Cracking the Musical Code
By: Joyce Lin and Julia Buchheim

 

Across a dorm room table sits Jeremy Cropf and Patrick Cannell, sophomores of New York University’s Film and Music Composition programs, respectively.  They casually talk of action movies, music, and the typical all-nighters college students experience in producing a finished academic product.  As they begin discussing their latest project, Cropf and Cannell confidently embrace the director and composer within themselves to describe with passionate eloquence, the process by which they and other fellow students, produced a full length feature action film, The Disk: Code Zero..... read more »   

 

 

A Splash of Music
By: Julia Buchheim and Joyce Lin

 

The sun begins to rise over the Florida Keys as the swimmers stretch and prepare to enter the water. The athletes dive in and glide, forcefully and gracefully across the pool. Their coaches, including 10-time Olympic Medal winner Gary Hall Jr. and renowned coach Mike Bottom, shout critiques and encouragement as the swimmers perfect their technique for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The documentary Three Styles of Freestyle (http://www.theraceclub.net/) takes a look at The Race Club and the training of 10 swimmers in preparation for the Olympics. This documentary not only features sage advice from famous swim coaches and captures breathtaking underwater cinematography, but it uses innovative and unique styles of music to support and enhance both the documentary’s visuals and messag..... read more »   

 

 

Music Helps MTV Bring Sunday Night Back
By: Julia Buchheim and Joyce Lin

 

MTV has revitalized its Sunday evenings with the introduction of a night of comedy, fantasy, and athleticism.  Rob Dyrdeck’s “Fantasy Factory”, “The CollegeHumor Show” and “Nitro Circus” make up the evolution of MTV’s “Sunday Night Stew”, which debuted the same night as the GRAMMY’s.  The positive response and solid viewership of the revived Sunday Night must recognize four of the men behind the promotion of the campaign: Howard Grandison, Evan Silver, Andy Gundell, and David Hnatiuk.

 

Evan Silver and Howard Grandison wrote and directed “Fantasy Factory” and “Nitro Circus’” promotional campaigns, “Tightrope” and “Falling” respectively.  They collaborated with David Hnatiuk, acting sound designer and music supervisor, who recruited 10-time Emmy-winner Andy Gundell to compose the music.  With seven of Gundell’s ten Emmy awards being for his original scores as a composer, Hnatiuk knew Gundell would be well versed in classical and orchestral music.  Together they crafted the direction, concept, and music of the Sunday Night campaign..... read more »