track? Where?

[Nick1Ø66 4,711]

So I'm looking at the character descriptions of this film and it looks like a couple are US Senators and there's possibly an election involved somehow, which says to me that Rowling has probably written some her politics into the story. Ugh.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

21 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

So I'm looking at the character descriptions of this film and it looks like a couple are US Senators and there's possibly an election involved somehow, which says to me that Rowling has probably written some her politics into the story. Ugh.

politics have the ability to add great relatable intrigue and mystery into a plot where maybe the characters would be too diametrically opposed. as it stands, it's not a bad backdrop to events in the 1920s and might be an opportunity to explore Muggle and Wizard relations in greater depth.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

1 hour ago, Nick1066 said:

So I'm looking at the character descriptions of this film and it looks like a couple are US Senators and there's possibly an election involved somehow, which says to me that Rowling has probably written some her politics into the story. Ugh.

 

Rowling has never shied away from political commentary in Potter. The entire 5th book is a not-so-subtle dig at the unhealthily symbiotic relationship between right-wing print media and conservative governments, and all the later books paint the Ministry of Magic as ineffectual, needlessly bureaucratic and ultimately corrupt.

 

I'm keen to see this film. It looks fun and the characters seem pretty interesting, and despite what the critics here say I've always found Yates to be a capable director. All of his Potter films were decently-made, considering the size of the source material and how much needed to be cut out.

 

The score sounds a bit on the generic side, but no moreso than Desplat's DH scores.

[Nick1Ø66 4,711]

The "politics" in Potter are very subtle, more subtle than you suggest, and more thematically oriented toward basic values (e.g. not exploiting House elves) than left and right wing politics. I don't regard generalised themes of the dangers or corruption or the "poison pen" of print media to be overly political...at least it's not partisan.  If the Harry Potter books were overtly partisan, they would not be the success that they are.

 

And let me be clear, I don't have any problem with Rowling's world view or her politics. She's been very clear, via her first post-Potter book, he public comments and her Twitter feed where she stands. But in this film it looks to me like she's being much more explicit about it. There's a fine line here, and we'll see how well this film pulls it off. You get too much into that stuff and I believe you run the risk of dispelling (no pun intended) the magic of these stories.

[Arpy 4,145]

Surely her political voice is stronger here because of the period it is set. As DarthDementous said above, it's also a creative way of further exploring the machinations of her own world. 

[Nick1Ø66 4,711]

I don't regard it as a particularly creative move, no more than Lucas trying to inject contemporary politics into the PT was particularly "creative."  In fact I think it shows a kind of creative laziness. There's plenty of ways to explore that world, including their own politics, without jamming in ham fisted allusions to our own.  This isn't Star Trek.

 

I think the further she gets from what made her world special in the first place, the more the story telling suffers. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Everything is political, man!

[Arpy 4,145]

If the film suffers from anything, it will be Yates. 

[Nick1Ø66 4,711]

Well that's part of the problem.  I think most people regarded the Potter films as a kind of addendum to the books, and a lot of the flaws inherent in those films were overlooked and forgiven because they're adaptations. I think even people who hadn't read the books by and large understood this. 

 

This film won't have that advantage, and will have to stand on its own as a piece of cinema. Whether this helps or hurts the final product remains to be seen, and will tell us a lot more about who Yates is a director than his previous Potter films. It will also highlight, IMO, the struggle Rowling sometimes has with plot that that she got away with because the characters were so beloved.

[Jay 37,346]

Again can we move the talk about the film itself to the film thread, and keep this thread focused on Howard's score? Thanks!

[Nick1Ø66 4,711]

I sure hope JN Howard doesn't insert any of JK Rowling's politics into his score!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

50 minutes ago, Jay said:

Again can we move the talk about the film itself to the film thread, and keep this thread focused on Howard's score? Thanks!

 

Please keep the moderating to the mo...oh!

[Wojo 2,453]

I was thinking about making the same joke. Glad you got the post count boost first. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I'm too fast for you!

