Interview

Composer

Watch & Listen to Empire Composer Fil Eisler’s Favorite Scenes

Yesterday we published our interview with Empire composer Fil Eisler, and today we're going to take a look at two scenes Eisler chose as his favorite illustrations of what he brings to the show. Thanks to 20th Century Fox, who were kind enough to send us these clips.

Let's go through a few of your favorite scenes that you scored last season.

There’s a couple of scenes that I could use to illustrate the extremes of what the music can do.

By  |  May 21, 2015

Interview

Composer

Empire‘s Composer Fil Eisler on Scoring TV’s Best Show About Music

Empire was a big part of Fox's recent upfront presentation for reasons that are easy to parse. It was the number one series on TV, a smashing success for the network and invigorated the entire TV landscape. The upcoming season has been expanded to 18 episodes, and Fox announced that Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz and Chris Rock will be among the guest stars.

The appeal of Empire is obvious; the King Lear-like premise,

By  |  May 20, 2015

Interview

Composer

Composer Atticus Ross on Brian Wilson Biopic Love & Mercy & More

Atticus Ross is one of the most well respected composers working in film today. He is probably best known for the work he has done with two of his longtime collaborators; fellow musician and composer Trent Reznor and director David Fincher. Ross and Reznor's work on The Social Network earned them an Academy Award for Best Original Score and they grabbed a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won them a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack.

By  |  May 19, 2015

Interview

Actor

Is Sci-Fi Making a Comeback on Television in 2015?

Is science fiction making a comeback on television? On the big screen, it's never gone away. Even smaller projects, like Alex Garland's clever, surprisingly sexy Ex Machina have drawn great reviews and decent audiences. Then there's the giants, like Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, and if you'd allow for the many sci-fi elements that make up the Marvel Universe, then you've got both of the Avengers films (aliens,

By  |  May 18, 2015

Interview

Art Director

Here’s How They Built the Beastly Machines for Mad Max: Fury Road

How do you fuse two Cadillac bodies together, install two huge engines, and actually make the thing not only drive, but serve as one of the main vehicles in a film that's essentially one long car chase? This was one of the many challenges facing Jacinta Leong, art director on Mad Max: Fury Road, one of the most kinetic, relentless action movies in years. Max goes gear for gear and wreck for wreck with Fast &

By  |  May 14, 2015

Interview

Director, Screenwriter

H.R. Giger—The Man who Created the Ultimate Alien

H.R. Giger's work has informed the popular imagination to an extent the Swiss surrealist painter could never have guessed when he began his work. He's most well known for his Oscar-winning creations for Ridley Scott's Alien, a film that has touched nearly every science fiction story that has followed it. Giger's influence extends far past Hollywood, however. Horror fanatics, punk and goth culture, pop music, a cottage industry of album cover art, tattoos,

By  |  May 14, 2015

Interview

Actor, Director, Screenwriter

The Spy Who Swiped Right: Tinder & Paul Feig’s Spy Join Forces

"To swipe left or to swipe right, that is the question." – William Shakespeare-Rogers, quoted in 2014.

Most singles in our modern digital age have suffered the agony associated with online dating and online dating apps. Those familiar with the process know its starts with deciding which direction you should swipe, left or right – a euphemism for yes or no – then comes the trepidation of what happens once the deed is done. Who messages who first?

By  |  May 14, 2015

Interview

Director, Producer

Karl Bushby Attempts 36,000 Mile Trek in The Walk Around the World

Karl Bushby had two rules when he set out to walk an unbroken path around the world: No form of transport to advance, and he couldn’t go home, to Hull, England, until he arrived on foot.

He made this pact with himself nearly two decades ago, and Bushby's still walking. He's walked across 25 countries, over seven mountain ranges, from the southern tip of Argentina up through South and Central America,

By  |  May 13, 2015

Interview

Actor

Jem and the Holograms Trailer – “Showtime Synergy”

Fans of the cartoon television series Jem and the Holograms – the girls are back, and coming to the big screen as a live-action reboot. Universal Pictures just released the trailer for what will certainly be a sensation for today’s young movie goers, as well as a dose of nostalgia for devotees of the original ‘80s series.

If you don’t remember who Jem is, don’t worry; this trailer is all about bringing you up to speed on this updated version of the one and only. 

By  |  May 13, 2015

Interview

Composer

Learn About Modern Film Composing With the Blair Brothers

On May 20, from 8:00am to 3:00pm, the film channel CreativeLive will unveil it's newest course in its' ongoing online global classroom for creatives; "Modern Film Composing," hosted by Will and Brooke Blair. The Blair Brothers will be coming off their latest premiere, Green Room, their second collaboration with writer/director Jeremy Saulnier after the outstanding Blue Ruinwhich premiered at Sundance in 2014.

The Blair Brothers have worked in a variety of mediums.

