film music weekly · danny elfman will receive ... including edward scissorhands, ... 007 film...
TRANSCRIPT
ISSUE 17 • MAY 29, 2007 • Published weekly by Global Media Development Group, Inc. • Publisher: Mark Northam • Editor: Mikael Carlsson • www.filmmusicmag.com
weeklyFILM MUSIC
MORE INSIDE:p:3 Elfman to rEcEivE Honorary DoctoratE p:5 alan SilvEStri concErt DEtailS announcEDp:12 tEcHnology: WallanDEr inStrumEntS p:14 tHE ScorEBoarD
Up and coming composers named fellowship winners
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Tyler avoids musical convention in ‘Bug’
n Brian tyler’s second score for legendary director William Fried-kin, Bug, is a work that avoids musical conven-tion. the composer says that Friedkin is a filmmaker who always challenges him, and for Bug, tyler went the furthest out of the box than ever before. the exploration of unusal rhythms (”certainly the most complicated and confusing metric pat-terns for me so far”)is something it shares with the previous Fried-king/tyler collaboarion.in our interview tyler also speaks about his other upcoming scores, inculding John Rambo.
p:9”Bug” is a film about paranoia and composer Brian Tyler was encouraged by director William Friedkin to think ”out of the box” when creating the score for the film.
BUGBrian Tyler
SCORE OF THE WEEK
YFCC Finalists Announced
“Mostly elegiac”Despite its triumphant orchestral charges,
Basil Poledouris’ “red Dawn” is a mostly elegiac affair. p:11
n Composers David Fleming and Bryan Senti are the winners of the 19th Annual BMI Foun-dation Pete Carpenter Fellowships, it was an-nounced by BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson. The Fellowship, open to aspiring film and television composers under the age of 35, was established by the BMI Foundation and Carpenter’s family, colleagues and friends to honor the late composer, whose credits in-
clude such television themes and scores as The A-Team, Magnum P.I., The Rockford Files, Hardcastle and McCormick, Hunter and Riptide.
Fellowship winners are given the oppor-tunity to intern with veteran BMI composer Mike Post in his Los Angeles studio and meet with other distinguished theatrical, film and TV composers. p:3
n The five finalists for the Eighth Annual TCM Young Film Composers Competition have been cho-sen after the third round of judging in Los Angeles.
The TCM Young Film Composers Competi-tion is sponsored by Film Music Magazine and received over 800 entries this year, an all-time high for the competition. The winner will receive $15,000 and will be mentored through the process of creating a new score for a classic restored silent film by veteran film composer Hans Zimmer. p:5
� iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
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weeklyFILM MUSICthis Week on
FMRFILM MUSIC RADIO
ON THE SCORE: MYCHAEL AND JEFF DANNA
film music journalist Daniel Schweiger interviews the
composing brothers mychael and Jeff Danna, who team up for the prosecution in Fracture.
INSIDE THE BUSINESS: DOUG WOOD
Join host mark northam for an candid, in-depth interview with composer and music li-
brary owner Doug Wood about his aScaP Board candidacy and more. also hear inter-
views with Dan Kimpel, John Braheny and Samm Brown iii.
TUNE IN HERE!
OurThe Film & TV Music Awards
are the voice of the industry,
reflecting the views of the film
and television music industry at
large rather than any particular
industry organization or society.
Join the industry this year in
nominating and voting for those
people and productions who
truly represent the state of the art
in the categories of composing,
songwriting, music supervision,
orchestration, music editing,
score mixing, contracting, music
editing, performing and more.
iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 3weeklyFILM MUSIC
FILM MUSIC NEWS
No More Free Music
The latest discussion by record industry about
seeking performer’s royalties (royalties paid to labels and artists) from radio stations brings to mind a similar situ-ation that composers in this country have to deal with – the blatant public for-profit use of film music while a legal “excep-tion” prevents our collectives – ASCAP and BMI, specifically, from pursuing performing rights royalties for these public performances of music… I’m referring of course to music in films that are shown in U.S. movie theatres.
W hile almost everywhere else in the world the-
atres pay a public performance fee to the royalty societies, a disastrous legal precedent stemming from, according to historian Russell Sanjek, an attempt by ASCAP in the 1940s to triple the “seat tax” charged to movie theatres, prevents it here. That’s right… composers and songwriters used to receive performance royalties from US movie theater performances of films through the royalty collectives until this legal decision. The movie theaters fought back and won, and the big losers of course were composers. The decision was “Alden Rochelle v. ASCAP” and it has cost com-posers millions of dollars.
I t’s time for composers as an industry to decide if we’re
going to attempt to overturn this awful “free pass” for the movie theater companies. If we don’t do something, how long will it be before some enterpris-ing corporate attorney decides to try and widen this exemption to include television networks, cable stations, and more? As much as we seem so reluctant to get together and acting as an industry, maybe it’s time we do.
Mark Northam Publisher [email protected]
FROM THE PUBLISHER
THEATRICAL• Gracie (mark isham)• Knocked Up (Joe Henry)• Mr. Brooks (ramin Djawadi)
DIRECT-TO-DVD• Be My Baby (Kennard ramsey)• The Call of Cthulhu (Ben Hol-brook/troy Sterling nies/nicholas Pavkovic)• Defenceless (george Papani-colaou)• Final Patient (ron Burns)• The Foursome (chris ainscough)• Kill House (Jonathan miller)• My Brother (John califra)
OPENING THIS WEEK
Fleming and Senti named Carpenter Fellowship winners
n Composers David Fleming and Bryan Senti are the winners of the 19th Annual BMI Foundation Pete Carpenter Fellowships, it was an-nounced by BMI Foundation Presi-dent Ralph N. Jackson. The Fel-lowship, open to aspiring film and television composers under the age of 35, was established by the BMI Foundation and Carpenter’s fam-ily, colleagues and friends to honor the late composer, whose credits include such television themes and scores as The A-Team, Magnum P.I., The Rockford Files, Hardcastle and McCormick, Hunter and Riptide.
