ISSUE 25 • AUG 8, 2007 • Published weekly by Global Media Development Group, Inc. • Publisher: Mark Northam • Editor: Mikael Carlsson • www.filmmusicmag.com weekly FILM MUSIC MORE INSIDE: p:8 SIGNINGS & PROJECTS p:10 CHART DOCTOR: CONDUCT YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY p:12 THE SCOREBOARD SESAC Implements Ad/Promo Performance Tracking System Ottman’s Best Superhero Score Yet n If you’re stuck with a filmscoring niche, you could do worse than being the equivalent of a Marvel Zombie with a touch of DC madness thrown in. With X-Men 2, Fantastic Four and Superman Returns to his credits, John Ottman has given a sweeping, melodically powerful sound to many of earth’s most popular superheroes. p:7 Academy Bans All Score and Soundtrack CD Mailings The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in new rules posted this week, has banned the mailing of nominated score or soundtrack CDs to members. The new Academy rule states, “No re- cordings, sheet music or music videos of eli- gible songs or scores may be sent to Academy members at any time,” and according to an Academy source was recommended by the Academy music branch executive commit- tee. The announcement has caused concern in the composer community, especially inlight of this year’s Best Score winner Babel whose score contained a significant amount of pre- viously released instrumental music, and source music by another composer. The score composition from Babel played at the Acad- emy Awards event under the film clip had in fact been released 8 years ago on an album. Without official academy score CDs of eligible music, it may be difficult for voting members watching a DVD screener to tell which score music was written by the nomi- nated composer and which music may have been written by others. James Schafer Wins Young Film Composers Competition SESAC has announced the implementa- tion of its AdVantage Tracking System, a new methodology utilizing both audio fingerprint- ing and digital watermarking for tracking and paying royalties for musical performanc- es in ads and promos on television. The move puts the organization ahead of competitors ASCAP and BMI who have not yet imple- mented digital watermarking or fingerprint- ing technology for tracking and payment of music performances in ads or promos on television, which according to one survey amounts to over 50% of the music performed on television. The system combines data provided by media tracking companies Competitrack and DigSound. Competitrack uses audio finger- printing technology to track music in adver- tisements, while DigSound utilizes digital watermarking technology to track music in promos. p:6 Composer James Schafer has been selected by a pan- el of top industry judges as the grand prize winner of the 8th Annual TCM Young Film Composers Competi- tion. The announcement was made at a gala awards ceremony held at The Skir- ball Cultural Center on July 25. Other competition finalists also presented with awards including Apple computers and software were composers Garth Neustadter, Jeremy Schrepple, Jaebon Hwang and Ed- ward White. The competition, presented by Turner Classic Movies and sponsored by Film Music Magazine, featured over 850 entries this year from countries around the world including Spain, France, England, Canada and the US. As grand prize winner, Schafer wins a grand prize of $15,000 and the opportunity to score the classic restored silent film Beau Brummel starring John Barrymore. Schafer will record his score later this year in Los Angeles. p:4 James Schafer Dan Carlin Named Chair of Berklee Film Scoring Department Berklee College of Music in Boston has announced the appointment of Segue Mu- sic co-founder Dan Carlin as chair of the college’s Film Scoring Department. He re- places founding Film Scoring Chair Don Wilkins, who insti- tuted the department in 1979. “Having been a longtime fan and supporter of Berklee’s film-scoring program, I am particu- larly proud and honored to receive this appoint- ment. I am especially fortunate and grateful that Chair Emeritus Don Wilkins and Interim Chair Eric Reasoner are remaining on the faculty to help me meet the related challenges. . And I look forward to discussing these issues with them at Fenway Park during the World Series,” he said. Carlin is an Emmy Award-nominated music director (The Temptations), an Emmy Award- winning music editor (Under Siege), was the music supervisor and principal conductor for two Golden Globe-nominated film scores (The Black Stallion and Last of the Mohicans) and was Pro- duction Music Supervisor for Quest for Camelot, which received a Golden Globe® for Best Song. p:6 Dan Carlin
Transcript
ISSUE 25 • AUG 8, 2007 • Published weekly by Global Media Development Group, Inc. • Publisher: Mark Northam • Editor: Mikael Carlsson • www.filmmusicmag.com
weeklyFILM MUSIC
MORE INSIDE:p:8 signings & projects
p:10chart Doctor: conDuct Yourself accorDinglY
p:12the scoreBoarD
SESACImplementsAd/PromoPerformanceTrackingSystem
