SCL Screening Panel: Musical Anatomy of Animation

With Composers
CHRISTOPHE BECK
ARTURO CARDELÚS
AMIE DOHERTY
TOM HOWE

MODERATED BY ASHLEY IRWIN
SCL President

Please be mindful of the SCL’s Code of Conduct.

Award-winning composer Christophe Beck is exceptional in his talent and versatility, creating music that brings a unique musical aesthetic to every project he scores. His ear for melody and understanding of the orchestra, along with a flexible approach and a flair for analog synthesizers, make him a valuable and in-demand collaborator. The prolific composer scored both of Marvel’s Ant-Man films, and most recently finished scoring his second feature-length Frozen film within Disney’s Oscar® and Grammy®-winning franchise.

Beck is the musical voice of a remarkable film anthology: iconic comedies (The Hangover trilogy, Bring It On, Hot Tub Time Machine, Pitch Perfect); poignant dramas (We Are Marshall, Cake); family adventures (Trolls, The Muppets, The Peanuts Movie); award-winning documentaries (Watson, Waiting for Superman); romantic comedies (Crazy Stupid Love, Under the Tuscan Sun); and thrilling action (Edge of Tomorrow, American Made). He began playing piano at the age of five, studied music at Yale, and attended the USC film scoring program under the tutelage of legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith. He began composing in television at the personal recommendation of Disney music legend Buddy Baker and launched his career with TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for which he earned an Emmy®.

Arturo Cardelús is a rising talent in the film industry. His most recent score, Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles, was called “score of the year” by The Wrap, and won Best Original Music Award at the Annecy Film Festival. Cardelús has previously scored the internet sensation In a Heartbeat, the Netflix miniseries Call Me Francis, Frank Marshall’s The People’s Fighters, and Morena Films’ Altamira, el Origen del Arte.

Cardelús’ contributions to the world of concert music were recognized when he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2016. His works have been performed across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and he has also composed chamber works commissioned by ensembles around the world. He studied piano performance at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Conservatorio Superior de Música in Salamanca, and Conservatorio Profesional in Guadalajara. Cardelús then shifted his focus, studying composition and film scoring at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he graduated summa cum laude and received the composition department’s highest award.

Irish composer Amie Doherty works on a wide variety of film and television projects. Her recent scoring credits include the Jurassic Park short Battle at Big Rock from director Colin Trevorrow, Amazon’s series Undone starring Bob Odenkirk, DreamWorks Animation’s short film Marooned, and Here & Now starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Renée Zellweger.

As an orchestrator and conductor, she has worked on series such as Star Trek: Discovery, The Umbrella Academy, Fargo, Legion, The Night Of, Counterpart, and Altered Carbon. She is an alumna of the Sundance Music & Sound Design Lab at Skywalker Sound, and holds a masters in film scoring from Berklee College of Music.

Tom Howe is an award-winning composer from the UK who has scored over 70 Emmy® and BAFTA®-winning dramas and documentaries, including recent films like Aardman’s animated feature Early Man, and Annapurna Pictures’ Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. In addition to his film & TV projects, Tom has also written several international Top 40 hits, as a songwriter.

After establishing himself in the UK, Tom moved to Hollywood, and has written additional music for several major motion pictures, such as Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Lego Movie 2, Wonder Woman, and Legend Of Tarzan. He also scored the animated film Charming, from the producers of Shrek. Most recently, his music was heard weekly on ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier. His second project with Aardman, A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, will be released in the US this December. Tom’s abilities as a multi-instrumentalist, his fluency with large scale orchestral scores, combined with his talents in writing pop and rock music, electronic sound design, and his use of modern production techniques have given him an advantage few other composers can boast when scoring film, TV and other media.