Film.Music.Media

The supremely versatile Lorne Balfe takes some time to chat about his fantastic new score to the new Dreamworks animation film, The Penguins Of Madagascar. Lorne explains everything that came with scoring a spin-off to characters who have become very familiar to audiences in another franchise. We discuss thematic writing, including Lorne's process for writing a theme. Beyond Penguins we get into a...

A true and special delight, John Powell takes some time to reflect on his career in film music as well as discuss his recent score to How To Train Your Dragon 2. John shares how he fell into the film music path, how he met Hans Zimmer and reflects on his collaborations with Gavin Greenaway, Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams. From his thematic process, the source of his signature percussion so...

The incredibly versatile Henry Jackman joins Film. Music. Media for the 4th time, this time to discuss his newest score to Big Hero 6. We dive right into Big Hero 6 and explore the approach to scoring something that carries some genre archetypes yet is extremely unique and intimate to its characters. Henry discusses the dual nature his theme had to carry; being big and heroic in some parts yet poi...

The wonderful Jóhann Jóhannsson takes some time to discuss his latest score to the critically-acclaimed The Theory Of Everything. We start by exploring Jóhann's journey to becoming a composer and then delve into his work on the film. Jóhann shares his approach for this emotional story about Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane Hawking. We talk about how to make sure the music is not doing too much to...

The composing duo of Joe Henson & Alexis Smith also known as The Flight take some time to speak about their recent score to Alien: Isolation. We discuss how the two got into music and what made them decide to pair up instead of venture alone. We then focus on what their approach was for such an iconic franchise such as Alien, and how they were able to incorporate Jerry Goldsmith's original score i...

Albert Chang is an extremely versatile composer of film, television and his own solo concert pieces. We sit down and talk about his recent project, Blood Ransom. Albert shares a lot about his background and how he fell in love with film music when seeing Dances With Wolves at a very young age. He also shares inspirations and techniques from his former professor at UCLA, Jerry Goldsmith. We then di...

SAG/AFTRA presents another special "Meet The Composer" event. For this event composer John Powell was featured, who has utilized SAG/AFTRA choir members and singers in many of his scores. Before his master class, film music journalist Jon Burlingame sat down with John Powell for this fantastic interview. Watch the master class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqGLRQqChGc filmmusicmedia.com sagaftr...

Antonio Sanchez is a world-renowned composer, drummer, jazz musician and winner of 4 Grammy Awards. He was personally called upon by Alejandro González Iñárritu to score Birdman, which is his feature film debut as a composer. Going a completely unconventional route, Iñárritu wanted an improvised drum score, and we discuss the process in-depth. Antonio shares the entire process from writing demos s...

Heitor Pereira takes some time to discuss his latest score to the film If I Stay, which was adapted from the popular novel. Heitor discusses his approach to a film with a subject matter like If I Stay versus something lighter like Despicable Me. We discuss the state of mind one has to put themselves in depending on the project. We discuss a lot about melodies, including Heitor's unique process of...

The incredibly busy and talented Brian Tyler takes some time to catch up about the three blockbuster films he scored this summer. We chat about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Into The Storm and The Expendables 3. Brian shares his approach for all three films and what he wanted to do with each score. Such as add a swashbuckling old-school adventure style to TMNT, approach Into The Storm as a concept...

Emmy-nominated composer Joey Newman takes some time to discuss his latest project, the new NBC series The Mysteries Of Laura. The series stars Debra Messing and Josh Lucas, and premieres this fall. Joey shares how he approached the show and what it takes to find the sound of a series from the start. We also discuss Joey's other projects including the long-running The Middle on ABC, which enters it...

Composer Mario Grigorov's versatility is reflected in the scores he's composed. From Oscar-winning drama Precious to the heartfelt Musical Chairs, Mario has demonstrated an uncanny ability to craft an emotional narrative around a film. We discuss his incredibly interesting path to film scoring, and how how he actually disliked composing when he first dabbled in it. Mario shares his journey to Los...

