Several months ago, I went to a Sobrato Arts/ARTTEC mixer, as an alumni, at the this mixer there were professionals in the industry of all sorts but that day I was standing talking with the other students that I have worked with in the past when Stephen Turturici, one of my mentors, pointed out Victor Miller and said that we should all talk to him. I introduced myself and shook his hand, Victor Miller had found great success writing the script for the movie Friday the 13th and we talked for while discussing movies and keys to success. When he was explaining that the most important part of any horror film was the music I had let slip that I was a musician and that scoring was something that I was interested in. Victor said that while working on Friday the 13th he had become friends with the film’s composer, Harry Manfredini, and said that he would get me in touch with him so that I may get a few tips from him about composing music for film. Harry Manfredini was gracious enough to answer my questions and allow it to be posted online and I hope it will help anyone who shares my interest in film composing.

What do you use to compose your scores?
I use, digital performer. quad Mac as master to a bank of 8 other computers, with all sorts of samples and programs.

Do you still record with an orchestra and if you do are normally the conductor?
When I do, I am the conductor. It was one of my majors, and I am pretty good at it. At least I think so. Haha

How do you prepare to score a scene?
Wow.. this is going to be a long answer..

I first will watch the film.. the whole film a number of times usually and get the idea, and the various hits, and signposts and the intent of the writer and the director.

Once I think I have a good idea about that, I begin by just creating a few, for lack of a better term musical ideas… or bricks from which I am going to create the score… these could be themes.. melodic certain colors…i.e. instrumentation, or orchestration… voices, percussion… even organic sounds… things I can use. I also will create some sonorities… notice I didnt say chords…. althought they might be chords… but these are not necessarily functioning chords… like a 2 5 1 progression… just harmonic colors… so to speak

Then I do not always start at the beginning.. but usually with something that I think I have the best idea also something that might return in the film at various points…

I map out the scene… on a sheet of music paper… not really notes, but just the various elements of the scene, and what I hear in my head… then I begin to fill in the music using the materials I have started with.. eventually I might add other things,… since I will hear more material as the film presents itself, and I may find there are certain things that I thought were going to be useful that I dont use at all..

so I just keep working in that fashion..

Here is a really good tip to help ease some of the stress… do not go to bed with out having something already planned for the next day… get it ready so that when you start on the next day, you hit the ground running… never leave something really undone… this will help

What instruments do you play?
Like almost all Italian boys I started on the accordian.. ha ha

in grammar school, I continued but added the clarinet and then sax
and then later a flute…

I really made my living playing the sax..

I can play the piano.. but I would never consider myself a piano player, or a pianist
I have not played the horns in years..

I also studied some percussion.. but also would not consider myself that either..

Hope that helps

What kind of music do you listen to help prepare you to score a film? What music do you listen to when you are not scoring?
More often than not.. there is a temp…. temporary score… selected by the director.. to give me an
idea as to his choices for the score… So I will listen to that score, and anything that might also be in that
particular style…then determine what my take on that information would be and meet with the
director. Then set out to start some ideas.. and meet again… and then hopefully off I go..

I am all over the map in what music I listen to… From Country to the craziest of contemporary, film scores,
and pop, jazz, and ambient… all over the place…

How did you become interested in scoring film?
I have had this desire from a very early age I was always very moved and enchanted by the music
in films from the time I was 6 or 7. I guess some of it comes from the Puccini being played in the house,
and all the films I watched as a kid. I would fantasize about having a magic keyboard which would allow
me to play any sound I wanted as I watched a film… which is actually what I do today..

After many battles with myself as to believing I could do this…At last I got the chance and off I went.

Be careful what you dream… they do come true.

Where in the film making process are you usually hired?
Generally before the film is made, and then also after it is done..
occasionally during the filming. I also have done a number of rescores
that replaced other scores which were unsatisfactory…

but usually at the outset is most often the case
In your score for Friday the 13th there were some strange sounds that appeared musically, how do you approach experimentation with these kinds of sounds for your music?

I think my scoring process usually leads me to this sort of thing.. Sometimes sounds are organic, or simply
non musical/musical sounds…

I usually begin my approach by finding sonorities, and musical colors that engender what I feel about the
particular film. So these types of things find there way into the score.

