Lunch with composer Christian Davis!
Today I got a chance to visit composer Christian Davis at his studio and learn a thing or two about the process of scoring a film. (Christian's credits include CHRISTMAS EVE, HALF LIFE & MURDER IN MEXICO).
I was extremely happy to work on a feature last year called MURDER IN MEXICO, which was directed by Mark Gantt and produced by Indy Entertainment. That film went on to be distributed by Lifetime. The film really raised the bar for TV movies in my opinion- and what really struck me about the finished film was the quality of the original score- it sure didn't sound like any made-for-tv movie that I'd seen! The music was playing with my emotions and getting me exciting in ways I thought I must've just paid for. The man pulling my emotional strings was Christian Davis. I took note of the name then, but it wasn't until I worked on another project that he scored- INTRICATE VENGEANCE- that I realized it was no fluke- the man was meeting the quality of film that we were giving him and raising it to a whole 'nother level consistently. I swear his work sounded like blockbuster movie material. So, this being the second time I'd shared a credit with him and seeing a pattern forming, I decided to reach out to him for a face-to-face.
I've always been a fan of Christopher Nolan's films in particular- their energy-their complexity- the power of their reveals- and of course their industry-changing soundtracks by Hans Zimmer- in almost every case, the soundtrack was as distinctly brilliant as the film itself- and here I found myself recalling the scores to the films I'd worked on just as vividly as the films- and it was because of Christian.
Christian invited me to take a peek inside his studio and I was really impressed by the hardware he had at his command (he had several high-end computers working in tandem-each with its own job- one did nothing other than process REVERB!)- and then we stepped out to lunch and he shared some stories from the industry and how his aspirations continued to climb. He used to work in-house for a MAJOR movie composer, but has ventured out to make a name for himself and heed his calling- composing kickass music for kickass movies (my words, not his). I didn't realize at the time that I could have posted an interview from him and I didn't ask for his permission to post our dialogue, so I'm afraid I can't share more this time around. I did ask him for some insight about scoring films that he wished more people knew about- and that was just how much time goes into it. It takes well over a month of solid work to score a feature properly- and that's because one person is doing the work of many! It used to be that most films were performed by live musicians, but now, with budgets being what they are- the norm is for composers to not only create but perform every note of music virtually for what would normally be a multi-piece orchestra! So the advice here is to budget ahead of time to make sure you can put a talented, capable puppeteer at the heartstrings of your audience after all of the hard work of shooting your film is done.
What I can tell you is that he does fantastic work and is really nice to talk to. You can hear his work online now in the new original web series INTRICATE VENGEANCE below. Maybe next time I will get an official Q&A.
Happy Cutting,
Z
Christian Davis can be reached online at: christianbd@me.com. He works freelance and is available for booking.
