Screen Composing
In September 2023 I went back to school, studying media composing, and sound design for video games. Film composing is an area I've dabbled with a few times in the past, so I'm excited to pivot in that direction. Below are some examples of my work for screen.
Orchestral/Thriller
I re-composed a cue for the trailer of a video game called Dishonored. I used the project as an excuse to also test out my foley/sound design/voice acting skills!
The intention with the music was to try and amplify the thriller/horror elements of the scene by scoring vaguely in the style of Bernard Herrmann. Vaguely.
Minimalist/Nature
I mocked up a cue for this nature documentary scene, taken from BBC's Planet Earth. Luckily I was able to separate the original David Attenborough VO, though I needed to replace some of the foley.
Usually these cues are scored in a more classical/orchestral style, but I felt the slow-mo footage offered a good opportunity to take it a slightly different direction.
Textural/Video Poem
I wrote a poem about two French volcanologists, called Katia and Maurice Krafft, who spent their lives researching and documenting volcanoes, and ultimately died in a violent volcano eruption in Japan.
I created this short film using a combination of the Krafft's archive footage, my own animations, and the music I composed to accompany the words and film.
Electronic/Game
My very first video game. And really it's a very simple game, more an excuse to show off the piece of music than to flex my game dev skills (which are quite nascent!)
The various elements of the music (drums, bass, syth arp, synth lead etc.) are attached to different game objects and scattered around the map. As you roam around, you collect the music bit by bit, and read the philosophical sounding gibberish that pops up on the screen.
Orchestral/Fantasy
For an assignment I was asked to write a cue for an undefined fantasy video game. It's composed as a series of stems which can be played individually, or stacked in any combination.
This is an abridged version (full mix below) which I edited to a Zelda trailer after the fact, hence the slight vibe mismatch between the visual and the sound. It's also probably a pinch too dynamic, but as my first orchestral composition I am deeply proud of it. I aim to come back to it to re-orchestrate, and implement within an actual game setting.
Choral/Medieval
Another class assignment cue, this time a cutscene from the PS1 game MediEvil. This game came out in 1998, which is the reason for the woeful resolution video.
I went for a vaguely gregorian/plainchant choral style, which feels appropriately medieval. I think if I was to approach this again I would try and add a little more comedy/silliness.