Tourism Australia today launched “Transformation”, a new advertising campaign being rolled out in 22 countries around the world. Baz Luhrmann, known for his movies Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was responsible for the television and cinema commercials set in New York, Shanghai and Western Australia.
Original music for the New York commercial, Billabong, was composed by Sydney composer and song writer Elliott Wheeler, from sound and music boutique Nylon Studios.
The music for the New York spot was composed and recorded within a 48 hour timeframe in early September. Film directors Baz Luhrmann and Bruce Hunt called Nylon Studios on a Friday night a month before the launch, asking for a demo to be completed by the following Monday. Elliott composed two pieces on the Saturday before recording them with a string ensemble from Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the Sunday morning.
Once the creative team had chosen one of the tracks further work included the addition of multiple layers of piano tracks to create a a signature sound for the main piano melody, and careful sound engineering and mix by Wayne Connolly. Encouraged by warm response to the soundtrack, Wheeler has written an extended version with lyrics recorded by Abby Dobson from Sydney band Leonardo’s Bride.
Elliott Wheeler talks about the challenges of writing poetic music that represents the move from fragility, coldness and isolation to warmth, romance and self discovery.
“We wanted to use strings, but not on such a scale that we’d be dictating to the audience what they were meant to feel, so in the end we went with a much smaller chamber ensemble. We put a lot of energy into finding a balance between the intimacy expressed in the dialogue, and the grandness seen in the cinematography.”
Nylon executive music producer Mark Beckhaus said, “The Tourism Australia project was a brilliant opportunity to showcase high quality Australian music and sound design in a wide range of countries around the world.”
About Elliott Wheeler
Elliott is known for his range of original soundtracks found in commercials such as Joel Pront’s JC Penney Every Day (Forever Thursday) and McDonalds Inner Child, and Garth Davis’ Herringbone Hands. Elliott’s earlier work with film director Bruce Hunt includes Visa Lara Croft Monster Chase and Toyota Prado Ice Sculptures.
Wheeler has been involved in a range film projects, including “Restraint”, a feature film by Australian director David Deneen, released this year.. He is currently recording an album of his own songs, due to be released in early 2009.
About Nylon Studios
Nylon Studios was formed in Sydney in 2002, gaining an international reputation for cutting edge and original music and sound design.
Nylon Studios was created in response to the conveyor belt mentality surrounding other music and audio post facilities. By focusing their talents specifically on music and sound design for TVC’s, Nylon Studios provides its clients with the highest quality music and audio services including music composition, sound design, FX track-lay, mixing, voice recording, ISDN recording plus Dolby cinema mixing.
Working throughout Australia, Asia and America, Nylon Studios has produced music and soundtracks for many of the biggest agencies on some of their major campaigns for brands such as Nokia, Sony, Nike, Ford, Toyota and many others.
The sound and music boutique has won a range of awards including Clio (best music), London International and Cannes, as well as local AWARD and ATV awards.
Mark Beckhaus, Executive Producer, has a life-time of experience in album production, music publishing, and producing music for advertising. His album experience is extensive having five multi-platinum selling albums to his credit, along with countless soundtracks for TVC’s produced under his guidance, many of which have resulted in local and overseas awards for best music
Simon Lister, Creative Director, has spent the last 20 years in the business of sound for television commercials. Regarded as the best sound designer and engineer in the industry, he has been the recipient of all major local and overseas awards including ATV, AWARD, Clio and Gold Lion.
Credits
The Tourism Australia campaign was developed at Bazmark Inc by Executive Creative Director Baz Luhrmann, Copywriter Paul Taylor and Art Director Tony Banks (Day & Age, Melbourne), Music Supervisor Anton Monsted, Executive Agency Producer Amanda Luhrmann.
Filming was shot by Director Bruce Hunt via Bazmark and Revolver Film, Sydney, with Director of Photography Mandy Walker, Executive Producer Michael Ritchie, Production Designer Karen Murphy, Costume Designer Eliza Godman.
Editor was Drew Thompson at Guillotine. Sound was designed and mixed by Simon Kane for Song Zu. Digital effects and film finish were completed at Animal Logic.
Original music for New York was composed by Elliott Wheeler at Nylon Studios, with Executive Producer Mark Beckhaus and Sound Engineer Wayne Connolly.
Original music for Shanghai was composed by Maja Petrovna Hilcisin, a Sydney composer from the Australia film team.
Music was recorded at Trackdown Scoring Stage, Fox Studios.
