BMI 2014 Composing for the Screen Film Scoring Mentorship Program
Hey all! So over the last 2 months I've been extremely grateful to be partaking in a wonderful series of film composition workshops in NYC's lower Manhattan at the World Trade Center sponsored by BMI and led by the amazing Rick Baitz. It was a very intense and very inspiring 7 week workshop that culminated in a recording session at Shelter Island Sound where we were tasked with writing a cue for string quartet. The weeks leading up to the session were jam packed with information that essentially amounted to a condensed masters in scoring for film. So much information to process and a lot of much needed needed inspiration! We studied a wide array of composers and even got to hang with renowned composer George S Clinton (Austin Powers Films, The Santa Clause films, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and the list goes on…)! Very inspiring stuff! This year, I was one of nine international participants accepted into the workshop (and the only Canadian, woo woo!) and was very honoured to meet and study with Rick as well as this year's participants who inspired me just as much with their creativity and their ideas. Apart from the workshops, even simply getting to hang out in NYC and be inspired by the sights and sounds was a real treat for me. I was very honoured to be able to check out Jimmy Hendrix's old recording studio "Electric Lady Studios" while I was in town as well as wide array of jazz clubs I was always itching to check out (Village Vanguard anyone?). I've met some amazing new people and had some amazing new experiences that I will not soon forget. Thanks again to Rick, BMI and this year's participants for such an amazing experience! It was a blast! If you would like to check out some of my work from the workshop check out my new cue "That's My Handwriting" below inspired by a scene we had to re-score from the movie "Zodiac" originally scored by David Shire (got to mess around with some 12-tone stuff on this cue ;) ). I would finally like to thank my good friends Mark Wilson and particularly Patrick O'Reilly for lending their musical talents on several of the scores I had to write throughout the workshop. You guys rock!! For more info about the seminar check out our news article on BMI’s website here: http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/bmi_sponsors_composing_for_the_screen_workshop I have some more exciting news on the horizon but this post is long enough as is so until next time!
