Game of Thrones ‘ theme song rules. 

I didn’t even watch the show, but when I hear this song, even I’m thinking, “Oh yeah time for some epic s***!” Ramin Djawadi is an awesome composer (obligatory Person of Interest shout out), and the Game of Thrones theme song is another excellent piece by him.

It follows a standard “epic music” formula to a T.

This isn’t a criticism. Something normally becomes standard because it works, after all, so there is nothing wrong with using patterns that have historically worked to assist you in crafting the mood you’re trying to set.

If you wanted to write a Christmas song, for example, you could throw in some jingle bells. We identify jingle bells with the season, so that’s an easy way to get the spirit of your music across (We purposely saved this article for after Christmas so you wouldn’t go insane suddenly hearing jingle bells in every single song). When it comes to scoring, a clear depiction of the tone you’re trying to set is key.

So how do you write an epic theme song like Game of Thrones? Let’s write one together!

Step 1: Pick three or four standard chords to use, normally starting on a minor chord and moving to major chords before returning to base.

I picked D minor, Bb Major, F Major, and C Major (or i, VI, III, and VII)

Step 2: Create an energetic riff outlining the first chord of whatever key your piece will be in, or just play the root of your chord in an energetic syncopated manner ala “He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Caribbean

Step 3: Write a melody that also outlines your chords, often with quick steps leading into your next chord to give the melody energy, and simply have your bass line play the root of each of your chords. Have a lowkey drum keeping the beat.

Step 4: Repeat your melody either an octave higher or by moving upwards to a new key and emphasize the drums.

BOOM you have an epic theme song. 

Of course, you can add other supporting melodies and instruments to make it sound even more epic!

On top of this basic formula, however, Game of Thrones’  theme does some excellent work to achieve its primary goal in setting the tone.

The decision to leave out brass instruments contributes to the solemness of the series, as brass instruments in pieces like these are often naturally heroic sounding. The chamber choir lends an air of old school medieval church times, giving the song a Godly presence. The mix up of the major chord in the beginning riff also prepares the viewer for unexpected twists in the upcoming narrative. This is excellent storytelling through music all around.

The way it builds on its initial riff (as the melody is basically just the riff at a slower pace) is also smart writing and a brilliant way to make the tune as memorable as possible.

Related: How the Strengths and Flaws of Lost Changed Television

These are the decisions that turn a piece from “generic epic” into “actually epic.” Care and thought matter in a score, and it’s what separates Djawadi from other composers while also allowing Game of Thrones’ theme song to stand out even amongst similar pieces.

The beating drums, the shifts up an octave or into a different key, the orchestration; all these facets contribute to the feel that you’re moving forward and into an epic battle, which is why we feel like something big is about to go down when Game of Thrones starts up.

Game of Thrones’ theme does a particularly great job of conveying that epic feeling. Now if only I had enjoyed the show as much as I do the music.

For other examples of epic songs that follow this kind of formula, check out the pieces below!

• “He’s A Pirate” Pirates of the Caribbean – Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer
• “Arrival to Earth” Transformers – Steve Jablonsky
• “Iron Man 3” Iron Man 3 – Brian Tyler
• “The Avengers” Avengers – Alan Silvestri
• “Titans Spirit” Remember the Titans – Trevor Rabin
• “Ben” National Treasure – Trevor Rabin
• “The Orange Man” Unbreakable – James Newton Howard

“When I was a child my father woke me every morning with the same phrase. Life is a great sunrise.”

Hatred is in the air this week in the Hamptons. The fire between Emily and Daniel cannot even be extinguished at this point, as Emily tries to rid his life of Sarah. We also got a little insight into Vicotria’s past, and meet yet another Grayson to add to the hit list!!

Daniel is happy with Sarah. Sarah is happy with Daniel. That literally kills Emily, as it should.  Jack is happy with Margeoux and despite being royally effed over by Conrad and his protege, she still finds a way to be happy with Jack. But with revenge as her single most important thing, Emily cannot be happy with the man of her dreams Aiden, so she stoops down to the level of psychotic or at least pretending to be really crazy in order to keep Daniel. Daniel has every right to live out his life despite Emily’s existence and constant presence in his house. But you can’t win with someone so determined and the only answer is a full on war brewing between the newlyweds. Sometimes, I kind of miss the days where Daniel actually liked Em’s.  Mama G doesn’t approve of Daniel’s rendezvous with Sarah because once word gets around that he’s seeing another woman after just getting married to his wife who was shot, it might ruin the families image. Emily can also blow the lid off of the Lydia cover up and expose Daniel if she feels she’s being ‘wronged’. Victoria and Emily really should get along at this point because their identical manipulators of men.  Victoria knows exactly what Emily’s doing since she did the same thing to the original Grayson, Conrad’s first wife. “Emily would crush her,” said Victoria referring to Sarah. And crush her she did! But its those  fleeting moments where Daniel picked Sarah up and spun her in a circle as they planned their Italian getaway. Those are the happy moments Daniel really deserves.

