In this episode, we discuss the music of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Enjoy!
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In this episode, we discuss the music of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Enjoy!
Topics:
Having anything you want to hear or say? Click here for a voice submission or here for text.
ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.com
@thepotterdiscussion on Instagram
Sign up for The Quill and Ink Newsletter
thepotterdiscussion.com
Welcome to the Potter discussion.
Hey everyone. Welcome back to the broader discussion discussing Harry Potter. Fantastic beasts and the wizard and world. I'm your host Oscar. And this is episode 1, 2, 3. We had one-to-one. We had one to two. Now we are an episode of 123. And I will say, I am very excited for this episode because of this.
That I have been wanting to do for so long today, we are talking about the music and Harry Potter. I'm a huge fan of music in general. I play a couple of instruments and I really enjoy, um, making harmonies, putting Melies together. That's what I did for episode a hundred. And I really enjoyed that. And the music of Harry Potter is something that I'm also very interested in.
There was many composers working on Harry Potter. There were a couple of conductors and really the way the whole thing was put together, I think. Art. And this will not be the only episode on the music of Harry Potter, but this will be kind of a general episode, kind of an overview, literally what I think a quick history.
So naturally what today's episode is going to be all about. I am super excited for, I mean, I've been waiting for so long. I want to do it for episode one 17. I think. So it's been about a month that I've had this in the works even more than a month and I'm super set to be recording today. And I hope that your thoughts will be similar to mine.
The Instagram. I mean, before we get into this, I'd have to say the Instagram is going crazy. Um, so we're about 4,500 followers by now. And by the time you hear this, honestly, we're going to be at 5,000 because I got about 500 followers, uh, yesterday. Yesterday was the 25th. I got about 500 followers. So yeah, it's going pretty crazy, which is all I know.
That's a ton. I was at 4,000, uh, in the morning yesterday and I'm about four to 500 today. So that's just it's mind boggling. And one of the reels over there, one of my reels is that almost 3 million views. Which of course is the highest real out of that's the most I've ever gotten. I don't get to 1 million.
I don't get three, 3 million download the podcast. Of course I, I will teach her, but not now. Uh, so amazing things are happening over there. Uh, you can suggest your ideas. You get some great contents of mean something. Sounds awesome. Harry Potter stuff. It's a great way to get deeper into the Potter's discussion and Harry Potter community.
So go check that out. It's at the Potter discussion on Instagram, I'll leave a link in the show notes, the Quillin Inc newsletters also coming out of this a Wednesday, the 30th of March, 2022. When you sign up, if you aren't already, you will get the ultimate guide to a perfect Harry Potter marathon giving you two Easter eggs from each movie to make your watching experience just that much better.
And in addition to that free PDF, when you sign up, you will also get twice monthly. Emails talking about all, about your favorite topics of Harry Potter. We've had some about something he knows about Tina Goldstein and fads from about predicting the fantastic beast movie. So there's a lot of fun stuff going on over there.
Again, that will also be a link in the show notes below for a free sign up your ultimate guide to her Rytary modern marathon and emails every other week. Talking about Perry Potter. Let's get into this. So the first thing I think it's very important to go over is really the history of the music in Harry Potter.
Not, you know, literally where like the, the styles, everything like that. But, uh, the composers really where the composers, uh, worked and how many hour on the movies and what movies and ears each composer worked for. So I think the most well-known is John Wilson. John Williams, uh, was the, the, the composer for the first three Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter, and the philosopher stone, the chamber of secrets and the prisoner basket, man.
He composed from 2001 to 2004. Uh, I think he composed the most movies out of the, out of the, uh, four composers that worked on the Harry Potter series in total and his music. Very recognizable. As you might hear from other podcasts, he is a very, you know, clingy, baggy style of music, very busy, a lot of things happening, which is a very hard type of music composed, but I think it definitely comes across well, some of the songs that I find very interesting by him are the chess match.
I love that it has as sets a good mood, a very low kind of intense. I also enjoyed the Quidditch. That is another good one because it's very long. Uh, it really tells a story just with the song. You could turn off the screen and listen to the audio. The movie would be just as good. And of course Hedwig's theme, uh, has to be up there because you hear it so much.
And it is just the, the, the trademark of Harry Potter. When you hear that, you know exactly what you are hearing. And I think he definitely set a tone for a very good future in music for Harry Potter, because the way he wrote it, it was very easy. Go off of that and create another movie that was just as good, which is exactly what the other composers did.
And I think that definitely played a role in how Harry Potter became the phenomenon it was. And after the era of John Williams, Patrick Doyle stepped in, in 2005 for the goblet of fire. And this is the movie that I saw and I was so confused because it didn't feel like Harry Potter. The music was much more, you know, kind of like strings and swaying and all that kind of stuff.
