Film.Music.Media

Miriam Cutler | Composer: Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down

Composer Miriam Cutler's passion and versatility has made her one of the most prominent composers working today, especially in the world of documentaries. It's absolutely wonderful to have Miriam back as a guest on Film.Music.Media.
Miriam tells some fascinating stories of her unconventional path to becoming a composer. Hear about her early days in the 70's as a performer when she joined up with Richard and Danny Elfman and their street theater group The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. This was before Danny Elfman reformed the group into the band we all know Oingo Boingo.
Miriam shares how she was very much into journalism and being part of the feminist movement, and how her path eventually led to composing. This led to an early career doing sleazy horror pictures, which was enough for her to hone her skills and eventually move her career to focus on documentary scoring.
We also talk about projects like her recent score to Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down and the Oscar-nominated RBG, including what working on a documentary is like and how it's completely different to your typical fictional narrative workflow.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Story Driven Or Driving Stories | Midsummer Music Matinee

The score in a project makes a huge impact on the overall project, by either punctuating the plot or moving the story forward to the next scene. In this panel, composers discuss the different ways that the score enhances or reacts to a scene, as well as other functions the music may have in the overall narrative and storytelling approach.
Featuring composers Tangelene Bolton (Walt Disney Pictures, Disney Animation), Greg Nicolett (T.O.T.S.), Shaun Chasin (Domino: Battle of the Bones), and Elias Serpa (Voodoo Tracks Latin Music Library).
Moderated by Film.Music.Media Founder Kaya Savas

Voodoo Highway Music Group | Midsummer Music Matinee

Get a special all-access look at the musical team behind animated shows like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Paw Patrol, Total DramaRama, and more! Composers James Chapple, Graeme Cornies, and Brian Pickett sit down to discuss how they co-founded Voodoo Highway Music Group, their process for scoring popular children’s animated shows, and more!
Moderated by Film.Music.Media Founder Kaya Savas.

Scoring For Animation & Beyond | Midsummer Music Matinee

While each project will present its own challenges and opportunities, are there similarities when composing for multiple mediums? Join us as we explore the similarities and differences when scoring for animation or other mediums with composers behind animated projects like Charlotte, Blush, The Boys: Diabolical, and The Loud House Movie.
Featuring composers Michelino Bisceglia (Charlotte), Joy Ngiaw (Blush), Matt Bowen (The Boys: Diabolical), and Philip White (The Loud House Movie).
Moderated by Film.Music.Media Founder Kaya Savas

Christopher Willis & Elyse Willis | Midsummer Music Matinee

Get a special look into the work of Christopher Willis and Elyse Willis! The musical duo is behind many songs and music cues from projects like Schmigadoon!, various Disney’s Mickey Mouse projects, Netflix’s Cat Burglar, and Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin!
In this special All Access that is part of our Midsummer Music Matinee series, we get in-depth with Chris and Elyse and how their solo music careers ended up bringing them together. Chris talks about his work as a composer, and Elyse talks about working as a vocalist and vocal contractor.
Chris and Elyse occasionally get to work together like on Schmigadoon! and The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse. Get to hear how they work together as a married couple when the project calls for collaboration!
Moderated by Film.Music.Media Founder Kaya Savas.

Scoring Strong Characters | Midsummer Music Matinee

Stories often feature characters with prominent characteristics that can inform their unique sound palettes. In this panel, we’ll dive into the creative decisions composers make when working with strong characters, from villains in superhero films to dinosaurs from millions of years ago.
Featuring composers Tyler Strickland (Edge of the Earth), George Streicher (Corrective Measures), Amit May Cohen (Zombies 3), and Kara Talve and Anže Rozman of Bleeding Fingers Music (Prehistoric Planet).
Moderated by Film.Music.Media Founder Kaya Savas.

Aldo Shllaku | Composer: The Comeback Trail

Composer Aldo Shllaku sits down for a great conversation about his score to the star-studded comedy The Comeback Trail! We discuss his childhood, his family having to escape communism, planting roots in a new country, finding his passion for music, and how he decided to go into composition.
We talk about Aldo's early days of his career, and how he got his foot in the door working with Christopher Young. Aldo also shares why being mentored or being part of a music team is the best education someone can have in the industry.
Aldo goes into great detail about working with writer/director George Gallo, and what goes into their lasting collaborative relationship. We also discuss how he approached scoring the comedy with a full orchestra with 100 musicians from around the world, and why the score needed to be thematic while homaging the classic sound of Hollywood. You can check out Aldo's score, which is out now!
Aldo shares so much insight here fueled by his passion for music and movies!
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Dominic Lewis | Composer: Bullet Train

Our good pal Dominic Lewis is back to take into his latest score for Bullet Train! The Brad Pitt-starring action/comedy/thriller comes from director David Leitch who brings his style and vision to the table.
Dom takes us deep into exploring all about the process of working with no temp, writing material before shooting, writing and producing songs in the film, the approach and tone of the score, finding the emotion within the style of the film, recording elements on analog to achieve a certain feel, chugging tequila to get his vocals where they needed to be, blending genres, recording vocals, and so much more!
We also briefly chat about his score to Baymax! on Disney+, and what it was like returning to the world of Big Hero 6 after working as an additional composer on Henry Jackman's score to the film.
As always, this one is tons of fun with a BOATLOAD of insight from one of the most passionate and original musical voices in the industry.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
 

Henry Jackman | Composer: The Gray Man

Our good friend Henry Jackman joins us for another great discussion. This is Henry's 9th time as a guest on Film.Music.Media, so if you're looking for more extensive discussions on his past projects be sure to check out our past interviews.
 
For this discussion we rewind back to Henry's days as an album producer and programmer before he ever even thought he'd become a film/tv/game composer. Experience old stories about how Henry worked on albums with artists like Seal, Sally Oldfield, Mike Oldfield, Coolio, Conner Reeves, Michael Gordon, and others.
 
Then we dive right into Henry's continued collaboration with the Russo brothers, and hear some stories from their past collaborations on films like Captain America: Winter Soldier and Cherry.
 
Then we dive right into their latest collaboration for The Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, which is now streaming on Netflix. Hear about how Henry worked several months on The Gray Man suite before they even started shooting to help shape the mood and tone for the film, plus some of Henry's favorite scenes and set pieces to work on in the film and what he was going for with his approach.
 
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Theodore Shapiro | Composer: Severance

Spoiler Warning: Skip 29:22 - 30:48 to avoid some Severance spoilers. There is an audible warning before spoilers within the interview as well.
Theodore Shapiro's versatility as a storyteller spans across genres from slapstick screwball comedies like Dodgeball all the way to nuanced character dramas like The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Recently he re-teamed with director Ben Stiller for the acclaimed Severance on Apple TV+. The series is a wonderfully executed thriller that blends science fiction in a grounded modern reality with plenty of social commentary on top of well-developed characters and storytelling.
Theodore shares a bit about his path to becoming a composer including taking us into his general approach. We discuss the great traits he loves in his regular collaborators like Paul Feig and Ben Stiller, and why he loves working with them.
Theodore tells the story of how he first met Ben Stiller, which led him to scoring Dodgeball and eventually working with Ben when he was in the director's chair on Tropic Thunder. We look back at projects like Tropic Thunder, Zoolander 2, and do a bit of a dive into Severance.
For Severance, we examine the approach Theodore took musically including how that intense season 1 finale was crafted, developing character arcs, working on the source music in the show, how the extraordinary main title sequence came together, favorite moments, and much more!
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas