News articles tagged 'Alexandre Desplat'
Composer Alexandre Desplat talks to fan sites, Harry Potter Fan Zone 
By Andy on 6 July 2011 at 13:51 GMT
Recently, Harry Potter Fan Zone, along with a number of other fan sites, spoke with composer Alexandre Desplat.
Desplat recently scored Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (he also scored part one last year).
Harry Potter Fan Zone: When you wrote the score for the film, did you find that your ideas came to you very quickly in short bursts, or did they take a long time to develop?
Alexandre Desplat: You know these films are such huge machines–there’s such a huge expectation and so much pressure from the past because its the biggest series of the last 10 years–that you have to be very careful and double-check, triple-check that every note you write is accurate and fine, and you want to challenge yourself to be, if not as good, to approach the talent of the master that John Williams is, so it requires a little bit of attention. You can’t write a score of that kind in a short amount of time so you need to really try things over and over again. Also on these big machines now, the editing keeps changing and you have to adapt to that, so you need that time to be able to write properly and accurately.
Did you compose the soundtrack for Part 2 as a follow up for Part 1 or did you treat them as separate projects?
When I first was asked to write Part 1, it was not yet signed that I would write Part 2, so, unfortunately, I could not write thinking of the two episodes at the same time. However, there are still some themes of Part 1 which continue in Part 2 like what I call the “Band of Brothers” theme when all the friends reunite at the beginning of Part 1. We hear this theme again in Part 2 and also some of the themes and motifs of “Obliviate,” the thing that opens Part 2, that comes back also in Part 2, so there is some continuity.
Did you get to see the first half of the final film with your score added to it, and how did you feel about seeing everything put together?
I saw Part 1 finished a long time again, and it was great. I think the essence of what it portrayed–the sense of loneliness and a loss of childhood–were very strong, and I think it was a great first part.
Since Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was filmed way before it normally would be, did you got more time to score the film, and if so, did that affect your scoring process at all?
I think I had a lot of time to write, a very comfortable amount of time to write, because all together writing it and composing took about three and a half to four months for each episode. When you're filming on set, you can decide on shooting all the scenes that belong to this set and then you can still change them. It's very different with the score. I had to wait until I saw Part 2 edited to be able to start putting ideas together and try to find a sense of an arc and a dramatic sense for the film. There was enough time, and it was hard work for many months but also still very inspiring.
There are quite a few deaths in this film. Which was the most difficult to write, for and were there any that hit you harder than the others?
Death is very present in the Harry Potter story from the beginning because it starts with an orphan who lost his parents, and, actually, the theme of death is very present in this episode, since Lily, Harry's mother, is the lead character of this episode. We start the film with hearing Lily’s theme, which will kind of ghost the film all along and be the music thread that will take us from the beginning to the end of the film. So that's one element of death, the people that you miss, the people that you long for, the sorrow, and the question about death and the resurrection stone and how you cope with the death of the people you love. That’s very present in the themes that are used and you see it when you see the film and hear the soundtrack that I’ve tried to be very sensitive and emotional on these matters. The other side of death is, of course, also the battles, the duels, the final battle between Harry and Voldemort, and they are both fighting for death, and there’s no mercy. So I wrote some epic and lyrical pieces for these battle moments.
Desplat conducts the score to Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies, Harry Potter Fan Zone, Soundtracks - Add Comment - Permanent Link
Alexandre Desplat on 'Hedwig's Theme', composing the music for 'Deathly Hallows: Part 1'
By Andy on 19 November 2010 at 08:35 GMT
Harry Potter Fan Zone, along with a number of other fan websites, recently caught up with composer Alexandre Desplat to talk about his music for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
Harry Potter Fan Zone: What was the first piece of music or melody that you wrote for this film and how did the rest of the music evolve from that idea?
Alexandre Desplat (AD): I worked many bits and pieces, that's always the way I build my soundtracks. I take a lot of notes on a music pad, on a music writing little book. And so I take notes from these. And, and it's many of them, it's not just one. One of the ideas was the opening titles, the theme of "Obliviation", and most of the "Ministry of Magic". These three were the three I started to play around with, which means trying different ideas. But I can't say that one was leading the others. 'Cause at the same time I was also playing around with "Hedwig's Theme", making many questions of how I could twist the neck of this theme and make it different and bring it into my own little world of music. Except that at the end it did not happen because there was not enough room for the scene to be in the version that I'd written. So it's really a complex process, it's not just one theme, it's many, many ideas and themes. I just record 'cause I know I'm going to use a rhythm pattern that I'm going to use and reuse and display here and there.
