ScoreNotes: Of all the various genres you’ve worked in recently, which one do you find the most appealing and find yourself eager to return to?
George: You know this is always a very tricky question for me. I think the reason why I decided to become a film composer was the freedom and flexibility to change from one style to the other. Or even mix genres together which I enjoy the most. For the movie Dry Run for example I got my buddy Chris Cawte to come in with some 12-string guitars and together with Brendan Power on harmonicas we formed an amazingly raw and unique score. 'Peppering' the harmonica with distortion created a great soundscape on top of the orchestral template so we got a modern-western type of sound. I've also just composed the opening titles of "My Life" a new children's series for the BBC - they wanted a cool and trendy chart sound so it was fun hearing a lot of Usher and David Guetta for inspiration. Saying all that, my heart would probably lean towards the epic orchestral music as this is what I grew up with. I used to be an epic movie buff and listening to Miklos Rozsa and Alex North subconsciously leaned me onto this fully-orchestrated type of music. I had a chance to write some epic themes on Highlander: The Source and was very pleased that the score was received so well, particularly by the die-hard fans of the mythology.
ScoreNotes: Can you talk about how flexible you have to be as an international film composer these days? Be it working on high-profile commercial spots to opening titles for television, it seems as though you need to be aware of all aspects of the entertainment world.
George: Sure, I think that TV music, whether it's for a series or a commercial spot, has become quite 'cinematic' nowadays. I get asked a lot to compose in that full-orchestrated style for the small screen as well. I do enjoy researching a variety of projects and also listening to what other composers/artists are doing. (it's probably the only time I get to hear new music!)
ScoreNotes: What are some goals you have in mind as it relates to the film industry here in the United States and what are some of the challenges for maintaining a presence both in the UK and Los Angeles?
George: I am looking forward to meet in person a bunch of LA people I have been working with for such a long time from London, and take our collaboration a step further. I think that although the web enables us to communicate well at a distance, there is nothing like meeting in the studio and exchanging creative ideas. I will keep visiting London though. The UK has given me my first opportunities and I have invaluable filmmaker friends there that I still want to keep working with in the long-term.
ScoreNotes: What would you say are the key differences in how American filmmakers approach the scoring aspect of a movie versus how British productions foster the music?
George: This is obviously an over-generalization as I think the main difference is between 'commercially aimed' productions and independent 'art' films, but I think the European approach to scoring is slightly more modest in comparison to how American filmmakers treat music. In Europe you have to be very careful not to get too close to the cheesy factor, you must not be too 'loud' with your music and always try and give something different rather than the generic orchestral sound.
ScoreNotes: Just how competitive has the composing industry become? The competition, as it were, now seems to be world-wide.
George: Yes - it is extremely competitive for two reasons. Firstly, I think the world economy has pushed med-size productions out, and therefore composers now have to compete for either the blockbusters or really low-budget indies. For people that are trying to break-through now it can be really tough out there as sometimes he or she has to pitch together with the A-listers. Secondly, the advance of music technology has enabled a lot of people to set up a little studio in their bedrooms and 'set up business' as a composer. That's not a bad thing of course, but the problem is that although the sound quality of the samples enable these guys to present music of good production value, the actual composition of the music is most of the times average in standard. For the untrained ear of many young filmmakers, this is very hard to distinguish.
ScoreNotes: Can you discuss some of the technology you utilize with your work and how you incorporate it into orchestral components?
George: At the moment I am working with two macbook pros, logicpro, kontakt4 (will have to upgrade one of these days!) and two 2TB drives full of sample libraries. My personal trick is to use the newest sample libraries out there of course, but in conjunction with older sample libraries that still sound fantastic but not many people use anymore. For 'coloring' this does wonders. If we are recording with a live band, then what I do is export the logic file into midi, print out the logic score to have for backup, and import the midi file into Sibelius. Then if I have time to orchestrate myself I start 'sculpturing' until I get the orchestration right.
ScoreNotes: Who are some of the current film composers you most admire?
George: I mostly go by scores. If I was going to say the obvious then it would be something like John Williams' classic scores of course, but his theme of Memoirs of a Geisha is for me one of the best themes written in the last few years. I enjoy listening to Hans Zimmer, as I find that he has taken "film scoring" to a new contemporary attitude and made it "cool". I also thought his not-so-well-known score for The Weather Man was excellent - you wouldn't know it was his music. Alan Silvestri's score for Van Helsing was epic! - although I was not sure about Captain America. I can go on and on - I go by scores.
ScoreNotes: Looking ahead just a bit, what are some of your plans for the upcoming year?
George: I have some film scores coming up but right now I have embarked on a personal project which I am really excited about and hope to have it ready in a few months time. It's given me the chance to collaborate with some other fantastic composers while I am also composing and executive producing as well, which is refreshing. Will send you an update when this is ready!
