The 2012 IFMCA Award winners are…

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION HONORS MULTIPLE FILMS; “LIFE OF PI” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR BUT DESPLAT, ELFMAN, GIACCHINO, NEWMAN, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS ALSO WIN

http://filmmusiccritics.org/2013/02/ifmca-winners-2012/

FEBRUARY 21, 2013 — The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. Unlike in previous years, where one score has taken multiple victories, the main film prizes are split equally between 11 different movies and composers, the greatest spread in IFMCA history.

The award for Score of the Year goes to Canadian composer MYCHAEL DANNA for his score for director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI. Danna’s dramatic and beautiful score made use of a large number of Indian musical elements in addition to a traditional western orchestra, capturing through music one the film’s key ideas, the collision of different cultures to form the large, ethnic melting pot from which the lead character, Pi Patel, originates. This is the first Score of the Year award from the IFMCA for Golden Globe winner and double-Oscar nominee Danna, who had never previously been nominated in this category, although he did receive five previous nominations in genre categories for scores such as BEING JULIA, THE NATIVITY STORY and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS.

Reel Music gets involved in the inaugural IFMCA Radio broadcast

The IFMCA is proud to announce the launch of IFMCA RADIO. The first show celebrates the music nominated for the 2012 IFMCA Awards. A number of members were asked to introduce a few tracks from nominated scores that they felt were particularly worthy of being highlighted. The couple of cues that I chose to be included in the show are from scores nominated in the “Best Original Score For A Television Series” category: “The Fallen” from John Lunn’s DOWNTON ABBEY and “I Am The Doctor In Utah” taken from Murray Gold’s score for Series 6 of DOCTOR WHO.

Please take a listen to the show at the IFMCA website. Below is the IFMCA announcement of the first show of IFMCA Radio. Enjoy!

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES IFMCA RADIO WITH A LOOK AT THE BEST SCORES OF 2012

The International Film Music Critics Association is proud to announce the launch of IFMCA Radio, a new audio feature which will bring a new, dynamic aspect to the IFMCA’s work.

This inaugural broadcast of IFMCA Radio celebrates the music nominated for the 2012 IFMCA Awards, and features selections by several members which represent, in their opinion, some of the best individual film, TV and video game cues from 2012.

The selections in this special 2-hour programme includes music from JOHN CARTER (Michael Giacchino), JOURNEY (Austin Wintory), SECRET OF THE WINGS (Joel McNeely), DOWNTON ABBEY (John Lunn), DOCTOR WHO (Murray Gold), CLOUD ATLAS (Tom Tykwer/Johnny Klimek/Reinhold Heil), RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (Alexandre Desplat), THE IMPOSSIBLE (Fernando Velázquez), METSÄN TARINA (Panu Aaltio), DANS LA MAISON (Philippe Rombi), TED (Walter Murphy), PARANORMAN (Jon Brion), STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (Jerry Goldsmith), LINCOLN (John Williams), SKYFALL (Thomas Newman), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Hans Zimmer), KINGDOMS OF AMALUR: RECKONING (Grant Kirkhope), LIFE OF PI (Mychael Danna), ISABEL (Federico Jusid), ANNA KARENINA (Dario Marianelli), MOONRISE KINGDOM (Alexandre Desplat), BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Dan Romer/Benh Zeitlin), WIR WOLLTEN AUFS MEER (Nic Raine), and QUO VADIS (Miklós Rózsa).

IFMCA Award Nominations 2012 have been announced

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS REVEAL MOST OPEN RACE IN YEARS, WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS FOR DANNA, DESPLAT, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS

FEBRUARY 7, 2013 — The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. The largest numbers this year are, for the most part, split evenly between four composers, all of whom received four nominations: MYCHAEL DANNA, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ and veteran composer JOHN WILLIAMS.

The nominations for Danna, Velázquez and Williams were each for a single score – director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI, director Juan Antonio Bayona’s harrowing tsunami drama THE IMPOSSIBLE [LO IMPOSIBLE] and director Steven Spielberg’s look at the last months of the life of Abraham LINCOLN, respectively.

Desplat’s nominations were for his body of work in 2012 which included writing IFMCA Award-nominated music for the quirky comedy MOONRISE KINGDOM, the storybook animation RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, and the contemporary war thriller ZERO DARK THIRTY, as well as for the 1970s espionage thriller ARGO, the realistic French romantic drama RUST AND BONE [DE ROUILLE ET D’OS], the Italian satirical comedy REALITY, and the French-language biopic CLOCLO.

The other nominees for Film Score of the Year are the ambitious sci-fi drama CLOUD ATLAS by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (two nominations), and director Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy prequel THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY by Howard Shore (two nominations).

