Process of the Project
Brainstorming
When we talked about the first ideas that would become this project, we didn't set out to score entire films - we just knew we wanted to hear John Williams' Harry Potter music over our favorite scenes from later in the series. We discussed narrative moments that we would love to hear with Williams' themes and compositional style, and the power that music would have to create emotional continuity. Several mini projects came from this discussion - Molly initially drafted a playlist to go with the books, and Ben spotted the next couple of films with the idea of where a Williams score may have presented cues. Early on, Ben started by writing new themes for a hypothetical Goblet of Fire score in Williams' style.
The next idea was creating a temp score for Goblet of Fire, which combined Ben's cues and selections from the book playlist. With both of our contributed ideas, we set out to capture the tone of the movie in a Williams-esque style, and created a template of where themes or motifs would go. As the temp was crafted, we began to realize that so many moments would benefit from new material and a temp score wasn't enough. The vision began to form of creating a new score that would fit the movie - we started thinking about how we would adapt beyond what we had. You can see some of what we were going for in the screenshot below: we had an overall vision but were just starting to get into specifics.
When La-La Land Records released the complete box set of John Williams' Potter scores in 2018, it kickstarted this project from casual ideas into what it would become today. We listened to the material hundreds of times, Molly finished the temp score with brand new high-quality tracks, and we listed themes to note where and how they were used. We found little parts in the soundtracks that we would want to adapt, studied transitions in between main thematic moments to get the signature JW sound, and listened for pacing, in addition to immersing ourselves in early 2000s orchestration and studying any scores available to us.
Composition
When it came time to think about new ideas, a couple of things were clear from the start. First, every single note would be thought about. The goal was to closely follow the roadmap of JW's writing and aim for something that would be respectful to the way he may have continued. Ben considered when spotting scenes and drafting the score where JW may have backed off due to dialogue versus moments that would potentially be heavily scored (for example, when Lucius attacks Harry at the end of Chamber of Secrets, followed by when Harry discovers the bowler hat in Goblet of Fire; both smaller moments paired with bold music). The temp was helpful in places to experiment with shifts in tone through orchestration or texture.
Smaller scenes by Williams were studied to see his approach and decide whether Ben could do something similar or change it up a bit. Everything began from the perspective of what fits the scene best. Ben as a composer stepped back as much as possible to not write "his" material or have an ego attached to the work; it was always about liking John Williams' music and creating something that we could enjoy as JW fans, too. We discussed using different parts of themes than the typical statements to utilize all of the musical world and vary it as the context changed. Looking back at the first three films, we considered the balance of old and new material (directorial and production differences aside). Other Williams sequels and adaptations including the extensive Star Wars series were helpful guides. In the detailed writing phase, Ben thought of what he would have wanted to hear from the material, such as an english horn Window to the Past solo or more mature variations of Sorcerer's Stone themes. We also aimed for an appropriate amount of nostalgia alongside the characters, sometimes recalling the previous scores as a goodbye to childhood.
Goblet of Fire
The actual writing process began with cues featuring Ben's themes, writing scenes out as if Williams was attaching a new theme to a movie, to get into the process. For all of the cues, Molly wrote detailed templates with time stamps for visuals and options for themes, and we discussed between us which ones would ultimately be used. After this blueprint, it was up to Ben to decide how to use the material. With pencil and paper ready, he wrote the first full draft of Goblet of Fire as a short score.
We did a piano play-through of the score, giving us the chance to hear it as a complete work. We changed a couple of things when we heard them in context, but thankfully had the same overall vision for the project and agreed on the edits, since we've both been immersed in John Williams' writing for so long. Then came the orchestration process of actually making it happen. Ben used notation software to expand the score from the paper format; this is where a lot of the Potter sound world materialized and where trademark Williams moments could be added, sometimes as last-minute decorations.
It was then exported as audio for Molly to edit. Molly messed with timing, edited to sync points, attempted to add musicality to MIDI sounds, and fused the new music with tracks from La-La Land's box set. We tried to do justice to the material with the tech we had at the time, and passed edits between us weekly until we had something we liked. Once it seemed like this process would work, we realized this could actually be shared with other people, and we were lucky enough to find other fans eager to listen.
Order of the Phoenix
By the time February 2020 came around, Ben was studying music production and working with Logic Pro, and Molly was working with Adobe Audition. We knew we wanted to keep going with the Potter scores and improve in any way we could. Order of the Phoenix was planned similarly to Goblet, but from an established framework. Our studies of Williams scores and knowledge of the series informed the direction we had gone with Goblet of Fire, using it as a pivot point to unite the first three and new films, and Order would build from there and lean into darker material. From all of the previous scores, we noted parts that could be developed for Order of the Phoenix or reprised in a more mature context. We also knew that the end of Order and the preliminary ideas for Half-Blood Prince would have the freedom to be different and dark, mirroring the precedent set by Prisoner of Azkaban's varied style. The existing scores provided the setup for us to create a logical progression through the films.
With an obligatory mention of the 2020 pandemic, that spring provided a lot of productive time for this particular home project. Order was finished quickly, and we took the opportunity to develop our skills with other projects and portfolio-building materials (check out our website!). With new software capabilities, Ben started orchestrating over the summer, and as we got more comfortable with the workflow, cues were able to become more complex. We no longer had to drastically adjust sync issues or discuss extensively how to manipulate a cue, and we had a vision established for the project after Goblet, allowing us to move efficiently into the new material. We were also able to explore many more orchestral possibilities and more faithfully represent the Potter sound. It became much more of a cohesive, unique work than we could have dreamed at the beginning, and we're thrilled to be able to present two complete scores for Potter movies today.
Half-Blood Prince
The upcoming score for Half-Blood Prince has been a very different experience from the past two films. This story lends itself to a slower and more emotionally driven score with less dense action pieces and more focus on character development - even the finale is not an action climax. Its thematic structure functions almost as a turning point in the series for all of the previous material. New music blended with old sets up a foundation for the upcoming finale.
As this is the last time they'll be at Hogwarts, nostalgic reprisals from the earlier films have been weaved in but adapted alongside the characters growing up; this is a darker, older version. Despite having 4 new themes, this movie holds material from all of the past 5 films, and nearly 2 dozen themes are reintroduced like old friends within the first 20 minutes - as familiar scenes are now presented in a different light. In this way, it functions like Star Wars' The Last Jedi, another collage of themes; both scores have value in holding so much material while retaining their own sound.
The Half-Blood Prince sound is created through darker orchestration, yet with some of the quirkiness of Prisoner of Azkaban. The amount of Tom Riddle/Voldemort material in the film also makes this in many ways a payoff to Chamber of Secrets, as Order was a payoff to Azkaban through the Window to the Past arc. This story alternates consistently between light and dark, and the score reflects those consistent tonal shifts. Playful callbacks to the first movies get their moments while blending with the more mature sound that has sense been developed. Creativity within the orchestration has come with more ease this time around after getting comfortable with Logic Pro during Order, which is one of the aspects we are most excited about. Tune in for this next installment starting June 6th!