Ottman’sBestSuperheroScoreYet n If you’re stuck with a filmscoring niche, you could do worse than being the equivalent of a Marvel Zombie with a touch of DC madness thrown in. With X-Men 2, Fantastic Four and Superman Returns to his credits, John Ottman has given a sweeping, melodically powerful sound to many of earth’s most popular superheroes. p:7
AcademyBansAllScoreandSoundtrackCDMailings The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in new rules posted this week, has banned the mailing of nominated score or soundtrack CDs to members. The new Academy rule states, “No re-cordings, sheet music or music videos of eli-gible songs or scores may be sent to Academy members at any time,” and according to an Academy source was recommended by the Academy music branch executive commit-tee. The announcement has caused concern in the composer community, especially inlight of this year’s Best Score winner Babel whose score contained a significant amount of pre-viously released instrumental music, and source music by another composer. The score composition from Babel played at the Acad-emy Awards event under the film clip had in fact been released 8 years ago on an album. Without official academy score CDs of eligible music, it may be difficult for voting members watching a DVD screener to tell which score music was written by the nomi-nated composer and which music may have been written by others.
JamesSchaferWinsYoungFilmComposersCompetition
SESAC has announced the implementa-tion of its AdVantage Tracking System, a new methodology utilizing both audio fingerprint-ing and digital watermarking for tracking and paying royalties for musical performanc-es in ads and promos on television. The move puts the organization ahead of competitors
ASCAP and BMI who have not yet imple-mented digital watermarking or fingerprint-ing technology for tracking and payment of music performances in ads or promos on television, which according to one survey amounts to over 50% of the music performed on television.
The system combines data provided by media tracking companies Competitrack and DigSound. Competitrack uses audio finger-printing technology to track music in adver-tisements, while DigSound utilizes digital watermarking technology to track music in promos. p:6
Composer James Schafer has been selected by a pan-el of top industry judges as the grand prize winner of the 8th Annual TCM Young Film Composers Competi-tion. The announcement was made at a gala awards ceremony held at The Skir-ball Cultural Center on July 25.
Other competition finalists also presented with awards including Apple computers and software were composers Garth Neustadter, Jeremy Schrepple, Jaebon Hwang and Ed-ward White. The competition, presented by Turner Classic Movies and sponsored by Film Music Magazine, featured over 850 entries this year from countries around the world including Spain, France, England, Canada and the US. As grand prize winner, Schafer wins a grand prize of $15,000 and the opportunity to score the classic restored silent film Beau Brummel starring John Barrymore. Schafer will record his score later this year in Los Angeles. p:4
James Schafer
DanCarlinNamedChairofBerkleeFilmScoringDepartment
Berklee College of Music in Boston has announced the appointment of Segue Mu-sic co-founder Dan Carlin as chair of the college’s Film Scoring Department. He re-places founding Film Scoring Chair Don Wilkins, who insti-tuted the department in 1979.
“Having been a longtime fan and supporter of Berklee’s film-scoring program, I am particu-larly proud and honored to receive this appoint-ment. I am especially fortunate and grateful that Chair Emeritus Don Wilkins and Interim Chair Eric Reasoner are remaining on the faculty to help me meet the related challenges. . And I look forward to discussing these issues with them at Fenway Park during the World Series,” he said.
Carlin is an Emmy Award-nominated music director (The Temptations), an Emmy Award-winning music editor (Under Siege), was the music supervisor and principal conductor for two Golden Globe-nominated film scores (The Black Stallion and Last of the Mohicans) and was Pro-duction Music Supervisor for Quest for Camelot, which received a Golden Globe® for Best Song. p:6
YOUR FEEDBACK�We�welcome�feedback�on�any�aspect�of�Film�Music�Weekly.�All�letters�must�include�an�address�and�daytime�phone�number.�We�reserve�the�right�to�edit�letters�for�clarity�and�space�and�to�use�them�in�all�electronic�and�print�editions.�Mail�to:�Film�Music�Weekly,��70�3�McBean�Pkwy�Suite�618,�Valencia,�CA�91355�or�email�[email protected]
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The 2007 Composer Expo, presented by Turner Classic Movies and Film Music Maga-zine drew a standing-room-only crowd of over 300 industry attendees at The Skirball Cultur-al Center in Los Angeles on July 25. The day-long national conference focused on instrumen-tal music for film, television and video games featured panels, seminars, demo critiques and more from top composers, agents and music su-pervisors in the industry.