[Wojo 2,453]

Speed had nothing to do with it. In the end, I decided not to make the joke. But I'm glad you didn't hold yourself to my standard. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You missed the opportunity, as is your wont! 

 

And then you decided to bitch and moan about it.

[Wojo 2,453]

I'm glad you're so ungrateful. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ungrateful? Like I owe you....anything!

[igger6 894]

Not to divert this spat with talk of the film score, but...I just listened to that one released track, whose existence had escaped me until now, and while I share many of the stated misgivings about the first half, the second half won me over eventually.  That jaunty part that kicks off the second half sounds like what people were doing in the big city while the Emperor's Club theme was playing in upstate New York (love the woodblocks, or marimba, or whatever that percussion is).  It's not a memorable melody, but it'll make for a nice walking-in-old-NYC montage, and it's '90s as all get-out.  As for that final swell (main theme, I assume), it doesn't exactly scream quirky-wizarding-hijinx, but I swear, James Newton Howard is one of the only ones left still interested in writing a genuinely "sweet" melody.  (See also [and I can't believe I'm saying this] his love theme for the Huntsman sequel.)

 

Incidentally, doesn't that high-strings ostinato at 0:19 remind you of a Howardized version of one of the little flutey ending motifs from a Williams Potter score?  I can't place its origin right now, but it's five notes long and I think it showed up on a fair number of trailers.  I'm sure it's a coincidence, but it's kind of cool.

[Will 2,215]

14 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

There is emotion in this track? Where?

 

 

 

An absolutely marvelous soaring theme. Love it!

[leeallen01 2,136]

22 minutes ago, igger6 said:

I swear, James Newton Howard is one of the only ones left still interested in writing a genuinely "sweet" melody.  (See also [and I can't believe I'm saying this] his love theme for the Huntsman sequel.)

 

I agree. I've been praising that theme for months on here. I believe it to be one of his strongest themes that he has written in years. It's a full blooded theme. You don't hear that much these days. Only maybe 10 second long themes at most. But that Huntsman theme is lengthy, and it's a strong, memorable melody. I haven't seen the film and am not interested in doing so, but I could listen to that theme all day in its many forms throughout his score. Wonderful.

 

[Richard Penna 3,683]

34 minutes ago, Will said:

 

 

 

An absolutely marvelous soaring theme. Love it!

 

I found that a bit generic really, although it's growing on me a little. It just feels unoriginal. I'm liking the string ostinatos from 1:45 onwards though.

 

 

His Winter's War love theme is the only thing I found to like in that entire score.

[Will 2,215]

Is the music heard here - http://www.fantasticbeasts.com/ - from one of the trailers, or is it more of JNH's score? (Or I guess it could be JNH score used in the trailer, or an original trailer cue by him! )

[mrbellamy 6,278]

It's from this.

 

 

I'd actually been wondering since it was posted if that could be JNH, particularly starting at 0:55.

[Skelly 261]

At least part of it is sourced from production music, starting at 1:48. I recognize it from somewhere Here it is. 

 

[Will 2,215]

2 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

It's from this.

 

 

I'd actually been wondering since it was posted if that could be JNH, particularly starting at 0:55.

 

Well, the Pottermore article announcing the "first listen" said some of JNH's score was in the trailers. They could have been assuming that incorrectly, or there could actually be some JNH, I dunno. Some of that does plausibly sound like him. 

[Datameister 2,041]

A friend just played the first track for me. Really not what I was hoping for.

 

Predictably, my friend - more of a moviegoer than a film score aficionado - thought it was great. So the trends on display here seem to be working, just not for me. Personally, I miss the JNH of the 90s and early 2000s, although even then he's always been hit-and-miss for me. (With some phenomenal hits and some pretty sad misses.)

[leeallen01 2,136]

I think JNH's ultimate prime has been roughly 2000 - 2005. He wrote what I consider to be several masterpieces in that time. Dinosaur, Unbreakable, Peter Pan, Signs, The Village, King Kong. He was on fire. 

