Days in the Life of a Film Composer

I'm here in my studio in Austin listening to Matt mix my score for THE RETELLING in New York. Emily wants what I have completed up to this point delivered so she can cut it into the film in preparation for a convention she's heading to next week. I think I've got about a third of the score done which we're mixing right now. I've got another third either almost ready for approval or in the works which leaves about a final third still to compose.

The mixes sound really good right now. It always amazes me how much better Matt gets them to sound. I get them close and think to myself, "Hmm, that sounds pretty good." Matt gets them, mixes them, and plays them back for me and I think, "Hmm, that sounds even better."

After tonight's mixing session I'll try to finish up the other two cues which are almost done in time for Emily to approve them this weekend and then we'll get those mixed and delivered before she leaves.

Gotta get back...

The past few weeks have been relatively productive as I conquer a variety of different smaller projects. I'm still hard at work composing cues for THE RETELLING (2009) which we've now slated for a July 10th deadline. I've just started composing for a new short film called FUNKY PICKLES (2009) by Will Moore, director of COWBOY SMOKE (2008). I'm deep into editing a short documentary on the film archive at the Harry Ransom Center at the UT and still trying to keep up with weekly Film Score Focus shows.

Monday I arrived at my studio to find the AC was not working. It was blowing air but it was not cold. With temperatures here in Texas over 100 needless to say it was quite the sauna in there. I got a scant couple hours of work done Monday and Tuesday but honestly, I couldn't quite hack the heat so I went home. As of today the air is working normally again and it was rather comfortable in there (perhaps a fresh does of freon?)

I had a meeting today with Tim and Lars over at the Alamo Drafthouse about pairing up for some film music related film events in the Fall. It was a great meeting with some cool ideas thrown around the room. Something very cool is definitely on the horizon after after our talk today.

I also got word that the CD that I wrote the liner notes for are in. It hasn't been announced yet but as soon as it is I'll post what it is. I also got my next four liner note CD assignments and they're going to be spectacular!

Other than that it's a lot of the same. I'm still trying to secure a new project for the later summer months and possibly more shorter projects to fill the gaps. So far it's a great summer and I'm looking forward to hitting the mid-way point in full creative stride.

It's a rule of thumb that in order to be successful as a composer for film one must be able to demonstrate their abilities and skills for prospective filmmakers. I've done it all throughout my career as has every other composer throughout theirs. One of the more successful forms of revealing talent to prospective clients is the audio demo. I've maintained a demo CD since the day I stepped out of school onto the professional playing field and have often bucked frequently advised conventions when putting it together.

Often composers are called upon to put together music packages that might relate to a specific project. If called upon by a horror film director they might want to hear your horror music, or your comedic scores if the film is to be a comedy.

Recently, I was asked to do this and so I facilitated the request.

As of this writing I will no longer be granting such requests and here is why.

First of all, I put a lot of time and energy into marketing materials supporting a philosophy which best exemplifies myself as a composer for film. I am a filmmaker, not a musician. I want somebody to hire me, not my music. I'm not a music library. I strive fervently to be an artist. There really isn't anything I can't do musically. (...although I don't usually admit it professionally, big-band jazz arranging is not a strong point of mine.)

I feel confident that my vast array of available musical selections, twelve-page pdf document which includes a bio, filmography, interviews, endorsements, and media appearances, and also my blog do an enormously effective job at promoting these concepts. I also always encourage a phone conversation as any glaring holes would be uniformly filled after a brief chat. If a prospective director can not effectively evaluate me as a potential collaborator from these materials I seriously begin to question their judgment.

Recently I went through the normal process of providing materials for an inquisitive filmmaker. After several days I was asked to send further examples of music I have done which fits the genre of film the filmmaker was currently making. Reluctantly, I obliged.

After a few days I received a reply which, yes, I have received a few times before and quite frankly, vexes me beyond comprehension.

To paraphrase...

"While I like your stuff very much, it's not right for this particular project."

or

"Great stuff, but I just didn't hear what we were looking for."

Of course you didn't. Because I haven't written the music for your film yet. Everything you heard was written for other people's films giving them exactly what they were looking for. If I had known ahead of time you were locked into the reliance upon hearing in another film's score, music right for your project, I would've have told you right from the start that you would not.

I desperately want somebody to instead say, "We're looking for somebody better than you." or "You're just not quite good enough for us."

Great! That I understand. There are plenty of people out there better than me. If you don't think I'll cut it, go get one who will. I can relate to that. But to insinuate that work I did for another film is not right for yours is obvious to the point of absurdity! Of course it's not right. Why would one hope (or think) it would be?

