Film.Music.Media

Stephanie Economou | Composer: Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken

Composer Stephanie Economou sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!Steph takes some time to chat about her recent score to Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken for DreamWorks Animation, and everything that went into bringing not only the main character to life, but the world around her.We also chat about Steph's time working with Harry Gregson-Williams and everything she learned working as an additional composer with Harry.Steph also talks about getting in touch with her Italian roots with her other recent score to About My Father starring Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro and what we can expect from her score to My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3! We also discuss all the changes happening in the industry, and Steph shares her perspective on it.A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas#stephanieeconomou #composer #interview #podcast #soundtrack #soundtracks #musicproduction #composerlife #behindthescenes #filmmaking #movies #television #rubygillman #rubygillmanteenagekraken #dreamworksanimation #aboutmyfather #sebastianmaniscalco #mybigfatgreekwedding3 #niavardalos

Paul Haslinger | Composer: The YouTube Effect

Composer Paul Haslinger sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!
Paul takes us back through his amazing career in music from his time with Tangerine Dream, moving to Los Angeles and exploring other avenues of music, and eventually focusing on a career as a composer for film and TV. We explore what it was like to be an electronic musician in the 80's and how those working with synths and electronics were shunned in the composing community.
Paul talks about several of his projects including the Underworld films, Crazy/Beautiful, Crank, Shoot 'Em Up, and more! We also dive into his newest score for The YouTube Effect. The documentary directed by Alex Winter explores how YouTube has left a troubling legacy on how it has impacted society as a whole. Paul talks about his unique approach to scoring the film, and why he did not want to go the conventional route. While the score was written for the film, the stylings and structure of the album allow it to stand on its own almost as its own experience. You can listen to the album from Node Records on all digital platforms.
Paul is one of the pioneers of electronic music, and his music has left a lasting impact through all the amazing scores and albums he's composed throughout his career.
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story | Behind The Music

"Weird Al" Yankovic, Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson sit down to take us behind the music of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story!
Al talks about his love for the parody genre, and why his interest in writing film and television has led to projects like UHF and Weird.
Al describes what it was like to go back and re-record some of his most well-known songs that would then be lip synced on set by Daniel Radcliffe. Al also wrote a new original song titled "Now You Know" for the film.
Leo and Zach take us behind the score, and how the key to a good parody score is having sincerity behind it. For Weird, the composing duo aimed to channel the big warm scores of early 1990's dramas, while also getting crazy and over the top with different stylings and genres. Learn how they processed and warped the sound of the accordion for the diner fight scene, and much more!
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Jeff Russo | Composer: Love & Death / Mrs. Davis

Composer Jeff Russo sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!
 
Jeff returns as a guest to take us into two of his recent scores. We dive into the miniseries Love & Death, and how Jeff approached the drama based on the real-life true crime story. Jeff talks about what it was like coming onto the project late and what his process was with crafting a music narrative that wasn’t too heavy-handed. Jeff also explains his process for navigating song placements to create a seamless flow.
 
We also talk about the critically-acclaimed Mrs. Davis, which Jeff also scored. Mrs. Davis was a very different approach in that it went all in with bending genres, and we explore if genres even have the same connotation or meaning anymore or do they effectively box in storytellers. Jeff talks about how much fun he had scoring Mrs. Davis, and how he built the arc of the series musically.
 
Jeff also gives us a little of what we have to look forward to coming up as he is deep into working with Noah Hawley again on Fargo: Season 5 and Hawley’s upcoming Alien series for FX.
 
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Jeff Rona | Composer/Author: The Reel World (Third Edition)

Composer Jeff Rona sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!
 
Jeff takes some time to talk about the newest edition of his book, The Reel World. Jeff’s book has been an incredible resource for composers entering this industry, and is packed with so much real-world knowledge and perspectives that help get any composer a more comfortable footing on the ever-shifting grounds of the entertainment industry.
 
Jeff talks about how he updates the book to reflect the current state of the industry including getting more perspectives from younger composers who have more recent insight to share along with the insight from veterans who entered the industry at different times including John Williams and James Newton Howard among others. Jeff talks about how things have changed and evolved, what has stayed the same, new technologies, and even the hot topic conversation around AI in music.
 
Jeff examines some of his recent work as well including how he works with an amazing team, how he got into video game scoring, and his recent solo album Lume.
 
