A composer (Latin com+ponere, literally "one who puts together") is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media[clarification needed]. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright[specify] and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music.[citation needed] In the development of European music, the function of composing music initially did not have much greater importance than that of performing it.[citation needed] The preservation of individual compositions did not receive enormous attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. Over time, however, the written notation of the composer came to be treated as strict instructions from which performers should not deviate without good practical or artistic reason. Performers do, however, play the music and interpret it in a way that is all their own. In fact, in the concerto form, the soloist would often compose and perform a cadenza as a way to express their individual interpretation of the piece.
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer–songwriter, composer, and record producer. As both a vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist, Reznor has led the industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails beginning in 1988, and as of 2010 he and his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, are also members of the post-industrial band How to Destroy Angels alongside fellow composer Atticus Ross, with whom Reznor has scored two films. Reznor was previously associated with the bands Option 30, Exotic Birds, and Tapeworm, among others. Reznor left Interscope Records in 2007, and is now an independent recording artist.
Reznor began creating music early in his life, and cites his Western Pennsylvania childhood as an early influence. After being involved with a number of synthesizer-based bands in the mid-80s, Reznor gained employment at Right Track Studios in Cleveland, Ohio and began creating his own music during the studio's closing hours under the moniker Nine Inch Nails. Reznor's first release as Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was a commercial and critical success, and he has since released seven major studio releases. Outside of Reznor's chief project Nine Inch Nails, he has contributed to many other artists' albums, including Marilyn Manson and Saul Williams. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and in Spin magazine he was described as "the most vital artist in music."
Hans Florian Zimmer, German pronunciation: [hans ˈfloːʁi̯aːn ˈtsɪmɐ]; (born 12 September 1957) is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including award winning film scores for The Lion King (1994), Crimson Tide (1995), Gladiator (2000), The Last Samurai (2003),The Dark Knight (2008), and Inception (2010).
Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is the head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios, and works with other composers through the company which he founded, Remote Control Productions.
Zimmer's works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. He has received four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Classical BRIT Award, and an Academy Award. He was also named on the list of Top 100 Living Geniuses, published by The Daily Telegraph.
Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. As a young child, he lived in Königstein-Falkenstein, where he played the piano at home, but had piano lessons only briefly as he disliked the discipline of formal lessons. He moved to London as a teenager, where he attended Hurtwood House school. In an interview with the German television station ZDF in 2006, he commented: "My father died when I was just a child, and I escaped somehow into the music and music has been my best friend."
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film and creating The Simpsons main title theme as well as the 1989 Batman movie theme. He was the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Oingo Boingo, from 1976 to 1995. He has scored the majority of the films for his long-time friend Tim Burton.
Born in Los Angeles, he entered the film industry in 1976, initially as an actor. He made his film scoring début in in 1980 for the film Forbidden Zone directed by his older brother Richard Elfman. He has since been nominated for four Academy Awards and won a Grammy Award for Tim Burton's Batman and an Emmy Award for his Desperate Housewives theme. Elfman was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 2002 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.
Elfman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Blossom Elfman (née Bernstein), a writer and teacher, and Milton Elfman, a teacher who was in the Air Force. Elfman grew up in a racially mixed community in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. He spent much of his time in the local movie theatre, adoring the music of such film composers as Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman.
Dave Porter is a former two-time NCAA collegiate wrestling champion and football player. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1985.
Porter attended Lansing Sexton High School in Lansing, Michigan. He then accepted a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan where he competed on the wrestling and football teams. As a collegiate wrestler, Porter was a three-time All-American and won NCAA championships as a heavyweight in 1966 and 1968 and compiled a three-year record of 51 wins and three losses, for a 94.4% winning percentage. In NCAA wrestling tournaments, Porter had a 13-1 record. Porter received the 1968 Michigan Senior Athlete Award and still holds several Michigan wrestling records, including 32 falls. He pinned opponents in less than 30 seconds on three occasions. He still holds the Big Ten Conference records for most consecutive falls with seven.
Porter also played as a defensive tackle during the 1966 and 1967 football seasons. He wore No. 70 and compiled 46 tackles, four pass breakups and two fumble recoveries. His best game for the football team was the 1967 game against Minnesota in which he made 11 tackles. In all, Porter won five letters at Michigan, three in wrestling and two in football.
Plot
Meredith Monk has alternately been proclaimed as a 'magician of the voice' and 'one of America's coolest composers.' During a career that spans more than 40 years, Monk has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts. In the film Inner Voice, we follow Monk during the process of making her latest piece, Songs of Ascension, at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and at Ann Hamilton's Tower in California. We observe how Monk's productions are shaped, beginning with her initial work in solitude continuing on to the rehearsal process where she further develops her musical and choreographic forms with her Ensemble members. In Monk's work, this is an ongoing process. Even at the performance stage, Monk continues to transform the work by striving for a balance between discipline and freedom; and an openness to change. Inner Voice sets out to locate the motivation and source of Monk's creative force. There are no ready made answers.
