04/11/2011

Happy November!

I found out a few days ago that "Mysteries of the Vampire Skeletons", originally broadcast on Channel Five in September, is being sold to Arte and will be shown dubbed in German and French there. I'm very happy about this since this means that the German side of my family can see the program live on air, a rare privilege for someone living and working in the UK.

In other news, my showreel is finally edited! You can watch it here or click on the new "Showreel" link in the menu. I'm really very pleased how it all came together. A massive thank you to all the filmmakers and production companies who let me use footage of the films we've worked on together. A special thank you goes to George Purves, without whose editing advice the result would be much poorer!

I'll be moving to a new house and studio in a few weeks. I'm hoping to keep the interruption to a minimum, but setting up the studio is quite time-consuming and I'm likely to be out of (music) action for a few days either side of the move.

Last but not least, please check out and like the Smokes and Mirror 48-hour challenge entry film directed by Rob Savage and produced by Ben Burdock, Polaroid.

06/09/2011

Wow, what a summer. I've been so busy I've not had time to even look at, let alone update my website. More later, but among the projects completed this summer: 

* another one-hour documentary for Channel Five, "Mysteries of the Vampire Skeletons", due to be aired on 13th September 2011.  

* three Virgin Media short entries including The Jumper by George Purves and The Meeting Place by Bradley Porter.

* a set of four connected ads for Portuguese luxury resort Praia del Rey, directed with his usual visual flair by Will McGregor.

* a promo for the postgraduate office of George Purves' and my alma mater, the University of Bristol.

More than a little burnt out after the end of all of that, I have been taking a bit of time out for some camping in Wales and Devon and to reorganise my studio/office. I will also probably be moving to a bigger space sometime soon which is highly exciting!

11/05/2011

The last month has seen the completion of several promo films. Firstly Blood on My Hands, another book trailer directed by Will McGregor. Speaking of Will, his 48 hour SciFi challenge entry No Escape which includes some of my music/sound design alongside some excellent sound work by Dom Burgess was among the three films shortlisted for the final award. Congratulations to Will and the whole Team Electric Sheep for making it that far! 

One Degree More, a film for a campaign of The Community Foundation, which I scored, is now online on their website, while I also wrote the score for a promo for fashion start-up Catwalk Ready, directed by George Purves.

I also completed the production of a batch of orchestral arrangements for Roni Size, who, in between a busy schedule is currently mixing a forthcoming album showcasing his collaboration with composer and arranger William Goodchild.

Upcoming projects include a couple of Virgin Media Competition Shorts, and the completion of Fruits of Labour, a film shot on 16mm film by 24 Winks Productions in October last year. I've been exploring 12-tone techniques for this score, which will see me recording with live string players from the excellent Bristol Ensemble. You can hear an exclusive sample of my sketches here.

07/04/2011

The Truth About Lions, a two-part BBC wildlife productions scored by Emmy-nominated Bristol composer David Poore, is now available on BBC iplayer for those living in the UK. I assisted David in the final stages of the recording/mixing down process at Christchurch Studios in Bristol and it is a delight to finally hear the result in context. David has been producing amazing scores for big budget productions for 20 years and I had the pleasure of assisting him with some sound design for his score for the Mr. Moon kids animation series (Playhouse Disney) last year.  

Incidentally, David's just completely revamped his website. Check it out here. 

05/04/2011

Last week I contributed music/sound design to two entries to the 2011 48-hour Sci-fi Challenge, in which a title, some dialogue and a prop are stipulated at the beginning of a weekend for the production of a max 5 min film. Will McGregor headed Team Electric Sheep and produced the excellent No Escape, while George Purves and 24 Winks Productions produced the chilling Rio Cafe despite some inevitable production hiccups.

I have also started working with orchestrator/arranger/conductor William Goodchild and drum and bass legend Roni Size on a number of yet to be released tracks of Roni's, bringing William's fantastic orchestral arrangements for them to life with samples. It really is a privilege to be working with two such talented individuals and I'm enjoying every minute of it!

20/03/2011

It has been a busy couple of months. The festival season has seen me attend the screening of Mummy's Little Helper at the Berlinale, as well as Watersprite Film festival in Cambridge and Screentest in London. My score for George Purves' Bulb was nominated for best sound at Watersprite and for best music at Screentest. Unfortunately we didn't win but we still had a great time and met lots of talented young filmmakers.