Fellowship winners are given the opportunity to intern with vet-eran BMI composer Mike Post in his Los Angeles studio and meet with other distinguished theatri-
cal, film and TV composers. Post, Carpenter’s longtime writing part-ner, has penned some of the most memorable television themes in television history, including Hill Street Blues, The A-Team, Mag-num P.I., NYPD Blue, Law and Order, L.A. Law, The Rockford Files, Quantum Leap and City of Angels.
David Fleming first became in-volved in composition during his high school years in upstate New York. While writing a piece for a friend’s video project, he realized he had a particular interest in scoring to visual. After high school, David was accepted into the studio compo-sition program at the music conser-vatory at Purchase College, where he recently finished his junior year. At school, he has concentrated on composing for film and television with Emmy-winning composer Al-lyson Bellink. This past year he also earned an internship at Ear-goo, a Manhattan-based company that specializes in original music, sound design, and general post-production for commercials. Out-
side of school and work, David en-joys recording and performing with his band, The Locomotive Espada.
Bryan Senti has been commis-sioned by Lisa Moore of Bang on a Can and the Norfolk Chamber Mu-sic Festival and has had his work performed in Europe, Australia, and throughout the United States. He has scored numerous independent films, and has composed dance works, rock songs, and a body of concert of music. Recent endeavors include a student fellowship at the Ostrava Days Fes-tival in the Czech Republic and the American Pavilion Student Film-maker Program at the Cannes Film Festival. As a complement to his mu-sical abilities, Bryan also received a master’s in arts management from Carnegie Mellon University, and has published research in the field of arts policy. He is a master’s student in composition at Yale School of Music, studying with Ingram Marshall. He is also co-founder of a new music production company, Found Objects Music Production, that is plan-ning to launch this summer. mn
Danny Elfman will receive a Honorary Doctorate from the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Elfman, who has been writing film music for over 20 years and is one of the top composers in Hollywood, will receive the doc-torate on June 2 and will give a commencement address to the school’s college graduates. The school chancellor, Hollywood Bowl conductor John Mauceri, has collaborated with Elfman on Serenada Schizophrana, the composer’s first concert work that was later adapted into a film score for the IMAX produc-tion Deep Sea 3-D.
Elfman is best known for his scores for the films of Tim Burton, including Edward Scissorhands,
Batman and Nightmare Before Christmas. His other top movies include the first two Spider-Man films, Good Will Hunting, Chicago and Men in Black. mc
Elfman to receiveHonorary Doctorate
David Fleming and Bryan Senti
4 iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
Providing professional training in the art of
contemporary film scoring
Founded in 1997 by two-time Emmy Award-
winning film/television composer Hummie Mann,
(“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”, “In Cold Blood”,
“Cyberworld 3d” Imax Film), this internationally
recognized program - taught by the
program's creator - offers both theory
and methods for writing dramatic music
for motion pictures, television, video
games and other media as well as in-
depth, first hand knowledge and tools to
succeed in the film scoring industry.
Recent graduates of The Pacific NW Film Scoring Program offer the following feedback;
“…It has been about a year since I graduated from Hummie's class. In that time I have scored 13 short films, one of which is
at Sundance this year, and I just finished conducting the recording of my first feature film score with a small string orchestra
at Capitol Records in Hollywood.”
“…I have already earned a Master's Degree in Music, but the material I learned from Hummie Mann at the Pacific Northwest
Film Scoring Program has been some of the most useful and practical instruction I have been given.”
“…This course was stimulating and well-defined, and conducted with flair & intellect. No stale academia here!!!”
“…As far as we all know, this is the only place in the world where budding film composers can score for an orchestra and
have the incredible learning experience of all that is involved in the process, guided by a composer who makes his
living this way. An incredible in-depth, hands-on journey.”
Students recently completing the Pacific NW Film Scoring Summer Intensive Program had this to say;
“…The most practical course an aspiring film composer can take.”
“…I can’t imagine how I could have learned this much about film scoring so quickly in any other way.”
“…The amount of practical knowledge and tools that were conveyed were well beyond
what I expected or paid for!”
For additional information and to register please visit our website at
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Experience this invaluable program in the
“2007 Two-Week Summer Intensive Session”July 9th ~ 20th
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iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 5weeklyFILM MUSIC
The hottest composers in Hollywood right now:
1 (1). Danny Elfman� (�). John Williams3 (3). Hans Zimmer4 (5). Ennio morricone5 (15). John murphy6 (7). James newton Howard8 (4). christopher young9 (6). James Horner10 (9). clint mansell11 (8). thomas newman1� (10). Howard Shore13 (14). Harry gregson-Williams14 (11). Philip glass15 (13). randy newman16 (1�). michael Penn17 (new). alan Silvestri18 (19). Klaus Badelt19 (�0). Billy corgan�0 (16). gustavo Santaolalla
The list is based on data from Internet Movie Database’s “StarMeter”, showing “who’s popular based on the searches of millions of IMDb users”.
THE A-LIST
FILM MUSIC NEWS
Frighteningly beautiful – beautifully frightening!Music Composed, Orchestrated and Conducted by
CHRISTOPHER SLASKIAlso featuring music by Trevor Duncan • Available now on CD and online!