Question: "Obliviate" seems to be a reoccurring theme in the film. It's somewhat of a much darker version to "Hedwig's Theme" in a sense that the track has a sense of flight to it. Could you talk about that track, and how you came up with it?
AD: Well, first of all it, has nothing to do with "Hedwig's Theme". It's completely away from the "Hedwig's Theme". There's not any combinations of notes that sound like "Hedwig's Theme". That's important to state. And if I may add to that statement that I loved the "Hedwig's Theme" and I was actually impatient to write a version of the theme. But unfortunately, the movie was repelling, it was not. Because of the nature of the film, this theme, didn't match. So, that's the first thing. Now "Obliviate", it is the seeds of the score. Actually this piece is the most important piece. That's the piece around which the whole score was built. The idea was to find a theme that had a sense of sorrow, loss of innocence, but still with a propelling motor, and also a sense of wide sound to deliver an epic kind of feeling to it. Actually, this piece opens the movie. It's the first melody that you'll hear. And it's music that goes with the theme where the three heroes leave their families, their homes to go to the unknown. They go on the road to fight the dark forces and it captures their anxiety, their fears, their sadness. And that's why this theme will be recurring in various shades all over the film.
Question: Fans really love "Hedwig's Theme". How did you go about choosing which scenes would feature it?
AD: Well, it's very easy to understand that. The movie being so different from the previous ones because it's the first time our heroes are away from Hogwarts. They're not children anymore. They're young adults. And the theme of Hedwig is really related to the early days of Harry Potter, Ron, and Hermione. We tried really hard with David Yates to use it at very specific moments. Some of them did not make it until the end of the process, unfortunately, because they were kind of bringing the children to childhood while the movie was doing exactly the opposite, bringing the children into adulthood. So it's only a few moments when he's leaving his house, we see Hedwig go in the sky, away from Harry's hand, when Hedwig is killed, also, by one of the Death Eaters. We're not related anymore, neither to Hedwig, neither to the childhood of these heroes. That's why and how the theme is not recurring more than that, sadly, because it's a fantastic melody. Fantastic.
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies, Harry Potter Fan Zone - Add Comment - Permanent Link
David Heyman, David Yates on Alexandre Desplat's 'Deathly Hallows' music, John Williams returning
By Andy on 16 November 2010 at 15:33 GMT
Earlier this month Harry Potter Fan Zone spoke with the cast and crew of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as part of the London press junket.
Below you can read our interviews about the music of the final two films, including producers David Heyman and David Barron commenting on the possibility of John Williams scoring the final Potter film.
Harry Potter Fan Zone (HPFZ): Was John Williams ever asked to score Deathly Hallows: Part 2? Did he decline?
David Heyman (DH): Yes, he was. We wanted to make it work with John but John's schedule didn't permit.
David Barron (DB): He was just unavailable unfortunately.
HPFZ: He wanted to do it?
Both: He did, very much so.
DH: We asked him around the time of [movie] six. Actually, we talked to him all the way along [about coming back for the end] but his schedule didn't permit.
DB: It's incredible for a man of advancing years who you think might be taking it easy, we spoke to him almost two years before the scoring sessions for this film and already then he had schedule issues.
DH: And then he tried to work his schedule to try and accommodate it but it just wasn't possible.
We also asked director David Yates about the use of "Hedwig's Theme" in Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
HPFZ: Alexandre Desplat mentioned that you picked very specific moments for "Hedwig's Theme". What was so significant about those moments?
David Yates (DY): Anything that felt like we were being nostalgic or in a way reflective of the past. That's when we used it.
HPFZ: Was it a conscious decision for him to play with the melody?
DY: Yeah, we wanted it to feel like it was all getting a bit distressed. We wanted to sort of [mess] it up a bit.
We'll have more, including an interview with Alexandre Desplat, the composer for the Deathly Hallows films, later this week.
