Higher Education

The new ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop kicks off with a panel: Film Music, Aesthetics and Collaboration



On January 22 ASCAP and the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) hosted a panel, "Film Music, Aesthetics and Collaboration," as a kick-off event of the 2007 ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop. Alex Steyermark (director, One Last Thing, Prey For Rock & Roll; music supervisor for directors Ang Lee, Spike Lee) moderated a discussion between film composer Carter Burwell (Fargo, Three Kings, Being John Malkovich, Kinsey) and film director Steven Shainberg (Fur, Secretary, Bad Behavior) to launch the first annual ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop. For over two hours, they exchanged their thoughts on the role of music in film, using excerpts from Shainberg's Fur, his 2006 film about the legendary photographer Diane Arbus, which was scored by Carter Burwell. ASCAP composers, songwriters, Columbia Film School students and faculty filled the Lifetime screening room in Dodge Hall on Columbia University's campus. The workshop will continue through the Spring 2007 semester and culminate on May 10, 2007 with the Columbia Film School Film Festival. The event was sponsored by the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund, AFM Local 82 and RMA with support from The ASCAP Foundation.

The ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop: An Overview:
The Columbia Film School opened up the workshop to 65 graduate students who submitted. Four 10-20 minute short films have been selected. ASCAP curated a list of 30 appropriate film composers who submitted to be hired by the four filmmakers. Course instructor Alex Steyermark will then walk the filmmakers through the process of looking at their films with music in mind, determining how they envision the music in their film, and making an appropriate selection of film composer. He will then guide the filmmaker-composer pair through the process of spotting the film, mocking-up the score, and the director-composer collaboration. He will prepare the directors and composers for a studio recording & mixing session with approximately 5-7 players. Each of these films will be screened, with many student films, at the Annual Columbia Film School Film Festival (in NYC and LA) - and one of them will receive the Best Film Score Award.


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