OstinDrais.com » Film Music

Change Afoot

Ostin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:28:40 +0000

15 is a difficult movie to watch. There’s no blood per se, but the violence in it is unflinching and raw. But, as Jason, the writer-director-star said, it’s got that certain something (je ne sais qua!) that makes for a very memorable film. I told him when I got the film that I would be able to finish in about a week. Lo and behold, I followed through. From the sounds of things, Jason and Tim, the executive producer, is pleased with the work that I did and may have be on board for future projects. That, folks, is a good thing–and it’s how industry connections are made and/or solidified.

The show themes for the two new Escapist shows went the way things tend to go with me. The first one I nailed out of the gate: right on target. The second show I followed the producer’s lead, who then came back with comments. After two more rounds of back and forth, we mutually decided to scrap those thoughts and I started all over. That’s all it took for me to get the right track produced. Total time on these two? About two hours.

I work quickly, which in the entertainment industry is essential if not unheard of.

I’m getting more film post production gigs, so I’ve decided to split that side off to another Web site. I’ve already got the domain name but I don’t have anything built yet. It’ll be for marketing and demonstration purposes, naturally. That and I think the name is cool.

And now the rest of the year, in short

Ostin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:07:58 +0000

The rest of 2010 looks to be a busy one.

Zetaman (http://www.zetaman.tv) will continue to be part of the schedule. It will keep me busy for the rest of this month at least, spilling into September and beyond.

In the next month or thereabouts, I’ll start working on post audio for a science-fiction dramatic feature film. This will be a chance for me to explore my sound design chops.

I’m going to the Taxi Road Rally, a mass gathering of like-minded independent musicians for networking & education, in early November, so I’ll be preparing some example pieces to take with me. Stories abound of networking opportunities which have paid dividends down the line. I figure if I don’t take advantage of this, I’ll be costing myself the chances I missed.

November & December I’ll be working on audio for Fleem! Productions’ newest film. Fleem! is the folks who did Spidertron, the first film I ever did post for. It’s a continuation of the working relationship. I’ve considered mixing this one in 5.1 (surround), but I think that would be a bit too much for me right now. Once I have at least one more film in my hat, I’ll probably be ready to step up.

Then again, I did a lot of things before I thought I was “ready” and seemed to do just fine.

Confirmations of Doing the Right Thing or The End of SAD?

Ostin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:00:52 +0000

Tuesday was easily one of my most productive, and happiest, days in months. I composed a new instrumental, a new choral piece, then restarted the Zetaman webisode demo track I was working on. Yesterday I composed yet another instrumental and completed the demo track.

At the same time, summer has decided to show up here now. The sun’s been out since at least Tuesday.

My mood since that time has definitely improved. Quoting Radiohead, I am definitely fitter, happier, more productive. Now I’m wondering if the improved mood is because I’m doing what I need to be doing, or is because the sun has returned and my mild Seasonal Affective Disorder has disappeared.

Perhaps a bit of both.

One-Hour Challenge

Ostin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:47:54 +0000

I’ve recently started writing something each day. One thing with the film music business is the necessity of not “owning” a track after completing it. You can make the best track ever, but if it doesn’t fit the needs of the film it becomes utterly useless. In fact, it’s less than useless because the hours/days you spent on that track are gone. Granted, you’re also closer to knowing what is needed because you then know what’s not, but it still is an interesting feeling.

I was thinking of what to make today when I remembered something I saw last night. On his Facebook page, Bob Stark, a highly-regarded (and darn good, if I do say so myself) Portland-based audio engineer made an oblique comment about seven flats being a relatively common key for what he’s seen lately. (For those who don’t know music, seven flats is actually not very common.) So I made something with seven flats. But then I thought it would be even more interesting if I made something quickly, say in just an hour.

So, presto! A new idea is born: the One-Hour Challenge. What can be made from nothing in an hour? By made, I mean from the start of writing to rendering the final product in 60 minutes. To start, we have this:

‘Tis a simple little bit, but all great ideas and things are, at heart, a simple thing.

Late-night thinking

Ostin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:33:27 +0000

Wanting to do a lot of things in life is tough. Prioritizing things can be difficult. But I know what I want to do, but I also know what will enable me to do what I want. Unfortunately, right now those are two separate things.

Music is a part of my life, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. But right now it’s not enabling me to take care of business, i.e. not paying the bills. I know, in my heart, that it will do that in the future, but I don’t know when that transition will happen. And that not knowing is annoying at best, heart-breaking at worst.

Things will get better, I know. It’s not helped from the stress of moving to a new place. I want things to get fixed, but I know it’ll take time.