Danna, Desplat, Velázquez and Williams are also short-listed for Film Composer of the Year along with DANNY ELFMAN, who enjoyed a stellar year composing music for such popular and successful films as DARK SHADOWS, FRANKENWEENIE, HITCHCOCK, MEN IN BLACK III, PROMISED LAND and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.

The IFMCA recognizes emerging talent in the film music world, and this year is no exception. The nominees in the Breakout Composer of the Year category include young Spanish composer ZELTIA MONTES for her work on the Spanish feature drama VILAMOR; composer DAN ROMER and composer/director BENH ZEITLIN for their captivating bluegrass-flavored score for the critically acclaimed BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD; JOSEPH TRAPANESE for his work on the animated TV show TRON: UPRISING; NATHAN JOHNSON for his unconventionally percussive music for the acclaimed sci-fi thriller LOOPER; and composer/conductor NIC RAINE, a long time associate of the late John Barry and contributor to Silva Screen and Tadlow Music’s series of re-recordings, who has begun to establish his own musical voice through his score for the German-language thriller WIR WOLLTEN AUFS MEER.

As it has in previous years, the IFMCA takes pride in honoring composers from across the film music world; this year’s international nominees include French composer Philippe Rombi for his work on director François Ozon’s thriller DANS LA MAISON, Finnish composer Panu Aaltio for the beautiful nature documentary score METSÄN TARINA, UK-based Portuguese composer Miguel d’Oliveira’s score for the BBC documentary SHAKESPEARE & US, Argentinean composer Federico Jusid’s music for the Spanish TV series ISABEL, and Japanese composer Naoki Sato’s contribution to the Japanese TV series PRICELESS.

Several composers are receiving their first ever IFMCA Award nominations this year, including JON BRION (Paranorman, Animation), ROBERT FOLK (There Be Dragons – Secretos de Pasión, Drama), PASCAL GAIGNE (Los Mundos Sutiles, Documentary), GRANT KIRKHOPE (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Video Game), WALTER MURPHY (Ted, Comedy), FREDERIK WIEDMANN (Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Television), and the team from Blizzard Entertainment led by RUSSELL BROWER and NEAL ACREE (World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Video Game).

The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 9th IFMCA Awards on February 21, 2013.

BY THE WINTER SEA – Jesper Hansen

Original Review by Alan Rogers

A short film set during World War II, director Philips Stevens’ By The Winter Sea follows the progress of Ada (Helen Victor) who leaves her home in London to join the Women’s Land Army, to work on a farm on the Lincolnshire coast. She soon realises that the life of a “Land Girl” is not the one portrayed on the posters but with the help of fellow Londoner and Land Girl Jean (Sarah Whitehouse), she eventually falls in love with her new life. Danish composer Jesper Hansen continues his association with the Lincolnshire-based film production company Red Dog Film and provides a sparse but tender score based around a small ensemble of fiddle and piano with embellishments (e.g., harp, snare drum). The first main component to the score is an Celtic/folk-inspired theme played on solo fiddle (“Main Title – The Journey”). First heard over shots of a bleak grey coast of the North Sea, the theme has a mournful quality about it and its appearance of the theme at various points in the film suggests an influence of the new life (represented by the sea) on the characters even when there is no visual reference to the sea. In the cue “Arrival To Lincolnshire”, for example, Ada’s waiting to be picked up for the final leg of her journey to the farm where she has been stationed and the appearance of the solo fiddle when she gets into the car seems to signal the “point of no return” for her adventure from town to countryside.

“Arrival To Lincolnshire” also features a lovely theme for solo piano. Constructed in such a way as to give the sense of innocence to Ada, this theme – and the use of solo piano in more hesitant ideas and motifs (e.g., “First Day of Work”) – mirrors Ada’s journey from the city to rural Lincolnshire as well as her arrival to and settling down in her new and unfamiliar environment. As Ada’s confidence builds the piano line then becomes more animated, determined and happier (“Home By The Winter Sea”). The juxtaposition of both the piano and solo fiddle in the score echoes the various experiences of Ada as she comes to terms with her new surroundings as well as her inner turmoil during her initial doubts and subsequent embracing of her new life. This acceptance of her situation is then reflected in the score by the end of the film as the solo fiddle (and the sea) becomes associated with Ada. 

PHASE 7 – Guillermo Guareschi

Original Review by Alan Rogers (First uploaded at maintitles.net)

First-time feature director Nicolás Goldbart’s Argentinian tongue-in-cheek, end-of-the-world thriller Phase 7 focuses on a couple who are quarantined in their apartment block when a deadly worldwide epidemic reaches Argentina. Rather than dwelling on the usual shocks of a deteriorating populous, Goldbart’s film concentrates more on how the band of trapped neighbours cope with their situation. Naturally, after everything starts off so well, tensions between everyone begin to appear as the residents get a bit stir crazy and things get out of control when one of the neighbours starts on a shooting spree. The director wanted a specific sound for the music in the film and asked fellow Argentinian Guillermo Guareschi for a “big synth driven score in the 80s style”. What the composer (a writer of scores for successful Argentinian TV shows and blockbuster films) delivers is a score that would not be out of place alongside the late-1970s/1980s scores of the likes of John Carpenter and Richard Band. Pleasing-to-the-ear synths deliver a variety of meaty rhythms and tempos, augmented with electronic strings and abstract sounds that sits nicely with electric guitars and live drums/percussion and all coming together as an interesting and enjoyable listening experience.