 

And we basically got what he would have done back then for a Potter film, with what he did with Peter Pan. For me, his Peter Pan score is the most magical score I've ever heard. I prefer it to all 8 Potter scores. I bloody well adore it.

 

It's balanced perfectly between pure magic in the swashbuckling action -

 

 

To the pure magic in the tender, emotion (and that music box theme is fu**ing glorious!) - 

 

[Alex 2,835]

Uh oh. We've heard 3 minutes of a 70 minute score and we're already discussing how JNH is passed his best and longing for the days when he was in his prime

[leeallen01 2,136]

1 hour ago, alextrombone94 said:

Uh oh. We've heard 3 minutes of a 70 minute score and we're already discussing how JNH is passed his best and longing for the days when he was in his prime

 

I said the same, but I was just pointing out what I thought his best years so far were.

 

I believe we are heading back to a great few years for JNH. He has done some incredible work since, but I feel that with Maleficent, and now Fantastic Beasts and the recently announced Jumanji, that he is moving back towards films where he can have a lot of fun.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

1 hour ago, alextrombone94 said:

Uh oh. We've heard 3 minutes of a 70 minute score and we're already discussing how JNH is passed his best and longing for the days when he was in his prime

 

Sure, but still, knowing the director and the kind of music he asks for in his films, this first track clearly seems to be indicating we're going to get something similar to what we got in his previous Potter flicks... Not that it's anything surprising...

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

2 hours ago, alextrombone94 said:

Uh oh. We've heard 3 minutes of a 70 minute score and we're already discussing how JNH is passed his best and longing for the days when he was in his prime

 

We were talking about that before in other threads, it's just spilled over into this one because it's his latest score and because some of us have high hopes for his music in this genre, if not this series. How funny is it that this gets a 1-disc and a 2-disc release while all of the original Potter scores remain unexpanded?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

We got some nice CD-ROM discs with the old soundtracks.

[Jay 37,346]

2 hours ago, amh1219 said:

How funny is it that this gets a 1-disc and a 2-disc release while all of the original Potter scores remain unexpanded?

 

Yea, a real riot!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Bwahahahahahahaha....hahahaha.....hahaha....haha.....ha.....ha............ha...

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Five? Wut? Isn't it supposed to be a trilogy?

[Skelly 261]

It was, but then WB happened.

[Faleel 5,346]

Money fort?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

WB made 3 films out of a children's book. They know how to spread thin!

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Some nice comments from Yates about his musical process and JNH in particular:

 

 

Quote

I used to be really anally involved in the whole process in the sense that....you sit and you spot the movie with the composer, and then you hear pieces and then you give notes, and then you go to the recording with the orchestra and you give notes, and then you go to the mix and you give notes. And like any part of the filmmaking process, it's a process of exploration, discovery, and giving notes, basically....I've just had a unique experience with James Newton Howard, where I gave notes but not as many as I normally do, because he's so specially gifted.

I asked James Newton Howard to start really early with us. So when I was shooting Beasts, James came to the set and he hung out for a bit and he watched takes and he met the actors. And we sat down together and we talked about the script and we talked about the story. And then he went back to California and he wrote a suite of music, not connected to the pictures, and it's about a 15 or 20 minute suite. And he sent it to me and he said "This is what I feel when I read the script, this is what I feel when I met the actors, this is what I feel when we discussed the story." And out of that 15 minute suite was the basic DNA of our score. And then he spent 7 months writing it.

But James, you know, he's got a great team and I found myself giving less notes to James than I've probably given to any other composer. I normally drive composers nuts and we're not always on talking terms at the end of the process! But with James, it just felt like a natural partnership and a natural fit and he's done a beautiful score for Beasts, actually. 

 

[Alex 2,835]

No wonder he didn't want JW

[crumbs 14,306]

That last paragraph is certainly illuminating, and seems to confirm what most of us suspected about his relationship with composers.

 

At least he has the self-awareness to admit it, credit to him for that.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He's fussy, prissy, insecure. 

 

No wonder Hooper left!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You wanted Hooper's autograph? Why would you want that?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ah friend? Yeah, right!