The Matrix Resurrections
I had an interesting experience a few years ago when I see an email land in my inbox, with the Subject line reading:
Hello from Enigmaudio | Future Collaboration
To say it was a great surprise would be an understatement when I opened the email, and the offer of my dreams just seemed to land in my lap. The email went on to explain their company was looking for composers to pitch music for blockbuster film trailers with Warner Brothers, and my music was on spec for what they were looking for. I can say I nearly fell out of my seat reading this, because it is one of those emails one hopes to open one day that is the “big break”. Well, this was it for me, and I opened a door to a business I had only heard of, but didn’t know how to navigate looking into exploring as a potential career.
It was shortly afterwards I received a brief to pitch for The Matrix Resurrections TV spot. Oh man, oh man this is it! The brief came on the heels of the teaser trailer that dropped, which cleverly featured White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. The brief’s directives were vague, but called for the tone from the first trailer, more themes from the original score, and more brasses. I buckled down and committed my weekend to present my best. I found isolated vocals for Grace Slick in keeping with what I felt contributed a large part to the overall tone of the teaser trailer. To meet the requirements for the directive to incorporate the original theme, I spent time studying the original score by Don Davis and settled on the dissonant chord structure from Trinity Infinity, with the brasses battling each other in an antiphonal call/response fashion. I felt it was important to incorporate an ARP synth in there to give it some bounce, also to keep with the overall tone of the first trailer. There’s nothing like a great chase, so put on my sound design hat and made whooshes and whirls to approximate the noises of the evil Sentinel machines in pursuit of the heroes. The drums build to an epic finish up to the climax of our battling brasses from the original score.
A Bitter Pill
Sometimes misses are a bitter pill to swallow, but you become better for it. I was informed my contribution would only be looked at as a sort of audition, and someone else’s recording was selected. While my piece was not selected for the TV spot, it was a fun and enjoyable experience to try. Interestingly a similar piece was selected that someone else on the team recorded. While I felt I hit the right notes, the right chord still needs to resonate with the decision makers. I therefore present to you my pitch for The Matrix Resurrections TV trailer spot for your enjoyment.
While I did not face success in this pitch, I continue to write and compose music and pitch to projects. I’ve learned more about the Film/TV/Games industry and pitching music to the people that help make great music moments in these forms of media. I credit my current drive and trajectory to this project, and have immense gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this effort. You may listen to more compositions here, including my most ambitious composition Fantasy Opus No. 1. Also visit my solo band page Myrddin’s Dream.