{"id":822,"date":"2010-10-20T12:44:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T16:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=822"},"modified":"2010-12-27T20:30:58","modified_gmt":"2010-12-28T01:30:58","slug":"bear-mccreary-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=822","title":{"rendered":"BEAR MCCREARY (2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a><\/em>\/ <\/em>Exclusive Interviews & Profiles<\/em><\/a> \/\u00a0Composers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Bear McCreary is one of the busiest composers working in Hollywood, and he\u2019s perhaps best-known for his work for the rebooted <\/em>Battlestar Galactica<\/em><\/strong> series. His latest project is the pilot episode for<\/em>Caprica<\/em><\/strong>, the next chapter in the ongoing franchise, as well as the videogame which furthers the<\/em>Battlestar<\/em><\/strong> experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

McCreary\u2019s identity is kind of two-fold: he\u2019s the adept composer of orchestral scores in sci-fi, and blues-based horror scores notable for some great performances by musicians on guitar and percussion.<\/em><\/p>\n

The best adjective for McCreary\u2019s style is refreshing: the writing is succinct but never rushes the drama; it\u2019s character-oriented, even in comedic works like TV\u2019s <\/em>Eureka<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>(2007-2009); and there\u2019s his affinity for percussion textures, whether electronic (TV\u2019s <\/em>Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/em><\/strong>), organic (<\/em>Rest Stop<\/em><\/strong>), or a flawless fusion of both.<\/em><\/p>\n

In our interview, McCreary discusses the differences between the musical worlds of <\/em>Battlestar<\/em><\/strong> and<\/em>Caprica<\/em><\/strong>, as well as his entry into film scoring.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mark R. Hasan<\/em><\/strong>: How did you get into film music?<\/em><\/p>\n

Bear McCreary<\/strong>: Film music was always my passion, and it was always what interested me as a kid; it\u2019s really the only thing I ever wanted to do in the first place.<\/p>\n

How did I get into it professionally? I moved down to Los Angeles to go to school, and did a lot of student films and worked on every project that I possibly could. I then ended up assisting a composer named Richard Gibbs, who scored the\u00a0Battlestar Galactica<\/strong> mini-series, and at that time he was under such an intense deadline that I ended up writing some cues on that with him.<\/p>\n

The producers got to know me during that process and knew who I was and what I was doing, and when it came time for the mini-series to become a full series, I got a shot at doing an episode, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: I have to admit that I\u2019m probably one of the rare few who haven\u2019t seen <\/em>Battlestar Galactica<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>:\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> sounds totally different than\u00a0Caprica<\/strong>. In fact, when you listen to\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> you\u2019ll hear that there are little places in\u00a0Caprica<\/strong> that I\u2019m hinting at the sound of\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> \u2013 notably the percussion cues that make a couple of cameos (\u201cTerrorism on the Lev\u201d and \u201cZoe Awakens\u201d) in theCaprica<\/strong> soundtrack really are the meat and potatoes of the\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> soundtrack.<\/p>\n

However, with that said, there\u2019s a very large orchestral presence in the\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> score as well. As the show progressed, the orchestra became more and more important to it, and so the orchestral music in\u00a0Caprica<\/strong> is related, but it\u2019s actually a very different sound.<\/p>\n

Caprica<\/strong> is a very intimate chamber orchestra; it\u2019s a very small score that fills up a lot of space emotionally and it feels very epic, but it\u2019s in fact a very intimate sound.\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> is a very huge sound; there\u2019s as many as four times as many instruments as I had playing on\u00a0Caprica<\/strong>, so it\u2019s a very different approach, but it\u2019s the same idea.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: Well I think what really surprised me about the <\/em>Caprica<\/em><\/strong> teleplay is that it\u2019s a pilot that basically deals a lot with character; there\u2019s not a lot of action that happens, and there\u2019s a lot of story and background which is kind of rare, and I wonder if that\u2019s one of the things that attracted you to the project, because you had so many opportunities to explore the characters.<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: Yes, that was definitely very exciting, and I\u2019ve done a lot of science-fiction projects \u2013 so many that people often ask me \u2018What\u2019s it like writing science-fiction music?\u2019 and I for one have never intentionally written science-fiction music.<\/p>\n