MovieScore Media presents the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The five finalists for the Eighth Annual TCM Young Film Composers Competi-tion have been chosen after the third round of judging in Los Angeles.
The TCM Young Film Compos-ers Competition is sponsored by Film Music Magazine and received over 800 entries this year, an all-time high for the competition. The winner will re-ceive $15,000 and will be men-tored through the process of cre-ating a new score for a classic restored silent film by veteran film composer Hans Zimmer.
The five finalists will be flown to Los Angeles in July to compete for the grand prize that will be announced at a special
YFCC Awards Dinner following The Composer Expo on July 25 at The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
mn
Over 800 YFCC entries–five finalists announced
The 2007 Young Film Composers FinalistsJaebon Hwang- long island city, ny Garth Neustadter - appleton, Wi James Schafer - rancho cucamonga, ca Jeremy Schrepple - los angeles, ca Edward White - london, uK
The Soncinemad film music festival in Madrid has announced details for the exclusive Alan Silvestri concert that is the highlight of the festival this year.
The 120 piece Philarmonia Orchestra and RTVE Choir, conducted by Alan Silvestri, will perform suites con-ceived for the concert. The provision-al programme includes themes and suites from the Back to the Future trilogy, Judge Dredd, The Mummy Returns, Forrest Gump, The Quick and the Dead, Contact, Cast Away, Fools Rush In, Mouse Hunt, Van Hel-sing, Polar Express and The Abyss.
The concert takes place at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid on June 30. Another concert takes place on June 29 featuring music by, among others, Gabriel Yared, Christopher Young and Christopher Gordon. mc
Alan Silvestri concert details announced
6 iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
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Ravel.In two-color.
Quick Study - Only How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite comes with a bonus color-coded score
showing how Ravel went from piano to full orchestra.
The piano part is marked with yellow for the treble clef and blue for the bass clef. The score is marked showing how Ravel orchestrated the piano part.
Bars 1-4: the melody (in yellow) is assigned to Flute 2. The counterline (in blue) is assigned to a muted French horn in unison with muted pizz Violas. At bar 4, the bass part is assigned to both the Basses and Clarinet 2 which sustains the pitch for several bars.
At bars 5-6: the melody moves to Flute 1, and in a brilliant coloristic stroke, the chromatic counterline is assigned to Flute 2. In the right hand, there’s a D4 that sounds on each quarter note, but Ravel has the Oboe sustain it. That same D4 is also cleverly assigned to the Harp by having the first half note D4 played open and the second as an harmonic. The bass part goes to the Cellos.
Note that in bar 5 the Basses are assigned an harmonic. Which pitch does it sound? Is it in the piano part?
You’ll have to order to find out. (To order, visit our web site or call 1-804-733-6122 Monday through Friday from 10AM to 4:30PM Eastern Time).
FILM MUSIC NEWS
One of legend-ary composer Alex North’s most extravagnt scores, The Devil’s Brigade, has been released on CD by Intrada Records.
The Devil’s Brigade was a world war II movie that came out in 1968, and it was unusu-al in terms of the music due to the extraordi-nary orchestrations. Alex North, the com-poser whose milestone scores include A Streetcar Named Desire, Spartacus and Cleopatra, wrote for a wind-heavy orchestra with a crazy French horn section of 24 pieces.
Intrada’s release features the complete score, including compositions that were never used in the final cut of the film. The pressing is limited to 2,000 copies. mc
Mammoth horn section on new Alex North CD
First CD in our new “Discovery Collection”
Two years before the Oscar-nominated score for Pride and Prejudice, Dario Marianelli composed this beautiful score for
the British period drama I Capture the Castle. MovieScore Media now presents the original soundtrack from this film, featuring poetic and romantic orchestral music that ranks
among the best of the hailed composer’s works.
MOVIESCORE MEDIAKnowing the Score
QuintessentialMarianelli
8 iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
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Avoiding musical
conventions
SCORE OF THE WEEK
By miKaEl carlSSon
Bug is your second feature for esteemed director William Friedkin, having scored his action film The Hunted in 2003. Can you tell me how your working relationship has developed and what similarities and differences there were between The Hunted and Bug?
Well, the thing that is most similar is that Billy always challenges me. On The Hunted he wanted to push the boundaries of what I knew to be action music. For Bug, we sat down at the beginning at started to map out the path for the music. Friedkin enjoys exploring the experimental side of music and Bug was the furthest out of the box that I have ever gone. He wanted to make sure that I felt free to explore the outer edge of what I considered to be music in the first place. He would come to my studio and we would really delve into the experimental side of composi-tion. And then we would go outside and shoot some hoops. He has a mean shot from the far right corner.
I’m sure William Friedkin, who scored The Exor-cist with Polish avant garde and had the marvel-ous Don Ellis writing a spectacular jazz score for French Connection, has pretty strong opinions about the function of music in films? What kind of discussions have you had about this?
Convention is not something that Friedkin encour-ages. One aspect of scoring that we were both fond of was the use of music in Jean-Luc Godard’s film Week End from 1967. The music was to be at times supportive and at times incongruent with what was going onscreen – really intrusive, actually. It was that idea of unpredict-ability that we wanted to utilize, but with a completely different template of the music itself. As for ideas for this score, the music was to be a unique blend of things – jazz, baroque, and industrial minimalism – obviously styles that contradict each other emotionally.
Paranoia, illusions, insects, haunting war memo-ries... Bug doesn’t seem to be a very pleasant story! What elements of this film did you focus on musically?
The story is strangely haunting and beautifully sad in its own way. The story is driven by Agnes’ (Ashley Judd) guilt over losing her son years before. The dark specter of para-noia is represented musically by an unease, imbalance.