The Composer Expo featured top film and television composers including Hans Zimmer,
Hummie M a n n , A a r o n Zigman, M a r k Mothers-b a u g h , Bear Mc-C r e a r y,
Mychael Danna, Teddy Castellucci, Adam Gorgoni, Sharon Farber, Penka Kouneva, Joe Carroll, Michael A. Levine, Mark Adler, Shawn Clement, Roger Neill, Yoav Goren, Geoff Levin and others. Video game composers featured at the Expo include Inon Zur, Laura Karpman, Garry Schyman, Michael Wandmacher and Carey Chico.
A special session focusing on the director/editor/composer relationship moderated by veteran composer Hummie Mann and featur-ing celebrated film director Nick Cassavetes, composer Aaron Zigman and veteran film editor Alan Heim was especially popular with attendees at the event, as was the keynote address featuring Mothersbaugh, McCreary, Danna and Castellucci.
The Expo also featured music supervisors PJ Bloom, Peymon Maskan, Marcus Barone and Chris Violette, plus agents Jeff Kaufman, Stan Milander, Christine Russell and Michael Rosen plus film and television music attorney Steve Winograd-sky, journalist and networking expert Dan Kimpel, music editor Angie Rubin, scoring mixers Mi-chael Stern, Noah Snyder and-Greg Townley, K-Mozart’s Gary Hollis, Film Music Magazine’s Mark Northam, Steve Rapoport of West LA Music and more.
The demo critique sessions were very popular and filled up immediately. Reviewers for the demo critique sessions included film and television music agents
Jeff Kaufman and Michael Rosen, Carey Chico and David Rovin from video game developer Pandemic Studios, Immediate Music library co-founder Yoav Goren, and veteran film and television composer Roger Neill.
The Expo also featured technology compa-nies including Apple, Roland, Big Fish Audio, Lavry Engineering, Event Electronics, Rode, Toontrack, ALPS, Universal Audio, Presonus, and over $5,000 worth of technology prize give-aways.
Director Nick Cassavetes, composer Aaron Zigman, editor Alan Heim and moderator Hummie Mann at the Director/Editor/Composer panel
4� ISSUE��5�•�AUG.8,��007 weeklyFILM MUSIC
Many first-time nominees were an-nounced when the nominations for the 59th Emmy Awards were presented recently. By Mikael Carlsson
TV veteran Jeff Beal received two nomi-nations, for Rome and Nightmares & Dream-scapes, and other veterans honored are Mark Snow, W.G. “Snuffy” Walden, George Fenton, David Mansfield and George S. Clinton. But the nomination race also includes several first-time nominees, such as John Keane, Rolfe Kent, Simon Rogers and Trevor Morris.
The music Emmys will be awarded at the Primetime Creative Arts Awards on Septem-ber 8 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Ange-les. The full list of nominees in the music categories:
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score): • 24 (Sean Callery) • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Law Of Gravity (John Keane) • Ghost Whisperer – Love Never Dies (Mark Snow) • Kidnapped – Pilot (W.G. “Snuffy Walden”) • Planet Earth – Pole To Pole (George Fenton) • Rome – Philippi (Jeff Beal) Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special (Original Dramatic Score): • Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs And Blockbusters (Todd Boekelheide) • Broken Trail (Van Dyke Parks/David Mansfield) • Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (George S. Clinton) • Longford (Rob Lane) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From The Stories Of Stephen King – Battleground(JeffBeal) • The Librarian: Return To King Solomon’s Mines (Joseph LoDuca) • The Path To 9/11 (John Cameron)Outstanding Music Direction: • 79th Annual Academy Awards (William Ross) • Dancing With The Stars – Episode Number: 310 (Harold Wheeler) • Scrubs – My Musical (Jan Stevens) • The 60th Annual Tony Awards (2006) (Elliot Lawrence)Outstanding Music And Lyrics: • Family Guy – Peter’s Two Dads (Walter Murphy/Danny Smith) • MADtv – 1209 (Bruce McCoy/Greg O’Connor/Jim Wise) • Saturday Night Live – Host: Justin Timberlake (Katreese Barnes/Andy Samberg/Akiva Schaffer/Jorma Taccone/Asa Taccone/Justin Timberlake) • Scrubs – My Musical (Debra Fordham/ Robert Lopez/Jeff Marx) • Scrubs – My Musical (Paul F. Perry/Debra Fordham)Outstanding Main Title Theme Music: • 30 Rock – Hard Ball (Jeff Richmond) • Dexter (Rolfe Kent) • Hu$tle (Simon Rogers)
JamesSchaferWinsYoungFilmComposersCompetition
Composer James Schafer has been selected by a panel of top indus-try judges as the grand prize winner of the 8th Annual TCM Young Film Composers Competition. The announcement was made at a gala awards ceremony held at The Skirball Cultural Center on July 25.
