Composing : My Entry for the 2015 Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest by Mathew Kong

I am not familiar with this contest so I am watching it with no idea what the judging criteria is. You also didn't say if everyone got something different to score or got this same animation. With that in mind I can say that in 'isolation' you did an admirable job scoring and if it weren't a contest, there is no question your score works for the film. In my opinion, animation is much more difficult to score since it is continuous music and in your case even more challenging since there is no dialog and only a few 'visual cues'. The question I would ask is if you are competing against others, not how well this does 'in isolation' but how do you stack up against your competition. Sort of like a gymnastic competition or a diving competition - what are the judges looking for and how well did you perform on the things they expect everyone to do. In the case of scoring, I would suppose they would be looking on how well the music supports the storyline and whether you not only emphasized the 'hit points' but also did them as the judges 'expected'. I am going to do this from memory since I am not a judge and want to only watch it once. Keeping in mind it is my 'personal' opinion/judgement I would say that you covered a bunch of them as I would have expected but there were some places where you either missed the hit points, or did not score as I expected - for example, when an animation goes up I would expect an up sound typically done with flute or piccolo. You switched in the scary part with scary music but I wondered from a judging standpoint did it get scary at the right place and was the score scary enough? Then at the end, there was a 'false ending' but I wondered whether the music did the false end anticipation the way the judges expected it. Just a few I can remember. And again, this is not about how good the score is, but what the judging criteria are and how you scored against the others who submitted.

I saw Conrad Pope at University of Michigan. One of the students at U of M presented his entry to this contest! Really cool.

Hi Joel, Thank you for watching, and your thoughts are very appreciated. Everyone in the contest was given the same film to score. Judging criteria was based on Musicality (20%), Technical Proficiency (10%), Originality (25%), Dramatic Connection (25%), and Overall Excellence (20%). For comparison, you can view the finalist entries here: http://cine.org/hamlischcontest/ Unlike a typical scoring scenario where I can sit down with the director and discuss what they want/expect, there was no luxury here of asking what the judges wanted (no direction was given at any point and understandbly, we weren't allowed to communicate or collaborate with anybody). Also, one judge may like one idea, another judge may dislike that same thing. So instead of trying to anticipate and cater to unknown and possibly conflicting preferences, I found the best approach was to go with my instincts and score the way I wanted to score. I got to be both the director and composer, and it was a lot of fun! @Andrea: It is a very cool contest; glad they had the opportunity!

Mathew - I don't know about anyone else's opinion, but I can tell you from personal experience that what ever happens this is great practice and a chance for you to hear for the first time or re-hear, your 'sound' - you're unique way of presenting your genius in scoring which is unique to you. And I don't know about anyone else, but in the last two years - well more than half the films I scored, the director's trusted me to do it without any input whatsoever and they loved the results. Perhaps every film in Hollywood is spotted and 'controlled' with input, but out here in Texas, most of the ones I score come with no input - just like your contest! :)

HI Matthew, First of all, REALLY good job in writing this music, must have taken a bit of time! You show a tremendous talent with orchestration, and thematic movement/development over a short time. You show great depth in writing style, and I think for a demo reel to show off what you can do THIS is great - but I want to be honest with you here: as a scoring contest I would have judged this a little lower than other entries, but only in approach, not ability. Your music did not gradually tell a cohesive story, it was a little "on-the-nose," changing too quickly, without a lot of through-put/cohesiveness. It sounded like a Warner Bros comedy, rather than a mysterious evolving short story. You changed too fast, too often, and it took me away from the story. Listen to the original: https://vimeo.com/78653481 This music hit all the important moments, but built to them and transitioned, there was a consistent through-put. It's not just melody or small thematic fragments that are important, but it's also in mood and instrumentation. While this original lacked a good melody (yours was much more interesting), it held the story together a bit more. After all, as composers we are to support the film, not have the film be a medium for our music. I do want to emphasize that you write really well, and you have a very, very good grasp at how to handle themes and orchestrate them out - which is great for longer subject material. In shorts (unless it's comedy), I would encourage you to write in broader strokes. One side note, pay a little more attention to your mix (this unfortunately is largely the job of the composer/producer now) - the reverb is not matched and is a little too much, you have things too wet and too dry. Certain instruments are a little soft in the mix and are not coming through very well, while others are a little loud. I know some of this has to do with different sample library manufactures - but layering different sample sets can help as well as cohesive reverbs. Please take my words with a grain of salt - obviously this is just my take-away, others would feel completely the opposite. It's subjective, as scoring ultimately comes down to an individual's approach. Again, I'd still be proud of what you did - great work! Best, Sam