I think with how I thought I was thinking, oh, Harrigan, winter, I think is a very good example of Patrick Doyle style and the jamming, the style, the goblet of fire we hear to, it's a very, very good, because you can like, like John Williams, it tells a story without even having to see what is actually happening, hearing them.
You can guess kind of what's happening in the movie without even having to see it. Like we said before, and think that's a quality that definitely composers should strive for when writing music, telling a story and really providing that different side of the movie. So Patrick Doyle compose. Four in 2005.
Now we have Nicholas Hooper from 2007 to 2009. Nicholas Hooper, composed movies, five and six. Nicholas Hooper, I believe is another component like John Williams, who has composed many things, a very famous composer and. The song that I distinctly remember, very enjoying very much. The first time I heard it was fireworks by Nicholas Hooper.
That was the, the, uh, if you can guess that was in front of George Cetaphil, the fireworks in the middle of the owls in the fifth book. And I really enjoyed that. I think that's another one where it's very different. It's very out there. There's a really strong component of, of electric guitar that I. I'm like jarring the first time.
But later on, I came to appreciate how different it was and how it really kind of encapsulated the tone of the Weasley twins and really improve the scene. I also, uh, really enjoyed, uh, the Dumble not enjoy, but the music I thought was. Uh, Dumbledore is farewell. I think that was another piece that definitely it was a vital to how the scene played out.
Of course, music, really what makes or breaks, you know, a very emotional scene. And I think it definitely makes it in this case. We definitely Dumbledore was in that song. I can really hear him in there and I think it makes sense. For that to be, you know, Dumbledore farewell. And I don't know if there's a Daimler funeral, but I think the, the, when everyone was around the tower and the funeral and the book was kind of, you know, combined into one, uh, scene in the movie where Delta's like still, uh, on the ground by the tower.
And they all helped them wants, I got rid of the dark mark and that, that was kind of the whole Dumbledore's scene. And. But downloads for well by Nicholas Hooper in the order of the Phoenix, not Phoenix. And the guy in the blue have a friends is another one of my favorite songs in this series. And I definitely highly recommend.
Listen to it. And finally we have Alex all to display from 2010 to 2011 movies, seven and eight. This I think is my favorite now. Okay. I'm not going to get into my favorite, but this is really what I think a movie should be like. It has all the components. If you don't look at the movie, you tells the story.
But I think just while I managed to take in what we all knew that. Should be, cause not only did he make an amazing score and not only did he, did he, did he compose this awesome music, but he also knew how to end the story. He knew that the perfect way to end it was to make it. So we heard the end in, in the music.
I think he did a very good job of kind of gather all the themes and motifs and different little. Everything and kind of mashing it perfectly into, into the two movies that he did. And I think, uh, this lot also had the benefit of combining two movies that were basically one story that definitely aided him because he didn't have to have two different mindsets or even three in the case of John Williams.
Um, he just had to make sure that the, the transition was not, you know, that, that jarring. Um, but I think it definitely was. The movie one, a non movie, one, the part, one ends at shell cottage. And I think part two begins at shell cottage so that I think he's in his a very good jump-off point and landing point.
I think it doesn't made a lot easier for him to, to move along with the story. But if you pick out any of the songs yeah. Some of the ones that I found really, really compelling were, uh, courtyard apocalypse. I had no idea why it was called that for a very long time until I saw that it was when the, um, uh, the courtyard was being invaded.
And I was like, well, it's almost like a quarter at apocalypse. And I realized, oh, uh, so I really enjoy that. I think, um, state is, is also a really good one snake to mouth, like manner. I also enjoyed that's a very fast one. That was the beginning of. One obliviated also, I love the bloviate. Uh, all of these by the way, are in my playlist that I use, I listened to my music playlist every single day.
You have to know this. Um, so all of these songs are in my playlist that I listened to every day and I actually love them, which is why I know the names of all of them. No ones, really still of my favorites in the. That the hollows part one and two. And I think it was definitely a very good ending to an era and a new beginning, uh, to the future of Harry Potter.
So all of these composers, we have John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, and Alexandra display all did very well on their movies and all, uh, definitely paved the way for a bright future. So that'll be really understand of the history of all its music. I think it is important to really get at what wants to be captured in the music.
And there, I think definitely some different answers to this, but I think we have definitely gotten at this previously and what this whole kind of means what, what, what's the goal of music in the Harry Potter? It is just to complete the story. So of course we have two hats. We have audio and we have video like this podcast.
