Composer honored for “Birdman” score and named Discovery of the Year
The World Soundtrack Academy announced the 15th World Soundtrack Awards winners on Saturday, Oct. 24, a ceremony which closed the 42nd Film Fest Gent. Composer Antonio Sanchez won “Best Original Film Score of The Year” for Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and “Discovery of the Year” at the awards show and concert.
In his acceptance speech, Sanchez first thanked the World Soundtrack Academy by saying, “it’s great that THIS Academy recognized me!”; an inside joke since his Birdman score was deemed ineligible for the Academy Awards. Other winners included Michael Giacchino for Composer of the Year (Discovery winner 2005), and Patrick Doyle for the Lifetime Achievement Award. The evening included the world premiere performances of the scores for Steve Jobs (Daniel Pemberton, last year’s Discovery winner), Cinderella (Doyle) and The Walk (Alan Silvestri).
The second half of the evening was a tribute to Silvestri which included his scores to Forrest Gump, Mummy Returns, The Walk and the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future. All honorees were in attendance except Giacchino who was in France for a concert performance of Ratatouille.
Best original song written directly for film was awarded to “The Apology Song” from The Book of Life (music by Gustavo Santaolalla, lyrics by Paul Williams, performed by Diego Luna). Peer Kleinschmidt won the Sabam award for best young composer while John Paesano’s work took home the public choice award for The Maze Runner.
Here’s a rundown of World Soundtrack Award winners:
Best Composer of the Year
Michael Giacchino
Best Original Film Score of the Year
Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) by Antonio Sanchez
Best Original Song Written for a Film
“The Apology Song” from The Book of Life
Music by Gustavo Santaolalla, lyrics by Paul Williams, performed by Diego Luna
Discovery of the Year
Antonio Sanchez for Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Sabam Award for Best Young Composer
Peer Kleinschmidt
Public Choice Award
The Maze Runner by John Paesano
Lifetime Achievement Award
Patrick Doyle
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More