Projects

At the end of the 2021-22 school year, I was asked to provide music for a couple short films in the Red Carpet Film Festival. This one, Found, follows Jeremy as he finds what seems to be an old treasure map and searches for where it leads across his home and yard. The score, requested to sound like that of Indiana Jones, mixes the adventurous nature of John Williams' iconic music for that film with a more whimsical tilt inspired by the protagonist's imaginative romp.

Tracklist:

01 Found  [ 04:26 ]

02 Homestead Explorer  [ 00:31 ]

At the end of the 2021-22 school year, I was asked to provide music for a couple short films in the Red Carpet Film Festival. This one, Killing Ghosts, follows William as he finally decides to confront a ghost tormenting him. Somewhat of a goofy premise that plays out as a serious matter from the perspective of the protagonist, I wrote a score whose seriousness wanes the more William faces his fears and the absurdity of the situation comes to light.

Tracklist:

01 Just Stress  [ 03:09 ]

02 Just A Ghost  [ 01:36 ]

In early 2020 I was asked to provide a background track for this science fiction virtual reality game. In the game, you are tasked with repairing a reactor before an alien hunts you down. In order to capture the powerful, creeping effect called for by the producer of the game, I experimented a lot with pitch bend, panning, and noise synthesizers.

In early 2019 I was contacted by director Foster Solomon about possibly contributing music to this film. When all was said and done, Foster elected to include four cues by me in his movie, which dealt with the dilemma of a pastor having to save the man who killed his wife. To cater to the sadder subtext of the film, my music is moody and textural, zeroing in on the protagonist's grief for and memory of his lost spouse.

Tracklist:

01 Down the Road  [ 02:03 ]

02 I Need You to Walk  [ 03:22 ]

03 Tell Me What to Do  [ 00:53 ]

04 You Didn't Know  [ 04:50 ]

For this competition, the composer was tasked with adding a musical score to the final clip of the 2015 Oscar-winning film Son of Saul. Perceiving mostly sadness throughout the scene (as the protagonist Saul had just lost his son's body), I set to work creating a cue that drew attention to Saul's grief and despair above all else. The crux of my composition is the solo cello theme that plays as Saul sits bitterly in the shed.

For this competition, the composer was asked to write a short piece on the theme of being outside. My piece was inspired by the feelings I experienced as I toured the Misty Fiords National Monument by floatplane. The landscape is already breathtaking from a distance, but the low flightpath between mountains and just over waterways transforms the scene into a truly tangible affair. This total immersion is captured by melting the many colors of the orchestra into one continuous stream of blissful, wonderstruck melody.

For this competition, the composer was tasked with adding a musical score to a car chase scene from season 3 of the HBO show Westworld. Inspired by the music backing major action set pieces in films such as Mission Impossible: Fallout and Transformers, I centered the score around a multi-ensemble percussion section and incisive low-brass motives. The goal was a Balfe-/Jablonsky-style composition founded on traditional orchestration with splashes of electronics and extended techniques to emphasize the unique futuristic elements of the scene.

For my senior capstone project, I sought to show that I am a composer capable of producing a variety of musical styles depending on the need of the media with which I am working. In addition, I wished to demonstrate that I am familiar enough with music technology to create high-quality virtual realizations of this music and to integrate music with visual media, both with high efficiency. The project thus included several short pieces covering a range of genres, including one accompanying a title sequence of a show and one accompanying a scene from a contemporary film.

Components:

1 Cinematic Scenes, I. By Steed and Rail (Western)  [ 00:57 ]

2 Cinematic Scenes, II. A Half Made Whole (Romance)  [ 01:20 ]

3 Cinematic Scenes, III. Dread of Distress (Horror)  [ 01:20 ]

4 Infinite Realities (Science Fiction)  [ 01:07 ]

5 What Do You Do? (Drama)  [ 02:09 ]

After my YouTube scoring project of 2016-17, I returned to the platform at the end of 2017 to find a new video with which to practice putting music to screen. This time, I settled on a 4-part set of animations produced by YouTuber CaptainSparklez, as I saw their cinematic potential beyond their original purpose as simply music videos. To complement the medieval theme of the series and the game in which it takes place, I decided to feature solo flute, guitar, and tambourine throughout my score.

Tracklist:

01 I. Ruin  [ 04:52 ]

02 II. Remnant  [ 06:33 ]

03 III. Destiny  [ 05:42 ]

04 IV. Invasion  [ 05:40 ]

As an aspiring film composer, I thought that a good place to start practicing screen scoring could be on YouTube, where there are plenty of videos lacking music that could use it to enhance the action. So, both as a personal challenge and in response to my parents' doubts that I had the potential to make it in the film music industry, I found and successfully scored this 45-minute video by YouTuber CaptainSparklez. The soundtrack's primary function is to maintain the intensity of fighting to be the last player alive.

Tracklist:

01 Fight or Flee  [ 04:27 ]

02 Déjà Vu  [ 02:31 ]

03 The Hunt  [ 04:21 ]

04 Stalk, or Be Stalked  [ 02:01 ]

05 Mischief  [ 03:15 ]

06 The Spectator  [ 03:16 ]

07 One Step Too Far  [ 02:28 ]

08 Ruins  [ 01:49 ]

09 On the Run  [ 04:14 ]

10 Return to the Beginning  [ 03:37 ]

11 The Sponsor  [ 02:31 ]

12 Hostile Surroundings  [ 03:54 ]

13 Player vs. Player  [ 06:13 ]

14 The Survival Games  [ 02:41 ]