SILENT RIVER wins "Best Feature for Change" Award at the Paris Int’l Film Festival

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SILENT RIVER just won the "Best Feature for Change" Award at the Paris Int’l Film Festival ! Thank you everyone at PIFF and John Higgins of filmandtvnow.com for championing our films and helping to bring them to viewers. Special big thank you to Jenna Suru the Festival Director and inspirational leader who created such a warm and welcoming environment for all us filmmakers, and providing an innovative platform for everyone to share and experience so many movies as well as dialogue amongst filmmakers and viewers. We had an incredibly memorable time meeting other filmmakers! So many amazing and original films across the documentaries, shorts, and narrative features!

Silent River International Premiere at Paris Int'l Film Festival

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Silent River will have it’s International Premiere this week Feb 10-20, 2021 at the Paris Int’l Film Festival. Coverage from the festival has already begun and an incredible review of the film was released on Filmandtvnow.com.

Reviewer John Higgins wrote…

“Some movies I have encountered over the years have been such an idiosyncratic experience on first viewing but have nonetheless compelled me to watch again and again.

Two examples that come to mind are Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 – A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) – with its’ main protagonist a seemingly faceless monolith transcending time and human existence – and Lucio Fulci’s THE BEYOND (L’ALDILA) (1981)....Now, I have to add Chris Chan Lee’s SILENT RIVER, which for all intents and purposes will throw a few curveballs into the deeper reaches of your mind from the first half, which plays like David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky attempting to collaborate on a reboot of Wim Wenders’ PARIS, TEXAS (1984) – and a second half that emerges like a rural companion piece to EX MACHINA and WESTWORLD.
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Fans of Lynch’s extreme surrealist canvasses like MULHOLLAND DRIVE and LOST HIGHWAY will certainly want to check in like the characters at the hotel. For the more linear-minded viewers, grab a few pints afterwards as you discuss the intricacies of Chan Lee’s left-field but ultimately compelling cinematic effort.”
— John Higgins - Filmandtvnow.com

HIM and HER World Premiere at Newport Beach this coming Sunday Oct 24th

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On May 26th 1989 two strangers connect through crossed phone lines… ☎️

Come to the 2021 Newport Beach Film Festival to find out what happens...

Sunday October 24th @ 7:45pm

South Coast Village - Regency Theater

"HIM & HER" Ticket Link: https://nbff2021.eventive.org/films/614a9fb26265de0023ad0b11?fbclid=IwAR1FHLMJtln64_qsTKQhhTU7WME6o5muzrWEGH7320Ti8YG1H8G2bNmnGvk

Him & Her World Premiere at Newport Beach Film Festival Oct 24, 2021

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So thrilled to announce that another film I scored during the pandemic, “HIM & HER”, is now set to world premiere later this month. This romance drama film about “connection” will hit you in all the “feels.” Promise. And there is a special surprise happening at this world premiere attendees won’t want to miss that I will share more about later.

HIM & HER will world premiere at the 2021 Newport Beach Film Festival on Sunday Oct 24th at 7:45 PM @ South Coast Village.

Tickets can now be purchased here:

https://nbff2021.eventive.org/films/614a9fb26265de0023ad0b11

Logline: Crossed phone lines in 1989 lead to a life changing conversation between two strangers, who eventually meet in an unusual way.

The film is directed by Íce Mrozek and produced by Independence Hall. A heartfelt thanks to you both for bringing me on board to such a special and unique film. My score to this film, completed before I began work on Silent River, is almost the antithesis of what I did for Silent River. Him & Her’s score being much more subtle, delicate, textural sound design score with a bit of an 80’s throwback. I am excited this will be released to the world at this premiere SoCal festival.

SILENT RIVER Score Soundtrack Preview

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A small streaming preview of my Silent River score is embedded in the audio player below for your listening pleasure. I have presented here about 29 minutes of selected cues and themes out of my 1 hour, 20 minutes of total score from the film. This score’s style is a departure for me from my previous films. I really got a chance to explore a dark, atonal and textural side.

 

The film is described as a “beautifully realized and smartly written sci-fi tale is a haunting exploration of losing control and the journey back to normalcy. Led by command performances from West Liang and Amy Tsang, SILENT RIVER is a visually stunning and layered film that boldly challenges the idea of what is real and what is not.”

At times the score sounds like horror. A other times, beautiful and emotional. The film really gave me an opportunity to stretch. I am also very excited that we were able to record the score in Los Angeles with some wonderful featured solo AFM musicians like Phil O’Conner on clarinet / bass-clarinet and Andrew Duckles on Viola who both really infused their talents on their instruments into the heart of the score. Enjoy!

SILENT RIVER World Premiere Sept 25th

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Writer/Director Chris Chan Lee’s SILENT RIVER will world premiere at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival IN THEATER on Sept 25th, 2021 at the Regal LA Live Theaters, 4:30pm. (Note: In person attendees to the festival must be vaccinated). Chris’s 1997 film YELLOW shook the Hollywood norm and broke barriers for Asian American cinema, paving the way for many others to follow since. Chris is truly a rock star. I am so honored to be collaborating with Chris on his third highly anticipated directed film.

