They Know the Score

Students realize their dream through a grand-scale recording session at Symphony Hall.

By Bernie Smith
Berklee.edu Correspondent
March 30, 2007

Berklee student Lucas Vidal conducts a live score at Symphony Hall.
Photo by Phil Farnsworth

With a look of panic in her eyes, Sara Janning stares at the massive space ship that has just landed feet away from her on a distant, icy planet. In seconds, Sara and another bystander find themselves surrounded by dozens of ill-intentioned robots with laser-blasting weapons.

The robots kill Sara's compatriot from behind in cold blood. As Sara springs into action—kick-boxing her way out of the jam and racing to her own jet plane to escape—the music of a full symphony orchestra and an accompanying women's choir swoops in with a triumphant surge.

Inspiring and bold, the music perfectly meshes with Sara's on-screen adventures. Bass and snare drums are synced with the laser blasts that explode around Sara's ship. Contrabasses, cellos, and bassoons spring to life as a spaceship hatch opens with a thud. And twittering violins descend in pitch almost playfully as a space-borne projectile spins its way toward the ground.

The movie—a completely computer-generated film called Chimera, based on the comic book series—was shown in early March in front of a select audience at Boston Symphony Hall, on a screen above the main stage. The event's draw, however, was the 150-piece orchestra, which was recording the movie's score live.

The recording session was the culmination of months of work by a 27-member, all-student team led by two Berklee students: Lucas Vidal, the talented composer from Madrid, and Steve Dzialowski, the aspiring Belgian producer, who handled nearly every other detail required to make the project a reality. Dzialowski oversaw the selection of the film, recruited the orchestra musicians, and scheduled the entire production, in addition to overseeing and coordinating a vast array of other tasks with a crew of Berklee students. The team handled everything from preparing the scores and translating sections of the piece onto computers for pre-recording changes, to handling press coverage.

All told, five schools, including Berklee, got in on the action. The Boston Conservatory contributed an 88-piece orchestra and a 50-voice women's chorus. Meanwhile, 40 students from all but three of the college's 12 majors were involved in the project, including several from music production and engineering who handled the sound for the venue under the supervision of the Symphony Hall house engineer.

Both Vidal and Dzialowski say they hope the finished project—their 10th and largest collaboration—will springboard them into a professional career as a film-scoring team. The pair is slated to graduate in May, and both plan to move to New York, where Vidal says some projects are already in the works.

Vidal and Dzialowski met about two years ago, when Vidal had started working on one of the most ambitious recording projects in Berklee's history. Beginning only months after beating cancer and undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatments, Vidal had returned to Berklee to record "Film Suite," a project that was so big—it would eventually involve more than 60 musicians and the help of several Berklee officials (including President Roger Brown's office)—he needed help coordinating the whole thing.

"I decided to contact [Dzialowski] since he was widely known as the best music business student," Vidal said. "He definitely has a very special talent for project management."

The project was so large, the students had to rent out St. Cecilia's Church to accommodate the size of the orchestra. At the time, it was the largest live-recording feat in Berklee's history, and included Berklee musicians, as well as others from the New England Conservatory, the Boston Conservatory, and the Longy School of Music.

The success of the project only fueled their desire to work on larger and more complex projects, Dzialowski said. The two worked on small student movies with film majors at Emerson College and the New York Academy of Film. But the latest project, scoring the music to the entirely computer-generated film Chimera, is by far the biggest yet.

Chimera was originally written as a science-fiction comic book series by Brandon Peterson and Ron Mars, and was turned into a movie by Jeffrey Sheetz and 14 other students at the DAVE School at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Chimera was exactly the kind of project Dzialowski and Vidal were looking for, Dzialowski said.

	A 150-piece orchestra and a 50-women choir creates a live score for the computer-generated film Chimera.
	Photo by Phil Farnsworth

"We were trying to find some animated film. With animation, there are no limits," Dzialowski said. "Chimera is a really impressive movie, at least technically, and that's what we needed for this project."

"There are different types of emotions in the film," Dzialowski said. "[Lucas] has amazing composition skills . . . this allowed him to [write] a type of intellectual and thoughtful composition."

Dzialowski said he heard about the film over the Internet, and contacted the school to begin work on the project. But both Dzialowski and Vidal say none of their projects would ever have gotten off the ground without the strong help of the Berklee community.

"I could never have done any project without Berklee's help and support," Vidal said. "Teachers and chairs from the Composition and Film Scoring departments, Berklee's vice president [for external affairs Tom Riley], and the president himself—everyone has always been there offering their experience and advice."

In particular, Vidal said his composition teacher, Dennis Leclaire, had the biggest influence on making his music what it is today. "He taught me everything I know about composition and orchestra, including the importance of thinking carefully before composing anything," Vidal said. "I will never be able to thank Dennis enough."

The appreciation from Berklee staff goes both ways. Don Gorder, chair of the Music Business/Management Department, said he was astounded by the size and scope of the Chimera project, and how well they succeeded.

"When I heard they were doing this at Symphony Hall, I thought, 'Wow,'" said Gorder. "This is enormously positive for both of them, professionally."

"For Lucas, he has something in his portfolio that very few people his age would have—studio-quality performance on the stage of the Boston Symphony with a full orchestra performing his work. Most people would kill for that," Gorder said.

"As for Steve, this is a wonderful addition to his resumé. Something he can point to and say he did this," he said. "To my knowledge, this is the first time a student jumped in and took on something this size and with this level of involvement."

Added Gorder: "This puts them in good stead to really launch their careers."