Other competition finalists also presented with awards including Apple computers and software were composers Garth Neustadter, Jer-emy Schrepple, Jaebon Hwang and Edward White. The competition,
presented by Turner Classic Movies and sponsored by Film Music Maga-zine, featured over 850 entries this year from countries around the world including Spain, France, England, Canada and the US.
As grand prize winner, Schafer wins a grand prize of $15,000 and the opportunity to score the classic restored silent film Beau Brummel starring John Barrymore. Schafer will record his score later this year in Los Angeles with top studio recording musicians, contractor Ross deRoche, session manager Audrey deRoche, and scoring engineer Dan Blessinger.
James Schafer was born and raised in southern California and received his BM from Cali-fornia State University in Northridge. He received a Masters Certificate from the University of Southern California in the Scoring for Motion Pic-tures and Television program where he was awarded the Harry Warren Endowed Scholarship. James has written scores for many short films, video games, and independent feature length films. Additionally, he has worked with industry film composers creating orchestral mock-ups, orchestrating, and producing music.
The awards ceremony also featured an in-depth interview with veteran film composer Hans Zimmer who served as the spokesperson, judging chair and mentor for the competition. The interview was conducted by TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz and explored Zimmer’s career, music, and unique perspectives on the art and craft of film music and the industry.
Veteransandfirst-timersamongEmmynominees
James Schafer
YFCC finalists Garth Neustadter and Jaebon Hwang, composerHans Zimmer, YFCC finalists Edward White, Jeremy Schrepple
and YFCC grand prize winner James Schafer
• On The Lot (Jeff Lippencott/Mark T. Williams) • The Tudors – Episode 5 (Trevor Morris)
SESAC has announced the implementation of its AdVantage Tracking System, a new methodology utilizing both audio fingerprinting and digital watermarking for tracking and paying royalties for musical perfor-mances in ads and promos on television. The move puts
the organization ahead of competitors ASCAP and BMI who have not yet implemented digital watermarking or fingerprinting technology for tracking and payment of music performances in ads or promos on television, which according to one survey amounts to over 50% of the music performed on television.
The system combines data provided by me-dia tracking companies Competitrack and Dig-Sound. Competitrack uses audio fingerprinting technology to track music in advertisements, while DigSound utilizes digital watermarking technology to track music in promos. The com-bined data is subsequently cross-referenced with SESAC’s works registration data.
Ads and promos are historically among the least-tracked types of music performances on television by the performing rights organiza-tions – a situation that has concerned those writers and publishers whose music is used in these broadcasts. Despite the investment of over $20 million member dollars by ASCAP in
its proprietary MediaGuide system which uses audio fingerprinting, the organization has cho-sen not to use the system to track and pay roy-alties to its members for music performances on television thus far, and the system remains implemented for radio. BMI’s new Landmark division utilizing BlueArrow technology prom-ises automated music tracking performance technology, but implementation of the service has not yet been announced.
“The SESAC AdVantage Tracking System represents a new, innovative and highly effi-cient mode of tracking musical performances in ads and promos,” said Hunter Williams, SESAC’s Vice President of Royalty Distribu-tion & Research Services. “SESAC has taken a lead role in establishing what we know to be a ground-breaking service that will benefit our affiliates.”
