Comparing Scoring Approaches Pt. 1 (John Powell & John Williams)

Since becoming interested in film scoring, I was always asking myself the question how different composers would have scored the same movie. There are a few rare instances of rejected scores being released or at least floating around online that give us a bit of an idea how drastically different approaches could be. For instance here is a rejected clip from Air Force One by Randy Newman who got replaced by Jerry Goldsmith or here is the complete rejected score for Troy by Gabriel Yared who got replaced by James Horner. 

It is quite thought provoking to imagine how for instance Alan Silvestri would have shaped the perception of the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise if he hadn't been replaced by Klaus Badelt because supposedly he didn't want to give in NOT using woodwinds on the score.

However, if we dig a bit deeper we can at least find compareable scenes in different movies by different composers. One (or rather two) of such scenes I want to have a look at today.

Interestingly, both scenes are iconic and beloved sequences from both movies and while being fairly similar in the way how the scene is set, there are quite some drastic differences in the scoring approach.

The first sequence is the Test Drive Sequence from HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON scored by John Powell.

The second sequence is Buckbeak's Flight from HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by John Williams.

Now, I don't want to dive too deep into musical analysis here and maybe save this for another time but rather focus on the relation between the scenes and their respective scores and how the composers went slightly different routes.

In both cases, I think we might agree that the individual scoring approach works very successfully. Both scenes are musical playgrounds relying a lot on the interplay between (impressive) images and music without much talking. In this regard the Harry Potter scene even more focuses on creating a "grand scale" moment without pushing the story forward alot (besides Harry befriending with Buckbeak) while the HTTYD sequence includes some story development by including the process of intuitively learning to fly and also including this middle part of tension with an almost crash.

What is observable in both cases is how strongly the musical concept and overall tone of the movie shape these sequences. This doesn't only happen on the musical but also on the visual side.

The HTTYD sequence happens in bright sunlight, with saturated colours in a generally quite light-hearted adventurous movie while the Harry Potter sequence is one of the very few "brighter" scenes of the movie. Yet, we have considerably more muted colors, a mostly overcast sky with only partial sunbeams and visually a much "colder" feeling. In this regard, the scenic setting of Harry Potter is considerably darker than HTTYD.

This very much reflects not only in the music of these sequences but in the general tone of the scores. HTTYD is that prototypic adventure score with bold orchestration, pounding rhythms and generally "more major" than HP, which incorporates a lot of contemporary feeling, very dark and eerie musical sequences. In fact, the shift in tone that Alfonso Cuarón has established in Harry Potter from the first two movies is quite drastic and breaks the continuity of the series quite a bit (in spite of the movie itself feeling way more "grown up"). 

These general tones reflect in both scenes. The degree of dissonance that Powell introduces in the middle part of the sequence (and also in the rest of the movie) is child's play compared to what Williams throws at the movie in some scenes in HP3. And while Powell wrote a bright, major edging into lydian musical piece for this sequence, even at the "brightest" moment of the movie in HP, Williams only sparesly uses major and relies way more on minor tonalities and chromatic movements.

But what can also be noticed here is the different generations of film composers. I don't want to judge this on a qualitative level as it would be highly unfair to both composers but it is clearly noticeable that the Powell score is more rooted in the "Hans Zimmer school of thought".

This can be noticed for instance in the line-up of the orchestra:

HTTYD: 

1 Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 1 Sopilka Whistle, 3 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 1 Contrabass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, 1 Contrabassoon

12 Horns, 4 Trumpets, 4 Trombones, 2 Bass Trombones, Tuba

Timpani + 6 Percussion

Celeste

2 Harps

Strings

+Overdubs (Percussion, Guitar)

HP:

3 Flutes, 3 Oboes, 1 Clarinet, 2 Bass Clarinets, 3 Bassoons

6 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, 1 Bass Trombone, Tuba

Timpani + 4 Percussion

2 Synths

Piano

2 Harps

Strings

The biggest differences can be observed in the Brass section with the HTTYD score having roughly double the line-up of HP. Also, technically, it needs to be noted that Harry Potter was recorded in a tutti take while HTTYD was striped recording the brass separately from the rest of the orchestra.