Unfortunately, happiness is fleeting, especially with Emily’s immediate need to get rid of Sarah in order to complete her “plan” and keep Daniel as her husband so she has access to the Grayson’s and their mansion. She feels she’s losing her grip on him as he doesn’t care what happens, he just wants to be with his love. Emily calls Sarah’s mom, whom Sarah’s been lying to about working and not being able to see the family. Her mom comes to the mansion and see’s Sarah canoodling with Daniel and she’s disappointed that Sarah is so vulnerable and weak that she’s given into Daniel’s charm, even after all he’s put her through. She orders Sarah to leave with her, which was kind of pathetic since Sarah is an adult. But Sarah won’t let Emily win so she fights back and tells her mom to mind her own business. The result? Her mother states that she is no longer her daughter and wishes Emily luck with her home wrecking slut of a daughter. Well played Emily. Still making herself look like the victim, Daniel like the ass and Sarah like the homewrecker. This obviously makes Sarah feel really crappy and as a result, she leaves Daniel admitting that she got caught up in the moment and pretended she was something she isn’t. This leaves a very unhappy Daniel, who takes his frustration out on Emily and admits that the best thing her ever did for the world was sterilize Emily. Harsh dude!!!

And that’s just the beginning of Emily’s drama. She’s also healing from her gunshot wounds, with healing being an understatement as she’s literally ripped her stitches out while sleeping. She calls Nikho to come help her fix them, in very extreme ways. She’s getting back to the old Emily full of hatred and anger inside. That anger only fuels when Nolan tells her that Aiden’s is dating Nikho. I mean, obviously she cares but she’s the one who ended it so why be mad? At this point, she’s lost everyone and being with Aiden made her lose focus from her task at hand, her original mission. What I don’t understand is what happened to her every time she lost consciousness? Was she really swimming? How did she get to Aiden’s place and why??? How did she get to Conrad’s place after passing out on her bed? What did she do with Conrad? They made it seem like he slept with her and she was wearing his pajamas, but I highly doubt Emily would ever allow herself to do that. But why is this happening? Has she been drugged by one of the Grayson’s? Her encounter with Aiden was pretty sad given how much he cares for Em’s and his excitement that they were finally going to start their own life. I’m craving for some Jack and Emily time and hoping that their time isn’t up now that he confessed his love to Margeoux and their planning on moving in together. So many men, only one crazy Emily.

But Aiden’s also dealing with his own Nikho problems. The girl is in love with him and wants to have this great relationship with him, while he aides her in finding out who her father’s killer was. Here’s two things she isn’t clued in on. One, Aiden really loves Emily so she has no chance and two, Aiden actually  killed her father Takeda. Nikho isn’t stupid though and when Aiden ditches date night, she ends up studying her father’s files and realizing the murder weapon was one of her father’s blades. A blade that was missing from his house. To get Aiden off Nikho’s trail and I think to mainly get rid of her, Nolan helped Aiden plant a fake lead for her in Russia. While it isn’t the man that killed her father, it is the guy who planted the bomb that killed Declan. Either way, justice is served. All of this would have worked perfectly if Nikho hadn’t found the murder weapon hidden under Aiden’s bed. That might explain why he was always so nervous and twitchy when she mentioned her father and why he didn’t want to help her in her revenge mission. Hey, to be truthful, maybe he found Takeda murdered and took the weapon so police wouldn’t find it? That could be his excuse, even though I feel like he’s going to be in danger with Nikho on his back. He’s going to need Em’s.

One of the better stories of the week was Victoria and Patrick’s storyline, only because it was so distant from the Emily drama. We always see Victoria as this snooty rich woman that manipulated people to become a Grayson and now carries herself like some kid of royalty. Well, now we kind of has some insight as to why and who Patrick’s father really is. Nolan planted the ‘who’s your daddy seed’ in Patrick’s brain, which made him be a little more distant towards mommy dearest, but ultimately an encounter with Jim (who didn’t even recognize his rape victim from long ago) made Victoria finally tell her story. It was kind of scary and sad watching Victoria react to the situation the way she did. She wasn’t graceful or powerful. She was that 15/16 year old girl again who had just gotten raped and was mad at the world. It was refreshing I especially liked that Victoria’s baby daddy was this average joe, something we would never expect from her. Will Patrick ever confront him or start a relationship with him? He was clearly upset after hearing his mom’s story and he has some weird bond/relationship/obsession with her so you never know what he will do out of anger, besides burn the gallery down! But the revelation about Victoria’s past also shows us that Emily and Victoria also have something in common. They both have this bottled up rage deep inside that makes them who they are and do the things they do. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make me like Victoria any more.