When you score a thriller like this one, how much of your work is about establishing an overall atmosphere for the film?
The atmosphere was very important in this case. Some-times dark, sometimes primal, but always a little bit off.
Since you’ve estblished this relationship with Wil-liam Friedkin, were you able to get involved in Bug at an earlier stage than usual? Did you have more time to score the film and perhaps begin working even from the script?
Yes, I read the script early on and was thinking of ideas as I went. As a basic idea, I thought it would be in-teresting to incorporate unlike styles of music for the film since the tone of the movie is paranoia and confusion.
How much music did you write for Bug? What can you tell us about the music – in The Hunted, you were able to explore some very neat rhythm-orientated orchestral music. In Bug, did you find similar opportunities to develop a strong musical idea like that?
I wrote much more music for Bug than is used in the movie. I approached the film differently than any other scoring assignment in that way. Similarly to The Hunted, I delved into extremely odd rhythms – certainly the most complicated and confusing metric patterns for me so far. It was a lot of fun composing! And the instruments used were interesting as well. Saxophone, cello, piano, pre-pared piano, air conditioning wall units, drums, squelched radio, feedback, harmonica, and messed up tape loops.
Can you tell us a little about your team members and the people you worked with on Bug? Did Rob-ert Elhai orchestrate as usual, for instance? Can you describe Keith Power’s role in the process?
Well, for this film I worked mostly in isolation. No or-chestrators. Keith Power was a technical consultant on
BRIAN TYLER scores BUG
Brian Tyler’s best-known projects: 1. constantine (�005)�. frailty (�001)3. Bubba Ho-tep (�00�)4. the fast and the furious: tokyo Drift (�006)5. timeline (�003)6. the Hunted (�003)7. godsend (�004)8. Darkness falls (�003)9. the final cut (�004)10. Paparazzi (�004)
Source: imDb
Brian tyler is represented by gorfaine-Schwartz agency.
THE TOP 10:BRIAN TYLER
THE SCORE:BUG
Composer: Brian tyler. Other team members: David falzone (music supervisor), Keith Power (technical consultant).
10 iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
this and worked on my studio rig to make sure everything ran smoothly. He was also a great sounding board to see if I had completely lost my mind on any cues I wrote.
I have to ask you about another recent score of yours – War. You recorded this with the London Symphony Orchestra - can you tell me a little about that experience?
It was fantastic. They played the score amazingly. Pow-er and passion. It was very inspiring standing up in front of them waving the baton around having them play my music so well. And it was very cool talking to them about their sessions for the original Star Wars and with the Beatles. Amazing pedigree, very nice people. And incred-ible musicianship. The score is big, robust, and intense. I hope people enjoy it because I am really proud of it.
Also, you’ve recently been hired to score the up-coming new Rambo film, directed by Sly Stallone! How did you get this assignment, and are you ready to answer the question every soundtrack fan out there has for you: will you use Jerry Gold-smith’s original themes from the first three films?
The producer of the film called me up one day and the conversation went something like this: “I am sitting here listening to your music with Sly and we think its great. Do you want to come in and meet with Sly about John Rambo?” As a big Rambo fan, I thought it might be a practical joke. But I accepted and much to my delight I met with Sly the next day. He is extremely intelligent and insightful and is a fantastic guy. He also had my CDs in the CD player – I think Timeline, The Hunted,
Children of Dune, The Greatest Game Ever Played. We listened to First Blood. We chatted about the movies. I read the script and loved it. And yes, expect to hear Jerry’s touch!
What else are you working on at the moment?Well, I am just finishing up the score for Bangkok
Dangerous starring Nic Cage. I am really happy with how this score came out – thematic, epic, heartfelt, and exciting. The film was an interesting canvas for my to compose to since it has very little dialogue. Nic
Cage is a hitman in Thailand and does not speak the language and he falls in love with a Thai girl who is deaf-mute. So the music had to tell the story. It was a great challenge and I gave it my all. William Sherak and Jason Shuman produced the film – I had worked with them before and it was a wonderful experience as always. They are great producers and friends to the artist. And it was really cool working with the Pang Brothers whom I had admired for quite some time. I also finished up scor-ing Justin Lin’s Finishing the Game, which is a mocku-mentary about the making of Bruce Lee’s last film. The score is 100% 1970s fun, rock, and disco. I played all the instruments and completely dove into that world. All the recording techniques were straight out of 1977. It was a pure joy. Now I am scoring Aliens vs Predator 2 and that is absolutely incredible to work on. The Brothers Strause are directing this like men possessed. It is absolute grit and grime and the feel of the original films. The music is going to be along those lines. Bringing it back old school style!! Those orchestral sessions are going to be insane and I am completely looking forward to it! n
Plot outline: a paranoid, unhinged, war veteran who sees insects everywhere holes up with a lonely woman in a spooky okla-homa motel room. Director: William friedkin. Producers: Kimberly c anderson, michael Burns, gary Huckabay, malcolm Petal, andreas Schardt, Holly Wiersma. Stars: ashley Judd, michael Shannon, lynn collins, Brian f. o’Byrne, Harry connick Jr. Production companies: lions gate films, l.i.f.t Production.
THE FILM: BUG
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• Red Dawn (Basil Poledouris) – Intrada Records.
By DaniEl ScHWEigEr
Sure he did some wonderful “girlie” scores like Lassie, The Blue Lagoon and Summer Lovers. But if Basil Poledouris excelled in one musical style, than it was blood and thun-der. From the Prokofiev-styled mayhem of Conan the Barbarian to the Fascist thrills of Starship Troopers and Robocop’s mean meld of electronic and orchestral per-cussion. Poledouris knew how to deal in melodic payback. And it’s crowd-pleasing soundtracks like these that shared a relentless or-chestral momentum, full of brassy, sweeping pleasure as revenge was meted out.