Plot
This documentary shows the life of Betty Freeman who is probably one of the most influential patrons of contemporary music. Since she began to give financial assistance to composers and performers of contemporary music in 1964, she has given a total of 413 grants and commissions for living expenses, compositions, recordings, performances, librettos etc. to 81 artists. Among these artists, who could not have created the works they are known for without the patronage of Betty Freeman, are as famous artists as John Cage, Steve Reich, Robert Wilson and Peter Sellars and also younger composers as the Austrian Olga Neuwirth and the Swiss Hans Peter Kyburz for example. During the era of Gerard Mortier and Hans Landesmann as directors of the Salzburg Festival Betty Freeman gave money for commissioning compositions and paid for entire productions such as for "L'Amour de Loin" by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Betty Freeman maintains strong personal relations to artists whom she supports and is therefore an important witness of the development of contemporary music. The documentary contains interviews with music- and arts-people whom she is in touch with and sequences of the music and productions which were made possible by her generosity, staged especially for this film.
A life for new Music
Plot
Four one-hour DVD documentaries giving practical details of pre-production and planning, production, post-production and marketing, narrated by Charles Band, whose companies have produced and relased nearly 200 successful features. Also included is a CD ROM guide to film festivals, budget forms, sample scripts, etc., and a sample screenplay and complete feature film, "Blood Dolls." Experienced producers, directors and technicians share the secrets of making quality films on low budgets.
Keywords: amateur-production, behind-the-scenes, dv-camera, fantasy-filmmaking, film-school, full-moon, horror-filmmaking, how-to, independent-film, interview
The ULTIMATE Guide to Low-Budget Production
Plot
A film-in-film story of a star actress Julia Martynova (Sayko), who is suddenly hospitalized with terminal illness in the middle of a film production. She makes trips from hospital to studio for voice-over (dubbing) for her character. But the illness brought dramatic changes to her personality and voice, and she finds herself becoming a different person from who she was at the beginning of filming. Crew members are helping her in every possible way, and her voice brings a new dimension to the film.
Keywords: actress, drunkenness, dubbing, film-in-film, friendship, hospital, psychological-drama, self-esteem, stress, voice-over
Plot
Conceited World Champion boxer Tommy Lundy decides to test his popularity in a Broadway show. Tommy always has an eye for the ladies and he starts paying attention to beautiful chorus girl Pat Lambert. Pat's boyfriend Bill Smith isn't impressed with Tommy even though Tommy gets him a boxing part in the show. When Tommy finds out that Pat and Bill were secretly together the night before the show opens, he angrily plans to turn the boxing scene with Bill into a real bout.
Keywords: boxer, broadway-show
Bruce McKay: She's closed up more nightclubs than the chief of police!
Tommy Lundy: Will you come into my dressing room? Said the spider to the fly.::Pat Lambert: Oh, thank you, Mr. Spider, but I'm very, very shy.
Shake it off pick yourself up, they say
Your life fell apart in your hands
You've got the scars to prove it
It's not the first time and they're getting deeper
Pull it together, button up your shirt
Roll down those sleeves
Don't let them see how you've coped
It's not the first time and they're getting deeper
More and more
Your demeanor looks like quicksand
More and more
Your demeanor looks like quicksand
It seems like you're giving up
Giving up on everything you worked for
It seems like you're giving up
Giving up on everything you worked for
It's pulling you under
It's gripping around your throat
It's pulling you under
It's gripping around your throat
It seems like you're giving up on everything
It seems like you're giving up on everything
It's pulling you under
Life's pulling you under
Life can be overwhelming
But don't turn your back on the strongest crutch
You've ever had, you've ever had
They have always been there to brace your fall
Wave goodbye to the past
You've got your whole life to lead
Wave goodbye to the past
You've got your whole life to lead
Wave goodbye to the past
You've got your whole life to lead
Wave goodbye to the past
You've got your whole life to lead
You've got your whole life to lead
You've got your whole life to lead
My composure decomposes as you walk by.
As you walk by, I can't seem to get enough.
How you wear those jeans
I think it must be a scheme.
You're the Siren of modern times.
The song that you sing can't be heard but it sure can be seen.
Dreams offer nothing.
Nothing will ever come.
My adoration can't be contained.
Still. You are watching.
Watching my every move.
My heart gets torn apart.
I am torn apart.