What the Forest Says

What the Forest Says was meant to be a completely music-driven animated short about two birds trying to build a life together throughout the four seasons and the dangers they face in the forest. The project was housed under the China Film Research Institute and would have been animated using a gorgeous blend of traditional Chinese art and recent innovations in stereoscopic animation. Without dialogue or sound effects, the music would have been front and center, and in fact it was written first so that it could be animated to. Unfortunately, funding for the project dried up before its completion.

These pieces mean a great to me though, because writing them was the first time I felt like a "real" composer, that is, someone who could write orchestral music in the tradition of the great classical composers. The vast majority of film scores are, by necessity, not as sophisticated as classical concert music, which is how you can write film scores you're immensely proud of but still not feel like a "real" composer.

What the Forest Says bridged that gap for me. I took my time with it, wrote out all the music by hand with pencil and paper (a rarity among film composers these days), and explored all the colors an orchestra could offer. "The Rescue", while short, might be my single favorite piece I've written.