Days in the Life of a Film Composer

One of the many great experiences I had while in Las Vegas earlier this month for the IAWTV Awards was to speak on a panel regarding music in a web series. all of the panel discussions were videotaped and uploaded to YouTube. If you're curious about the music for CELL: THE WEB SERIES or about creating music for a web series in general then check it out. It was a lot of fun and very rewarding experience for me.

Presented at CES on January 11th, 2012.

Moderator:
Mark Gardner - Board Member of IAWTV

Panelists:
S. Pease Nistades - Composer of Dragon Age: Redemption
Brian Satterwhite - Composer of Cell: The Web Series
Jason C. Miller - Composer, The Guild

Last week I spent a few days scoring a new short film for Marian Yeager called THE GOOD SAMARITAN (2012). Marian and I go way back. I scored her first short film called HOW NOT TO LOSE YOUR CAR way back in 2000. I think it was one of the first short films of my professional career after I moved to Austin.

"The Good Samaritan" is a fun little short that allowed me to flex my jazz muscles. They've shriveled up a bit in the past several years so it was nice to flex them a bit. I haven't done anything jazz-based in a long while and it really felt good. It's a comedy so there are a lot of well-timed starts and stops in the score to bring out some of the humor. All-in-all it was a blast to work on. I'd love to do an entire feature film like this. It was too quick a project.

A good friend of mine is apt to tell me that I multitask more than anybody he knows. He may be right. I do have a lot of pots on my stove and I just added another...

Tonight I was officially inducted as a board member of the Cinematic Symphony here in Austin. It's a wind ensemble of around forty dedicated volunteer amateur musicians performing three to four film music concerts per year. I've been to several shows throughout their seven-year tenure and they're marvelous. I even emceed their penultimate concert for 2011 entitled "Childhood Heroes." It's a group that I really wanted to become involved with but wasn't really sure how. I'm not really interested in performing with the ensemble and I'm far to busy to conduct on a full time basis so it was suggested that I join the board. Perfect!

I'm very excited to finally be a part of this organization. One of the duties I will be responsible for is music and that includes finding, securing, and programming music for the various concerts throughout each year. Seems like a perfect fit for me.

I would even love to conduct a concert someday soon. I think I may have the perfect concert idea in mind...

My second day in LA was jammed packed with goodness. I was staying with a friend while I was in town and got up early Saturday morning to start my day. It started with a meeting on the west side with a film music manager who I'm interested in possibly represented me. This was by itself extremely exciting and a very rewarding encounter but I'll save the details for another time.

After my meeting I drove on up to Burbank so I could attend the FRIDAY THE 13TH box set signing at Dark Delicacies. I brought along my share of swag including my copy of the box set to get autographed by the cast and crew that were going to be in attendance. I wanted to get in quick before the rush and get my stuff signed so I could hang out in the wings chatting with folks. As soon as I walked in the door I told them who I was and was immediately ushered over to a long table set up on the far side of the room. Strewn out atop the table were water bottles and several Sharpie markers of varying colors and widths.

"You'll be sitting here," I was told as they pulled out one of the seats from the table.

"At the autograph table??" I quickly responded. "You want me sitting at the autograph table?"

"Yes," I was told.

"To sign autographs?? Me???" I replied.

"Yes," they said. "These fans are completists. You wrote the liner notes. You're name is in the booklet. They're going to want your signature on the box set."

"Are you sure????" The look of bewilderment on my face was probably fairly pronounced. I was befuddled and shocked.

Finally I acquiesced and took a seat at the table. This was too weird. Too trippy. I came as a fan and now I'm sitting in the signing row? It wasn't long before the composer, Harry Manfredini, entered and took his seat at the head of the table just to the left of me. Not long after that Adrienne King, the star of the first film, came and and took her seat to my right. Beyond her was Richard Brooker (Jason Vorhees from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3), Nancy McLoughlin (of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI) and Tom McLoughlin (director of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI). I can't begin to describe the surreal setting I found myself.