Since Bulb, I've completed the score for George's A Painter's Monday which you can view here. I've also started working with acclaimed young director Will McGregor, whose short filmWho's Afraid of the Watersprite? won awards too numerous to list here. We've just completed a trailer for Walker Books which you can view here. Another book trailer is also in the pipeline.

Also nearing completion is a promo film for The Community Foundation, a charity which makes higher education more accessible to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Last but not least I'm in talks with a well-known electronic music artist about realizing some MIDI orchestration for his upcoming album. It is a very exciting project and a great opportunity to work with a very talented musician - as well as a pleasant aside from the film scoring work.

12/01/2011

If you have a look around you will see that the site has changed slightly. The testimonials are now embedded on a page called "Credits" which contains details of projects I've worked on with a small music player for each one of them. My aim was to make it easier to get an idea of my work and the kind feedback I've received.

11/01/2011

After an eventful autumn term which saw the broadcast of my first full-length score, The Virgin Queen's Fatal Affair: Revealed on Channel Five in November and the completion of the score for Michael Lavelle's Mother's Little Helper in time for the Berlinale 2011, I am now looking at a steady flow of smaller projects coming to my desk. 

First off, I'm working on a number of small projects for Jam Productions, who are based in Guildford, which are allowing me to practice my string arrangement skills. 

Next up, George Purves and Tom Ormerod have shot a beautiful short, Lightbulb, which I'm writing an atmospheric, slow-moving score for.

In a slight change of role, I'm also producing an EP for Edinburgh "Gameboy meets The Fall" band Fueldiva, whose unusual combination of sounds is both a challenge and a joy to work with.

Next month I'll be at the Berlinale for the premiere of Mother's Little Helper. I look forward to seeing many familiar Berliner faces there!

28/09/2010

My MA portfolio is finally handed in. The Paper Cage turned out well, and I am very happy with how Dubbing Mixer Claudio Ahlers and Sound Editor Lingli Dong inserted my score into the film. You can watch a trailer for it here. The film will be screened at Screentest 2011 in Bristol, with more festivals to follow.

22/08/2010

I've started doing some research into classic B-movies and Zombie flicks such as Night of the Living Dead,Dawn of the Dead, Village of the Damned and John Carpenter's classic Halloween. in preparation for a horror hort film directed by Bradley Porter, Fade to Black. Bradley has shot a couple of scenes already using an authentic 70s style synth cue à la Carpenter that I did for him.

04/07/2010

I finished tweaking The Paper Cage today. The production group viewings went well. There were some very insightful suggestions from the production team regarding repetition and the exact entries and fadeouts of the cues. In the last few days I've been fixing these issues, adding a new three-chord motif as a subtheme and shaping the beginnings and endings.

Tomorrow I'll be handing the score over to Sound Designer Lingli Dong and Dubbing Mixer Claudio Ahlers. You can listen to a small preview of my score here.

I also took some time to focus on the sound of the live acoustic guitar, which I rely on for a number of cues. I've been taking inspiration from the way Argentinian Composer Gustavo Santaollala uses the guitar in his Brokeback Mountain score.

26/06/2010

The past few days I've been working on The Paper Cage. A curious thing is happening. As I'm viewing the film over and over I'm really getting to know to the characters well, and I've started to empathise with them enormously. This despite having been on set and knowing it's all make-believe!

I have just finished a rough draft of the score and will now be revising this over the next few days in time for a production group viewing which I am nervously looking forward to. The film is 12 minutes long and director George Purves and I provisionally decided on eight music cues with a total length of around 8 minutes. With so much music there is a danger of stringing together too many unconnected elements, so during the revision process I'll be looking to strip it down to simple themes and textures that work and say something in the context of the whole film.

08/06/2010

I've started producing 30 second to 1 minute sketches for The Paper Cage, a short film directed by George Purves. I'm especially interested in soundscapes for this film and am using extensive electronic processing to create an evocative spatial and textural pallette. I'll be using a lot of acoustic and electric guitar as well. You can listen to some examples here and here.

03/06/2010

Welcome to my slightly revamped website! It's got a few more sections now, including this blog that I will try to add to on a regular basis. I will be including snippets of projects that I'm working on and other news. Also new is the "testimonials" page, where I let people I've collaborated with speak about our working relationship.