Prior to implementation of the AdVantage Tracking System, SESAC-affiliated composers and publishers had to provide proof-of-perfor-mance regarding promos and advertisements via media buys, traffic schedules, or station logs in order to receive performance royalties. Un-der the new system, the organization says its affiliates will automatically receive comprehen-sive tracking and accurate payments.
SESAC representatives say the organiza-tion will pay royalties for all performances of SESAC music tracked by Competitrack and DigSound, who use a combination of census
and surveys in their tracking methodology. A census attempts to track every performance in a given medium, while a survey uses a sam-pling of performances to approximate the total performances in a given medium.
DigSound conducts a census of promos on all broadcast networks, the top 22 cable networks and the top 75 Nielsen DMAs (Designated Tele-vision Market Areas).
Competitrack conducts a census of adver-tisements on all broadcast networks, a near-census of ads on the top 28 cable networks (16+ hours a day), a sample of 20 additional cable networks, and a sample of local television in 85 markets. The total cable sample is approx. 200,000 hours annually, and the total local tele-vision sample is approximately 900,000 hours annually.
The AdVantage Tracking System currently covers television only, but SESAC is investigat-ing the possibility of expanding it to radio and Internet.
“Competitrack does track ads on radio and Internet, and as such, we are analyzing the prospects of expanding our renewal agreement to include these services,” said Mr. Williams. “DigSound currently only tracks television performances, but is intent on expanding its services to cover other areas, especially the In-ternet. We will monitor DigSound’s progress in this regard and give judicious consideration to any tracking solution it brings to market.”
DanCarlinNamedChairofBerkleeFilmScoringDepartment
Berklee College of Music in Boston has announced the appointment of Segue Music co-founder Dan Car-lin as chair of the college’s Film Scoring Department. He replaces founding Film Scoring Chair Don Wilkins, who instituted the depart-
ment in 1979. “Having been a longtime fan and supporter of Berklee’s film-scoring program, I am particularly proud and honored to receive this appointment. I am especially fortunate and grateful that Chair Emeritus Don Wilkins and Interim Chair Eric Reasoner are remaining on the faculty to help me meet the related challeng-es. And I look forward to discussing these issues with them at Fenway Park during the World Se-ries,” he said.
Carlin is an Emmy Award-nominated music
director (The Temptations), an Emmy Award-winning music editor (Under Siege), was the mu-sic supervisor and principal conductor for two Golden Globe-nominated film scores (The Black Stallion and Last of the Mohicans) and was Pro-duction Music Supervisor for Quest for Camelot, which received a Golden Globe® for Best Song. He co-founded and, for 25 years, was CEO of Segue Music, the largest and most successful music post-production business in Hollywood history. During that time, Carlin collaborated with such highly regarded artists as Usher, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Lauryn Hill, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, Angela Bassett, Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Whoopi Goldberg, Lau-rence Fishburne, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Phil Ramone, David Foster, Nile Rodgers, Al Schmitt, Francis Coppola, Michael Mann, Taylor Hackford, Georges Delerue, Alan Silvestri, Dan-ny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, and many others.
Between 2004 and 2007, Carlin served as Ex-ecutive Director of the Henry Mancini Institute. In addition, he recently completed two terms as Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (the GRAMMY® organization), and has served for over 20 years on the Acad-emy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Music Executive Committee. Carlin has been a juror for the Television Academy and the Irish Film & TV Awards; helped design, fund and develop the composer program at Robert Redford’s Sun-dance Institute; created and co-sponsored Berk-lee’s first internship program – for Film Scoring students to work at Segue; helped design the UCLA Film Scoring Program; and has consulted for both the ASCAP Composer’s Workshop, and Screen Training Ireland in Dublin. A passionate advocate for music education, he is a frequent contributor to panels, seminars and lectures.
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Dan Carlin
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ISSUE��5�•�AUG.8,��007� 7weeklyFILM MUSIC
If you’re stuck with a filmscoring niche, you could do worse than being the equivalent of a Marvel Zombie with a touch of DC madness thrown in. With X-Men 2, Fantastic Four and Superman Returns to his credits, John Ottman has given a sweeping, melodically powerful sound to many of earth’s most popular super-heroes.
