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WRITE OF PASSAGE
is about a down and out writer, struggling with a case of writer's block and must face his greatest nemesis - his own typewriter. A highly stylized film shot in black & white that hearkens to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone and as well as the great films of Alfred Hitchcock.
The Score for Write of Passage was incredibly crucial to the film. Shot almost entirely MOS and only containing a few, albeit poignant lines of dialog, the music is more in the forefront of the audiences mind than in most films. It is our hero's mental state realized through music. Utilizing 20 players (including a brass section of 8 horns) and the now very familiar 4th Street Recording, the score stays with the look of the film and has a 50's suspense sound for many of the cues. Other cues rush with eexuberancewhen our lead character is in his glory. The often times difficult to play music was performed beautifully by the orchestra.
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DIAMOND CONFIDENTIAL
is film noir about Mick Diamond, a down and out photographer who takes "Dirty pictures of dirty people, doing dirty things”. A man who can be bought for a buck or a bottle. One night, he is hired by a Femme Fatale, Jasmine Ozerova, to retrieve a suitcase. The contents a mystery. The reward, high, the risk death.
Silver Lei Award Winner - Waikiki International Film Festival - 2010
Official Selection - LA Shorts Fest - 2009
The score for Diamond Confidential was written for ensemble of 12 players. Recorded live at 4th Street Recording with a group of amazing musicians conducted by Brian Hawlk. The true Noir score is based in the jazz tradition and utilizes Leitmotifs. Each character has an associated theme and/or instrument that accompanies them on screen. The film is wall-to-wall music and the score was intended to be a strong character itself in the film. The score is at times sultry, brooding, somber, forlorn and joyful.
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DADA
is an absurdist short film set in the roaring twenties that chronicles two brothers who are obsessed with stealing Marcel Duchamp's shovel back from their arch nemesis, a greedy, drunk, fat, perverted aristocrat.
Official Selection - Comicon International Film Festival - 2009
Official Selection - Visionfest - 2009
Winner - Platinum Reel Award - Nevada Film Festival - 2009
Official Selection - LA Comedy Shorts - 2009
Official Selection - West Hollywood Film Festival - 2009
The score for DADA is a cross between Bugs Bunny and a French Café. The mood is set by accordion, violin, tuba and alto sax. A light score that both sets up and accents the hilarious comedy in the film. The score was recorded right here at Blue Velvet Studios. Because it was such a small ensemble playing on all the cues, having exceptional musicians was a must. Like many of Brian’s scores, Leitmotifs were employed and the music not only follows the action but also is a tightly woven quilt of dynamic instruments and characters.
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DARK
CRIMES is a throwback film noir. A real time
thriller with twists, turns, double crosses and of course…murder.
Official
Selection FAIF international film festival – LA
Winner – First
Place, Crime Drama – The Indie Gathering – OH
The score for DARK CRIMES is both a Jazz and Orchestral
score. Recorded live at 4th Street Recording in Santa
Monica with an ensemble of 15 musicians. The dark score
heightens the suspense and intrigue of the complex plot
while continuing to develop the theme of the music box
that plays a key role in the story. ONE SMALL PROBLEM
has high strings walking a tight rope of tension while
alto flute and bass clarinet interplay. Ever looming
closer, the orchestra is increasingly enlarged with piano,
horns, bass, cello and cymbals for the climax. THE CABIN
is transitional music with strings and French horn. The
music helps create that classic film noir mood. CHOLLIE’S
LOVE features muted strings playing solo for this tender
moment between professional thieves. SEDUCTION is a sultry
jazz cue with bluesy vibes over insistent bass.
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THE
LINGUISTS is a feature length documentary
about dying languages and two men that travel the world
trying to save those languages.
Official Selection - Sundance Film Festival - UT
Winner – Best Doc - Garden State Film Festival - NJ
Multiple airings on PBS
The score for THE LINGUISTS required great sensibility and
a light touch. SIBERIA uses acoustic guitar, accordion and
percussion. It underscores pictures of this cold place and
it’s people that have seen their language and culture
overtaken. THAO VILLAGE
combines live marimba and percussion with expertly played
oboe. It creates a sense of gentle strength to depict the
last speaker in a village in Taiwan that is 90 years old. MARY
HIT JOHN is music for an animation segment of the film. Muted
trumpet, saxophone and clarinet perform this dance in ¾ time.
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BERTA is
a feature film that takes a post-modern look at the sexes.
A story of a hip, eccentric lesbian that wants to know what
it would be like to have a man’s body.
The score for BERTA took advantage of the use of sampled
instruments. A large orchestral sound was desired but
not affordable. CLOSEST THING TO RIGHT uses the power of
a large string ensemble to impact the mood of regret, while
still holding onto the hope of better things to come. THE
CLINIC was written to work as both source music for a waiting
room and dramatic underscore for the scene.
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WAY
OF THE PUCK is a feature length documentary
about the professional air hockey circuit and the diverse
range of players that simply love the sport.
Winner of the Gold Remi – Worldfest – Houston
Int’l Film Festival
WAY OF THE PUCK demanded a very diverse score; from
Jazz Waltzes and fleeting Orchestral cues to Heavy Metal
guitar and Rockabilly drums. MALLET hits hard with driving
guitar riffs and backbeat drums. TOURNAMENT is a blockbuster
orchestral action cue. DRAWING ROOM is a brooding Waltz
with alto sax, hammer dulcimer and some tasty brushwork
on the snare. The darkness opens up but just for a moment.
GRETCHEN plays under black and white, 8mm footage of
a young boy skating on a frozen pond as a man reminisces.
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URBAN SPIN CYCLE is
an avant-garde, 30-second cell phone movie. A phone was duct-taped
to a bike tire and then rode down the streets of Silver Lake.
Winner – First
Prize – Cell phone art – PAH*FEST – NM
Hand selected by esteemed judge Francis Ford Coppola. The
entire project was completed in a Saturday afternoon. The
score features alto saxophone and a 200-year-old apple-peeler.
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PSP is a 30-second commercial for
the highly successful Sony PSP.
The entire commercial
can be seen in the sound
design section of this site.
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