Owen: So first off I am curious how you
would describe your sound? Marinho:
It really depends. I grew up influenced
by a variety of styles. I was basically
brainwashed on classical, baroque,
traditional and world music by my Dad from 5 to
15 years old, and never abandoned loving all of
these styles to this day. Also as the
guitar being my primary instrument, at
13 I began studying at one of the most
traditional Jazz guitar schools in Sao Paulo,
Brazil and grew much love for it. Around that
time I was also playing guitar for a local Heavy
Metal band. Since then I have been a
Heavy/Hardcore/Techno/Classical composer,
musician, singer and producer for the
last 20 years or so. Being that I love all
these styles they basically play a big role on
what I do as far as composing. When it comes to Music
for Picture, it really depends on where
it goes and what that particular scene will
require. If I had to give you a short answer, I
write for a Ukulele with Violins all the way to 5
distorted guitars with a 120 piece symphonic
orchestra...
Owen: I am also
curious about how you got into film
composition? Was it something you pursued
or something that happened through a series of
coincidences, something you always want to do...
Marinho: I guess
the last answer tells you a bit about that, but
with more detail, I started composing songs when
I was 12. In 1985 or so, I got to start arranging
and adding some orchestral parts for a bunch of
local acts in NY and really grew into sound
design and special sound fx on bands albums. On
or around 1994 a friend passed me some school
clips for their presentation and asked me if I
could add some music to it. I said, I would give
it a shot. The guy really dug what he heard and 2
months later I got a phone call from his friend
who needed music for a local cable TV commercial.
Since that time, every so often I got a call for
some sort of image related work, some small, some
huge. In 2003, I sold my online business, quit
making band demos, pilled all I had and went full
time into scoring for film and TV. I truly feel
now that it's something I had it on me all my
life, something that on my subconscious was
always there as a strong desire. Life works in
the most interesting ways...
Owen: Also you are
starting to do horror/sci-fi what with Scott
Goldberg's 'The Day They Came Back'
and 'Danielle's Revenge' as well
as 'We -- Till Death Do Us Part'
for Jordan Schachter. How do you think the
horror genre matches your gifts as a composer?
Marinho: That's an
easy one. I am a horror/sci-fi freak! Since as a
kid my passion was just watching horror flicks
(and guess what I'm doing after I finish this
interview?) from Bela Lugosi films to whatever
the latest blood and guts event out there...
The unreal inspires me to no limits; in a
way I couldn't even explain you in words. Also, a
lot of my writing is known for having a very
dark, heavy and surreal nature, which makes it
very natural for me to work with.
Owen: So speaking
of 'The Day They Came Back',
what did you want to capture musically in that
zombie film?
Marinho: My
priorities lie on the vision of the film's
director. I have been on a real tight sync mode
with Scott Goldberg. As a writer and director he
really knows what he wants, which makes my job so
much easier... For "The Day They
Came Back" he wants to go retro.
This film is basically paying a tribute to all
the early and more traditional Zombie films as
well as other early horror classics. So the idea
here is not to go towards that techno
beat/distorted guitar, a fitting so common for
today's "Running Zombies Modern Era"
films. Yes, there is technology, there are modern
sounds but the score approach will sound very
traditional. Think of something very dark,
orchestral, something that hopefully will scare
the shit out of you.
Owen: So, do you
compose independently of the film? Do you
see footage and compose from there? Do you
work from ideas the director gives you about the
film? How do you usually work and what
would it be in your optimal film-scoring
situation?
Marinho: I can
think of a scary sound sequence at 4am, get on my
trousers, jump into my studio and toss it out on
hard drive. If I'm outdoors I can just write it
on a piece of paper then bring it to the studio
to develop that idea. Sometimes I hum some
bullshit on my cell phone's recorder and weeks
later it turns into a full orchestral part. My
ideal situation is to accompany the film all the
way back from the final script draft. That will
basically give me more time to develop ideas,
come up with sketches and themes for the
score. This way by the time I receive the locked
footage from the director I am better prepared to
start putting everything in place. I had the
script for "The Day They Came Back"
back in August if I'm not mistaken. I
immediately began creating a few sketches on
my laptop while traveling on other film affairs.