Sure Ottman’s been out of the comic book store, as evidenced by such cool, diverse works as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Cable Guy and Lake Placid. He’s also got the distinctions of being a director (Urban Legend 2), and the go-to scoring and editing guy for director Bryan Singer, working for him on nearly every mov-ie since The Usual Suspects. Yet all of these credits haven’t stopped the superheroes from pulling John Ottman back in. And in the case of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, be-ing typecast into molecularly unstable tights proves to be a very good thing.
What distinguished the first Fantastic Four was that the film, and its score, didn’t treat superpowers as a reason for a visit to the psy-chiatrist. And after the symphonically muscu-lar angst of his scores for X2 and Superman Returns, being able to indulge in FF’s light-hearted action let Ottman compose effortlessly enjoyable music. For once, Ottman could luxu-riate in fun, old-fashioned symphonic adven-ture, replete with its own memorable motifs.
While Ottman retains his FF themes for their far-superior clash with Galactus’ favorite herald, what’s ironic about Silver Surfer is that it’s a “heavier” adventure for the blue-clad four-some. Instead of the last film’s Gotham-centric heroics, Silver Surfer spans the earth and the surrounding galaxy. Thankfully, the only-in-comic-books premise of the Fantastic Four has allowed Ottman’s music to retain the original score’s inherent sense of fun. What’s now been amped up is the music’s emotional depth, and its melodic expanse. And the results just might stand as Ottman’s best musical evocation of the four-colored panel.
Sure Rise of the Silver Surfer deals with planet-shatter-ing doom, noble be-ings from outer space, and heroes coping with their place in the media spotlight. It all might sound a bit like
Superman Returns – but minus the ponder-ous aspects that often affected that movie, and Ottman’s score for it. Here, the world looks like it’s going to end, but it’ll be a fun ride getting there. And with the heroes feeling like they’re trapped in a world they never made, Silver Surfer can get right to the blazing action, which Ottman delivers in memorable spades. The composer is truly in his own musical universe here, not having to worry about a weighty alba-tross around his neck like a pre-existing John Williams’ theme. Here, Ottman has the free-dom to score the FF on his own musical terms, and the sense of liberation is exhilarating.
John Ottman does much to convey the breathless speed of the Surfer’s ride, especially through hyperbeat percussion. But what’s bet-ter is the nobility of his main surfer theme. Even though the film alludes to the Surfer’s humanoid past, it’s Ottman’s music that gives us a full picture of Noren Radd, a good guy trapped into abetting a planet-eater. Effec-tively adding a chorus onto the score to embody Galactus (and even Oriental percussion for the final battle in China), Ottman neatly weaves the FF themes around Noren’s, giving the score an essential humanity that lets the score take flight instead of dragging it down with angst.
Through his notable career, Ottman has al-ways had a way with the orchestra, a talent for rich, dense melodies that are especially appar-ent here. And the recording of them has never sounded better. The sound truly envelopes the speakers, giving the sense that something very big and powerful is coming in from the hori-zon – a sense of cosmic dread that pays off in spades for the climax. It’s probably the most musically enjoyable alien near-apocalypse since a gigantic symphony descended from the sky for Independence Day.
That isn’t to say that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer aspires to be that kind of earth-shattering epic. And that’s the reason this film, and its score are at the top of this summer’s FX tent poles. By approaching his
COMING SOON!
AUGUST 14 � �� •�As You Like It�(Patrick�Doyle)�–�Varèse�Sara�� bande
• Fantastic Four: Rise of theSilver SurferComposer: John OttmanLabel: Sony ClassicalSuggested Retail Price: $ 14.99Grade: A
By: DANIEL SCHWEIGER Soundtrack Editor
material with unpretentious respect, Ottman and his vehicle deliver the kind of innocent, mythic thrills that the best comic book ephem-era is all about. Here’s hoping that there are many caped crusaders to keep Ottman where he belongs, even if they let him escape their caped clutches here and there.