I'm not an all-you-can-eat buffet were you just pick and choose off a sneeze-guarded collection of food bins. That's what music libraries are for. That's what McDonald's is for. That's not what I am.

I'm losing faith that filmmakers can accurately assess the talent and skills of a fellow collaborator without hearing exactly what it is they're looking for in advance. That's fine. I'll adjust. Which is why I'll no longer provide targeted collections of a specific genre music in advance. It invariably means the director has targeted in their crosshairs the music and not the composer.

I'm a filmmaker, not a musician. Film is the language I speak, not music. If a prospective filmmaker can not adequately assess what I can bring to their production from the materials provided, then that will be the gift of knowing in advance that this is probably not a person in which I want to take the ensuing collaborative journey with.

For those that can and do...watch out because you're in for the ride of your life!

I did this short interview recently with Judy Watts for the KMFA blog...

http://classical895.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/an-interview-with-brian-satterwhite-host-of-film-score-focus/

This is from a May 1, 2009 article in the Austin Chronicle about composers in Austin.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:774631

My interview with Chris Garcia of the Austin American-Statesman was published today. It's available online and out in the printed version of the newspaper today. I'm going to swing out and grab a few copies for myself.

It's very well written and actually made me laugh a few times. It's a bizarre thing to read what somebody wrote about you especially when it's peppered with things that you've said. Cool...but bizarre.

http://www.austin360.com/search/content/movies/stories/2009/05/0528coffee.html#

I'd like to think I'm productive every week but this one was exceptionally so. After diving headstrong early into the week writing cues for THE RETELLING, which was written and directed by Emily Hagins, I picked up another short project from my longtime collaborator Harry Lynch who directed RIDE AROUND THE WORLD (2006), UNCONVENTIONAL (2008), MAKING THE MODERN (2003), and RECAPTURING CUBA (2007). He brought me a short fund raising video that he put together with material from the film he's currently shooting. It was a quick 48 hour gig which is good right now. I need more short and quick projects.

I started writing music for the seven minute film at the start of my day yesterday and now, this morning, I'm mixing it waiting to cut it into the picture. There's almost six minutes of music and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. Harry is too which is always a good feeling.

As for THE RETELLING I'm really getting excited about it. The score is starting to shape up and I feel like I'm off to the races. I played the first batch of four cues for Emily earlier this week and she loved them. Now I'm fueled up ready to get this baby done so Emily can wrap it up and start to promote it.

This is a fun score to put together. It's a quasi-horror or suspense film. It has some folksy period elements to the story and so what I'm doing is taking traditional folk stringed instruments like banjo, autoharp, hammered dulcimer, and guitar, along with cello, and an acoustic bass and I'm bowing everything. I bought a bow awhile back specifically for this project and realized quickly I should've bought one a long time ago! It's a lot of fun. I've been bowing everything in sight and getting some really cool colors and textures out of my instruments. I'm even playing cello on my own score (I've never played the cello before in my life). It works thought because...it's a suspense/horror film.

So after a productive week it's off to Houston for the Memorial Day holiday to spend time with my folks and my wife's folks. We'll split up the weekend between the two. I'm really looking forward to spending time with them and my wife and kids. I haven't seen them much this week so it'll be nice.

...and I'll be going to the Astros game on Sunday! Go Astros!

I first started this blog back in 2005 when I was finishing up my score for MR. HELL (2005). This was a fun movie to score and a fun project to blog about. I've been perusing the internet here and there looking for some embeddable movie clips or trailers of anything I've worked on and found this clip. It still holds up for me.

Here is a short I scored back in 2003 called BLIND which was written and directed by Kristoffer Aaron Morgan and co-written by Eric Vespe. I had a lot of fun scoring this one. It has a real bombastic fight sequence that, from a composers' viewpoint, is just a thrill to score.

I got the call to score this film the day my first son was born. I was a little preoccupied but I couldn't turn it down so after several days I got working on it. I sampled my son's crying which I used in the score and also there's a little baby giggle a the very end of the end credits. There's something inherently creepy about disembodied child laughter.

Enjoy!

BLIND from Kristoffer Morgan on Vimeo.

I just received word tonight from Kat Candler that QUARTER TO NOON (2008) was just accepted into the 2009 Texas Filmmakers Showcase which is put together by the Houston Film Commission. This is a pretty big honor. Filmmakers from all over Texas submit their films in hopes of being a part of the showcase. The ninety minute collection of Texas' best short films will tour various film festivals beginning with the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. It will also play during the Austin Film Festival in October.