We have audio that's that's, that's the main component. And that's why I we've. We see why audio is so important with music. I mean, not only does it make it seem more exciting, um, make it more emotional, but it can also play. And really giving more depth to the story. For example, had a biggest theme had week's theme is a theme, like we said before, that is unbelievably recognizable.
If I asked you to think about the Hedwig's theme right now in your head, of course you could, you could conjure it. Uh, if I asked you to think even about like the star wars theme, you could probably think of it. Now, if I asked you to think of the Superman. You can't because it's not recognizable. Harry Potter is one of those things that is just so recognized, but you can see it and you wouldn't know exactly what you're looking at.
How do we extend them? Is that same thing in song form. It plays in times of hope in times of, of heroism by Harry Weston. Uh, in times of light. And we can understand that by looking at the scene when it is played. So I think the main play like the, the, the main time it is played is when there is a point at that Harry has to make a decision and he has.
Stand up for something in the Quidditch match when he gets the snitch, when he's at the Dursleys of a first time and the, the, the, the snake escapes, we see Harry making a choice and we see Harry trying to either like protect someone, make a hard decision it's in times of. That the head ahead, big steam is played.
And I think that also helps with the story. It also, I was just thinking about this. It can also kind of be used to for shadow. What's going to happen. If a certain character has a certain theme, like Hedwig, steam, I guess in the case of, of Harry, of course the boroughs name, even like her, like her mind and your Dumbledore, his name, all that kind of stuff.
If we see someone who we don't know who it is, if it's like supposed to be kept a secret and we hear a theme plate and we recognize it. We can maybe guess who that person is. You can also see is something like, is there's a prison break or there's, you know, like in the crimes of Grindelwald when carnival, uh, you know, accommodated the carriage and gets away, we can listen into the music.
Uh, I believe it's called the festival chase that you can go listen to in the alibi of, of the crimes of, of vault. What that kind of is, is beacon listened to, and like kind of pick out all the different feeds and all that. Styles that are used. Now that's one of the songs that I think is meant to go with the movies, because if you listen to it, it's hard to follow really what's happening.
If you don't know, you know, like if you haven't seen the movie, you couldn't guess what was happening. If you listened to the song, you can make a good guest by the title and by, you know, everything else. But you couldn't say, all right now, he jumped out and now he's, you know, falling in Linden, wherever it's like, you can't get that specific.
If you don't have the. If you've seen the movie and you understand really what's going on, it makes the song all the more enjoyable, because I think the one on the one I was thinking of is, um, Tina Newt's trial. That song was one that I, uh, I also have in my place that I listened to and I hear it and I always go.
I can see what's happening because this is, this is the part that's so weird. Um, when Tina gets, uh, when, like when the memories pull out of her, then she gets on the magical, creepy, floating chair of death in the white room. And she kind of floats out over the, the, uh, mean water. She here, she not hot sheers.
She sees her mother in the water and there's a little like violence, like, uh, uh, that I hear every time. I hear her mom going like Tina, Tina, Tina. And every time I listen to that, as long as that's what I hear, it's that kind of thing that makes the movies so good. And that's that kind of thing that make the music go so well with the video, the, the, the songs can cone can kind of wrap around the, the, the visuals so well, and they both understand each other.
So, so much to, to such a degree that it is almost seamless that the two meld together. If you sweat, like they, they it's, it's, it's really 50 50 here. A good video cannot be completed though. Good audio and good audio can not be completed without good video in a movie. That's exactly what happens here. And that's exactly what I think should be in a movie like this one.
Okay. Now I want to talk a little bit about fantastic beasts and some of my different songs. So I think let's, let's start out with, with some fantastic. Beasts talk the entire fantastic beasts. Uh, the two moves were composed by James Newton, Howard. And unless I'm mistaken, I believe that the, uh, I'm going to say it, but I believe the crimes with Dumbledore, I leave the seat with abdominal area is also going to be composed by James Dean Howard, a a very reputable composer, uh, who makes amazing music.
And actually some of my favorite songs, the franchise of the Harry Potter franchise including bit has to be ours. Fantastic. This is where it gets interesting because Harry Potter been asked, beasts are similar. Um, they of course exist in the same university. I have the same general characters and they've Hogwarts of every morning.
And of course it is, it is very similar, but the music is really where it gets different. This is the part I can not put to words for the life of me. I can not explain the difference. Feel between the two musics between the two musics between the two strains of music and kind of the themes that I hear in them.
So with, with Harry Potter, I think it is much less of a, of a goal to make the song feel like it can be heard out outside of the movies, if that makes any sense. The Harry I'm going to say, I think the Harry Potter music does a much better job of, of helping the story in the movie. But I think the fantastic beasts songs can be listened to outside of the movie.
