RAMIN DJAWADI

Lennertz and Giacchino did bang up jobs on their respective scores.

-Erik-

Ramin djawadi - person of interest

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New release:

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I was kind of lukewarm about the season one score and thought the season two score was a huge improvement.

Volker

No kidding. The score does practically nothing and indeed large parts of the series go unscored...with three or four exceptions they could have left the entire thing music-less and it wouldn't have made a difference. It's easily the biggest missed opportunity in an otherwise fantastic adaptation. Just because the show is dark and generally deals with grey and black morality doesn't mean the music has to be so constantly low-key.

it's djawadi...

*sigh*

I am getting the feeling that some people are simply blinding themselves because they don´t expect good work from Djawadi, why ever that might be.

I still think his Iron Man score is fantastic and fits to both Tony Stark´s mentality and the birth & engineering of that heavy, metal suit. I also think that his score is the single best aspect of Clash of the Titans, and the theme he wrote for Fright Night is both funny and kinda creepy.

That the producers wanted a minimalistic approach to GoT is obvious from letting go Stephen Warbeck only weeks before airing. He would have given the show something completely different, probably more to the liking of score geeks, but not fitting to the mood.

The more I watch GoT, and the more I hear about how Djawadi created his themes and inserted them, beginning small, getting stronger, growing in scale like the story does, while still creating new tunes and songs that stick in the mind, on which he builds even better stuff, the more I´m mesmerized by the choice.

"The Rains of Castamere" is probably the best example. Introduced as a simple tune whistled by one of the characters in season 2, to be sung later by a bunch of soldiers before a battle, given an end title treatment after the battle, then, in season 3, emerging as a beautifully heroic theme for Jaime Lannister, until it finally appears unexpectedly during a certain wedding - hearing those first two notes gave me goosebumps and got everyone in my family sit up and stammering, "oh no, wait, what is going on, why that song, now?! Something´s wrong..." - I call that a mindfuck.

That said, how fantastic is everything Djawadi writes for Daenerys? That Greyjoy theme. That Winterfell theme. Sorry, but I believe some people do not really listen because they want it to be something else, instead of appreciating what it is.

Yeah, some tracks could have been bigger and maybe better, but with a show that big, with such a huge cast, needing more effect work every season, making big battles look great enough, they have to be careful about spending their money. And I´m not convinced that the feel of the show wouldn´t change with a more "standard" fantasy score.

EDIT: Just one more thing: Given that most people are oblivious to scoring, the comments about the season 3 score at the many GoT fan boards are extraordinary. I think it proves that the music at least fits to the show. The truth is, it is highly regarded by most viewers, and just because it isn´t what we score geeks are used to get for medieval/fantasy spectacles, it doesn´t mean it´s bad. Far from it.

I´m not saying that the majority is always right. I just say that most people who love the show obviously appreciate what Djawadi is doing and get really excited about it. Most of them never heard the name before and were unbiased towards him from the beginning, which might add to the reason why their opinions are the exact opposite from what is going on here.

If you're going to make a long, serious post, I would advise against opening with this...

Fair enough.

On the contrary - the GoT community is extremely touchy about any kind of details they don´t like, and there are many. Its the fans and book readers who are also the show´s greatest critics, mostly based on expectations. Overall, most of them are quite happy, but there are many aspects which are constantly discussed. Not so with the score. So it´s not the unquestioning love of fanboys which Djawadi is getting here, but praise from people who are not easy to satisfy.

To the last part, I agree. The former... well, at least you noticed some good stuff. ^^ Keep looking. Season 3 is full of it.

I´m sorry, but I´m very serious about this one, too. I never got why people don´t like Djawadi´s Iron Man. Especially now that Tyler wrote something more along the usual superhero area with IM3, I still think Djawadi´s score was a great introduction to the character before he became Iron Man, and fit the action on screen rather well. Tyler´s theme is fitting a more seasoned Tony Stark who has gone through a lot, but I´m still not sure whether I really like it better in the context. I will admit, though, that I like Tyler´s theme better as a score geek, but I don´t know how it would have worked in the first movie. Not too bad, of course. But again, Djawadi delivered a good score, too.

You really should. It´s great storytelling. See to it that you watch 2 and 3 back to back, so the themes can sink deeper into your brain.

Boo!

As much as I'm not Djawadi's biggest fan, to be delicate (though I love what he did in his first Medal of Honor score, really one of the best RCP scores ever written), I would defend Iron Man a bit.

The director wasn't at all happy that he wasn't allowed the composer he wanted on the project (Debney), the producers were confused whether they wanted an orchestral score or just pure rock'n'roll. It was all confusion with Hans Zimmer (who, according to official cue sheets, actually WROTE Driving with the Top Down) having to join the project to make last-minute rescue to keep the score in. Nobody knew what they wanted and it ended up like it did, so based on my knowledge of what happened there, I wouldn't blame Djawadi that much.

I would blame Clash of the Titans on him in huge way, even if that one was a rush job featuring dozens of ghostwriters to make it to the deadline, but one thing I have to explain, based on official data.

Craig Armstrong was not fired from the project. The post-production schedule changed after a last-minute decision to convert the finished film into 3D, which led to a scheduling conflict. It's not a rejected, even if half-finished score... There was simply no time for Armstrong (who reportedly publicly voiced his excitement) to finish the score, so he walked away.

Yes, definitely. The thing is that the guy doesn't have much to prove his value. Funnily enough, a very well received score was Beat the Drum, which is a shared credit with Klaus Badelt...

It was Djawadi alone, Badelt retained his name due to contract reason, but hasn't wrote a note of it.

Also, nobody really talks about Djawadi's animation scores, two rather obscure French ones (the first one is kinda nice) and there was also the animation movie about... were it mice in space? Fly Me to the Moon, if I remember well. Never heard anyone mentioning it here.

... it would sound like How to Train your Dragon in minor keys.

Yeah, a score like Holdridge's Avalon or Jones' Merlin would have been nice but obviously that is not what HBO was looking for here.

Mhysa is just about the best track I've heard from this composer!