The sound I think you are talking about is the vocal sound… in this case that choice was a dramatic one,
in that we never even see the killer until the final reel of the film… So I had to give that point of view camera a sound so that the audience knew that the camera moving was not just the camera, but the point of view of the killer… so that sound actually became somewhat of a character in the film.

The post competition entertainment will feature the likes of:

Friday, Oct 12. 2012
dada: This adult contemporary group grew up in Los Gatos and Saratoga, developing a great local following before heading off to tour the world with The Police and then headlining several world tours of their own. Along the way, they sold over a million albums and wrote three top 40 hits. Their homecoming bay area concerts are always highly anticipated and the band is exciting to have their only 2012 performance take place at the Frys.com Open!

David Jenkins of Pablo Cruise: The Lead singer of the popular band Pablo Cruise…Their timeless classic rock with hits in the 70’s and 80’s like “Love Will Find a Way”, ”Whatcha Gonna Do?” and “A Place “in the Sun” have all remained staples on rock play lists. The music of David Jenkins is a perfect way to cap the evening at the Frys.Com Open.

Saturday, Oct 13th. 2012
Gurley and the Nightcaps: Their fun jazzy attitude, homage to those velvet-voiced crooners, and Sinatra-esqe music styling make this quartet a favorite among audiences of all ages. Guitar Magazine named band leader Mike Gurley the best living guitar player of our time! The volunteer party will be a big hit with this music group in the house, and it’ll be a really nice way to say “thank you” to those putting their time in to make the tournament great.

Sunday, Oct 14^th. 2012
Special guest: A musical legend will be providing the soundtrack as the last putt is sunk on the green, calling the close to 2012 Frys.com Open. Who will it be? You will just have to make your way out to the 18^th hole to find out.

The lineup will also include surprise guest appearances from bay area favorites and entertainment legends.

Sobrato Arts is the proud entertainment provider of the 2012 Frys.com Open PGA Tournament.

Third Eye Blind never got to shoot a video for their song Graduate… Until now!
In conversation with the band they mentioned that they were, “Overwhelmed by the professionalism of the students on set”, and they were surprised[and excited] to see all of our student crew ready and willing to work into the late hours of the night to make sure we got exactly what we needed to make their video a success.

Our students also got an interview with the band for our short entertainment segment The Scene, we asked what was next for the band and if they had any plans to write any new material. They answered saying they had about 8 tracks they were working on in the studio, one of which is a song called, What you do to me, a song which they premiered on our TV taping of Backline.

After choosing the right set flat students then spent a day learning proper safety and tool use while constructing their sets with mentors Mike and Joey. The mentors covered the importance of eye protection and how to use a jigsaw, circular saw and nail gun. With these new skill sets our students will be able to produce professional looking sets for our upcoming film productions.

In May, our students got a second opportunity to work with Colette Carr for the single, “Hearsay”, at our soundstage near downtown San Jose. The video features an elaborate set and a “spinning wheel of death” that our students and mentors built from scratch. This video gave our students a great opportunity to understand how set construction and force-perspective is done to give the illusion and depth needed for this shoot.

In January, ARTTEC students got the opportunity to shoot a Music Video for FM at Universal Studios for the track, “Little Bird”. ARTTEC Student Delon says, ” I love working here, this is kind of a dream come true… I’ve always wanted to actually be on sets working and this is finally happening.” Delon was 2nd Assistant Director on this production and is making headway toward that Director Spot!

In a short convo with the frontman of FM, Kev Nish, he commented, “The energy is here… so hopefully this video will be seen around the world… I can’t wait to see what comes out.”

The track is scheduled to hit the shelves and the iTunes store with the release of the album.

Sobrato Arts wrapped up the evening by honoring the outstanding individuals who are making career and educational dreams come true for our ARTTEC students in each of the fields that have become vital in the ARTTEC Program.

ARTTEC Inspiration Awards presented:

Education: Jack O’Connell

Community: John A. Sobrato

Motion Picture: Joe Estevez

Music: Eddie Money

Television: The Mythbusters (Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman)

Check out our photo and video highlights from the event HERE.

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