The predominant feel of the 80s in the music for Phase 7 is the John Carpenter-influenced synths and emphasis on solid electronic ostinato rhythms. Tracks such as “Lobby Reunion”, “Explore”, “The Mirror” and the powerful conclusion to the score, “Face The World” (an great amalgam of the various parts of the score) are excellent examples of Guareschi’s grasp of the genre. Scores such as Escape From New York (“Explore”), Christine (“Terrace”, “The Mirror”) and Assault On Precinct 13 (“Incidental Phase”, “The Freezer”) all spring to mind as a result of certain synth and sound design choices made by the composer.

GOODIE – Jesper Hansen

Original Review by Alan Rogers

Goodie is a short drama film released in 2011 from The Red Dog Film Company, a “Community Interest Company”. A family of superheroes saves a community from natural disaster (tornadoes in Lincolnshire) but tragedy strikes the family and the remainder of the film deals with issues such as loss and grief. Young Danish composer Jesper Hansen focuses on the emotions associated with the impact of loss on those left behind (and in some ways, also on those who are dying), and delivers a memorable strings-based score which has, at its heart, an evocative adagio theme for the head of the superhero family.

Scoring for the format of a short film, Hansen’s score does not have the luxury of establishing the film’s musical world with a statement of a title theme. Instead, “The Tornado” jumps straight into the action as we see an overview of the the damage done by the passage of a recent twister, the arrival of the superheroes on the scene and then the rescue of several members of the community. An energetic string ostinato propels the action forward as these events unfold, swelling to a crescendo as the superheroes are enveloped by another tornado and then the orchestra falls quickly away and a calming solo female voice heralds the clearing of the tornado. The following track, “Adagio (For Brace)”, is the highlight track of this short score. Playing as a self-contained piece rather than a cue that follows the on-screen performance, strings (plus the additional of some ethereal wordless female vocals) adds an emotional weight to what could otherwise have been a rather flat scene: the family watches over their figurehead as he lies in hospital, dying from injuries sustained during the final tornado strike. The grave sense of loss the family feels is captured in Hansen’s heartfelt adagio theme. However, a brief statement of this adagio later in the score (“Be A Hero One Last Time”) hints that the theme also represents the strength Brace provides to the family – heightening the sense of impending loss to their previously-stable group. 

LAST BREATH – Vincent Gillioz

Original Review by Alan Rogers (First uploaded at maintitles.net)

Written, directed and starring Ty Jones, Last Breath seems, at first sight, to be just another torture-horror movie where the protagonists find themselves trapped and at the mercy of a sadistic killer hell-bent on making his captures suffer for 90 minutes or so before killing everyone or being killed themselves (perhaps). However, Jones’ first directorial feature is not all that it seems to be. Released to both popular and critical acclaim in 2010 the film stars the director and Mandy Bannon as Michael and Tina Johnson, a couple whose once-happy marriage has come under severe pressure from various directions and is at risk of collapse. Finding themselves trapped in an abandoned warehouse and being stalked by a “Dark Figure” (Aaron Laue), the film follows the pair as they make a series of choices that will decide both their and their son’s future. A revelatory twist at the end of the film then takes the couple (as well as the audience) down a path that has everyone re-examining the film’s events. Recently made available on Howlin’ Wolf Records as a limited release (limited to 500), Swiss-born composer Vincent Gillioz’s award-winning score to Last Breath highlights how a score that could have been just another run-of-the-mill horror score can be enhanced when a composer has a clear vision for the score and how it interacts with the story.

Gillioz’s task on Last Breath is a difficult one. There is the family drama of the deterioration of Michael and Tina’s relationship plus the horror aspect of the film (their imprisonment and torture by the Dark Figure) which, as it turns out (as the composer explains in the CD’s liner notes), “…is actually an allegory to the [family] drama”. Musically, Gillioz represents family and family values with a piano because of the instrument’s association with the home and the attendant feelings of stability, solidity and warmth. “To The Core” provides one of the most complete statement of Gillioz’s family theme. A single piano gives a heartfelt statement of the family’s theme, highlighting the positive aspects of the family’s relationship. In the same track, Gillioz then highlights the versatility of the theme, taking a 4-note fragment of this theme (played on winds) and building the orchestra up around the fragment, mirroring the complication of Mandy’s family values by intruding revelations. This family theme (full or as a fragment) appears throughout the score whenever the concept of family values (a lifeline to which the protagonists must cling to in order to survive their ordeal?) arises during key moment of the film. 