Harry and I signing the pre-orders before the doors opened.
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Before they opened the doors I had to sign 180 booklets for all the pre-orders the store received. It didn't take too terribly long to sign them all. I finished before it was time to start the line moving. Sure enough, the doors opened and a line formed within the store. The fans at the front of the line were packed with F13TH swag: posters, CD box sets, books, comics, photographs, and one guy even brought a pair of oars to get signed by everybody. A pair of oars! How cool was that? I pretty much stuck to signing the box set because I had nothing to do with the other things.

Me along side "The Maestro of Mayhem" - Harry Manfredini
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Over the course of the next two and a half hours I must've signed another 50-100 box sets. It's hard to remember. Adrienne and I got chummy as we talked throughout the entire event. Turns out she now lives in Oregon and has entered the wine business with several vintages that have been getting raved reviews within the gourmet food industry. Between her and Harry and I yakking it up the entire afternoon and interacting with the fans who all brought a piece of F13TH with them to get autographed, it was a grand and magical day. The sheer weight of what was happening never truly sunk in. I felt like I belonged more in the line with all the fans than at the table of folks who were autographing merchandise.

Me signing another box set.
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I was honored and humbled by this radical experience. F13TH fans are some of the best I've ever encountered. I love their passion so much. I can see why the cast and crew members involved with all the F13TH movies are so eager to attend these events around the country. There's so much love for what they did. I got a miniscule little crumb of what that must feel like and it was amazing. I felt honored to have been selected to pen the liner notes for this box set; however, the feeling was much more than I ever anticipated. Thanks to La-La Land Records for the opportunity. I relished every second of it.

When all the fans had left and the dignitaries were packing up getting ready to leave I got a picture taken with Adrienne and she gave me a wonderful hug and kiss on the cheek. Again...surreal doesn't even begin to explain it. She even gave me a personalized limited edition poster she was selling for the fans with a very nice inscription on it. Harry and I seemed to be old buds as well. I'm going to try to get Harry to Austin someday. I think he'd love it here.

If this signing were the only event to hallmark the day it would be enough to make it one of the coolest of my film music loving life...but it wasn't. There was more yet to come...

Me and Adrienne King of FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)
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Harry signing a poster for La-La Land Records
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UPDATE: Here are some more pictures of the screenings and signing event taken by La-La Land Records.

Me and Harry Manfredini outside the Vista Theater in LA.
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Jason even showed up and he LOVED the box set!
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Adrienne King and Harry Manfredini outside the Vista Theater.
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Harry signed copies of the sheet music for the song which closes FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980). I picked up one of these myself and had him sign it.
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Harry signing another poster for a fan.
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The reason I went out to LA last week was because La-La Land Records was releasing the FRIDAY THE 13TH PARTS I-VI 6CD box set which I wrote the liner notes for. Back when I was writing the notes I heard they were going to be celebrating the release with a screening or two and a signing with members of the cast and crew. There was no way I was going to miss that! By writing the liner notes for this box set, I felt like I became connected with the FRIDAY THE 13TH universe even if it was in a miniscule way. I had to be there for the release!

Here is the finished FRIDAY THE 13TH PARTS I-VI 6CD box set.
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On the morning of Friday, January 13th, I was still in Las Vegas recovering from the IAWTV festivities the previous night. I rented a car and headed west to Los Angeles. I had never driven in that part of the country so I was really looking forward to taking the leisure four-hour drive through the desert. People warned me that there wasn't much in between Vegas and LA. They were pretty much right. The drive was nothing but mountains and sand as far as the eye could see for about three and a half hours. Along the way I even stopped at one of those rickety gas stations set all by itself in the middle of nowhere just like you see in the movies (scary movies?). It was pretty cool.

