E28 - Indie Panel: Composition & Orchestration - Learning From The Pros

The Catalyst Storieroad Institute proudly presents "Composition and Orchestration: Learning from the Pros." Our guests are: Ryan Elder - Composer (Rick and Morty, Harmonquest, Boss Baby: Back in Business, The Simpsons, Wizards of Waverly Place) and Robert Elhai - Orchestrator/Composer/Arranger (Frida, Fast and Furious, Crazy Rich Asians, The Avengers: Age of Ultron). Hosted by Charlie McCarron - Composer and Film Score Fest Executive Director

 

Topics include:

• Composing for animations like Rick and Morty
• What should you think about when planning music for a series?
• Working with an orchestra W
• What’s involved in a large-budget music production? 

Ryan Elder is a television and film composer known for his diverse, eclectic comedy and sci-fi scores. His music for Adult Swim's Rick and Morty has been recognized for the strange and fantastical worlds it helps create. He also co-composes the music for Harmonquest (VRV) and the Dreamworks animated series Boss Baby: Back in Business (Netflix.) He has contributed music to FOX's The Simpsons and Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place. Ryan has also composed music for numerous advertising clients (Nike, Toyota, US Bank). In 2010 he won a London International Award for his work on New Balance's campaign "Feet on Head." He has been writing music for Los Angeles's monthly Channel 101 screenings since 2006 where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

 

Robert Elhai is an award-winning composer, orchestrator, and arranger. He has contributed orchestrations to over 150 film scores including those for Frida by Elliot Goldenthal (winner of the Academy Award for best music) as well as The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3, Crazy Rich Asians, and five of the Fast and Furious movies by Brian Tyler. Also listed on his IMDb page: three Alien movies, two Batman movies, and the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. He has often collaborated with film composers Elliot Goldenthal, Brian Tyler, Michael Kamen, Klaus Badelt, Ilan Eshkeri, Edward Shearmur, James Newton Howard, as well as many others, and has been involved in projects that have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards as well as many other honors. He grew up in Southern California, lived in New York for 7 years, and currently lives in Minneapolis.

 

Charlie McCarron is a film composer, video producer, visual artist, and board game designer in Minnesota. He is the executive director of Film Score Fest and produced the podcast Composer Quest. Notable films Charlie has composed for are Emmy-nominated Beneath the Ink, STARZ documentary Silicone Soul, and Kare 11’s Love Them First: Lessons From Lucy Laney Elementary, the best-selling film in the history of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival.

 

Thank you to the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, WDSE-WRPT Duluth, The Wrap, and the WGA-East for supporting Storieroad.