Benjie Messer » scoring

ABD Film Premiere

benjie — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:34:00 +0000

I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve just been working non-stop on the score for At Best Derivative, and not doing much else. ABD is a feature farce comedy, a self-conscious homage to spoofs such as the Naked Gun and Hot Shots, locally cast and produced on a micro budget. I’m very proud of the music I’ve written, and I have a lot left to write! (This pic on the right is from a scene I just finished.)

Anyway, the first (and so far, only) screening will be on Friday, March 6, at 7:00 PM, in the main theater of the Tempe Center for the Arts. Advanced tickets are available as of today, and can be bought online at the Friar’s Lantern website for $11 (with PayPal) or at theTCA website for $13 (or $18 on the day of the show.) Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Parents, FYI: At Best Derivative contains ridiculously excessive swearing, probably too much to overlook, enough that your kids will ask, “Why are you letting me watch this?”

ABD Trailer

benjie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:23:00 +0000

We’ve finished the trailer for At Best Derivative. The music I wrote for it ended up being mixed fairly low, so turn the volume up if you want to hear it.

And here’s the audio track in its full glory (not that it means much without the video):

Be patient- there are a few seconds of silence at the beginning.

The Mating Game

benjie — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, I composed music for the romantic comedy “The Mating Game”, the Phoenix Independent Film Makers Group’s entry in the IFP-Phoenix 48-hr film challenge. Friday at 7:00 PM we were given a prop (a spatula), a line (“How did that get in there?”), and a genre (we got comedy). Our completed 3-minute film was due Sunday evening at 7:00 PM. There were 30 or so teams that participated- the screening this Thursday involved more spatula-related homicides than most of my evenings out.

I didn’t get to score to picture, just to the script, because of the time contraint, but I think the music ended up working fairly well anyway, and it was fun to do. Here’s the 5-minute “director’s cut”:

ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop

benjie — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Last night I mailed in my application to the 2008 ASCAP Film and Television Scoring Workshop with Richard Bellis. It sounds like a serious film scoring camp- 3 or 4 weeks in LA, 40 hours a week, being coached by great filmmakers, sound editors, composers, and orchestrators, getting your work recorded by a live orchestra of pros- all paid for by ASCAP. They’re very clear that they don’t want hobbyists- only people who are pursuing film scoring as a profession. Anyway, it would be really exciting and I have my fingers crossed.

I actually just read Bellis’ new book, The Emerging Film Composer. It’s very good, and maybe the only book on film composing I’ve ever read with a sense of humor.

I worked on the application every night this week, updating my resume, writing a nice cover letter, putting together a CD of orchestral excerpts (all stuff you’ve seen here before), etc. I have no idea how many composers apply each year, or how experienced they tend to be, so it’s hard to know what my chances are- but even just putting together the application was fun and inspirational. Anyway, wish me luck!