ScoreNotes: Please tell us about your background and some of the projects you've worked on.

Edwin: I was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and spent 4 years touring  the world as a Vienna Choir Boy.  In terms of musical education, I could not have been in a better place.  Life at the boarding school was a mixed bag, though.  We grew up somewhat isolated from the rest of the world which has its advantages and disadvantages.  I listened to soundtrack albums all the time, so eventually, with the help of my parents, I studied film scoring and screenwriting at UCLA Extension. The teachers were absolutely wonderful, especially Gerald Fried.  After finishing the program, I scored dozens of short films which eventually led to my first feature, Home - The Horror Story and a fantastic short film by JoséAntonio W. Danner, called Wrong Hollywood Number.  I was fortunate to have worked with the London Metropolitan Orchestra, Mike Ross-Trevor, and Dennis Sands on that project.  Composer Paul Haslinger hired me as an arranger and programmer on several movies and TV shows, including Into the Blue, Turistas, and Sleeper Cell: American Terror.  A huge thank-you to him for letting me do some additional music for the NBC series, Fear Factor, which was a blast!  Paul is fantastic with everything that's considered "current" in film scoring, so with my traditional upbringing, it was really exciting to work with a new set of creative tools.  More recently, I scored a TV series which broadcast on DirecTV, more short films, and the U.S. version of the feature film, Broken Angel.

ScoreNotes: What were some of the ideas and themes that went into your score for Home: The Horror Story?

Edwin: Early on, director Temi Lopez played me some music references, which was very helpful in determining the musical vocabulary for Home. We wanted to include Latin influences, mambo, Pérez Prado, as well as hints of Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, etc. and I had a lot of fun combining those elements.  I worked quite a bit on finding the main theme which ended up being a lop-sided waltz symbolizing the Richard Beymer character's boredom with suburban, domestic life.  Grace Zabriskie's character got a somewhat bouncy, yet descending figure with a slightly jazzy twist.  There are many more themes in the score.  Themes were good, in this particular case.  The bigger the score, the better!  As a composer, you don't get many opportunities like that!

ScoreNotes: The Interior featured a rather "out of the box" strategy for putting a cast together.  Can you tell us about the uniqueness of this online film and what the logistics were like for you as the composer on the back end of it?

ScoreNotes: How big an asset is it for up and coming composers to have the ability to release their soundtracks online?  Are there any negative aspects to it at all?

Edwin: Well, the savings are great.  Manufacturing a CD costs $3000 or more, whereas an online release only costs a few hundred dollars.  The distribution itself costs only $100 or thereabouts, even including a digital booklet submission to iTunes.  The huge disadvantage is that most soundtrack collectors prefer CD's.  I admit:  I do, too.  They sound better and it's easy to read all the album credits and liner notes.  In order to compensate in the digital medium, I always insist on the inclusion of a digital booklet on my albums.  The only time when we were unable to do that was the EP release of Wrong Hollywood Number, but that digital booklet is available on my website, as are all the other booklets for my albums (edwinwendler.com).

ScoreNotes: Who would you say first motivated you to become a composer?

Edwin: Three words: James Horner's Krull.

ScoreNotes: Out of the current roster of composers working today, who do you think might be the most influential in the business?

Edwin: We all know the answer to that question.  The key for composers is to do the best work they can possibly do and to cultivate a positive, collaborative attitude.  Some people are masters at that, and perfecting this is all we can focus on because once the product is distributed, its success or failure is completely out of our control.

ScoreNotes: How informed are directors on the independent scene about the use of film scores in their pictures?  Have you had any challenges in this regard?

Edwin: No matter how well-informed they are about film music in general, it all comes down to the so-called "show & tell" sessions when the directors first hear your music.  You can tell immediately whether they like something or not, regardless of their expertise or knowledge of film music.  As a composer, you want to make the director happy but you sometimes throw in surprises to keep the process fun and interesting.  I've seen a few directors change their mind about what the music should do in a specific scene after they heard my take on it.  It does get challenging if the communication stops.  This is mostly due to the fact that directors are often busy with other aspects of post production.  Sometimes they are thousands of miles away, in a different time zone, when you need their feedback the most.  And sometimes, on indie movies, directors tend to wear too many hats at the same time, especially when it comes to technical things like frame rates and synchronization.  I keep telling them that they should delegate that kind of technical detail work to somebody else because when I talk to them, I want to focus on creative issues.  Oh, and if I had to pick one specific area, which indie directors and producers seem to most frequently have no clue about, it would be music publishing and royalties.  They are often concerned that THEY will have to pay royalties, which simply is not the case.

ScoreNotes: What directors working today do you think best embrace the art of film music?  Also, who would be your "dream" director to one day work with?

Edwin: Spielberg, and Spielberg.  I hope for John Williams to be active for at least another 100 years but working for anything Spielberg-related would be a dream come true.  Although I have to say that I have already worked with some directors who are brilliant when it comes to understanding the power of music in a narrative, cinematic structure.  JoséAntonio W. Danner is definitely a composer's dream come true.  He understands so well that filmmaking is somewhat similar to playing a big pipe organ with many registers.  Music is one "register" but so is cinematography, acting, editing, production design.  You keep the movie interesting by pulling different "registers" at different times, making sure that all of those "registers" are serving the story.

ScoreNotes: Looking ahead, what are some next steps and upcoming projects for you?

Edwin: Even though I swore that I would never score a short film again because short films almost always lead to more short films and no features, I have come across a very talented filmmaker whose computer-animated short film I am scheduled to work on.  From what I've seen so far, it looks brilliant, in a very cool, dark, anime style, and I hope that my music will make it into the final cut.  I am preparing an album for the movie, Broken Angel, which will hopefully find distribution soon.  An album of some exciting music, called Cheshire Adventures, has just been released on iTunes.  100% of profits will go into funding the Cheshire Film Camp which is run by Zeno Mountain Farm, a non-profit organization which encourages friendships between people with, and people without disabilities.  The music was written for three short films: a pirate adventure, a superhero adventure, and a time travel adventure.  I am very excited about this good cause, and I hope people will like the music.

Thanks so much for the interview!  Go ScoreNotes!!