'Potter' composer John Williams views first cut of 'Prisoner of Azkaban'

In his down time, Williams tells us he's writing the score for the upcoming "Harry Potter" flick. "I've just come from London, where I already have seen the film," said Williams, who requested a baby grand piano in his Mag Mile hotel suite. "So in this case, I have put down my very first notes -- I still use a paper and pencil to write the music. I take whatever part of the day that I am free to write."

"The principal photography is ending about now," he said "I'll record the music in March, so that leaves about two-and-one-half months to write almost a two-hour score. It's colossally tight. And after mid-March, there's another month or six week for mixing and dubbing. So I would say for a picture like that - fairly long, with special effects - we're talking about four or five months."

Thanks to computers and synthesizers, "shrinking post-production periods have become the norm in our business," he said with a sigh. "But I'm still a pencil-and-paper man and I write every note. It's very labor-intensive."