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When I got to LA, my first stop was the La-La Land Records office in Burbank. I had never been there before so I wanted to be sure to visit on this trip. I hung out there for a little while as orders for the box set were pouring in. I chatted with Michael and Matt (owners of LLL) for about an hour and then I got back in the car and went a few miles down the street to see my friend Ryan who also lived in Burbank. I wasn't initially planning on seeing him but when I called him and told him I was visiting the La-La Land Records office he informed me he lived just down the street from them. I was going to have dinner with Michael and Matt later that night so I thought I'd kill a couple hours hanging out with Ryan.

It was good to see him again. He and I were buds back at Berklee when we were fledgling film scoring students. It's been really cool to see him excel in his career over the years. Ryan was recently nominated for a Grammy award for his soundtrack for THE SHRINE (2011) so it meant a lot to me to be able to congratulate him in person. The last time I saw him he took me flying but there was no time for that on this trip. Just good old fashioned catching up.

After I left Ryan's house I headed over to the restaurant where I had dinner with Michael and Matt of LLL Records. Then we headed over to the Vista Theater in Los Angeles where a double feature of FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) and FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES (1986) was scheduled to start at 9:30pm. Harry Manfredini was there (the composer of the six films) along with Adrienne King (the "final girl" of the first film) along with a few other cast members from Part VI. It was great meeting Harry for the first time. He and I got chummy over the last couple months while I interviewed him for the liner notes. We talked several times over the phone and exchanged quite a few emails. He had already told me how much he LOVED my liner notes so it was mutually gratifying for both of us to finally meet each other.

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Seeing FRIDAY THE 13TH on the big screen for the first time was a real treat. I don't know how many times I've seen it but to see it on the big screen with an audience is always the best. After the first film the honored guests came up for a Q&A and Harry gave me a big shout out about my liner notes. It was awesome!

...but that was nothing. The next day would be so much more awesomer!

Along with the theatrical and VOD release of MAN ON A MISSION (2010), it is also available for rent in HD on iTunes. It will be made available for purchase and download in mid-March. Right now it's jumping around between 8-11 on the Top Documentary charts on iTunes. That's pretty oool.

MAN ON A MISSION on iTunes
Lower left hand corner, third from the left.
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All that worry about my class being smaller was all for naught. My class actually grew! It's way beyond my cap which I expanded yesterday to 24. I actually had 29 people show up today so I have a feeling there were a few more who showed up hoping to get in. Unfortunately I went through that process yesterday and got a batch of people from the waiting list into my class. I wish I could accept everybody who wants to take it but it's just not possible. The room size alone is close to being maxed out. It's pretty cool though to offer a class that is popular.

The second day of class was great. I was really in the groove. We finished up with PSYCHO and then dove right in to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) with music by John Williams. These first few days of class are still more or less an introduction to how we're going to proceed in this course. These are practice examples to get the idea of how I want them to listen to these scores. After today we'll be listening and analyzing specific concepts and ideas but today is a free-for-all discussion about the notes and bolts of these pieces.

I'm hoping that by next week I'll have my final roster and everything will be ironed out. It's important for me to learn each student's name so I'm going to start being diligent about that. 24 students is a lot so we'll see how long it takes me to learn everybody's name.

I'm already looking forward to the start of week two. Let the learning really commence!

Today was my first day teaching a college level course of any kind anywhere. RTF331T got under way at the University of Texas and I couldn't have been more excited. My class was originally capped off at 16 but I plan on expanding it a bit if I can. I actually had 24 people show up. There was a good contingency of students from the waiting list who were hoping to get in. I have no idea how this works but I promised them all I would look into it.

The first day of class is pretty much all introduction. I passed out the syllabus to everybody and went through explaining what I expected of them and what they should expect of me. I have the entire course mapped out but it's pretty general. Being that this is my first time teaching a course that I designed, I'm really not sure what to expect as far as how long it takes to get through each topic. I've lectured on these things in the past but it's different when you're grading those who are listening to you.

We did manage to dive into a little bit of film music and first up was PSYCHO (1960) with music by Bernard Herrmann. I played a clip which featured the shower scene with music and then again without music. We ran out of time to fully discuss it but I think I might have piqued their interest enough to look forward to the next class.