“Chris Chan Lee’s beautifully realized and smartly written sci-fi tale is a haunting exploration of losing control and the journey back to normalcy. Led by command performances from West Liang and Amy Tsang, SILENT RIVER is a visually stunning and layered film that boldly challenges the idea of what is real and what is not. Don’t miss the World Premiere of Lee’s latest, an awe inspiring film which will dazzle on the big screen. ”
— Jeremy Aguilera-Gaudette

Ticket purchasing info and other details on the world premiere as well as other festival screenings coming up this Fall all be announced soon. I am very proud of my score to Silent River. I wrote almost 1hr, 20min of score for the film that was recorded here in Los Angeles with some wonderful AFM studio musicians who brought some amazing talents to the music. Some of which I have chronicled in previous posts on my website here.

Hope to see folks at Regal LA LIVE on Sat. Sept 25th at 4:30 pm!

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My upcoming Silent River score is very different for me...

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My upcoming Silent River score is very different for me and a departure from many of my last scores. No Being Rose country here. A lot more experimentation and invention of sounds at the root of this score. A lot of these sounds started as samples taken from Emil Richard's well worn Pianotron that now resides up at L.A. Percussion & Backline Rentals. Many of those sounds in the score were subsequently manipulated, stretched, and crafted into textures and sounds I could then use throughout the film cues. I talked about that Pianotron recording session here last July.

In additional to all of that, I also used a Leaf Audio Microphonic Sounbox mkII. There is a mechanical nature to these sounds and that was my intent. To blend those machine like sounds with the more human characters of the film, I also hired a couple of the best soloists I could find to feature with Phil O'Conner on clarinet and bass clarinet and Andrew Duckles on viola. The end result is a score on the darker side for this atypical Sci-Fi drama that I can't wait for you all out there to see it come together. In the mean time, with the director's blessing, here is one little snippet of the score's result combined with what it looks like when I blindly stare at the mixing board creating my stems...trying to not have any audio peaks. Think of it like a screen saver with music.

We won an HMMA!

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Simply put….wow! Extremely honored and thankful to the Hollywood Music in Media Awards awards for presenting to me tonight the award for Best Contemporary Classical music for my Lord Of The Rings inspired music suite called “I Think I’m Quite ready For Another Adventure.” Major Congratulations to the other nominees and all the winners tonight! So much talent world wide in the category.

A heartfelt thank you to the folks on my music team, orchestrator Ryan Humphrey, Mixer Lisa K. Fowle (not on facebook), contractor Noah Gladstone at Hollywood Scoring, recording engineer Adam Michalak, copyist Tran Thanh, Landon Donoho on video, solo soprano vocalist Karen Hogle Brown and of course the amazing AFM musicians who brought it all to life right here in LA. (Phil O'Connor, Stephanie O'Keefe, Dylan Skye Hart, Rob Schaer, Chris Bleth, Armen Ksajikian, Mark Robertson, Michael Valerio, Geoff Osika, Amy Tatum, Adam Bhatia, Mark Miller, Corinne Sobolewski, Mei Chang, Rodney Wirtz, Jacqueline Brand, Joo Lee, Nicholas Daley, Aaron Oltman and many others....). And of course to my wife Heather and daughter Madison for the endless cheers and support.

Honored to be nominated for a Hollywood Media Music Award

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Honored to be nominated for the suite of music I composed called “I think I’m Quite Ready For Another Adventure”, inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord Of The Rings Series in The Hollywood Media Music Awards contemporary classical / Instrumental category.

If anyone has not had a chance to hear it yet. It can be found linked here or in the Music dropdown menu of this website.

https://rcrft.co/reel/BrianRalston/LOTRSuite

Pics from the Pianotron session this past weekend

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Some pics from the Pianotron recording session this past weekend. (A pianotron is basically the guts of an upright piano, taken out of its shell and performed in a percussive, exploitative way. It is often old, creaky and out of tune leading to some unique and unexpected sounds. There is also no keyboard to play the strings any more.) This particular pianotron once belonged to famed LA studio percussionist Emil Richards (see link) and I am extremely honored I had the opportunity to use it and capture its sounds for this new score. I am looking forward to taking the recordings we recorded and transforming them into some lush, unique and dark sonic landscapes and textures that will ultimately be the foundation of Chris Chan Lee’s new film.

Excited to explore some new music territory.

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My last film is still (for strategic reasons of the filmmakers) not something I can talk about just yet…but it should be having its film festival premiere sometime soon. And once that happens, I will be more in a position to discuss it rather unique story. But this week I am starting to get into a new film by director Chris Chan Lee (title to be announced). Chris was the editor of the film JASMINE, that was directed by a good friend of mine Dax Phelan. This is not the first time Chris Chan Lee has been in the director seat. This will be his 4th time in the director seat following his debut called Yellow in 1997 and then Undoing in 2006.

This new film is a unique and dark film that is going to give me an opportunity to explore a music score I have never done for a commercial project before. We are already talking about unique approaches and instruments in our score including a Microphonic Soundbox like the one pictured to the right..and incorporating a Pianotron, which is basically the guts of an upright piano opened up and open to percussive explorations. Needless to say…there are going to be few to no “rules” on this score as we explore an otherworldly approach to the music and soundscape for the film. I look forward to seeing everyone on the other side of it. Till then…..cheers!

Microphone Soundbox mkII (Leaf Audio)

Microphone Soundbox mkII (Leaf Audio)

Pianotron (Piano Guts)

Pianotron (Piano Guts)