And still the story can still be heard Stu to some degree, but I think the themes of fantastic beasts are also a little more distant. This, of course there are a ton of themes in both, but I think Hedwig's theme was really the one that comes to mind with the fantastic beasts series. We have the main titles we have of calcium.
You have double doors and we have lead as theme. We have so much that is just there. If we have the, we have the theme of the movie and then we have the fantastic beasts theme. Um, so on it's like it's, it's, it's crazy the amount of, of themes that is in Veneta. And I think that helps with distinguishing not only the different movies, but also the different parts of the movie.
It really breaks down each part of each section and really goes really deep into each of the scenes. The one I'm thinking about right now, isn't the same song that I was talking about when Tina went on the chair, um, to get executed, um, it was the needs of Tina and needs trial, which I also found really funny how they named the songs they have.
So many names for each songs, um, for, for the trial, the first title is Tina and new trial. And then the second title is let's get the good stuff. That's what's um, the woman said when, when she was taking the memory out of Tina, which I think is just so funny that they put that as the title of the song.
That's like, not only, I mean, of course, like I can hear that. I was saying before, I can really see the movie when I hear the song, but also when they're running away and the sweeping evil is flying around that, that theme that I won't sing it because they're going to say. It's you, you can definitely, you definitely know what I'm talking about.
It's what Newt sleep, making his big escape when he's running like he does. Um, that's a scene that I asked the thing. Um, Eddie Redmayne did amazing in as well as Katherine Waterston. Um, but with, with the super evil, I think that scene right now is really where. This kind of whole music thing. My, my point is made.
If I lay the song for you, of course I will not. But if you listen to the song, any song, really any distinguished song of a big scene in the movies of fantastic beasts, you will be able to see the, the scene. If I just tell you the title, you will know exactly what I'm talking about. Of course, that can also hold true for the Harry Potter series.
For example, the song the night. Not that hard to figure out what it's about, but if you hear it, it's all kind of the same thing. And it's kind of the same with, with other songs. They seem to be very separate and kind of nonsensical. If you hear them, you know, kind of together as one long string and like a Broadway show, like, like Hamilton, a great Broadway show.
And that's really where there are way too many layers to take in. And the first so tiny. The music is where it ties together. And the music is the story. There was no part in Hamilton where the, there is no song and the whole story is a huge song. It's a musical after all. And that's kind of easy is the same with fantastic beasts and someone Harry Potter.
If you listen to a song from fantastic beasts, I think you'll definitely understand more about what's happening in the scene. And then if you lived to a song. And then also it kind of gets into my point about how the two different kinds of music are very, very different. Just the music is very different.
If I played a S a piece by James Newton, Howard, and Vendesi beasts, you will know that, but that is, especially if I play a piece in contrast by, uh, Doyle Williams. Uh, just blot or anyone else you will absolutely hear the difference between the two, not only because you know that there, that the sign I'll play it for you is from Harry Potter.
And the other one is from FedEx beast, but also there's different styles. They're just different notes, different speed, just different like ways that composers use their talents and, and match what's happening on screen in this, in the, in the score, by their own styles, by their own preferences. Ah, fantastic.
Beasts also has just a one composer, just one man doing the whole thing. Whereas the other ones have completely different people, uh, doing each section and yes, people like John Williams did three entire movies and you can hear, you can hear that those are movies. That sound very. It's also, it goes, it goes as far as to separate each Harry Potter movie.
I think if I play a song from, I want to, I want to call them pieces so much. That's the Parkway. I call them songs. Um, if I play a piece for you, you will likely be able to make it pretty good guests on which at least. Era of Harry Potter. It's kind of in the first, second or third know, fourth, whatever. Um, but also it's like, it gets so much darker.
It's like happiness in the first movie, then happiness and second. And like, I have say last episode, it gets so dark later on and like the changing composer and also kind of reflects a change in the. That a dog for another day. I think, like I say, yes, I'm distinguishing the movies and Harry Potter is also, uh, you can deal you, you can go farther than that.
And to distinguish the individual movies in the series, not just fantastic beasts in Harry Potter, you can distinguish their personal vasculature from the goblet of fire. And when you think about it, you think of. Song each piece as part of Harry Potter, but when you really break it down and look at each movie, I think it's easy to see just how different they are.
The prisoner vascular man. For example, I feel like is one, if one is like one of the most different scores than the other movies presented, uh, I'm first saying, for example, so much, uh, I'd say the song that I think of the most, when I think of. The, uh, preserve ASCA ban. I would rather, the two are one, this secrets of the castle and two buck, beaks flight, I think both reflect different parts of the story.