Click�here�to�buy�the�Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer�soundtrack
TOP AGENCIES The most prolific film music agencies according to the current U.S. box office statistics, July 27-29, 2007:
1.�Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency�-�$109.6m�� •�The Simpsons�� �����(Hans�Zimmer)-�$71.8m�� •�I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry � �����(Rupert�Gregson-Williams)�-�$19.1�� •�Transformers�� �����(Steve�Jablonsky)�–�$11.5m�� •�Ratatouille�� �����(Michael�Giacchino)�–�$7.�m��.�Kraft-Engel Management�- $�8.4m � •�Hairspray�� �����(Marc�Shaiman)�–�$15.5m�� • No Reservations�� �����(Philip�Glass)�–�$11.6m�� • License to Wed � �����(Christophe�Beck)�-�$1.3m�3.�Cool Music Ltd (UK)�- $17.1m��� • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix�(Nicholas�Hooper)�–�$17.1m�4.�Greenspan Artists Management�–�$5.4m�� • Live Free or Die Hard � �����(Marco�Beltrami)�–�$5.4m�5.�First Artists Management�–�$3.4m � • I Know Who Killed Me � �����(Joel�McNeely)�–�$3.4m
Source: IMDb
James�Michael��Dooley:BachelorParty2
James Michael Dooley has been hired to score Bachelor Party 2, a sequel to the 1984 hit film starring Tom Hanks.
The new film is directed by James Ryan and stars Harland Williams, Emmanuelle Vaugier and Sara Foster. The studio is Blue Star Pictures, who recent-ly worked with Dooley on the comedy Daddy Day Camp, due out in theaters on August 8. mc
Alex�Wurman:Quebec
n Dimension Films has con-firmed to FMW that the music for Quebec, a comedy directed by Steve Conrad who wrote the screenplays for Pursuit of Hap-
pyness and The Weather Man, will get a score com-posed by Alex Wurman (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights). Quebec stars Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly and is scheduled to hit theaters in September. mc
Klaus�Badelt:�Killshot
n German composer Klaus Badelt, whose recent diverse credits include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn, has recorded his score for Killshot, a new thriller directed by John Madden, with the London Metropoli-tan Orchestra at Abbey Road. The film stars Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke and is scheduled to be released by MGM and the Weinstein Co. on October 5. Badelt replaced British composer Stephen Warbeck, who was previously attached to the film. mc
If you believe strongly in an album of your own mu-sic, but don’t think that any regular label would be crazy enough to release it – why not do it yourself? UK composer Daniel Pemberton did that and doesn’t regret it one minute.
By Mikael Carlsson
The album “Tvpopmuzik” features musical selections from vari-ous TV shows Daniel Pemberton has scored throughout his career. The BAFTA-nominated composer has provided quirky themes for shows such as Peep Show, Suburban Shootout and Hells Kitchen as well as more traditionally rooted music for Prehistoric Park and the upcoming Napoleon.
“I wanted to put out a collection of all the weird TV music I’d been making over the past ten years or so. It’s strange because I don’t think there are really any albums like this, which is pretty rubbish really. I mean, I’d love more TV composers to put out re-worked albums of their output. It’d be great,” says Daniel Pember-ton to Film Music Weekly.
“I was kind of hoping this might kick start a new trend. I think a lot of people dismiss TV music but I think it’s a medium, in Brit-ain at least, where you can write some of your most crazy and ex-perimental music and still get it heard by millions every day!”
1812 is the name of Pemberton’s label and he says he didn’t believe “anyone else would be crazy enough” to put “Tvpopmuzik” out.
“It’s never going to be a massive seller, but it got a great level of coverage, especially considering it is really a one-man operation as I’m the label as well. I just hope it raised people’s awareness of what actually goes into a lot of TV scores.”
Since the 1960s, TV music has had a certain cult status in the UK. Composers like Ron Grainer, Alan Hawkshaw, Laurie Johnson, Tony Hatch and Brian Bennett have penned many well-known themes that were performed by their orchestras and released on LP. And Daniel Pemberton is a fan of those good old tunes.
“I really love a lot of old TV music. I was rewatching The Prisoner the other night and the music is amazing in it. There are loads of shows that had amazing themes and that trend seems to have disappeared recently in favor of just generic bangs and wooshes. A lot of people seem to want to play it safe so you have to find directors and producers who let you try out new ideas.…” Read more: Check out www.danielpemberton.com for more info about the composer and “Tvpopmuzik.”
