New book cracks musical code of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films
How the music of two of the most popular fantasy franchises helps viewers immerse themselves in fictional worlds has been analysed in a new book from University of Huddersfield researcher and musicologist Dr Daniel White.
The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter books began to hit the silver screen at the start of the century, and have subsequently spun off into TV series, video games and stage shows. Their music, initially written for the films, has proved to be integral as the success of the film series saw the franchises move across other media formats. But Daniel, Senior Lecturer in Musicology, wanted to examine how the music helps to build the worlds that the stories take place in.
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“What role does the music play in building a world which feels coherent, cohesive and which might feel epic in some way to draw people into it?” asks Daniel when discussing The Music of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings: Sounds of Home in the Fantasy Franchise (Routledge).
“These are two of the biggest transmedial franchises out there. Each have developed from the original films, themselves based on a series of books, into stage, video game and TV or streaming adaptations which feature some of the music that the audience will be very familiar with.”
Peter Jackson's original Lord of the Rings trilogy spawned three Hobbit prequels a decade later, with Howard Shore's music featuring in both.The Lord of the Rings films, and its prequels based on The Hobbit, were all scored by Howard Shore who also contributed to the music of the 2022 Rings of Power series on Amazon. Four composers worked across the eight Harry Potter films, but motifs written by Jaws and Star Wars composer John Williams cropped up in later films scored by Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat.
Music helps with world-building and familiarity
“I think what's interesting in these two franchises is that music is a key part of how their world is built. People recognise different parts of Middle Earth like the Shire, or different parts of Hogwarts or the Wizarding World, partly visually but music is really prominent and important,” adds Daniel, who developed the book from his PhD, gained at the University of Manchester in 2018.
“The opening sequences of each of the films do some quite interesting things in terms of reminding viewers of the world we're in. The music says what it sounds like, and what it feels like. The opening sequences tell us a lot about whereabouts in the world we are, what point in time we find ourselves and remind us of what's gone on before.
Howard Shore scored the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Hobbit prequels
“The second and third Lord of the Rings films are having to drop you straight into the action. They often take those opening moments musically to remind us of what's gone on before or whereabouts in the story we find ourselves.
Music evolves along with characters
“With the Harry Potter series, the music is doing something quite interesting because the tone of the films changes significantly from the first to the last, the first one being very childlike or childish, full of wonder and enchantment.
“But by the end, lots of people have died, the main characters have all grown up. It's become much darker and more mature in tone, and that's reflected in the music. There were four composers who scored the series, which started off with John Williams. Then you've got three other composers that then pick up the mantle and they have to put their own spin on it, but also make it sound like Harry Potter.
Elements of John Williams' score for the first Harry Potter film crop up in all eight of the series.
“There is quite a lot more going on that we might not immediately recognise. And the scores in both cases stand up to further analysis and investigation. The more we dig into them, the more interesting stuff we can find about how they work. For me, predominantly how they work is building a world and telling the story.”
With a new TV adaptation of Harry Potter and two Middle Earth films focussing on Gollum recently announced, plus a second season of Rings of Power in the works, viewers are set to be subtly reminded of previous outings to worlds laid down by JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien by the music.
“The Hogwarts Legacy game was released last year, and I’ve delved into that in the book,” says Daniel. “There is another series of Rings of Power on the way, and the fact is that these franchises are not going away and will continue to grow.
“My next large-scale project will focus on the music of children’s media, starting with an initial symposium on the music of early-years television. Not only am I extremely familiar with some of these programmes, but I’m also aware that children’s media is the place where many people first learn and are exposed to the tropes and codes of film and television music, so I’m mostly interested in how these codes are taught and what they tell children about the world and about themselves.”