Thursday we'll see if there are less people than today. I'm sure a few folks will drop. Hopefully not too many. Either way, I'm really excited about the upcoming semester. I've got some great students and we'll be taking this journey together. I can't wait!

While I was in Las Vegas celebrating my IAWTV nomination, another big milestone for my career was taking place in major cities around the country. On January 13th, 2012, MAN ON MISSION opened in theaters in New York, Detroit, Chicago, and a handful of other cities. The film was also simultaneously released on VOD to more than 50 million homes! This officially marks the first film that I worked on receiving theatrical distribution (not counting the IMAX film I scored). There will be two more later this year.

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This is a marquee in New York City.
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This one is in Chicago.
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Something else that is rather cool...I was browsing the internet and I saw an ad for MOAM pop up on Ain't It Cool News. Yes, web ads are rather annoying unless they're for a film that you scored!

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These pics were taken by Yahoo! at the IAWTV Awards.

The entire CELL group from L to R: Kevin McCarthy, Me, Hillary Wagner, Mark Gardner, Jourdan Gibson, Danny Cameron
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Me and Mark
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Wow! What a whirlwind trip. I left last Wednesday morning (very early!) to Las Vegas to attend the IAWTV (International Academy of Web Television) events which coincided with CES (Consumer Electronics Show). I arrived at the Venetian Hotel around 10AM which was about a half-hour early. I was scheduled to speak on a panel about creating music for web series along with a couple other composers who were nominated this year for an award.

The panel was fun. Not many folks in the audience but it was recorded so that it could be posted online. After that I hooked up with the other folks from CELL: THE WEB SERIES who were in town to attend the events as well. Jourdan Gibson (Sarah) was there, Danny Cameron (Brian), Kevin McCarthy (The Man), and Mark Gardner (writer/director) were all there. After all the panels were concluded we all went over to the Public House which is a restaurant nearby the theater at the Venetian Hotel. There are many things in Las Vegas you can do that you can't do anywhere else: gamble, pay for sex, drink outside on the street. When I go to Vegas I order rare hamburgers! I ate an ultra-rare burger that was absolutely delicious!

From R to L: Kevin McCarthy, Jourdan Gibson, Danny Cameron
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After our early dinner the rest of the gang were going to party it up but I had been awake for nearly twenty hours and decided to go ahead and retire early so I could be fresh for tomorrow.

The next morning Mark and I went over to the Las Vegas Convention Center to see some of the CES trade show. It was mammoth! I was in a showroom as large as I've ever seen...and it was just the top floor! There was another floor beneath us plus another hall the size of the one I was in which also had two floors. Plus there were exhibits over at the Venetian showroom as well. I've never seen so many exhibitors in one place. We only had about an hour so we probably only saw about 4% of what was really there.

A small part of the CES tradeshow. Notice how you can't see the walls.
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After that I attended another panel that Mark was speaking on which featured all the creators of series which were up for the Best Drama award. Following that we walked back to the hotel to begin getting ready for the awards show.

The panel featuring all the nominees for Best Drama
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I got all dressed up and then Mark and I cabbed it back over to the Venetian to attend the awards show. It was pretty cool and actually quite surreal. When Mark brought me the series to score two years ago I had never heard of a web series. I remember asking myself, "Is anybody going to see this?" Now, here I am two years later in Las Vegas about to attend a big awards show of which I was a nominee for Best Music.

Before we head inside the theater we had to walk the red carpet. I have to admit, this was my first legitimate red-carpet experience. We walked down to a mob of photographers where three different people were interviewing the guests. We stopped at each one and answered a question or two and then moved on to the next interview. It was pretty cool.

Mark Gardner (writer/director) and Me
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From L to R: Hillary Wagner, Me and Jourdan Gibson
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Me and Mark Gardner
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Me, Jourdan Gibson and Mark Gardner
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We went inside the theater and I found my seat along with the other CELL nominees. It was very cool. It was just like an awards show you see on television. I was pumped and I really wanted to win.