By  |  May 12, 2015

Interview

Actor, Composer

Music Supervisors Sync Up For Pitch Perfect 2

Turns out, even music supervisors work better in harmony. Though most movies hire just one music supervisor, for the vocals-heavy Pitch Perfect Julia Michels and Julianne Jordan offered themselves up as a team to pick the songs and mash-ups for the a capella musical.

Since then, they’ve worked on four projects together, including DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls. Naturally, the duo reunited for Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2.

Starring the same a capella group three years later –with Anna Kendrick,

By  |  May 11, 2015

Interview

Actor

Happy Mother’s Day: Give Mom the Gift of Your Time and a Movie

Flowers and a card are nice, but the greatest gift you can give your mother is your time. For many of us, some our best times with mom were spent were watching a movie. Even during those terrible teenage times, when you didn’t have much else to say, you could still talk about a favorite film. Movies require us to suspend everything else in our lives for an hour or so; it is an amazing gift in our fast paced age.

By  |  May 10, 2015

Interview

Actor

Made in Louisiana: On Set With the Crew of NCIS: New Orleans

On a warm March day, we took a drive outside of New Orleans to Harahan, Louisiana, and found ourselves, improbably, back in New Orleans. We were standing in a courtyard off of St. Ann street between Bourbon and Royal. Directly in front of us was a large kitchen, and beyond that a high-tech command center where serious investigative work is routinely conducted. But out in the courtyard, we were marveling at the weather-beaten air conditioner, a fountain overflowing with plants,

By  |  May 8, 2015

Interview

Actor, Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of V-E Day Through Film

May 8th marks the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe (V-E Day). For those fortunate enough to be spending this Friday in the Washington, DC, an event call "Arsenal of Democracy: World War II Victory Capitol Flyover" will feature more than 40 vintage WWII aircraft flying over our nation’s Capitol between noon and 1 p.m. The path will start along the Potomac River; turn left at the Lincoln Memorial to follow Independence Avenue along the Mall,

By  |  May 8, 2015

Interview

Costume Designer

Wardrobe Change! Costume Designer Catherine Marie Thomas’s Many Looks for Hot Pursuit

Catherine Marie Thomas has helped create some of the more memorable characters of the past two decades through her exquisite costume design. Look at the bright yellow fight suit she created for Uma Thurman’s The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. This look was so iconic it was included in the Hollywood Costume exhibit, which began at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, and traveled the world.

Going in a completely different direction,

By  |  May 7, 2015

Interview

Editor

How to Make a Killer Trailer: One of the Best Explains

As a international economics student at Middlebury College in Vermont, Nick Temple had no idea he'd wind up becoming one of Hollywood's top trailer cutters. But when a post-graduation cross-country trip with a couple of buddies brought him to Los Angeles in 2000, Temple needed a job so he started working as a runner at Burbank, California production house. There, he quickly became hooked on movie teasers. "There was something compelling for me about looking at footage and compressing it to tell a story,"

By  |  May 6, 2015

Interview

Actor, Director, Screenwriter

4 Lessons About the Future of Horror From the Stanley Film Fest

Blood splatters the help, clouds roll over the mountains, zombie baby dolls hang from lamp posts, and the Stanley Hotel glows red at night during the Stanley Film Fest, a horror film festival that just wrapped this past Sunday, May 3. Horror genre icons, amateur filmmakers, legendary producers and Hollywood stars mingled in Estes Park, Colorado over a weekend of shorts and feature films haunted by the horror legacy of Stephen King’s The Shining.

By  |  May 5, 2015

Interview

Director

6 Films To Celebrate Cinco de Mayo

Do you know the origins of Cinco de Mayo? You’re not alone if you don’t – it’s the commemoration of the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Let’s get into the spirit of the holiday, and the many glories of Mexico, through film. Head over to WheretoWatch.com to find these Mexican-themed favorites.

Cinco de Mayo: The Battle (2013)

A defining battle in Mexican history comes to the big screen in this historical war drama detailing the Battle of Puebla.

By  |  May 5, 2015

Interview

Actor, Director, Screenwriter

Celebrating Britain’s Big Week Through Film

There is lots of excitement across the pond. The Royal Family is celebrating a new princess, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, born on Saturday. The common folk will vote on Thursday to elect the UK’s 56th Parliament. So there’s no better time to pour a spot of tea, slather a scone with clotted cream, and snuggle up with a royal themed movie.

Turn on your telly (or mobile device), put on a tiara or a fascinator,

By  |  May 5, 2015

Interview

Director

Brett Morgen on Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck & how Frances Bean Made it Happen

Nearly eight years after director Brett Morgen (The Kids Stays in the Picture) was approached by Courtney Love to make a film about her late husband’s life, the documentary, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, is finally available to fans around the world — premiering on HBO and in select theaters tonight, May 4th.

Using never-before-seen and heard artwork, personal writings, music and home movies (it’s amazing how much footage there is of young Kurt),

By  |  May 4, 2015