For its Muse2Music event last month, the Association of Music Producers’ (AMP) West Coast chapter commissioned three shorts and got in return for its investment a dozen distinctly different films.
Getting 12 for the price of three sounds too good to be true, but it’s because of the sounds–more accurately, the musical scores–that this came to pass.
To showcase the value of original music and how it can dramatically impact and alter the feel of the visuals it accompanies, the AMP West Muse2Music initiative had 12 AMP member company composers individually score the shorts–five composers offered their musical takes on Accumulating Process; four scored Commuters; and three did Secret Life of Time.
The 12 differently scored shorts were screened at the Muse2Music film festival on May 31 in Los Angeles.
The participating composers were Andy Snavley of Bendy Music, Liz Myers and Alex Gibson of Trivers/Myers Music, Donny Dykowsky of Ski Team, Jack Shenker of Elias Arts, Johannes Hammers of Hammers Project, Jonathan Still of Limelight Sound, Jose Eboli of EboliMusic, Josh Good and Justin Hori of Comma Music, Nathan Kil of So Loud, and Randy Lee of Limebeat.
Snavley served as Muse2Music festival curator. A past AMP-West president, Snavley reached out to the three artists to create the visually rich, silent shorts: Tom Richmond who directed Commuters; Joel Fox whose film is Secret Life of Time; and Augustine Kofie who is the subject of the short Accumulating Process.
Myers’ said of her assignment, Secret Life of Time, “This four-minute film has all these little vignettes of life, of nature versus man. At times it’s scary beautiful. And you try to create a score that does justice to all these elements, the themes, the short’s creative muse.”
The Muse2Music film festival concept was “a perfect choice for the West chapter [of AMP],” observed Myers. “We’re in the home of moviemaking, Hollywood, and film is our community’s bread and butter. Plus Andy went for L.A.-based artists whose work had an Angeleno feel. Tom’s film about commuters gives a perspective on what it’s like being in L.A., of being commuters on the 405 [freeway]. Each commuter has his or her own personality. The film breaks through the third wall. Meanwhile, Joel’s work in time lapse is also brilliant. And Augustine is an amazing street artist, graphic artist and compositor. Accumulating Process shows his process as an artist.
“These three films,” continued Myers, “all lend themselves to different interpretations by the AMP composers–each score helps shape the film, with each musical interpretation making the same film feel quite different. The different scores have the audience connecting in different ways with the same film. It shows the power of original music–the power to totally change how a film impacts us. Each score brings out and enhances different aspects of the visuals, bringing out different colors, saturations, textures, rhythms, all making for different storytelling experiences. There’s nothing like original music created specifically for a project–how the muse of film sparks inspiration in terms of music and sound, and how the music and sound can take the muse of film in entirely different directions.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More