...but I didn't.

They announced the award for Best Music very early into the show. It was probably the fourth or fifth award given out. I was bummed but a quick text from my two boys back home who were watching the show live on the web cheered me right up. They had to give out thirty-something awards and they did so in under two hours. I was pretty impressed. Kevin Pollack's appearance at the end of the show was the highlight. That guy was hilarious!

After the show there was an after party across the hall where we hung out and mingled a bit. After that the CELL crew got dinner and while they went on to do more partying, I decided to head back to the hotel and retire for the night. I wanted to get up early so I can hit the road to LA. I walked along the strip by myself thinking about the events of the previous 48 hours. In order to properly determine where you are going, you have to know where you are. I thought that to myself as I walked down the street and even though I didn't win I was proud of my accomplishments. A lot of people came up to me afterwards and told me how much they loved my music for CELL. I may not have won the award but that little project which I wondered would ever get an audience, earned one in a big big way and I am extremely proud to be a part of it.

Now if I can just find another web series to score...I want to go back and win this time!

A few years ago I composed a piece for woodwind quintet that was commissioned by the Wild Basin Winds here in Austin for inclusion on an album they were producing. They told me to come up with a 3-4 minute piece that would be suitable for children's album. Since the Olympics were going on, I decided to write a piece commemorating the Olympics. I thought about the woodwind quintet and how the five instruments mirrored the five rings of the Olympic symbol and set out to write a festive piece that kids could relate to.

The result was "Five Rings: An Olympic Celebration" which was recorded and mixed by Larry Seyer who also recorded and mixed my IMAX score RIDE AROUND THE WORLD (2006). The album was released a year later and I'm very happy with the results. Here's the piece...

Last Friday I went by the RTF department at UT to check out my classroom where I'll be teaching. I needed to see it to assess what equipment I'll have access to and the overall size of the room. It's really an awesome space! It has a surround sound audio system with full media capabilities all accessible from a touch-screen controller. It has seven programmable lighting settings which adjusts the lights to set different moods. There are about twenty fully decked iMacs running Logic and Pro Tools with Oxygen MIDI controllers.

Watch out UT film majors! RTF331T is going to be a helluva lot of fun!

2012 is going to be an exciting year! I feel that way at the start of each new year but I have an especially heightened sense of greatness for the upcoming year than usual.

What could make 2012 an exceptional year? Well, for starters I'll have three films in theaters early in 2012. SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH (2011), MAN ON A MISSION (2010) and SWITCH (2011) will all be nationally released in theaters starting in January when MAN ON A MISSION opens up nationwide on the 15th. I also start my teaching stint at the University of Texas at Austin. I'll be teaching a course that I designed for the Radio-Television-Film department. I couldn't be more excited. I love lecturing and talking in public but I've never taught an entire class at the collegiate level. I'll be instructing a class full of wide-eyed filmmakers showing them the power of music and how they can utilize it in their films and become better storytellers. It's a huge honor for me to be a part of this university.

There are several other little things lurking in the wings as well. In a week I'll be leaving for Las Vegas and then on to Los Angeles for a quick five day trip. I'll be attending the IAWTV Awards show and serving on a panel about composing for a web series in Vegas and then on to LA for the festivities celebrating the release of the FRIDAY THE 13TH box set which I wrote the liner notes for. As soon as I get back I'll start my UT class.

Whew, the first two weeks of 2012 alone are already jammed-packed with goodness.

Last month I finished up the single most ambitious liner note project I've yet tackled. La-La Land Records commissioned me to pen roughly 10,000 words for a new 6-CD box set featuring Harry Manfredini's complete scores for FRIDAY THE 13TH PARTS 1-6! This was a little bit like scribing the notes for the PUPPET MASTER box set for Perseverance Records last year but that was capped at 2500 words. The most I've ever written for an album is about 3500 words.