I’m so excited to learn about the new “villain”coming to The Hamptons. The O.G (original) Mrs. Grayson. This storyline will definitely take things in a new direction as we learn who she was, what her relationship with Conrad really was, how strong it was and how Victoria got rid of her/replaced her. I despise when my show has so many hiatuses during the season because I have to wait super long to find out what happens next. From the previews we see that Emily has formed a strong alliance with Conrad and that she’s confiding in Aiden again. “I’m going to kill them all,” we hear her say. So I’m guessing the war wages on between spouses!  Just let us know how we can help Em’s!  Although, death seems like the easy way out doesn’t it? Till March 9 fellow Revengers!

Memorable Quotes

• Emily: When I was a child my father woke me every morning with the same phrase. Life is a great sunrise. The words shaped the way I saw the dawn. But after my father was taken from me, the morning sun burned like fire. That’s when I learned what hatred as and it would great me each morning, for days to come.
• Emily: Many believe there is no such thing as too much love. That its warmth is a comfort that we never tire. But when love turns to obsession it consumes itself. The flame that nourished becomes angry; merciless, an all consuming blaze. Leaving us confused by the chill in the air and the hate left behind.

Mikky Ekko- We Must Be Killers

As we await the fall 2013/ 2014 season for all our new shows to start, we’re slowly creeping into award season. The full list of nominees for the MTV VideoMusic Awards 2013 was released. One thing is for sure, it’s definitely a good year for Justin Timberlake and Macklemore!!!!

To make things a little more fun, I’ve underlined my choice for each category. Let us here at CraveYouTV know who you’re voting for; whether you agree with our votes or not!!! The full list, right here.

The VMA’s will air on Sunday August 25 on MTV.

Video of the Year
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz, “Thrift Shop”
Bruno Mars, “Locked Out of Heaven”
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell, “Blurred Lines“
Taylor Swift, “I Knew You Were Trouble”

Best Hip Hop Video
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton, “Can’t Hold Us”
Drake, “Started From The Bottom”
Kendrick Lamar, “Swimming Pools”
A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar, “F–kin’ Problems”
J. Cole feat. Miguel, “Power Trip”

Best Male Video
Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors”
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell, “Blurred Lines”
Bruno Mars, “Locked Out of Heaven”>
Ed Sheeran, “Lego House”
Kendrick Lamar, “Swimming Pools”

Best Female Video
Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko, “Stay”
Taylor Swift, “I Knew You Were Trouble”
Miley Cyrus, “We Can’t Stop”
Pink feat. Nate Ruess, “Just Give Me A Reason”
Demi Lovato, “Heart Attack”

Best Pop Video
Bruno Mars, “Locked Out of Heaven”
Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors”
Fun., “Carry On”
Miley Cyrus, “We Can’t Stop”
Selena Gomez, “Come and Get It”

Artist To Watch, Presented by Taco Bell
Twenty One Pilots, “Holding On To You”
Zedd feat. Foxes, “Clarity”
Austin Mahone, “What About Love”
The Weeknd, “Wicked Games”
Iggy Azalea, “Work”

Best Collaboration
Justin Timberlake, feat. Jay-Z, “Suit & Tie”
Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera, “Feel This Moment”
Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding, “I Need Your Love”
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell, “Blurred Lines”
Pink feat. Nate Ruess, “Just Give Me A Reason”

Best Video With A Social Message
Kelly Clarkson, “People Like Us”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, “Same Love”
Snoop Lion, “No Guns Allowed”
Miguel, “Candles in the Sun”
Beyoncé, “I Was Here”

Best Rock Video
Imagine Dragons, “Radioactive”
Fall Out Boy, “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
Mumford & Sons, “I Will Wait”
Thirty Seconds To Mars, “Up in the Air”
Vampire Weekend, “Diane Young”

Best Art Direction 
Capital Cities, “Safe and Sound”
Thirty Seconds To Mars, “Up in the Air”
Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu, “Q.U.E.E.N”
Lana Del Rey, “National Anthem”
Alt-J, “Tesselate”

Best Choreography
Chris Brown, “Fine China”
Ciara, “Body Party”
Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull, “Live It Up”
will.i.am feat. Justin Bieber, “#thatPOWER”
Bruno Mars, “Treasure”

Best Cinematography
Thirty Seconds To Mars, “Up in the Air”
Lana Del Rey, “Ride”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Sacrilege”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton, “Can’t Hold Us”
A-Trak & Tommy Trash, “Tuna Melt”

Best Direction
Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z, “Suit & Tie”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton, “Can’t Hold Us”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Sacrilege”
Fun., “Carry On”
Drake, “Started From The Bottom”

Best Editing
Pink feat. Nate Ruess, “Just Give Me A Reason”
Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch, “Sweet Nothing”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton, “Can’t Hold Us”
Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors”
Miley Cyrus, “We Can’t Stop”

Best Visual Effects
Capital Cities, “Safe and Sound”
Duck Sauce, “It’s You”
Flying Lotus, “Tony Tortures”
Skrillex feat. the Doors “Breakn’ a Sweat”
The Weeknd “Wicked Games”