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, David Barron, David Heyman, David Yates, Deathly Hallows Movies, Harry Potter Fan Zone, John Williams - Add Comment - Permanent Link
Alexandre Desplat on composing the 'Deathly Hallows: Part 1' score
By Andy on 30 October 2010 at 00:19 GMT
Check out a behind-the-scenes feature below with composer Alexandre Desplat talking about composing the music for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies, Videos - Add Comment - Permanent Link
'Deathly Hallows: Part 1' score track names revealed
By Andy on 25 October 2010 at 07:04 GMT
The track titles for Alexandre Desplat's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 score have been published online. You can pre-order the soundtrack at Amazon. A limited edition release will also be available in December.
- Obliviate
- Snape to Malfoy Manor
- Polyjuice Potion
- Sky Battle
- At The Burrow
- Harry and Ginny
- The Will
- Death Eaters
- Dobby
- Ministry of Magic
- Detonators
- The Locket
- Fireplaces Escape
- Ron Leaves
- The Exodus
- Godric's Hollow Graveyard
- Bathilda Bagshot
- Hermione's Parents
- Destroying the Locket
- Ron's Speech
- Lovegood
- The Deathly Hallows
- Captured and Tortured
- Rescuing Hermione
- Farewell to Dobby
- The Elder Wand
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies, Soundtracks - Add Comment - Permanent Link
'Deathly Hallows' orchestrator provides new soundtrack info
By Andy on 11 October 2010 at 00:27 GMT
Conrad Pope, the orchestrator for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I soundtrack, has provided another update via his Facebook page. The score, which is composed by Alexandre Desplat, is due for release on November 16th. Recording began in September.
Back in L.A. after working on HP7 for Alexandre Desplat. The score adds a new dimension to Potter. Wish I could be more specific and share all my thoughts and news but I've promised the producers my silence until the picture is released. So, everyone with questions: please know they'll be all answered soon enough. For me, it's on to the next panic…. I mean project! (Actually HP was a delight, as these things go)
Last month, Pope also provided information regarding some of the themes we should expect in the score.
27 August: Working on Alexandre Desplat's new score for the next "Potter". Exciting, vigorous music! Harry flies, fights and conjures. All accompanied by the distinctive, definitely non-generic voice of Desplat. Those who love melodies, harmonies and emotions in their film scores should be pleased. Reminds one of the old days. Stay tuned.
24 September: Just finished the first week with the LSO of recording Alexandre Desplat's score to "HP7". Harry Potter now occupies a new musical universe. For Lovegood AD has written a charming, "groovin'" theme. Dobby, too, is given a new "voice". The emotional music reaches its climax in Ron’s speech in the "wilderness" where the poetry of AD conveys the emotion in a single chord's voicing. Stay tuned.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I will be released on November 19.
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies - Add Comment - Permanent Link
Lovegoods, Dobby to get musical themes in 'Deathly Hallows' score
By Andy on 25 September 2010 at 01:30 GMT
Both the Lovegoods and Dobby will get musical themes in Alexandre Desplat's score for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, according to an update by Conrad Pope, the score's orchestrator. Recording with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) began a week ago.
24 September: Just finished the first week with the LSO of recording Alexandre Desplat's score to "HP7". Harry Potter now occupies a new musical universe. For Lovegood AD has written a charming, "groovin'" theme. Dobby, too, is given a new "voice". The emotional music reaches its climax in Ron’s speech in the "wilderness" where the poetry of AD conveys the emotion in a single chord's voicing. Stay tuned.
Deathly Hallows: Part I will be released on November 19; Alexandre Desplat's soundtrack will be released on November 16.
With thanks to UHP.
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies - 1 Comment - Permanent Link
Alexandre Desplat to score 'Deathly Hallows: Part I'
By Andy on 23 January 2010 at 11:54 GMT
Composer Alexandre Desplat will score Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. While reports surfaced last year that composer John Williams would score the final two films, Desplat's involvement in the franchise is now confirmed. It is unknown whether Williams, Desplat or another composer will score Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Recently, Desplat wrote the scores for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I will be released in November.
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Deathly Hallows Movies, Soundtracks - Add Comment - Permanent Link
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