Yet the dearly missed Poledouris was a gentle bear of a guy himself, albeit one who knew how to play the mythic, he-man sound like few other composers. All congratulatory hell would be unleashed, but with a deep-hearted emotion that could make the biggest bruiser shed a tear. It was a talent that made Po-ledouris a perfect compatriot for di-rector John Milius, with whom he’d score the manly, war-mongering fantasies Conan, Farewell to the King and Flight of the Intruder.
Perhaps the most notorious col-laboration of these two USC surfing buddies would be 1984’s Red Dawn. Sure, peacenik critics yucked it up when a bunch of school kids wiped out hordes of Russian invaders in the American heartland. But those pundits weren’t the red-blooded teen audiences who’ve since made Dawn a right wing classic. There’s certainly no mistaking the film’s political colors as Poledouris’ trum-peting theme sweeps over its open-ing clouds, from which Russian paratroopers will soon descend upon the future stars of Dirty
Dancing, Some King of Wonderful and Secret Admirer.
Yet oddly enough, Red Dawn is a mostly elegiac affair, especially now that we get to hear Poledouris’ music in all of its glory on Intrada’s re-issue (not-so-ironically of the first CD soundtrack they put out over two decades ago). Sure there are the triumphant orchestral charges that made a generation of Commie-fighting hopefuls scream “Wolverines!” But great stretches of this score deal with its teen fighters mulling over a destroyed American way of life, and their butchered relatives. It’s a fight that will end badly for them, and Poledouris continually reminds us with an abundance of haunting, melodic poignancy.
Red Dawn’s premise might be lu-dicrous to anyone but members of the NRA or The John Birch Society. But Poledouris’ music plays it for real, with a dramatic intensity that ground the film in understandable emotion. For while Poledouris and Milius often dealt with manly subjects, their true gift was in finding a mythic vulner-ability to their steely-eyed characters, whether they were swinging a sword, firing a bazooka, or just riding a surf-board in their first collaboration Big Wednesday – whose mix of lush som-berness and heroism Dawn hearkens to the most.
But make no mistake that Red Dawn’s music stints on yahoo mili-tarism, as numerous, rousing cues turn its ragtag teen heroes into Rus-sian-killing men, all with the kind of symphonic guts and drumroll glo-ry that’s helped Red Dawn’s right-wing pleasures endure well beyond the fall of the Iron Curtain. And I suspect that the great action scores of Basil Poledouris will continue to incite our musical machismo long far after the cement blocks of the Berlin Wall have turned to dust.
ncourtesy of ifmagazine.com
Poledouris classic plays it for realALBUM REVIEW
NEW SOUNDTRACKS
JUNE 5
• Lucky You (christopher young) – varèse Sarabande
JUNE 12
• The Lives of Others (gabriel yared/Stéphane moucha) - varèse Sarabande
JUNE 19
• Bloodsport (Paul Hertzog) - Perseverance
• Evan Almighty (John Debney) – varèse Sarabande
• Shrek the Third (Harry gregson-Williams) – varèse Sarabande
JUNE 26
• Conversations With God (Emilio Kauderer) – lakeshore
• The Enforcer (Jerry fielding) - aleph
• Lady Chatterley (Beatrice thiriet) - milan
• Live Free or Die Harder (marco Beltrami) – varèse Sarabande
• Peaceful Warrior (Bennett Salvay) – lakeshore
JULY 3
NEW 1408 (gabriel yared) – varèse Sarabande
JULY 10
• Disturbia (geoff Zanelli) - lakeshore
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (nicholas Hooper) – Warner Bros
mc
COMING SOON!
1� iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
TECHNOLOGY
This week we received a note from composer Rob Kral (who’s now scoring the animated Superman: Doomsday scheduled for Fall Release) tipping us off about the new Wallander Instru-ments for Brass.
By PEtEr laWrEncE alEXanDEr
Rob wrote, “I have been using the new tech-nology of WALLANDER INSTRUMENTS for about a week now and it is absolutely ground-breaking. It is amazingly realistic and incredi-bly easy to use, not to mention completely pow-erful. I’m so excited about it and it’s worked so well in my Superman score, that I’m at least serious about saying this, I just might not ever need to use brass samples again. (Except may-be horn RIPS). You should check it out. It’s in-credibly exciting, and as as I type, not too many Hollywood pros know about it yet. ”
So, thanks to Rob we looked into this by contacting Arne Wallander of Wallander In-struments in Sweden. Since we just got the download, this won’t be a review, that will come later this summer once we have time to really learn this breakthrough technology.
Explains Mr. Wallander, “The WI Visual In-struments series are collections of virtual in-
struments that combine advanced behavioral modeling with extensive amounts of sound data extracted from acoustic measurements and recordings of real instruments.”
We’ll start with a screen shot from the web site:
You see a stage, graphic representation of virtual instruments, a man, and seats. What you’re looking at is actually one (1) instance of WIVI (Wallander Instruments Virtual In-struments – pronounced wiv-vee) showing a full symphonic setup. The man = the audience. You set close, near, and far mic positionings by where you place him (that’s just the start).
Each instrument is set to it s own MIDI channel.
Notice the trombone in the circle. This is Tenor Trombone 2. To the right you see Acous-tic Settings. Each instrument has its own set of acoustic settings. To the left, are room settings. You have a goodly number to select from. No-tice that the room height, width and depth are given in meters. This means you can actually set the size of your hall.