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

David Fleming | Co-Composer: The Last Of Us

Composer David Fleming sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!
 
Dave shares his journey to becoming a composer including getting his start working with composers like Atli Örvarsson and Hans Zimmer. Dave also talks about his work as an additional composer on certain projects like Hans Zimmer's Dune, and what it's like being part of a music team.
 
For this chat we take a look at Dave's general approach to several projects including South Of Heaven, Hillbilly Elegy, and The Unforgivable. The latter two were co-scored with Hans Zimmer. We also dive into Dave's recent score with Hans to the French Canadian miniseries, The Night Logan Woke Up.
 
Dave also talks about co-scoring The Last Of Us on HBO. Hear how he worked separately from the series' lead composer Gustavo Santaolalla to help flesh out certain scenes and to add tension and atmosphere to the overall structure of the series.
 
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
 
**This interview was recorded at the end of March 2023 and certain mention of projects and their timing are not accurate at the time of posting.**

Max Aruj | Composer: The Tank

Composer Max Aruj sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!
From getting his start working on Lorne Balfe's team to scoring hit thrillers like Crawl (co-scored with Steffen Thum) and his recent score to The Tank, Max has quickly stood out for his incredible versatility and unique voice as a musical storyteller.
For this chat we explore Max's background and path to composing, getting his foot in the door, working with Lorne Balfe, early lessons learned, branching out and scoring films on his own, finding his storytelling voice, and co-composing some projects with Steffen Thum.
For The Tank we look at what it takes to successfully create tension and score a creature feature, and why we as a society love the genre so much!
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Corey Wallace | Composer: Supercell

Composer Corey Wallace sits down for a brand new Film.Music.Media conversation!
 
Topics: Corey's path to becoming a composer, getting his first jobs in the industry, developing his sound as a composer, his approach to scoring Supercell and writing music that balances disaster action as well as character arcs, keeping that traditional orchestral writing style alive, achieving a big sound on a small budget film, and more!
 
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
 
#coreywallace #composer #interview #podcast #soundtrack #soundtracks #behindthescenes #filmmaking #movies #television #supercell

Joel J Richard | Co-Composer: John Wick - Chapter 4

Composer Joel J Richard joins us for an in-depth look at his work co-scoring the entire John Wick series alongside Tyler Bates, and what went into developing the sound of John Wick and evolving it across four films.
 
Joel starts off talking about his unique path to composing including working as an assistant for John Powell. We talk about how he found his inspiration for composing and what were the steps that led to meeting Tyler Bates, which in turn led Tyler asking him to co-helm the first John Wick film.
 
We focus on the musical evolution of John Wick, and how he worked with director Chad Stahelski as the films grew in scope and the lore of the world expanded. Joel talks about finding the sound of the world, what style and approach worked best, and how the scores for each film led up to this final chapter. Chapter 4 opens up the scope of John Wick even bigger and builds upon its genre inspirations from Hong Kong cinema, John Woo, European neo-noir, Akira Kurosawa, and Sergio Leone. Joel talks about weaving those textures and nods, tackling huge action set pieces, and making sure the score never lost the feel that was established in the first film.
 
Joel is such a wonderful and versatile composer, and his work on the John Wick series ended up building its own unique sonic identity while still being able to acknowledge the genres that inspired the character and world.
 
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Alex Heffes | Composer: Mafia Mamma

Composer Alex Heffes has worked on over 70 feature films and TV projects collaborating with directors including Kevin Macdonald, Steven Frears, Catherine Hardwicke and Mira Nair. His ability to adapt and craft unique narratives and build sonic palettes has made him one of the most renowned composers working today.
 
For this chat we look at how Alex found his way to becoming a composer, and what his general approach to scoring is. Alex shares stories from various projects such as traveling around the world to record certain sounds and instruments to working closely with Tim Burton on the film adaptation of Sweeney Todd.
 
We also take a look at his recent score to Mafia Mama, which sees him reuniting with director Catherine Hardwicke for a fun and light crowd-pleasing comedy starring Toni Collette. Alex talks about working with Catherine again, and how he approached scoring an action comedy. We talk about finding the right tone, making sure the score doesn't overstep boundaries, referencing the mob genre musically and much more!
 
Alex's versatility as a composer and storyteller have brought us so many wonderful scores over the years and it was a real pleasure to peek into his world for this conversation.
 
A Film.Music.Media Production | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas