My name is Michael and welcome to my portfolio website and blog. Here I document my adventures in cinematic music creation and more.
Hope you have a nice stay!
All tagged orchestral music
Welcome back to #ScoreOTM... Today we're going way back to an era of serious orchestral sound design and vast experimentation because yep, I'm naming Jerry Goldsmith's score for Planet of the Apes (1968) as my 7th Score of the Month entry!
I recently took a trip to Los Angeles and had the opportunity to visit the Sony Pictures lot with my buddy in Culver City and wanted to share some of pictures I managed to take (we were prohibited from taking too many) and highlights from my time there.
I had initially gotten a little frustrated with myself as I was a little unprepared and after knocking on many of the studio doors (including Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions) and being told I needed an appointment, I came to realise I really should have reached out to these guys before I left for L.A. - I guess the excitement of finally visiting the United States and particularly California was a little overwhelming for me which lead me to be slightly unorganised about the whole thing; you can imagine my excitement when I was told yes I could visit Sony, and yes, I could take a look at the scoring stage as it was not being used that morning...
I was lucky enough to snap up some tickets to "Interstellar Live" at the Royal Albert Hall in which Hans Zimmer, Chris Nolan, Michael Caine and even Stephen Hawking were present! I got in early for the pre concert talks which commenced around 90 minutes before the show began…
How much should you give away? How much do you expose yourself? Should you open yourself up for criticism? Should you hide your art away?
Music, and any art come to think of it, is an incredibly personal thing. There is a reason people won’t show you that paining they have been working on for the past two months, why that poem just never seems finished, and why film composers can be late on their deadlines ;).
It’s all about exposure! It’s fairly human to talk your way around things, get yourself out of sticky situations, and let’s be fair, talk utter bullshit at times; but when you play a piece of music to someone, or unveil you latest painting, suddenly you are naked, open to criticism and in many cases, at your most vulnerable as both an artist and as a person.
I’ve listened to loads of music from various fellow composers and what I find interesting (although never comment), is just how much that specific piece, written at that specific time is actually saying about the person, it’s very personal…
I ventured out to the Royal Albert Hall to watch a selection of live Danny Elfman’s cues for his work on the Tim Burton films and thought I’d share some pictures we managed to take on the night. A really great atmosphere and fantastic to see Mr. Elfman himself performing the role of ‘Jack’ from Nightmare Before Christmas.
It was during the interval of a Ligeti Qaurtet concert in Brighton earlier this year where I was amazed to watch a short introductory trailer for a movement known as the "Post War Orchestra" screening in the venue...
