ScoreNotes - Jessica Zimmer interviews Laura Karpman

Laura Karpman, an American composer well known for scoring the Spielberg mini-series “Taken,” recently finished composing the soundtrack for Dreamworks’s video game, “Kung Fu Panda 2.” The Kung Fu Panda 2 soundtrack features light-hearted melodies that blend the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu, a type of vertical, two-stringed violin and pipa, or lute; as well as flutes, cymbals, and gongs. Karpman says she drew inspiration for the soundtrack from working on another project, the score for an animated short film, “A Monkey’s Tale.”

““A Monkey’s Tale” plays at a theme park in China. They (the government of the People’s Republic of China) wanted Carl Stalling (composer for many of Warner Brothers’s “Looney Tunes” cartoons) meets China,” said Karpman. She also noted that Kung Fu Panda 2 needed certain things “A Monkey’s Tale” did not, such as action cues. Karpman was able to work with many of the same musicians on both projects, including erhu soloist Karen Han and percussionist M.B. Gordy. “I was able to play (some of my own Chinese) flutes for the (Kung Fu Panda 2) score,” said Karpman.

Karpman got a feel for how the Kung Fu Panda 2 should sound by watching the first Kung Fu Panda movie. “The second one wasn’t out yet. As we went on, the (team) at Griptonite (the game production studio) provided me artwork and cinematics from the new game."

Karpman has previously composed soundtracks for first person shooter games and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). She says that this project required her to scale back a bit. “(In Kung Fu Panda 2), it’s a bear kicking things around,” said Karpman. “I really find every project has its own demands and requirements. It’s about trying to create drama and bring out the characters and place, no matter what the medium.”

Karpman says she has faced different challenges in composing scores for other productions. For the Lifetime movie “Last Man Standing,” which aired in June 2011, Karpman wrote 80 minutes of action music in 13 days. “I was pulling a lot of caffeine for that one,” said Karpman. “Me composing the score was like an action film itself!” Karpman also remembers that she worked incredibly hard on 2002’s “Taken.” “At one point during an especially moving and extended sequence, Karpman remembers that the executive producer, Les Boheme said after previewing the score, "Does everyone know we’re making an art film?” Karpman says of that experience, “We were all giddy and exhausted at that point, but it was one of the best professional experiences I have ever had!"

One of Karpman’s goals is to populate the soundtrack business with more women. “I try to mentor women whenever I can. I think it’s clear that there are so few women doing this. I hope that it (what I do) will have an effect,” said Karpman. Karpman also thinks it is important to make time for family. The recent birth of her son, who is now 9 months old, changed her work patterns. “You have to be way more efficient and work in shorter periods of time,” said Karpman. Karpman says having her studio in her home helps a great deal. “We put him (my son) down on the piano, and he kind of bangs on it. Then he stops, and looks to us for applause.”
Karpman says that she and her spouse are interested in shaping her son into a musician. Yet it’s also true that “I want him to be a doctor, like every Jewish mother,” laughed Karpman.

Websites:
Laura Karpman: Official Website
http://www.laurakarpman.com

Kung Fu Panda 2, from Dreamworks
http://www.kungfupanda2videogame.com

Special thanks to Greg O’Connor of Top Dollar PR.

(NOTE: Laura Karpman, Jessica Zimmer, and ScoreNotes.com retain the rights to reprint material from this article. Other entities do not have the right to do so.)