The + sign means add an instrument, while the – sign means remove it.
n Empty StageAfter launching, this is what it looks
like.
n Changed Stage Positioning
Put the mouse on the staging area, press and hold down the left button. You can now move the stage around for a better view.
n Adding the French HornClicking the + sign I added the French
horn.
n French horn movedUsing the mouse, I repositioned the
French horn to the back of the stage.
n Bell PositioningNow I’ve slightly changed the bell posi-
tioning.
n Changed MicBy moving the man (aka the audience),
you change the mic positioning.As you can see, this is but a taste of what’s
possible.
n InstallationInstallation is for PC only at this time, VSTi. If you’re sequencing on a Mac, on you’re PC you’ll either need Vstack from Steinberg or Forte from Brainspawn since WIVI is not free stand-ing. One thing I noticed during installation is that it happens in the blink of an eye.
n Trial Version and Audio DemosYou can find both on the same page.
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY AND YOU
Wallander Instruments
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DEMOSalso sprach Zarathustra
tchaikovsky horn
studio Dry instruments
Horn improvisation - Minor Chords
tuba allegro
trombone solo
trumpet Crescendo
Wreckless trombone
trumpet sordinos
iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 13weeklyFILM MUSIC
The Music Business
– Finding Your Place in the Music Business When You’re Not a Musician– International Music Publishing– Music Supervision for Film– The Musician’s Crash Course: A Practical Approach to Understanding
and Succeeding in the New Music Business– Music Marketing in the New Music Industry Era: Sales, Retail, and
Digital Distribution– Understanding Contracts and Deals in Today’s Music Industry
Music Technology
– Introduction to Logic Pro (Apple Certified)– Introduction to Pro Tools– Composing Computer-Based Electronic Music (Online)
Film Scoring
– Film Scoring Dialogues: A Seminar with Trevor Rabin– Anatomy of the Film Score: Past and Present– Orchestration I: Introduction to Instrumentation and Orchestral Usage– Orchestration III: Score Analysis and Reduction– Music Editing for Film, Television, and Beyond– Film Scoring I: Form and Function– Film Scoring III: Composing and Conducting to Picture—A Workshop– Synthestration: Producing Orchestral Music with Samplers– Survival Guide for Film and Television Composers– Composing Music for Video Games– Conducting: A Weekend Workshop for Composers– Workshop in Music Notation Using Finale
To enroll, visit uclaextension.edu/entertainmentstudies andclick on “Courses” to select the course of your choice or call(310)825-9971or (818)784-7006.
CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS OFFERED IN:
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Spring Quarter Classes begin March 31,2007
n First ThoughtsOverall – whoa.
Rob is running 9 instances of WIVI on one machine. So the option of setting up a vari-ety of settings is do-able with very efficient memory usage.
For the sound, very impressive. All of the brass have several mutes to pick from. The trumpets in the high register are that bright piercing sound we’ve all been looking for. In-struments can be detuned to create effective sounding unisons.
I have only a couple of complaints. I
would love to have the trumpet upper range extended above C5 to at least E5 allowing for “scream” trumpets (C3 = Middle C).I’d also like to see a fourth Trumpet. For jazz, it would be fantastic to see a Stan Kenton section of five trumpets, and five trombones. In listening to the trumpets, I get the sense that for those who remember Bill Chase, you could come close to recreating the “Chase” trumpet section. It’s that realistic.
Tutorials on the web site are very clear, well documented with many screen shots.
I should also mention that WIVI is de-
signed to be used with wind controllers.
n ConclusionThis is a virtual instrument that’s well thought out musically. Kudos to Mr. Wallander.
Price, $599.00US direct from Mr. Wallander.n
Peter Alexander is preparing to score The Good Samaritan. His most recent books are How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite, and Professional Orchestration. He has also written White Papers on music education.
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14 iSSuE 17 • may �9, �007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