So this was a big deal and a humongous honor for me. I've been a fan of the films for as long as I could remember. They were the "forbidden fruit" I would sneak a peak at on cable while my parents were out or catch at friends houses when I could. To become a very small part of the FRIDAY THE 13TH family is extremely cool and quite high on my "geek meter."

As cool as the assignment was it was a job and a tough one at that. Not only is it a lot of words to write but there is a ton of material to cover. What do I write about? What don't I write about? I was able to interview Harry Manfredini, Sean S. Cunningham (the director of FRIDAY THE 13TH) and Victor Miller (the screenwriter of FRIDAY THE 13TH) who all provided a wealth of interesting insight.

After painstaking revisions, additions, and deletions, the final draft was turned in not too long ago. I am extremely proud of it. It's the best liner notes I've written. I saw the final art work last week and the booklet, covers, and packaging all look amazing. The box set will be released on January 13, 2012. I can't wait to get my copy.

I found out today that I was nominated for Best Original Score in this year's IAWTV Awards (honoring web programming) for my score to CELL: THE WEB SERIES. Wow! What a huge honor. This is essentially the Oscars or Grammys for the web industry. It's pretty surreal to think that this relatively small project I did last year is garnering so much attention for me and others involved with its creation. CELL also received nominations for Cinematography, Writing, Male Performance, Female Performance, and Dramatic Series.

There is an award ceremony in Las Vegas on January 12, 2012. I was slated to go to LA during that time but it looks like I'll be making a quick to Las Vegas before I head out to LA. The plan is to arrive the morning of Wednesday, January 11th so I can sit on a panel discussion about scoring web programs. Then on Thursday evening, January 12th will be the awards ceremony at the Venetian Hotel. The following morning I'll drive to LA to attend an event that night and another event the following day. Then I'll fly back to Austin on Sunday the 15th. Wow, what a whirlwind four days!

For a few hours upon learning of my nomination I genuinely felt the, "it's just an honor to be nominated" feeling everybody talks about.

That wore off pretty quickly though. I want to win.

UPDATE: News of the nominations have spread all throughout cyberspace including articles in Variety and the Wall Street Journal.

I go to Butt-numb-a-thon just about every year. In the thirteen years of its existence, of been to all of them except 1, 2, and 6 making 13 my tenth event. It's a 24+ hour movie marathon hosted by Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles in celebration of his birthday. We don't know what we're seeing until just before we see it.

This year was particularly fantastic. Of the twelve movies we saw I liked or loved them all except for one. Here's what we saw:

1. HUGO (2011)
2. LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE (1902) w/ live accompaniment by Graham Reynolds.
3. JUST IMAGINE (1930)
4. TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY (2011)
5. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)
6. THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)
7. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (2011)
8. PORCO ROSSO (1992)
9. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)
10. GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE (2011)
11. THE GREY (2011)
12. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL (2011) at the IMAX™ theater.

My favorite film of the festival? MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL
My least favorite film of the festival? GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE

Already looking forward to next year!

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Everett and the gang came back from LA after screening, pitching, and trying to sell HOLLOW OAKS (2011). They came back energized with new ideas to brand the film. The first thing they did is re-title it. It's now called EVICTION. I dig it. It actually fits better and is far more striking and alluring a title. They're currently in the process of reediting the film a bit and started off by posted a new trailer. I like it a lot too. Seems like everything is going where it should be. I just hope my music doesn't get too butchered along the way.

Here is the official theatrical poster for MAN ON A MISSION (2012). The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on January 13, 2012 with a simultaneous release on VOD (video-on-demand) which will be available in 50 million homes across the USA. The poster is close to the previous version with a few minor tweaks.

It was designed by local graphic artists Michael Anderson. I love this poster.

...and here's a quick news blurb about MOAM getting distribution.

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Finally! Intrada Records has announced they're releasing Christopher Young's score for THE CORE (2003). I penned the liner notes for this album back in February. Chris wanted to adjust the album a bit so the release was delayed until last week when the announcement was finally made. This is the first Intrada soundtrack that I wrote liner notes for.