Making Music for the Movies
Interview by Sylvia Finlayson
(Meridian Magazine)

Walking into composer Alan Williams's home studio, I was struck by the complete order and stark nature of the office. Yes, there was the latest in high-tech sound boards, mixing equipment, DVD and video paraphernalia; but here was a man whose profession demands the utmost in creativity, and yet his working environment was tidier than a marine's quarters during inspection. Having heard some of the lingering melodies from the IMAX movie Amazon and the recent release of the soundtrack to another movie picture, Kilimanjaro, I knew Alan to be a man acquainted with a broad range of emotion and gifted imagination. You see, Alan has composed music scores for some of the most successful IMAX films including the Academy Award nominated, Amazon, as well as Sony Pictures' Mark Twain's America, Island of the Sharks, and Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa. He has scored everything from family films to romantic comedies and animated features to thrillers. The critics have referred to Williams as one of the significant 'up and coming' musical composers in Hollywood. His is what many would consider the dream job; composing music for Hollywood film and TV. Furthermore, he does all of this without even leaving his front door.

The orderly surroundings were not exactly what I expected to see from a man whose music gives motion picture its life-blood and moves the audience from tears of sadness to light-hearted joy, all within a few picture frames. Exactly where did his inspiration come from? How did he draw from thin air the musical themes that make me feel I'm personally climbing Kilimanjaro or back in my childhood neighborhood riding my bike again? The office is function over form and, quite frankly for a non-techno type, well . . . technical looking.

I immediately put on a favorite CD of mine to help me relax, plus I wanted Alan's take on it. Alan relaxes slightly in the leather office chair with a somewhat wistful, far-off look. "Celtic. Piano and two violins (I'd always thought there was just one)." His first comments cover the technical aspects of the music; its style, composition, and structure. I'm beginning to see that it is skill, technique and experience is as crucial to success as that elusive creative element. At the end of the piece, Alan then comments on the mood it engenders, "It has a very haunting feel." The puzzle begins to take shape. It is the precision and perfecting of skills that allows for the creativity. Not the other way around. I'm going to go home and clear out some of that clutter in my office, maybe take down that 'evil eye' I picked up in Istanbul last year.

Getting Started

As a young boy, Alan Williams wanted to learn to play drums, but his parents insisted he learn piano first. When he was sufficiently skilled on the piano, in Jr. High his parents let him take drum lessons and he ended up playing percussion in an orchestra for six years. In high school he joined a band and by the time he was a sophomore, the Colorado native knew what he wanted to do for his life's profession. Williams went to BYU with this in mind, and earned a bachelor's degree in music and composition. He studied 20th century concert music and at the same time took classes in media composition, studio recording, and song writing. While still an undergraduate, he found his first 'real job' in the profession scoring music for several commercials. He left BYU with a degree covering the classical side of music and near completion of another in the media, contemporary side.

From BYU, Williams moved to southern California to attend one of the finest film schools in the world, the University of Southern California (USC). Disappointed to discover there was little crossover between the film school and the music school, Williams struck out on his own to bridge the gap in order to work more closely with up-and-coming film directors. Williams was not about to leave his dream or chosen career to chance. He offered to write music scores for student projects, and ended up producing more work for the student films than that required for his class assignments. Not only did this introduce Williams to a new generation of filmmakers, it allowed him to produce music for his own demo tape, using professional musicians and recording studios, all at no cost to himself. No one wants to hire a composer without experience, and now Williams could shop his music to directors with concrete evidence that he was talented and capable. So began the tedious process of sending out demo tapes and waiting for that first phone call.

Alan caught his first break when a director heard one of the demo tapes and called him. Alan says, "Talent is not a guarantee to success in Hollywood. Often it is sheer dumb luck that puts you in the right place at the right time." His first movie experience was working an independent feature film that actually didn't do much as a movie. It did, however, introduce him to his next job. A producer on the film liked Williams’s work, and introduced him to another director. Williams was able to send out his first feature film soundtrack with some great orchestral music; the director liked it and subsequently hired him. This film was moderately successful, and it was right after that that Williams hired his first agent.

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