Some of that stuff actually made it for the film
score. Scott came by with Chiko Mendez a few
weeks ago and dropped me a rough cut from the
footage, which allowed me to have a very clear
vision of what I'm going to need in order to
efficiently compile everything I'm creating for
the film right now. As of now, I have the final
footage and I'm looking for a very smooth process
all the way to its end.
Owen: Somewhat
along those lines, what inspires you to compose
and specifically gives you ideas for darker
films?
Marinho:
Ultimately I would have to say, a really well
written story. Dark mean, so bloody evil. Other
factors that also contribute to inspire
me are the quality of the production, how
well the actual film is shot and how
efficiently the actors hired on it will portray
the actual story. Another very important
role is the actual direction the film's director
brings a given story. I mean, I've seen films
with brilliant stories literally brought
to dust by poor directing and photography. I
am having a tremendous surge of
inspiration with "The Day They
Came Back". Scott Goldberg besides
being a completely sick pup for evil
ideas is also a very visionary director, a
true genius, and a master of his art. I
really see him as the next George Romero/Clive
Barker or someone along those lines. I am very
fortunate to come across someone like him and
hope to score for a ton of his films in the
future. Also, actors such as Chiko Mendez and
Paul Kratka bring Scott's work to the level it
really deserves, I mean they're
amazingly ass kicking; everything about them in
and out of this film is just so damn natural...
Owen: Has
composing for films stretched your gifts as an
artist? If so what has been the challenge
of doing them?
Marinho:
The main mistake many people make is thinking
that composers just throw a bunch of music on top
of an image and that will be all. Scoring for
film has brought me to tests that really put me
to the limit in a way I never imagined. Talk
about earning your dollars man... With that kind
of pressure, you have to grow musically, mentally
and spiritually or you will simply won't be able
to keep up... Working on what I do and
studying as I still do is hopefully and
slowly turning me into a "super
me", which is ultimately all I thrive for.
As far as some examples of the
challenges one in my position will go
through, there are really quite a lot of
them involved, but here are a few I can
mention: You must learn to be able to create
great music that fits a certain image portraying
a story, enhance that feeling by as much per cent
as possible, be able to finish everything on
time, be able to understand the needs of a
director the first time around, otherwise be able
to have to re-do everything you did as the
director wasn't too hot about it, without
complaining or even being upset. My main
challenge above all however, is to blow the
minds of everyone I work with, and really
hope to be able to do it, every time.
Owen: So
what film scores/soundtracks do you admire the
most?
Marinho: Wosjiek
Killar's Score on Bram Stocker's Dracula is one
of my favorites. It is so simple, yet so damn
scary. I love what Jerry Goldsmith did on "The
Omen" and "The Mummy"
Alan Silvestri's score on Van Helsing always
kicks me in the ass too. Let me thing who else...
Danny Elfman on "Mars Attacks"
and "Spider Man 2",
James Newton Howard's score for "The
Village" is simply beautiful, James
Horner on "Aliens",
Hans Zimmer on "King Arthur"
and "The Lion King",
man there are so many great ones, but those are
the few I could recall.
Owen: What is your
instrument of choice?
Marinho: As a
player, Guitar. I do it since 9. As tools of
the trade I also enjoy playing keyboards, bass,
Ukulele, Mandolin, Brazilian Percussion and any
exotic instrument I can possibly have my hands
on. I also really love the sound
of a full orchestra playing my stuff...
Owen: Hey, so as a
horror fan if you were going to have friends over
for a horror double feature at your place what
would be the 2 DVDs you would pop in the machine?
Marinho:
1 - An American Werewolf in London
2 - Pumpkinhead
Owen: Do you have
any other projects coming up in the future?
Marinho: Yep.
As soon as I finalize "The Day they
Came back" I'm starting with Jordan
Schachter's "WE - Till death do us
Part", that's a horror/sci-fi.
After that I have Scott Goldberg's Danielle's
Revenge. It will be a real cool trip working with
Scott again but on a slightly different kind of
Horror film. Then Paul Hough's "The
Last Breath" which is also another
very sick flick about people buried alive. So far
I'm booked till mid 2006, but very possibly there
are other projects that might come in between now
and then.
Owen: What
frightens you in real life?
Marinho: 1-Terrorism.
2 -The people controlling all nations and
everyone's future. 3 - Fear itself. 4 - Big
hairy Moths from South America.
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