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July 2015

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www.postmagazine.com 42 POST JULY 2015 SOUNDTRACKS lockbusters and sci-fi productions have long looked to comic books and graphic novels as source material. In 2014, movie-goers enjoyed many favorite comic storylines in cinematic form with big budget films such as Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. However, there's more to storytelling than compelling he- roes, storylines and graphics — it's sound that creates the perfect mood for many key scenes. Dallas's FirstCom Music (www.first com.com) has unveiled a new music-li- censing catalog, FCAnimated, that's designed to provide scoring tools for ed- itors and producers of comic book mov- ies, online graphic novels, video games, sci-fi productions, animation, and graphic arts. Here, Ken Nelson, FirstCom senior VP/EP, discusses the new collection. Why did you create this catalog? "With FCAnimated, we seized the op- portunity to offer creative music and soundtrack solutions to the community of digital media producers, editors and sound designers in a format that works for them. This is a powerful but easy- to-use collection of themes, transitions, underscores and elements that can deliv- er big action, adventure and excitement when you need it, but also features subtle, emotional cues and dramatic staging for virtually any type of visual. You can con- centrate on creating, development and storytelling rather than spending time on endless music auditioning and editing." What industry need are you trying to address with FCAnimated? "With the growing trend and enthusiasm for bringing comic book heroes to life, along with modern myths, fantasy and animation projects of all sorts, we saw the need to deliver a unique set of music cues that speak directly to these partic- ular styles and genres, but in a form that is made for editors. We continually get requests for action, adventure, heroic themes, sound design and trailer effects. But rather than a hypothetical collection based on an abstract premise, FCAnimat- ed was created from real-world, in-stu- dio dynamics — composing, producing, editing, post production — for specific visuals and storylines for digital comics." Who is it intended for? "At its core, FCAnimated is for editors and sound designers of all levels and budgets. It's a soundtrack solution for the way the real world works. The related key, BPM and added CSV files that ac- company each volume can assist anyone in assembling a very powerful, high-qual- ity action, dramatic adventure or fantasy score with the minimum amount of time. It's really a hassle-free solution to creat- ing high-quality soundtracks for long- or short-form projects." What makes it unique? "FCAnimated was born from the process of composing for a specific set of story lines for digital graphic novels. The music and layout is flexible enough to work for a variety of projects. It's a truly effec- tive body of work that celebrates and supports the styles inspired by modern fantasy, myths and superhero genres. Not only that, but you can have the opportunity to work directly with us to curate and create a soundtrack for your long-form digital media, game or film project. Bring us your storyboards, visu- als, graphics, rough cuts, etc., and let us create the perfect soundtrack." How did you create the content? "The scores and elements were born from soundtracks produced specifically for Madefire, an innovative company that specializes in Motion Books-online graphic novels. Under the direction of the talented animators and storytellers at Madefire (www.madefire.com), composer Wendell Yuponce wrote the music for (among many others) Injustice-Batman vs. Superman, Hellboy in Hell, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Transformers. These are the authorized graphic novel scores for the evolving stories of Super- man, Batman, Optimus Prime, Hellboy and others through their individual bat- tles, suffering, introspection and ultimate triumph. FCAnimated was curated as part of these original soundtracks based on their universal appeal and in keeping with the concept of an interrelated set of musical elements for storytelling." What made you decide to work with Wendell Yuponce? "Wendell is a versatile composer/percus- sionist in film, television and advertising with over 25 years of experience. He's composed for thousands of projects as diverse as HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm to Deepak Chopra's The Way of the War- rior. He has a special fondness for past work on Superman — The Animated Se- ries and Batman — The Animated Series for Warner Bros. and created scores for digital media and Motion Books." What are some of the highlights? "It was specifically created for visuals and graphics for real-world applications, as opposed to typical stock music. There are 315 cues on five volumes dedicated to dramatic storytelling, fantasy and ad- venture — with more to come and there's an editor's companion with complete key, BPM, attitude and keyword data for each piece." Are you happy with the results? "We are so happy with the outcome that we are currently working on an expan- sion of the entire series." FIRSTCOM GETS ANIMATED NEW MUSIC COLLECTION FOR COMIC BOOK, FANTASY AND ANIMATED PROJECTS. B

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