So just from the sound we have tremendous differences of HTTYD aiming more towards the larger than life epic quality while HP stays very much in the realm of a classical symphonic sound.

HTTYD pushes this approach (and the benefit of recording the sections separately) so far that it willingly creates unrealistical balances.

Here are three bars from the HTTYD score:

Here is the respective audio passage for these bars (starting at 0:57).

There are two intersting spots to focus on here:

The clarinet trill in bar 29 and the trumpet fanfare in 31. If this was a "normal" tutti take it would be impossible to hear the clarinets at this volume (I would even argue that they would be hardly audible in this context). Also the trumpets would be considerably louder and more dominating than what we hear in the final mix.

Another clear "scoring generation" difference is noticeable in the use of percussion. While they are not notated in the score, we can clearly hear a constant percussion bed in the final mix, even with some "backbeat" snare drum feeling. The percussion function more or less like an orchestral drum kit that sets the pulse. There are passages in this cue where without these percussion, the cue would lose quite a considerable amount of rhythmic momentum as the orchestra falls back to playing only long notes (e.g. at 0:40)

In comparison, here are a few bars from the HP cue:

This page starts at 1:17 in the cue and leads towards the climax. Even at the moments where the cue opens up to its most soaring moment, Williams keeps a steady driving pulse in parts of the orchestra (switching from Woodwinds to Horns/Trumpets) in these few bars. But there is none of this driving percussion bed that we can hear in HTTYD.

From an orchestrational standpoint we could say that HTTYD is painted with a quite thick Edding while HP literally is written with a pencil.

I want to focus a bit more on that section we see in the score sheet above of HP. It is the few bars that lead towards this peak moment.

Let's rewind back a few bars here and start listening at around 1:03. Observe how Williams leads toward that climax at latest from 1:11 onwards. It is clearly noticeable how this ramp and growth of tension is employed. The leading violin lines become more active, driving upwards, the harmony keeps getting more "agitated" switching through different rather unexpected chords with an increasing density of instrumental colours. Reaching at this page above you can clearly see how the strings propel upwards toward that climax creating an incredibly satisfying musical pay-off moment. We can safely say that from a musical standpoint this climax is earned and due to its preparation feels very satisfying.

Referencing back to what I wrote a few days ago about vertical and horizontal development we can say that this build-up is developed in big parts in a horizontal way.

Looking at the HTTYD sequence, the only compareable moment might be when we're coming out of the "almost crashing" part back into the soaring part at around 1:47. There is some rhythmical contraction going on in the bars leading to the resolution but the main work of this build-up is done based on sheer volume and size in a way more vertical approach. Looking at the big dramatic arc of that scene we can observe roughly three parts with the middle part being the tension sequence of the almost crash. But other than that the dramaturgy remains rather flat within the cue.

I mentioned above that both movies are set in very different tones  but we can also see quite a difference in the harmonic approach of these sequences.

Powell remains mainly in a very triadic world based on rather simple cadential and diatonic harmony in the main parts circling alot around iv-IV-V-I with the only non-diatonic exception being the II chord later on in the progression. This of course supports the light-hearted feeling of the movie and creates a theme that is arguably more catchy than Williams' approach.

Williams on the other hand moves through several keys with a focus on moving chords chromatically up or down. There is hardly a longer passage where he remains static in diatonic scale or tonality. On the other hand the melodic element is constructed more from a simple motivic cell of three descending quarter notes that form  a central element here. Again this more ambiguos and more "twisted" harmony supports the overall tone of the movie of being more dark and emotionally more complex. In a sense the "joy" is held back more in that sequence than it is in HTTYD.

In conclusion, we can say that there is a quite different esthetic approach by both composers to these scenes. From a listener's point of view, one could say that Powell's approach is more forceful and accessible (as it is rooted more in musical structures that a mainstream audience is familiar with) while Williams' approach is more demanding and technically more multi layered. A direct comparison, in spite of the scenes being rather similar is quite tricky when looking closer but it is nevertheless educational to observe a) how they approached the scenes and b) how the overall tone and concept influenced these iconic scenes.