Neal Acree: Juncture.Tree Adams: Keith.Mark Adler: noble Son (co-composer) • the far Side of Jericho.Eric Allaman: race.John Altman: the master Builder.Craig Armstrong: the golden age (co-composer).David Arnold: Hot fuzz.Angelo Badalamenti: the Eye • the Edge of love.Klaus Badelt: Heaven and Earth.Roque Baños: the last of the Just.Nathan Barr: rise • Watching the Detectives • Hostel: Part ii.Tyler Bates: the Haunted World of El Superbeasto • Hallo-ween • Day of the Dead • Watchmen.Jeff Beal: He Was a Quiet man • Where god left His Shoes • the Situation.Christophe Beck: license to Wed • Drillbit taylor • the Dark is rising. Marco Beltrami: captivity • in the Electric mist with confeder-ate Dead • live free or Die Hard. • 3:10 to yuma.Charles Bernstein: Bull run • let my People go.Terence Blanchard: talk to me.Scott Bomar: maggie lynn.Simon Boswell: Bathory.Jason Brandt: Something’s Wrong in Kansas.David Bridie: gone. Mickey Bullock: Sportkill • orville.Carter Burwell: no country for old men.Niall Byrne: How about you.Jeff Cardoni: firehouse Dog • Save me.Sam Cardon: a House Divided • the Dance • mummies.Teddy Castellucci: are We Done yet?.Nick Cave: the assassination of Jesse James by the coward robert ford (co-composer).Nigel Clarke/Michael Csányi-Wills: the grind.Charlie Clouser: Death Sentence.Elia Cmiral: the Deaths of ian.Graham Collins: Black Kissinger.Joseph Conlan: american Pastime.Ry Cooder: : charlie Wilson’s War.Normand Corbeil: ma fille, mon ange • Boot camp • Emotional arithmetic.Jane Antonia Cornich: island of lost Souls • Solstice.Burkhard Dallwitz: romeo and me • tak-ing tiger mountain • the interrogation of Harry Wind • chainsaw.Jeff Danna: closing the ring • c7.Mychael Danna: Surf’s up • fracture.Marcello De Francisci: the Butcher.John Debney: Evan almighty • Big Stan • Sin city � • Sin city 3 • iron man.Alexandre Desplat: mr. magorium’s Wonder Emporium • His Dark materials: the golden compass.Ramin Djawadi: mr. Brooks • fly me to the moon.James Michael Dooley: Daddy Day camp.Patrick Doyle: the last legion.Ludek Drizhal: life goes on • Badland.Jack Curtis Dubowsky: rock Haven.Anne Dudley: the Walker.Robert Duncan: Butterfly on a Wheel.Randy Edelman: underdog • Balls of fury • �7 Dresses.Steve Edwards: finding rin-tin-tin.Danny Elfman: the Sixth Element • the Kingdom.Warren Ellis: the assassination of Jesse James by the cow-ard robert ford (co-composer).Paul Englishby: magicians.Tobias Enhus: Paragraph 78.Ilan Eshkeri: the virgin territories • Stardust (co-composer) • Straightheads • Strength and Honour.Evan Evans: the mercy man.Sharon Farber: When nietzsche Wept • the tribe.Guy Farley: the flock • the christmas miracle of Jonathan toomey • Knife Edge • Dot com • the Broken • Dylan.Louis Febre: tenderness.George Fenton: fool’s gold.Chad Fischer: the Babysitters.Robert Folk: Kung Pow: tongue of fury • magdalene • vivaldi.Jason Frederick: chinaman’s chance.John Frizzell: careless • first Born. Michael Giacchino: ratatouille • Star trek Xi.Vincent Gillioz: Pray for morning • l’Ecart • Séance • Say it in russian.Scott Glasgow: Hack! • toxic • the gene generation • Bone Dry.Philip Glass: no reservations • cassandra’s Dream.Erik Godal: the gift.Elliot Goldenthal: across the universe.Howard Goodall: mr Bean’s Holiday.Adam Gorgoni: Starting out in the Evening.Jeff Grace: the last Winter • triggerman • i Sell the Dead. Harry Gregson-Williams: gone, Baby, gone • Jolene • the chronicles of narnia: Prince caspian.Rupert Gregson-Williams: i Know Pronounce you chuck and larry • Bee movie.
Andrew Gross: forfeit.Larry Groupé: resurrecting the champ. Andrea Guerra: l’uomo di vetro.Christopher Gunning: la vie en rose.Steven Gutheinz: rothenburg.Richard Hartley: Diamond Dead.Richard Harvey: legend of King naresuan.Paul Haslinger: gardener of Eden.Alex Heffes: my Enemy’s Enemy.Paul Hepker: rendition (co-composer). Eric Hester: lost mission • frail.Tom Hiel: a Plumm Summer.David Hirschfelder: Shake Hands With the Devil.Ben Holbrook: Kiss the Bride.Lee Holdridge: i Have never forgotten you - the life and legacy of Simon Wiesenthal.Andrew Hollander: East Broadway.David Holmes: ocean’s thirteen.Nicholas Hooper: Harry Potter and order of the Phoenix.James Horner: the Spiderwick chronicles.Richard Horowitz: genghis Khan. James Newton Howard: michael clayton • the Waterhorse • i am legend.Terry Huud: Plaguers.Alberto Iglesias: Savage grace • Her majestic minor.Mark Isham: Pride and glory • reservation road • gracie.Steve Jablonsky: D-War • transformers.Corey Allen Jackson: god’s Ears • ogre.James Jandrisch: american venus.Adrian Johnston: Sparkle • Becoming Jane.Bobby Johnston: american fork • Stuck.Tim Jones: cryptid.
Trevor Jones: fields of freedom.David Julyan: outlaw.Jan A.P, Kaczmarek: Evening.John Kaefer: room Service (co-com-poser).Matthew Kajcienski: room Service (co-composer). George Kallis: Highlander: the Source • antigravity.Tuomas Kantelinen: Quest for a Heart • the Knight templar • mongol.Laura Karpman: man in the chair • out at the Wedding.Rolfe Kent: fred claus • Spring Break in Bosnia • Sex and Death 101.Wojciech Kilar: We own the night.Mark Kilian: rendition (co-composer).
