Kowalski: "I want to be a wizard"
It's amazing just how much emotional weight
that Harry Potter melody carries at the end of this Fantastic Beasts trailer.
On a surface level, this use of the main theme serves as an exclamation point,
with a strong nostalgic purpose,
but,
if we were to look back at how music has been played throughout the HP series,
we begin to understand that the inclusion of this master theme actually hides a secret message.
James Newton Howard, the composer behind the Fantastic Beasts music,
is actually the fifth composer to work on a film in the Harry Potter cinematic universe.
Working backwards is Alexandre Desplat,
Nicholas Hooper,
Patrick Doyle, and the man himself, John Williams,
who authored the original Harry Potter melody, which is actually titled "Hedwig's Theme."
John Williams: "Hedwig needed some music that was gossamer, light,
and so I thought Celeste, which is the little keyboard instrument
it's like a mini piano, and each note on it,
you play it like a piano, but each note is kind of like a bell.
It has a pedal like a piano, so if you play five quick notes and put the pedal down
you get this beautiful little blur."
Williams wrote the music for the first three films, and he summons Hedwig's Theme thirty six times across all three.
Twenty four of which are in Philosopher's Stone alone,
and sixteen of those times, before Harry even arrives at Hogwarts.
While Williams' unrelenting repetition of Hedwig's Theme helps it to stick,
It's the how and when this theme is used
that is the code to deciphering what Williams is actually trying to teach us.
Harry: "Lumos Maxima"
This motif is only ever played in moments of courage, or safety.
Hedwig's Theme means hope.
This concept of hope is important,
because if we look at Deathly Hallows part 2,
the final and darkest installment in the series,
Hedwig's Theme is played only four times.
Ron: "Harry talks in his sleep."
I say this loosely because the melody never actually completes itself.
Hermione: "No, of course not."
In the Chamber of Secrets with Ron and Hermione,
composer Alexandre Desplat brings back Hedwig's Theme played on its original instrument, the Celeste,
to generate that sense of nostalgia and history, but
it gets cut off.
It's as if this theme, and the hope it brings with it, has been damaged,
and, at this point in the complete story, it's no question why.
This damaged theme plays for the last time in a piece titled "Harry's Sacrifice,"
and it sounds out while Harry walks down to the woods to face Voldemort and, ultimately, his death.
The melody is cut off one last time, and we never hear it again.
This is hope's end.
Harry: "Does it..
Does it hurt?
Dying?"
Sirius: "Quicker than falling asleep."
The following music we hear during this interaction with Harry and his family,
being sung by a female vocalist,
is a piece titled "Lily's theme",
which is hauntingly fitting as Lily is the name of Harry's mother.
Harry: "Stay close to me."
But we've actually heard this theme played twice already in this film,
and, up until this point, has been connected to the emotions of another character.
Those who know the plot will understand this connection between Snape and Lily.
This is musical foreshadowing.
Privileging the audience with information on plot and emotional cues,
even before the characters know.
In this case with Lily's Theme,
Alexandre's musical storytelling has hinted at Snape and Lily's connection,
even before Harry knew.
The second time we hear Lily's theme is in this scene,
as Harry collects Snape's memories before he dies.
Snape: "Look at me."
Snape: "You have your mother's eyes."
As we begin to understand how these composers behind Harry Potter are using music,
We can hear this type of musical foreshadowing everywhere.
Lockhart: "It can't be. Harry potter?"
We see this happen earlier with John Williams in the way he writes for Gilderoy Lockhart,
in the Chamber of Secrets.
This is his musical theme.
This might not sound like much, but, if we were to change its key two steps from G to A,
We see it shares some similarities to another theme.
Lockhart's theme is actually a twisted version of Hedwig's Theme
Ron: "Heart of a lion, this one."
We're not told right away, but, while Hedwig's Theme speaks of courage and hope,
this staggered theme speaks into the arrogant overconfidence of Lockhart's personality,
and finally, the reveal of his true nature as the story's anti-hero at the end.
Another example of foreshadowing is in Prisoner of Azkaban in the lyrics the choir is singing as we arrive at Hogwarts.
These lyrics are the words of a chant used by three witches
in Shakespeare's seventeenth century play Macbeth.
Macbeth's story is about death,
prophecies,
and paradoxes.
Choir: ♫ Something wicked this way comes ♫
In the sixth film, the Half Blood Prince,
composer Nicholas Hooper uses music to set the audience up for a strong, emotional journey.
He begins the film with Hedwig's Theme, but,
slowly takes it over with this new and darker piece.
With the film focused on exploring Dumbledore's affection for Harry,
we learn this new piece represents just that.
Affection and love.
The film bookends itself with this exact theme,
except now, love and affection are flipped towards Dumbledore himself after his death.
This same piece on love and affection is played one more time,
during the exploration of Snape's memories in Deathly Hallow's part 2.
And even though Snape never says the words we're all thinking,
this theme we're now familiar with is speaking of Snape's affection for Lily
on his behalf.
Dumbedore: "Lily?"
Dumbledore: "After all this time?"
Snape: "Always."
Newt: "Don't panic,
there's absolutely nothing to worry about."
For ten years, the composers behind the Harry Potter films have been sending us secret messages
through the music,
regarding the plot and the emotional states, the connections of the characters.
And as we return to Hedwig's theme playing in the new trailer,
we receive our first secret message.
James Newton Howard and the team behind Fantastic Beasts
send this message in the form of an important question.
"Are you listening?"
Hey guys thanks so much for watching
um
I love HP, it's one of my top five favorite film series ever,
next to Back to the Future
I wanna quickly send everyone over to my good friend Mitch Cramer, who goes under the name HeavyEyed,
he's doing some really cool lowkey stuff on video games,
so, click Subscribe and go subscribe swarm him, he's an absolute legend.
uh
Here's another friendly reminder to go follow my other channel, The Punch Kids,
where a few of the guys will get together and play video games and drink whiskey,
talk about game design.
So please go and Subscribe and hang out with us,
there's a really cool community starting around there.
um and
Lets talk about Harry Potter in the comments section,
I love it so much I wanna gush,
I wanna talk about the little details.
um
So yeah, thanks guys for watching
and I'll see you later.