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Comedy

Comedy: "The Plant Knows"

Jonathan Hawes of One Door Films wrote and directed this comedy film. It's about a grieving mother who enlists the help of an eccentric plant whisperer to locate her missing daughter.

I've worked with Jonathan on a number of his films--he is so creative! His stories are so passionate, always quirky, and the British sense of humor pervades his stories!

The story shows such a subtle, enjoyable sense of humor; it was a real pleasure composing music to complement the film!

Comedy: "Clown Car, A Love Story"

Alan Wood wrote and directed this wacky, hilarious feature film. After being banished from performing by the mysterious Clown High Council, a now-disgraced former clown sets out to re-invent herself and find true love with her inmate pen pal. This film laughs at adversity and reminds that love conquers all!

This video is a short trailer for the film. The music doesn't start until time 0:35.

Excerpts from "Clown Car, A Love Story"

Here is a compilation of excerpts taken from the post-production stage of this feature-length comedy.

Note that at time 0:38 (03:42 in the on-screen time stamp), the clown character "Pocket" sneaks out of her trailer. As she tip-toes to her car, the pizzicato strings and bass clarinet take alternate turns with the melody, which is perfectly synchronized with the action.

Since this is a wacky comedy, much of the music is synchronized with the action, for example:

time 02:50 (00:12:50 on-screen time stamp)

time 05:55 (01:10:08 on-screen time stamp)

time 06:52 (01:13:20 on-screen time stamp)

time 07:20 (01:13:50 on-screen time stamp)

time 07:48 (01:14:17 on-screen time stamp)

Satirical Comedy: "Cosmo"

Jonathan Hawes of One Door Films wrote and directed this satirical comedy film. I've worked with Jonathan on a number of his films--he is so creative! His stories are so passionate, always quirky, and the British sense of humor pervades his stories!

This film is about an obsessive man who conducts an investigation to find the animal who keeps pooping on his lawn.

The story shows such a subtle, enjoyable sense of humor; it was a real pleasure composing music to complement the film!

Silent Comedy/Horror: "Strings"

Caitlin Richardson of Route 78 Productions, wrote, directed and produced this short comedy/horror film, Strings. In this story, a hard worker is abused by his over-the-top terrible boss. Then he figures out how to take revenge. This is a fun silent film; the soundtrack is solely my music, consisting of piano, violin and bass. This project gave me the opportunity to compose an extremely sarcastic music score--so much fun!

WARNING: This film contains some very graphic visuals, that may be distressing. It also contains flashing strobe visuals that might cause distress. It is not for young audiences.

Spooky Comedy: "The Missing Cat"

Randy Nundlall wrote and directed this hilarious film about two young women who dabble in witchcraft. The film has some very nice sound effects produced by Lucy McLellan. I am particularly tickled by the performances by the actresses Samantha Laurenti and Victoria Sanders, who play cold-hearted, bumbling, clueless dilettantes in witchcraft.

I composed the music soundtrack in a spooky-comedy style. There is a leit motif (a recurring theme) in parts of the score; a six-note melody that the women sing at time 05:51. This same melody occurs at several other times, such as in the piano part at the very start of the film, and in the pizzicato strings during the credits at time 06:54.

This film was so much fun to score! The spooky humor just lends itself to ostinatos that fit right into the moods of the film.

"Midnight Snack" Cooking Scene

A filmmaker asked me to score a short scene from a satirical film titled “Midnight Snack”. In the scene, a man starts cooking, but becomes more and more upset as his meal doesn’t progress the way he had planned.

The filmmaker asked that I start the music in a conventional style. As the scene continues, the music style should gradually become crazier and crazier, no holds barred. What fun!

I decided to score the scene as a jazz trio; piano, bass and violin. Now, the piano and bass are not at all difficult to mock up as virtual instruments. The jazz violin, on the other hand, is a different matter entirely.

Dark Comedy: "Gone Fishing"

Jonathan Hawes, of One Door Films, is a serious filmmaker who is steadily building up a number of credits to his name. "Gone Fishing" is a striking film about a young journalist who is assigned to a story about an old fisherman. The journalist assumes that his weekend will be boring while working on this "fluff" piece. He is about to find out differently.

The music score that I composed for this film is minimalistic. The mood and style of each cue mirrors the personalities of each of the three characters; the intimidating fisherman, the gentle journalist, and his arrogant boss. By the way, this film received a glowing review from Midlands Movies.

Dramedy: "Small Talk"

This short film was produced and directed by Alan Wood of Milepost 42 Films, and written by Jake Teeny . It is a dramedy, meaning, a combination of drama and comedy. If anything, it leans toward the side of comedy. A writer is invited to his agent’s home for dinner — under false pretenses! It turns out to be a blind date with a school teacher. And the writer is upset and keeps putting his foot in his mouth! I had a lot of fun composing the music score for this film. I chose an upbeat jazz-trio style; piano, bass and drums. The music in the introduction sets the tone for the film, giving the viewer some expectations for what to expect.

"Hairball" Jazz

Jonathan Hawes, the director of a wacky short film titled "Hairball", asked me to compose a score with the jazz style of a temp track. So here is a very nice jazz theme played by a stage band. The theme stands up quite well by itself, without the accompanying film.