Recently, we discussed the topic of evaluat-ing and hiring a potential conductor for your instrumental session. Now let’s look at the possible situation where, by dint of budget or the nature of the music you are writing, you have decided to conduct the session(s) your-self. Let’s also assume you may have had some podium time previously, you already know the basic beat patterns, and you can follow a score without too much effort. However, perhaps you could use some pointers on elevating your technique with the goal of helping your players get a polished performance sooner rather than later.
This week, let’s look at two potential areas of improvement: Inefficient and out-of-phase conducting gestures. One way to always spot a hack conductor is when he consistently beats time with both hands in a mirror pattern. It’s a waste of energy and that left hand should be reserved for more useful purposes. Like turn-ing pages, cuing, or marking the score on the fly. The way to get out of this unfortunately ubiquitous habit is simply to stick your left hand in your pocket for a while. You could handcuff it to your left belt loop, or at worst have it amputated, but try sticking it in your pocket first. Once you get proficient doing all the beat patterns with just one hand, work to get comfortable with varying the character of those patterns (sharp and angular, smooth and flowing, abrupt and snapping, etc.)
Next (and with the left hand still in your pocket,) get comfortable with accentuating any beat within the pattern. One-two-THREE- four. One-TWO-three-four-five, etc. Then do more than one: One-TWO-three-FOUR. ONE-two-THREE-one-TWO-three, etc. And, finally, instead of simply accenting, go outside the beat pattern to throw cues in any direction and re-turn to the pattern by the next beat: One-two-FORWARD-four. One-two-three-RIGHT-one-two-three-four, etc. Lastly, try doing all of the above while increasing or shrinking the overall size of your gestures to telegraph a crescendo or diminuendo. When your right arm and hand get really comfortable being that spontaneous and versatile, then and only then do you have my permission to take your left hand out of your pocket.
Why is this so valuable? Players, especially those working to a click track, start to visually “turn off” extraneous, repetitive, or distracting gestures in their peripheral vision. Why give them two elements to keep track of when one will do? And when you do bring in the other hand to cue someone, describe a dynamic, or perform a cutoff, it will have an incredibly greater impact if the players haven’t already begun to ignore it.
A second way in which more than a few con-ductors get ignored by their players is due to a sluggish or out-of-phase beat pattern, espe-cially when there is a click track in use.
It’s amazing how some conductors have beat patterns that fall either slightly ahead or behind a clearly-audible click track or pulse inherent in the music itself. To check your pattern, vid-eotape yourself beating time to a metronome loud enough to register on the audio track. On playback, if you visually sense the points of your pattern aren’t precisely in phase with the metronome, then you have a problem.
Here’s an exercise to tighten up your “beats.” Tape the end of a piece of kite or other light string about six inches long to the tip of your baton. Now go through your beat patterns and try to “crack” your tiny whip in sync with your metronome. When you can snap the end of the string consistently in time with the click, chances are the points in your pattern will be visually in phase with the beat you want your players to lock to.
Give these a consistent workout, and in future columns we’ll look at other ways to get more out of your players through more skillful baton techniques. Get “cracking!”
nRon Hess works as a studio conductor, orches-trator, copyist and score supervisor in Los Angeles, where he’s well-known for his quick ability to ferret out the most hidden performance problems and spot score glitches rapidly. He holds a Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory, and is considered one of the top Finale experts in Los Angeles. Email Ron at [email protected]
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La-LaLandreleasesGodzillaLa-La Land Records has released David Ar-nold’s score for Godzilla, the 1998 Tri-Star re-lease directed by Rolan Emmerich. At the time of the film’s release, a compilation soundtrack album featuring only a few minutes of Arnold’s massive orchestral score was released. La-La
Lands’ double disc release of Godzilla features the full score; nearly two hours of music. The same label has also recently released Trevor Jones’ score for The Dark Crystal. mc
IntradatoreleaseBroughtonclassicIntrada Records will release a limited CD edi-tion of Bruce Broughton’s score for The Monster Squad, a 1987 homage to classic horror monster movies. The CD will include the complete or-chestral score (57:22) and is a limited release of
3,000 copies. Intrada has also just released a 1,000-CD edition of Pino Donaggio’s epic Hercules and a 1,200-CD edition of an album featur-ing Don Ellis’ The Seven-Ups and Johnny Mandel’s The Verdict. mc
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 red print. Edited by Mikael Carlsson. Updates should be sent to [email protected].