Caprica<\/strong> was certainly one of those opportunities where it was entirely about these families. It almost struck me as a period piece, like I felt like I was doing\u00a0The Godfather<\/strong> series or something; the structure of it is very classical, so that was exciting. It was also an opportunity for me to return to the\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong> storyline from a different perspective<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: I really like the two themes in the pilot \u2013 the <\/em>Caprica<\/em><\/strong> theme, and the tragic theme that reappears throughout the score.<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: The two themes that you\u2019re referring to are themes for each of the two families \u2013 the Graystones and the Adamas, and each family has their own thematic identity that I then weave into the score as we are learning about their past, and what they\u2019re doing and what they\u2019re going through.<\/p>\n

The Graystone theme does sort of function as the de facto\u00a0Caprica<\/strong> theme only because we hear it more often than the other one, but that was my approach \u2013 to have two different themes for the two different sides.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: Is you background mainly in blues music?<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: No, not at all. Actually, I\u2019m a classically trained composer and pianist, although I play in a lot of rock bands and I definitely had a lot of pop in my upbringing, but I\u2019m definitely coming from the classical world, really, if I had to pick a side.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: I was really surprised at the contrast between your <\/em>Rest Stop<\/em><\/strong> scores, which are sort of heavy blues\/rock with great guitar textures, and the <\/em>Caprica<\/em><\/strong> music, which is very classical, and includes elements from chamber and minimalism.<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: Pop and blues are languages that I like to use. The\u00a0Rest Stop<\/strong> films were tremendous opportunities for me to score a horror film with a bluegrass band, which is essentially what I did, and that was a tremendous amount of fun I\u2019d love to say that I really grew up with that kind of music, but I didn\u2019t; that\u2019s just something that I\u2019m passionate about, and I\u2019ve come to enjoy now.<\/p>\n

For me it\u2019s always about finding something different, something new that I haven\u2019t done before, so you\u2019ll find that the scores that I\u2019ve done for\u00a0Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/strong> sound totally different in the instrumentation and in the style than\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong>, but I\u2019d like to think that you can always tell that it\u2019s me, just by the musical similarities that are there; I always like to find different instrumentations and different sounds for each project.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: Do you do your own orchestrations, or do you have a team that you work with?<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: I have a team that I work with extensively. It\u2019s the only way to survive getting through [a heavy work load]. I generally have three shows and a couple of games and a couple of movies in the works at all times, so I definitely don\u2019t have time to do my own orchestrations anymore. I did for the first season two seasons of\u00a0Battlestar<\/strong>, and that nearly killed me.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: Is there any particular genre that you haven\u2019t tackled yet, because you\u2019ve done horror, science-fiction, drama, and comedy?<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: Well, I\u2019ve love to do an eighteen hundreds period piece zombie musical. That\u2019s a genre that I\u2019d love to tackle. I think I\u2019m ready for it.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: It\u2019s funny that you mention that, because there\u2019s author Seth Grahame-Smith\u2019s <\/em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies<\/em><\/strong>, a bloody fusion of Jane Austen\u2019s story with flesh eaters that was published this past May by Quirk Books.<\/em><\/p>\n

BM<\/strong>: Yeah, well that would be fun.<\/p>\n

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KQEK.com would like to thank Bear McCreary for making time for this interview during an incredibly busy schedule, and Beth Krakower at CineMedia for facilitating this interview.<\/em><\/p>\n

Visit Bear McCreary’s official website <\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the composer’s Battlestar Galactica Blog <\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

All images remain the property of their copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article and interview \u00a9\u00a02009 by Mark R. Hasan<\/em><\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE)<\/em>:<\/p>\n

CD: \u00a0Battlestar Galactica, Season 4<\/a><\/strong> <\/a>(2009) —\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Caprica, Pilot<\/a> <\/strong>(2009) — Eureka<\/a><\/strong> <\/a>(2006) —\u00a0\u00a0Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/a><\/strong> (2009)<\/p>\n

BR\/DVD\/Film: \u00a0Caprica, Pilot<\/a> <\/strong>(2009)<\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a><\/em>\/ <\/em>Exclusive Interviews & Profiles<\/em><\/a> \/\u00a0Composers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/ Exclusive Interviews & Profiles \/\u00a0Composers . Bear McCreary is one of the busiest composers working in Hollywood, and he\u2019s perhaps best-known for his work for the rebooted Battlestar Galactica series. His latest project is the pilot episode forCaprica, the next chapter in the ongoing franchise, as well as the videogame which furthers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,26,22,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-dg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1995,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions\/1995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}