GLORY AT SEA – Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin

Original Review by Alan Rogers

Director Benh Zeitlin’s Glory At Sea is an award-winning short film from 2008 set in a post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana. It’s a fantastical story of a community coming together, drawing on their spirit, hope and determined faith (their own faith rather than the restrictive faith of the church) to aim for a goal that seemingly is unattainable. Featuring local and little-known actors, Jake (Geremy Jasper) is a man deposited from the sea into the arms of a barely-functioning community who are mourning the loss of their loved ones to the recent storm. Jake is determined to build a raft and return to sea in order to save his lover, Tess (Meggy Tucker), one of the many souls condemned and trapped on the seabed. Jake refuses to believe the community’s preacher when he tells his remaining congregation that their loved ones have been taken by the sea for a reason. It is this refusal to accept this that leads Jake on his quest to save Tess. Gradually, the rest of the community join Jake in building his boat, hopeful that they too can save their loved ones.

Benh Zeitlin’s visually arresting film is complemented by an equally striking score composed by the director himself in collaboration with fellow-composer Dan Romer. Centred around a small ensemble of musicians, Zeitlin and Romer’s score features mainly strings (plucked and bowed) with additional colours coming from carefully placed piano, brass ensemble and additional instrumentation. The score has a strong emphasis on rhythm particularly with the use of string-ensemble ostinato figures. The choice of instrumentation, musical style and close miking all add to produce a very memorable – almost hypnotic – listening experience (even though the score has a running time of barely 20 minutes). 

My Favourite Scores – 1942

• Kings Row
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold
• Varèse Sarabande / 1991 / 48:10

According to Korngold’s son, George, thousands of filmgoers wrote to the composer to express their enjoyment of his score. And listening to this re-recording from Charles Gerhardt/The National Philharmonic Orchestra it is easy to hear what all the fuss was about. Right from the outset, Korngold’s fanfaric theme grabs the attention immediately and for me it is Korngold’s themes and leitmotifs contained in this score that is the attraction.

This version (subsequently, Film Score Monthly have gone on to release the original soundtrack recording – that I have yet to hear) has been arranged as a couple of symphonic suites and the quality of Korngold’s music means that this is not a problem.

As well as the main theme (that many have said has similarities to John Williams’ theme from Star Wars, though I did not notice this until it was pointed out to me) there’s a beautiful, rather romantic theme that’s very European in style to my ears and Korngold’s skill is to take these themes (and others) and adapt them into a whole myriad of forms.

The score can be a bit melodramatic in places but, again, Korngold’s themes are some of the best he composed and mean that this score goes to the top of the pile for 1942 in my view.

ROUGE IN LOVE – George Shaw

Original Review by Alan Rogers

Rouge In Love is a 10-minute YouTube video directed by Evan Jackson Leong and Michelle Phan, starring Michelle Phan who plays a girl visiting Paris where she comes to the aid of an unknown guy who falls at her feet after having been seen fleeing from an unknown peril. What then transpires is the usual boy meets girl, boy loses girl and then boy trying to find the girl again. At its heart, the film is a love story and it calls for an effective, romantic score particularly as – save for one single word – the film has no dialogue. The directors turned to talented composer George Shaw, who succeeds in giving the film an emotional heart with a lushly romantic score for string ensemble and piano that is based around a strong main theme.

Shaw’s theme is first heard right at the outset as a sparse statement in the opening track, “Single Status Update”. It’s a short track (lasting only 20 seconds) but the theme is so strong that it immediately grabs the attention. It is heard again in the next cue, “Win A Trip To Paris”, but this time it is accompanied by a piano countermelody that sits alongside the theme, adding an emotional depth. These two tracks – as it turns out – are not taken from Rouge In Love but are, in fact, from a “prequel” companion film, The Sweetest Thing. This latter film documents how Phan’s character ends up winning a trip to Paris. A quote of the theme on accordion then a full statement on strings and piano signal her winning the competition. Then a statement of the theme on celeste as we see Phan standing by a particularly ornate Parisian building adds a fairy-tale quality to the scene. “Win A Trip To Paris” highlights how Shaw moulds his versatile theme into several different forms by varying both orchestration and tempo to achieve the desired effect. A versatility in the music is particularly important in a film such as this: one that is so heavily reliant on the music (remember, there is no dialogue). However, some may find that, upon viewing the video, the music is a bit over-the-top in terms of signposting what’s happening on-screen (e.g., the appearance of accordion music when we see the Paris competition poster, fairy-tale music for the dream trip to Paris, etc. is an obvious example).