David Kitay: Because i Said So • Shanghai Kiss.Harald Kloser: 10,000 Bc.Penka Kouneva: the third nail • richard iii.Ivan Koutikov: Wanted undead or alive • living Hell.Aryavarta Kumar: the rapture •Christopher Lennertz: this christmas • the comebacks.Sondre Lerche: Dan in real life.Michael A. Levine: adrift in manhattan.Christopher Libertino: off the grid – life on the mesa.Andrew Lockington: Step • How She move • Journey 3-D.Joseph LoDuca: Bar Starz • my name is Bruce • ocean of Pearls • Boogeyman �.Henning Lohner: in the name of the King: a Dungeon Siege tale.Steve London: Decoys �: alien Seduction • Kaw.Helen Jane Long: Surveillance.Erik Lundborg: absolute trust.Deborah Lurie: Spring Breakdown.Vivek Maddala: they turned our Desert into fire. Mark Mancina: Sheepish • august rush • camille • Without a Badge • like Dandelion Dust.Harry Manfredini: Dead and gone • that’s amore.David Mansfield: carnaval de Sodoma • then She found me • the guitar.Dario Marianelli: We are together • goodbye Bafana • atone-ment • Shrooms • the Brave one.Cliff Martinez: first Snow • vice.John McCarthy: the Stone angel.Joel McNeely: fox and the Hound ii • the tinkerbell movie.Nathaniel Mechaly: Sans moi.Alan Menken: Enchanted • the frog Princess. Guy Michelmore: Doctor Strange.Randy Miller: last time forever • Shanghai red.Robert Miller: teeth • the Key man • trumbo.Charlie Mole: fade to Black • i really Hate my Job • St. trinian’s.Deborah Mollison: infinite Justice.Paul Leonard-Morgan: Popcorn.Andrea Morricone: raul – Diritto di uccidere • veronica Decides to Die.Mark Mothersbaugh: mama’s Boy • Quid Pro Quo • fanboys.John Murphy: Sunshine.Peter Nashel: Wedding Daze.Blake Neely: Elvis and anabelle.Roger Neill: take • Scar.Randy Newman: leatherheads.Thomas Newman: nothing is Private.Marinho Nobre: left for Dead.Julian Nott: Heavy Petting.Paul Oakenfold: victims • nobel Son (co-composer).
Dean Ogden: oranges.John Ottman: the invasion • fantastic four: rise of the Silver Surfer.John Paesano: Shamrock Boy.Heitor Pereira: illegal tender • Blind Dating • Suburban girl.Barrington Pheloung: and When Did you last See your father?.Leigh Phillips: the legend trip • War made Easy.Nicholas Pike: the Shooter.Douglas Pipes: trick r’ treat.Steve Porcaro: the Wizard of gore • cougar club.Rachel Portman: the feast of love.John Powell: the Bourne ultimatum • Horton Hears a Who.Michael Price: Sugarhouse lane.Trevor Rabin: national treasure �: the Book of Secrets • get Smart.Didier Lean Rachou: How to rob a Bank • an american in china • moving mcallister.A.R. Rahman: the golden age (co-composer).Brian Ralston: graduation • 9/tenths.Jasper Randall: me & you, us, forever • the Secrets of Jonathan Sperry.Brian Reitzell: 30 Days of night.Joe Renzetti: 39 • universal Signs.Graeme Revell: marigold.Graham Reynolds: i’ll come running.Carmen Rizzo: the Power of the game.Matt Robertson: the forest.Philippe Rombi: angel.Jeff Rona: Whisper.Brett Rosenberg: the Skeptic.William Ross: September Dawn.Hitoshi Sakamoto: romeo x Juliet.H. Scott Salinas: Strictly Sexual • What We Did on our Holidays.Brian Satterwhite: cowboy Smoke.Mark Sayfritz: until Death.sake.Brad Sayles: the Bracelet of Bordeaux.Lalo Schifrin: rush Hour 3. Marc Shaiman: Hairpsray • Slammer • the Bucket list.Theodore Shapiro: mr Woodcock • the mysteries of Pitts-burgh • the girl in the Park.Edward Shearmur: 88 minutes • Dedication • the other Boleyn girl. Howard Shore: Eastern Promises.Ryan Shore: the girl next Door • numb.Carlo Siliotto: la misma luna • the ramen girl.Alan Silvestri: Beowulf.Samuel Sim: awake.Marcus Sjöwall: Dreamkiller.BC Smith: greetings from the Shore.Damion Smith: Stompin.Jason Solowsky: 110%: When Blood, Sweat and tears are not Enough • the Deepening • l.a takedown • unemployed • north by El norte.Mark Hinton Stewart: man from Earth.Marc Streitenfeld: american gangster.William T. Stromberg: tv virus.Mark Suozzo: the nanny Diaries.John Swihart: the Brothers Solomon.Johan Söderqvist: Walk the talk.Joby Talbot: Son of rambow.Frederic Talgorn: asterix at the olympic games • largo Winch • Dragon Hunters.Francois Tétaz: rogue.Mark Thomas: moondance alexander • tales of the riverbank.tomandandy: the Koi Keeper.Pinar Toprak: Blue World • Dark castle • Serbian Scars.Jeff Toyne: Shadow in the trees • the third Eye.Thanh Tran: cult. Ernest Troost: crashing.Brian Tyler: time to Kill • War • finishing the game • alien vs. Predator � • John rambo.Shigeru Umebayashi: a Simple love Story.Johan van der Voet: clocking Paper.John Van Tongeren: War games � - the Dead code Waddy Wachtel: Strange Wilderness.Michael Wandmacher: the Killing floor • man of two Havanas.Nathan Wang: Daddy’s little girl • the final Season.Stephen Warbeck: Killshot • flawless • miguel and William.Craig Wedren: the ten.Cody Westheimer: Benny Bliss and the Disciples of greatness.John Clifford White: macbeth.Alan Williams: angst • Snow Princess • He love Her, She loves Him not.David Williams: the conjuring.John Williams: indiana Jones iv • lincoln.Tim Williams: afterthought • a Dog’s Breakfast.Debbie Wiseman: flood.Lyle Workman: Superbad.Alex Wurman: the nines • the Baker • Bernard and Doris • Baggage.Gabriel Yared: manolete • 1408.Geoff Zanelli: Delgo.Marcelo Zarvos: the air i Breathe • you Kill me.Aaron Zigman: the martian child • good luck chuck • Jane austen Book club.Hans Zimmer: the Simpsons.
Film Music Weekly only lists scoring assignments that have been confirmed to us by official sources. The list is limited to feature film scoring assignments. New additions are highlighted in orange print. Edited by Mikael Carlsson. Updates should be sent to [email protected].
THE SCOREBOARD