Hi Samuel, First off, thank you so much for the insightful feedback! I see what you mean by changing quickly and being on the nose, especially in comparison with the original. Although, upon seeing the original, I thought it wasn't reactive enough. Though it definitely was more cohesive, it sounded to me like it was just one feeling the whole way through: wondrous. For me, there was no sense of progession; setting off on the adventure, going through the scary forest, returning to town; it all sounded the same. Along with that, I only caught three points where the music addressed what was going onscreen: the balloon bursting through the clouds, "The End", and a sort of halfway addressing the return to town. I felt it completely missed moments like the excitement of her lifting off in the balloon, the danger and uncertainty of her getting picked up by the tornado, the tense moments where she is gripping for dear life to the edge and then she falls, the tender moment where she accepts her place back home. Most importantly though, I felt it missed the opportunity to capture the emotional arc of the story. In my version, I establish a theme in the beginning; first sad with the low woodwinds, then triumphant as she starts the adventure and leaves her old life behind. Then I come back to it at the end; the adventure allows her to forget, but by returning home she is reminded once again by the sign that says "This place is not for you" (at which point the orchestra fades to let the sad clarinet from the beginning come through). But then Emma rips the sign and a piano and harp reprise the original theme from the beginning; changed because she's changed; no longer sad nor triumphant but tender and optimistic toward a bright future. Just my mindset, anyway; I really did try to support not just the story, but also create an emotional arc that connected the beginning and the end, and the middle personified the "distraction" that she was trying to use as an escape before realizing home is home, and the adventure is within. Obviously if it didn't come across to the judges (or in a real scenario, the audience), then it wasn't the best choice on my part! As for those adventure scenes, I tried to address that she's going through a lot of ups and downs: one moment she's excited, the next she's frightened, the next she's blissful, etc. I saw the journey as a roller coaster, and I thought I was picking up the animator's intent in that regard. But I think perhaps I tried to tell too much story on top of trying to distinctly address every scene, and didn't focus enough on mood and consistency, which is precisely what you pointed out. As for the mixing, that's definitely my roughest spot and I'm constantly working to improve. Thank you for mentioning that, and I'll keep tweaking my mixes! Once again, thank you for listening and for the great tips and perspective. I'm new to Stage32 but I have to say it's been a really great resource for me already, thanks in large part to the great community! And thank you John, glad you liked it!

OMG Matthew! This is absolutely gorgeous! The word genius comes to mind! I loved the way you brought in the "scary" aspects of the music with the wolves and the storm, and then when Emma flew, it actually sounded like stars!! If you don't win, (which you should) I would be honored to get the opportunity to work with you one day on my animated movies! Bravo!

Thank you Dawn, your words mean a lot to me! I didn't win or final, but I took away a great learning experience and it was a lot of fun! Let me know when your next animated movie is in the works. :)

Matthew I have several original songs for my two movies but I don't have a score yet. If and when I ever find a producer interested in my work I will definitely look you up! You would be perfect for what I need!

Kudos! It's not easy to score for animation. I attended a lecture on animation by my friend Hummie Mann at the Park City Film Music Festival (you should submit your film scoring work), and it was tedious. Hats off to you.

I liked it, I thought it was an excellent job scoring. The future looks bright Mathew. I'm wishing you continued success.

Thank you Jeffrey and Boomer. I hope I can keep doing music and never stop! :)