The versatile Daniel Licht takes some time to discuss some projects new and old. We take a look back at Dexter and the entire body of his work for the Emmy-winning drama over the course of 8 seasons including the most challenging things that came his way. Daniel also discusses his newest project, which is The Red Road airing on The Sundance Channel. The drama starring Jason Momoa is entering its s...

Nathan Whitehead is a composer whose ability to craft engrossing musical narratives in a distinct style makes him stand out of the crowd. Last year he composed an impressive horror score with The Purge, and only a year later he is back with The Purge: Anarchy. We chat about the different direction this film is taking versus the first one, and how he needed to approach the music differently. Nathan...

Emmy-winner Trevor Morris takes some time to discuss his latest projects including Vikings and Brick Mansions. We delve into the creative evolution Trevor's music has experienced over the course of Vikings' seasons and his approach for the show. We also discuss his score for Brick Mansions including what it's like composing a film score in a time-crunch with a two week timeframe. Trevor also share...

The extremely fun and informative John Ottman chats in detail about his scoring and editing process for X-Men: Days Of Future Past. John is completely open when he talks about his career as an editor for Bryan Singer. We talk about how he separates the editing and scoring process. Also, John discusses what it's like being the first composer to actually return to the X-Men franchise and bring the f...

Emmy-winning composer, Sean Callery takes some time to chat about his work on the return of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day. We discuss essentially returning to the show and picking up where the end of the series left off. Sean reflects on the 24 series from the start up till the point, and what it's like to have a project be in your life for that long. We also discuss Homeland and Elementary,...

Toby Chu takes some time to talk about his recent score to the new star-studded animated feature Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return. Toby's story of his journey to his film composing career is a fascinating one. He talks about how he discovered music and what led him to finally get to Los Angeles and by chance getting a job with Hans Zimmer's company (Media Ventures at the time). This led to working...

Composer Jeff Russo is behind the music to the critically acclaimed and popular new series Fargo on FX. Jeff shares about his background and how he came to film and TV scoring. We dive into his process for Fargo, which sees him continuing his collaboration with showrunner/writer and creator Noah Hawley. The process for Fargo was so interesting as Jeff explains he wrote a majority of all the music...

Composer Noah Sorota takes some time to talk about his scores to the hit series Falling Skies and the action suspense thriller Jinn. Noah talks about his amazing path to film composing including working for Hans Zimmer as a programmer and arranger on some of Hans' biggest scores. He goes into detail about the technical work he did, which in turn taught him a lot about the intricacies of the busine...

Henry Jackman is one of the busiest and most versatile film composers working today. His style is distinct and his range is impressive. Projects like Wreck-It Ralph, This Is The End, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Turbo, Captain Phillips, Winnie The Pooh, X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass all show his ability to tackle any genre. Henry is now the composer behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier...

Sergio Mendes is a true music legend. He is one of the most iconic musical figures and is responsible for ushering Brazilian music to a worldwide audience. Sergio Mendes has had an amazing career, but here we focus on his work for Rio 2. Sergio served as Executive Music Producer on the Rio films as well as a songwriter. We discuss his collaborative process with composer John Powell and how his wor...

The versatile and talented Silas Hite takes some time to chat about his work as a film, TV, game and media composer. Silas is truly a composer who has mastered adaptability in his artistic output early in his career. He shares how he started working closely with his uncles, Bob Mothersbaugh and Mark Mothersbaugh. Silas shares his unique approach to music as well as to his passion for drawing, whic...

Junkie XL (aka Tom Holkenborg) is a multi-talented instrumentalist, producer, arranger and composer. His background is a very unique one as he comes from both traditional and modern electronic approaches to music. Junkie XL has made a name for himself with a few notable solo albums as well as his collaborations with musicians and remixes. He recently began collaborating with Hans Zimmer and has wo...

Composer Edwin Wendler has quickly made a name for himself scoring some supremely engaging scores like Escape and The Right To Love: An American Family. He has also worked with some big-name composers like John Ottman, Stephen Trask and Paul Haslinger doing arranging, orchestrating and additional composing. For this interview Edwin shares about how he got started in music and eventually moved to L...