Saw the movie this afternoon - it felt a lot shorter than 142 minutes, and that's never a bad thing. Also few complaints about the score (although William Ross got an additional music credit - what did he do exactly?); I liked how the music for the footage of a tribute winning an earlier Games which Jennifer "Maybe she can't whistle* but she can certainly act (and sing)" Lawrence watches comes along again later for the pig scene, as a pointer to how it'll turn out. Also, the shakycam wasn't really much of a bother especially since they were very steady when it mattered, like with Rue's killing and the climax.
Biggest surprise: seeing Steven Soderbergh in the credits as one of the second unit directors!
*Apparently it isn't her whistling the four notes for the mockingjays.
Tracklist of the score that indicates that JNH had lots of help and unused cues (I've found it on the ASCAP website):
ADVISE OVER DINNER -JAMES NEWTON HOWARD & STUART THOMAS SKILLS REVIEW -JAMES NEWTON HOWARD & STUART THOMAS FINDING RUE - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD, SVEN FAULCONER, & STUART THOMAS MUTTS ATTACK - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD & SVEN FAULCONER HALLUCINATION - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD & SVEN FAULCONER SKILLS REVIEW SCORES - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD, SVEN FAULCONER, & STUART THOMAS FLASHBACK - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD & SVEN FAULCONER ASSEMBLING THE REAPING - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD ENTER THE CAPITOL - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD CAESAR INTERVIEWS TRIBUTES - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD FINALE PT 2. - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD HEALING KATNISS - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD KATNISS AND RUE - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD KATNISS TRAPS AND EATS - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD MORE TRAINING - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD NIGHT TRAIN - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD PENTHOUSE - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD PREPARING THE CHARIOTS - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD RETRIEVING THE MEDICINE - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD RUE'S FAREWELL - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD SEARCHING FOR PEETA - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD SECOND SHOT BETTER - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD TAKING CARE OF PEETA - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD THE HUNGER GAMES - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD THE REAPING - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD THE SCROLL - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD THE TENUOUS WINNERS - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD THE TRAIN - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD TRACKER JACKERS PT A2 - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD TRAINING - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD TRAITOR PEETA - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD WE COULD GO HOME - JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
And thanks to Stuart Thomas for upload this unreleased (and unused) cue:
Oh, horn of plenty. A horn of plenty for us all. And when you raise the cry. The brave shall heed the call. And we shall never falter. One horn of plenty for us all.
Oh, horn of plenty. A horn of plenty for us all. And when you raise the cry. The brave shall heed the call. And we shall never falter.
Oh, horn of plenty. A horn of plenty for us all. And when you raise the cry. The brave shall heed the call. And we shall never falter. One horn of plenty for us all.
Oh Capitol. Your glorilous diamond shine. A tribute to the darkest days behind.
We watched The Hunger Games last night. Underwhelmed. I suggested to my 18-year old daughter that if she was even a little intrigued by the ideas behind the storyline she should watch Battle Royale and Rollerball* - both of which do much the same but in a more visceral and intelligent way (IMO, of course ).
They'd obviously thrown a lot of money at The Hunger Games, but for my money concentrated on the "easy" bits - the fighting (toned down of course for the younger audience) and the silly elite, and only hinted at the bit that could have salvaged the film for me: the politics. I suppose if they're aiming at a 12-15 year old audience it might have been thought the right thing to do, but I find that a little condescending on behalf of that age range.
The score was fine - I'd say that it achieved what it set out to do, and for a film score fan I'm often embarrassingly blithe about the music for films when I'm actually watching them for the first time, only really appreciating them if and when I can hear it separately. However, I'm afraid I won't be gaining a familiarity with the score from repeated viewings of this film or its sequels.
This score keeps really growing on me. If only all ambient, acoustic scores were of this quality. I also thought it added an extra layer of class to the film.
They'd obviously thrown a lot of money at The Hunger Games, but for my money concentrated on the "easy" bits - the fighting (toned down of course for the younger audience) and the silly elite, and only hinted at the bit that could have salvaged the film for me: the politics. I suppose if they're aiming at a 12-15 year old audience it might have been thought the right thing to do, but I find that a little condescending on behalf of that age range.
They do kind of expand on that a bit in the followups; because all three books are from Katniss' viewpoint we only find out about the wider consequences when she does.
Yeah, there's a lots of stuff that gets a better development than in the book because they don't stick to Katniss and show a lot more. Hope they can do the same thing with the sequels, especially with Mockingjay, since that they're splitting the book in two films.
This may have already been discussed in this thread.
Who wrote the song that plays during the first glimpses of Katniss? Presumably the scene that "Katniss Afoot" would have accompanied, when we first see District 12 and Katniss hunting at the beginning of the film. It's a haunting, spare tune with female vocal and atmospherics. I don't think it's JNH.
Is it on the song comp CD? If anyone knows, could you post a youtube vid of it if it exists?
Who wrote the song that plays during the first glimpses of Katniss? Presumably the scene that "Katniss Afoot" would have accompanied, when we first see District 12 and Katniss hunting at the beginning of the film. It's a haunting, spare tune with female vocal and atmospherics. I don't think it's JNH.
Is it on the song comp CD? If anyone knows, could you post a youtube vid of it if it exists?
True and prophetic words courtesy of user ctblass:
I think he knows if he gets this one right, this could be a really important moment in his career.
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I love this score (and its sequel scores) as much now as I ever have. All four scores in the franchise still remain my favorite scores of all time.
I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina (U.S.) and went for a beautiful hike today, replete with gorgeous vistas, frozen waterfalls, and silent forest. Played my massive Hunger Games playlist during my trek, and was in paradise.
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