Cue of the Week: Better Off Said

This week's selection is a jaunty rag that closed a short film I scored earlier this year. Better Off Said was a combination morality play and wry comedy; director David Kiang and I agreed that the musical approach should stress the latter aspect. We'd discussed both Gershwin and Joplin as musical role models, and the end titles ended up drawing a little flavor from both.

If I had to select music from my body of work thus far to be played at my funeral, this would probably be it. (Not to imply that I'm looking forward to the event.)

Better Off Said - End Titles

Piano is by the phenomenally talented Alan Steinberger, who also performed on my score for the feature Home Room. Alan's not only a nice guy, but someone whom other studio musicians seem to hold in a kind of religious awe. Swingin' jazz violin comes courtesy of Ludvig Girdland. Drums and bass brought to you by the finest of sample libraries. Enjoy!

Cue of the Week: The Great Escape

This week's selection is from a 1999 feature called The F-Zone. Despite the sci-fi-esque title, the movie is the story of an independent filmmaker who's harried by an out-of-control IRS and decides to strike back. In this sequence, the protagonist ends a cat-and-mouse airport chase with federal marshalls by charging directly at them with his single-prop plane, then pulling up at the last minute. I'm sure we've all had occasions where we wanted to treat the taxman in a similar fashion.

The Great Escape



This piece introduces the film's "chase theme", initially in pizzicato violins and violas, then eventually with the full string section playing an aggressive marcato. (I'll confess a trade secret: frantic stepwise playing is one of those stunts that sounds really impressive, but is actually fairly easy for string players to do. That said, the union orchestra we assembled for the occasion did a bangup job.)

The score was recorded at O'Henry Studios in Burbank, conducted by yours truly. And that is film writer/lead William Harrity stunt-piloting that plane himself.

Gone mixin'

I've been wrapped up in mixing and editing the score for Siren for the last few days, so sadly there is no Cue of the Week this week. Stay tuned next Wednesday or Thursday!