Both reflect different aspects of the story. And they both had different qualities that really make the go and are really, really good for the story. Um, so it's things like that that just make it so different and a wife, the fantastic. Does scour is so much different than the Harry Potter score. And yet the movies are so similar.
They both tell a story. And yet they both have different aspects. They both complete different parts that are vital for the success of every Harry Potter movie. Okay. So I want to close out this episode with a statement, a bold statement. Not everyone might agree with me. This might not be a global consensus.
But I think if there were to be a, another movie of Harry Potter, not, not fantastic beasts, another Harry Potter movie, a Harry Potter and the 32 year old or, or let's call it. I think it should be composed by John Williams. Okay. Okay. Before you say no, no, that's great. No, that's so bad. Hear me out, please.
So I think that with the way the movies have at least have gone so far, John Williams is really the person who you think of as the person who composed Harry Potter. He can most, the most he composed the first purely fits all the categories of the Harry Potter, composer people like Patrick. Both only one NYCLU super only two.
And, uh, I asked Alexander display did compose, um, only two, but he did come over to the left. And of course these are all very notable names and everyone knows all the composers, no matter the level of Harry Potter fan you are, but I think John Williams as the first composer, um, it doesn't matter that he, you know, composed the most, I think because he's the first composer.
He should be the one to compose the last Hmm. And I think they even wanted gentlemen Liam's to compose the Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows part two, uh, David Yates and David Heyman, the producer and director at the time, both reached out to John Williams saying yo direct them and not direct composing and ugly and conduct the movie.
Make the score, please. But he couldn't because of his, his schedule just didn't align. He would have to get the, the, the rock huts, like way sooner than they had, then they could give it to him. So that didn't work out. So they enlisted Alexander just blot again, which of course worked out perfectly. But I think if there were to go another movie, if they're going to be, if, if another, um, you know, screenplay was written, if they'd decided to go all out again, that I think John Williams should be the one to close it out.
I think that would kind of really be. Full circle. We start at the beginning here. He doesn't know anything. He, he, you know, he, he has his, his moments of realization, the way that it is, you know, it just kind of spun into how he sees the world. And then that can kind of be, be brought around into him, seeing the world exactly the same as he left it, understanding more than he did.
You went to another level. Thinking in his life. And I think that will definitely be reflected if the same kind of music, if the same story is told from the first couple of movies, because of course, Harry goes through a bunch of transformation and becomes an adult. He, he does all this stuff. He defeated the dark, a lower, he, he congresses passed and that can not be left, uh, just by, by the wayside without any more told, uh, I think John Williams is really the only one who can conduct and complete.
The final movie, if there were to be another one, really talking about how Harry changed, because the way that movie would kind of go would be kind of like a curse child type movie. It's that, that 19 years later scene kind of expanded into an entire movie is really how I imagine the next movie to go.
There might be some challenges. I think the challenge would be Harry's kids and a drink of kids and her Harry and her minding Ron's kids, all that kind of stuff. Just like having the difficulty of adulthood would be the challenge of that next movie. And I think John wounds load really understand that because he, he started out, he started when Harry was a kid.
So if he is not composing. As kids. I think that would be a huge moment. And I think John Williams is really a, who understands the most about Harry Potter and he's the one who could bring it home the best. And he really knows everything there is to know about the scores of Harry Potter. There we go, great episode or the perfect episode as usual.
Um, I hope you enjoyed this. I certainly did. And now I'm not going to do another, you know, just general music episode, but I think I'll definitely be talking more about this kind of thing in the future. The differences between a fantastic bees and Harry Potter is a topic that really fascinates me. And that I think we'll definitely talking about mostly.
I mean other news, not much, actually. Um, there happens a very interesting clips released by Warner brothers that I think are definitely worth at least discussing. Uh, I think, I think we w we're not going to, to do a whole episode on that. I think the final episode before the release of the, of, of the, I mean, like before April 15th, the latest episode before April 15th will be the last fantastic beast prediction episode.
I'll get all my last predictions. I'll make a traditional, uh, Gary Vander, textile owl make as many wild predictions as possible and then only clip the ones that actually come true. So just so I have at least one that I can say I really did, that actually came true. Um, but actually the one that I found the most interesting was.
That was said, like what, what's the way home, that strange mere writing. So I have to quick teaser. I'm not going to go on any longer. We should just close out this episode, the Potter discussion, agile.com for anything else. Uh, there also is a speak by page link, any Google form link in the show notes for anything else you want to say, have a wonderful day, enjoy your time.
Reading Harry Potter, seeing the movies, and as always remember that happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light, I will see.
Th th this was the point of discussion.