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Finding Sound for the Silents
Film Scoring alumni dominate a competition for up-and-coming composers.
By Emily Singer
Berklee.edu Correspondent
February 27, 2003
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Alumnus H. Scott Salinas's victory marked the second straight year a former Berklee student won the TCM competition. |
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Photo by Frank Masi |
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For the second consecutive year, a graduate of Berklee’s Film Scoring Department is grand prize winner of the annual Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Young Film Composers Competition. H. Scott Salinas '01 was selected from more than 450 contestants by a panel of film industry experts. He was awarded $5,000 and the opportunity to create a new 74-minute score for the restored silent film Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), starring Lon Chaney.
TCM flew Salinas to Los Angeles to record the score with a professional film scoring orchestra. The film with its new score aired on TCM on Wednesday, February 26, 2003. It was introduced by author, film historian, and host Robert Osborne. Turner Classic Movies is a 24-hour cable network reaching more than 63.4 million homes.
"When it comes to writing music for film, I generally go with my instincts," Salinas said. "I have found that when I trust my first impression, as long as it is based on a clear understanding of the scene, I do my best work."
Last year, Berklee grad Peter Vantine '90 was grand prize winner of the competition. He created a new 65-minute score for the Rudolph Valentino film Camille (1921), which aired, fittingly, on Valentine's Day 2002. Vantine was also chosen from hundreds of applicants.
Among this year's top ten finalists was Berklee alumnus composer Shawn K. Clement '88. Last year's competition boasted four Berklee alumni in the top ten, including grand prize winner Vantine, first runner-up Matt Koskenmaki, Luiz Gonzalez, and Brian Satterwhite.
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| View a 4-minute video about the Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition in our Berklee in the News section. |
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Los Angeles audiences got a sneak peek of newly scored version of Laugh, Clown, Laugh during an advance screening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on January 30. The film had not been seen in public for decades because its original score was lost. Following the film, Salinas participated in a question-and-answer period with the audience. In response to one question, he cited his alma mater as the place for "studying film scoring and learning the nuts and bolts of the craft and the business."
Berklee's alumni in film and television music include composers Alan Silvestri (Stuart Little 1 and 2; Forrest Gump; Romancing the Stone), Alf Clausen (The Simpsons, Moonlighting) and Howard Shore (Gangs of New York, Lord of the Rings, Mrs. Doubtfire, Silence of the Lambs) and music editors Christopher Brooks (Pleasantville, Mr. Holland’s Opus) and Curt Sobel (The Insider, Meet Joe Black). Berklee is the only college in the world that offers an undergraduate degree in Film Scoring.
Sponsored by TCM, Film Music magazine, the Guitar Center, Todd-AO, Tonos Entertainment, and America Online, Inc., the Young Film Composers Competition offers contestants the rare opportunity to compose and record a musical score for a silent film in the TCM library. TCM presents the greatest motion pictures of all time from the largest film library in the world, the combined Time Warner and Turner film libraries, from the ‘20s through the ‘80s, commercial-free and without interruption. Applications to enter the Fourth Annual Young Film Composers Competition are available at the TCM web site.
Emily Singer is a publicist in Berklee's Office of Public Information.
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