This is the fourth film in which I have composed the music for to be accepted into the Texas Filmmakers Showcase: YOUNG MUTT in 2005, COMFORT in 2004, and TWINKLE, TWINKLE in 2000. It also marks the first film that I edited to be accepted. Since I'm considering this film to be my official editorial debut, I'm extra proud of this achievement.

The Houston Film Commission will fly Kat out to Los Angeles in June for the screening. I'll be content with watching it here in Austin later this year. I can't wait.

Congratulations Kat!

I scored this short film around four years ago. It was a fun, quirky, little comedy that allowed me the opportunity to write one of my most proud pieces. It's the title song "Clip-Cloppy-Clip: The Clogging Dance Song" which I composed to lyrics penned by the producer, Susan Busa. They had originally temped "The Lonely Goatherd" from THE SOUND OF MUSIC and needed a replacement song that was cornier, funnier, and got annoying really really fast. Then the score was written around that song.

I composed, recorded, and produced it myself with Susan actually singing the vocals and her two kids (overdubbed several times) singing the choruses. What a blast that was!

Select HARMONY IN THE HILLS (2005) in the player below.

For the past decade I've been fairly disorganized when it comes to managing and distributing my music via the internet. I press CD demos for prospective clients and have avoided making my music available on the internet for many years. Only recently have I put up MP3s of my film music on this blog for people to listen to. I've been searching for a more effective and controlled method for distributing my music online which is why I just recently joined ReverbNation.

ReverbNation is a site where I can collect, manage, distribute, and monitor all my film music. I can create widgets to post around the internet and disseminate tunepaks to target clients. Tunepaks are customized playlists that appears as a music player widget via a web browser. It looks like after ten years and an estimated 3000 demo CDs, I don't think I'll ever have to burn another one ever again.

I'd like to invite everybody to check out my page, listen to my music, and check back often for new uploads. If you feel so inclined, I encourage you to sign up as a fan so you can keep in touch with my latest activities. For now, all my music is streamed and unavailable for download but I will be looking into making several of my scores available for purchase via iTunes in the near future.

Here is a music player widget which has everything that I have uploaded to date. These are stereo 320kbps MP3s which sound fantastic streamed from the player. Also take note that there will forever be a widget posted on the right hand side of this blog (scan down to view and listen).

Right now I have selections from the following film scores available for listening...

ARTOIS THE GOAT (2009)
COWBOY SMOKE (2008)
THE CHILDREN'S WAR (2009)
RIDE AROUND THE WORLD (2006)
UNCONVENTIONAL: THE STORY OF THE BARNETT SHALE (2008)
MAKING THE MODERN (2003)

More score selections will be posted including a few more features and some of my short film work in the upcoming weeks.

Enjoy!





I've also posted music on my Facebook account.

ReverbNation also contains a wealth of information regarding my career including press quotes, bio, my blog posts, photos, and videos.

Feel free to spread the word and thanks for listening!

Tonight I had Emily over to hear the first couple of cues that I've written for THE RETELLING (2009). It's all early preliminary sketches but it gave her a good idea about the direction I'm heading with the score. I talked with her about it all and she was pleased so with the first nod of approval from the director the pace should start to pick up a bit. We're going to try to wrap up by the month's end so we'll see how that goes.

This score is really a lot of fun to put together. I bought a violin bow specifically for this project and have been bowing the hell out of anything I can find: a banjo, an acoustic bass, a hammered dulcimer, guitars, an autoharp, and some random percussion. It's pretty cool. I'm using a lot of folk instruments but in very unconventional ways. I'm also employing a prepared piano into the mix.

So far so good. I just cracked the surface so I've still got a long way to go. I'm sure I'll enjoy the journey.

I just got word today that THE CHILDREN'S WAR (2009) is finally complete! It's a feature-length documentary film I scored early last year about the atrocities against children in Northern Uganda. There's a war between the government and rebel armies who invade villages kidnapping children forcing them into service. It's a telling and powerful film, probably the most intimidating of my career. I've never felt such a huge weight of responsibility while composing a score for a movie. I'm very proud of it.

No word yet on distribution but I'm sure news will be released on that sometime later this year.

Here is an interview with the director, Andy Krakower, which ran here on a local Austin news web page.

If you would like to join the Facebook page for the film to stay updated with the latest news you can do that here.