The last time we spoke with composer Nathan Johnson was just about a year ago. Nathan is a master at making off-beat and imperfect instruments sound distant yet accessible on a number of vastly different narratives (see: Brick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper). Last October, Nathan offered some insight as to the work he did writing the score to Don Jon – Joseph Gordon Levitt’s contemporary take on the classic literary Lothario. It was an interesting film with, as you might expect, an equally unique score to match. But in the time since we spoke, Nathan has done two scores for films that were both released this month – Jake Paltrow‘s neo-Western Young Ones and the journalistic thriller…
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Interview…Oscar-winning Film Composer Steven Price On His Ethereal and Unrelenting Score for ‘Fury’
In the second half of 2013, British film composer Steven Price made quite a name for himself. He scored two very popular films which were both commercial and critical hits. Once the dust of awards season settled, Price found he had walked away with some of the most coveted honors including the Academy Award for “Best Original Score” for Gravity. Alfonso Cuarón’s space fiasco film, (which starred Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) was an amazing cinematic achievement. But it was Price’s ethereal and abstract musical accompaniment that truly helped make Gravity an experience we likely won’t forget any time soon. But Gravity was not the first time this hard working musician…
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Interview…Emmy-Winning Composer Michael Price On ‘Sherlock’, David Arnold and Michael Kamen
Michael Price is one of the UK’s most sought after composers. Last month, he and fellow composer David Arnold took home an Emmy Award for their music on Sherlock after being nominated in the last two years. You may have heard Michael’s work in a number of films including Wild Target starring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Martin Freeman, Rupert Everett and Rupert Grint. Michael scored two documentaries for famous producer and director Alfonso Cuaron; The Shock Doctrine (2007), Naomi Klein’s brilliant and terrifying film on disaster capitalism and The Possibility of Hope (2007), a look at different matters of the world such as immigration, global warming and capitalism through the…
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Interview…Composer Michael Yezerski’s Thoughts on Film Music and His Score for TIFF Selected Comedy ‘The Little Death’
Michael Yezerski is a multi-award winning composer, music producer and songwriter. He has composed music scores and songs for some of the most celebrated international and Australian film productions of the last few years. Career highlights include The Black Balloon (Best Picture, AFI Awards), The Lost Thing (Oscar Winner, Best Animated Short) and PJ Hogan’s box office hit Mental (starring Toni Collette, Liev Schreiber and Anthony LaPaglia). Under Steve Jablonsky, Michael has written additional music for Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. Michael is known for his incredible musical range and unique sound. He is equally comfortable with large scale action drama (Drift, Storm Surfers 3D) as he is with intimate…
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Interview…Film Composer Carl Thiel On Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’
The last time we spoke with film and TV composer Carl Thiel he had just finished up scoring the music to Machete Kills. The music was as much fun as the insane action on screen. Now here we are, less than a year later and Thiel has not only contributed music to another Robert Rodriguez film but also the themes for the TV series based on Rodriguez’ From Dusk Till Dawn. No stranger to tight time frames and working hard, Carl Thiel continues to add that gritty and hard-edged sound to each and every world Rodriguez puts on screen. It’s always a blast catching up with him, so enjoy our session with composer Carl Thiel…
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Interview…Film Composer Brian Tyler on Turtles, Expendables, Marvel and Everything In Between
Brian Tyler is a film and TV composer/conductor with over 60 films to his credit. Tyler began scoring features shortly after he received his master’s degree from Harvard University, as well as a bachelor’s degree from UCLA. He is a multi-instrumentalist and plays piano, guitar, drums, bass, cello, world percussion, synth programming, guitarviol, charango, and bouzouki, amongst others. Tyler is currently scoring Avengers: Age of Ultron which follows on the heels of his other scores for previous the Marvel films Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. He also composed the Marvel fanfare (which plays before all Marvel features) and prior to that he composed, arranged and conducted the new film…
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Interview…Composer Jeff Russo on ‘Fargo’, Multiple TV Shows and Finding An Identity For Each Project
Grammy and Emmy-nominated musician, Jeff Russo has become a prominent composer, songwriter and arranger in the film and television industry and recently finished composing music for two highly-anticipated television series: FX’s ten-episode limited series, Fargo (starring Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman and Colin Hanks) and Starz’s new original drama Power. Jeff Russo’s history as a guitarist influenced his process of scoring FX’s Fargo, for which he recently received an Emmy-nomination. At the panel Russo said that he looks at the dialogue as the lyrics of a song, and composes the score around what it is the characters are emulating in each scene. Russo’s work can also be heard in various…
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Interview…Film Composer Steve Jablonsky On Collaboration and the New Sound of Transformers
Fresh off the plane from London, film composer Steve Jablonsky is just starting to wind down from his last project. And why wouldn’t he? Working on Transformers: Age of Extinction (which came out just four weeks ago and will very soon be the first movie of 2014 to reach the $1 billion mark) over the last 6 months has been a whirlwind. Like most other Michael Bay pictures it was a mad dash to the finish line but that’s how it goes when you work on projects of this size and scope. Steve Jablonsky is synonymous with big, bombastic scores yet while the energy and emotion to his music runs high, Jablonsky is…
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Interview…Composer Kevin Riepl on Scoring ‘Cabin Fever: Patient Zero’
Kevin Riepl is an award-winning composer for film, television and video games. His engaging and atmospheric scores have enhanced numerous films such as the horror/thriller Cabin Fever: Patient Zero, Contracted, The ABCs of Death, the holiday season horror hit Silent Night, as well as film festival winners and genre cult films including the emotional sci-fi short Henri starring Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Oddball Animation Studios’ stunning concept film Ruin. Riepl is also renowned for composing the epic symphonic scores for blockbuster sci-fi action video games Gears of War, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Resistance: Burning Skies and the Unreal series. His upcoming projects include the action/thriller feature film The Night Crew…
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Interview…Film/TV Composer Trevor Morris Talks ‘Vikings’, Action and Video Games
Emmy Award-Winner Trevor Morris is a prolific composer, scoring for both film and television. He received his 5th Emmy nomination in 2013 for “Outstanding Music Composition for a Series” (Original Dramatic Score) for Showtime’s The Borgias, making him the most Emmy-nominated Composer of the last three years. The Canadian composer was born in London, Ontario, a few hours outside Toronto. Morris attended Fanshawe College’s “Music Industry Arts” program, Canada’s most prestigious school for recording and production. Graduating at the top of his class, he moved to Toronto to work in music production. Morris eventually turned away from production and began to focus full-time on composing music for television commercials. In 1999,…
