Nub News gets UP CLOSE with film music composer Jason Frederick who is bringing a touch of Hollywood to Hadleigh

Canadian born Jason started his musical career with a short-lived band called 'The Walk' before moving to Los Angeles then came to Colchester, Essex in 2010 with his English wife. The couple have been living in Hadleigh for two years, and he he looking forward to presenting 'The Classic Horror Experience', at The Old School on October 30.

While in Hollywood Jason worked on various film scores including: Jackhammer (2004), Terror Toons 2 (2007) and most recently The Gremlins Documentary (2020).

The Industry Experience

After studying film scoring at the University of Southern California (USC) he started composing on numerous projects, which helped form his style.

"The experience working on film scores really changes depending on who you are working for," said Jason.

"If you're lucky enough to work on a variety of things the outcomes you want to get can mean going through different hurdles to get there.

"I did a documentary quite recently, last year in 2020 called Gremlins: A puppet Story where I worked with the original film creator and incredibly clever man Chris Walas, whose worked on other projects such as Raider of the Lost Ark (1981) and The fly (1986).

"He made the creatures from the Gremlins himself, creating incredible puppets for his films. He has definitely been one of my favourite people I've worked with.

"I did that project by myself and tried to do the theme for it justice as it was set in the 80's.

"But conversely when I worked on something like 101 Dalmatians 2 (2003) at Disney, you have a different experience. There was over 95 people and a massive orchestra led by the composer, Richard Gibbs. Where we all recorded in a massive studio in London which can feel very different.

"Some projects you work at home in your own studio, and others call for a different approach, it just depends on what the projects needs."

The Art of the Horror Composition

The composition of great horror scores can be seen in so many horror films, Jason said: "Someone told me a long time ago, that the only rule for a good pop song is that its got to instantly make you feel good if you have to think about it, its probably not working.

"Horror films are kind of similar, you are open to do any idea in horror even if its something a bit different, but its got to feel right and when it doesn't, like with a pop song, you'll know straight away.

"Ive done dramatic scores and television scores where you have to be very subtle and sometimes you are directed to dial it back a bit. Whilst in horror you can throw all of that out of the window.

"You can play a radiator alongside a couple of mixing spoons and if you can get it to sound spooky, it will work.

"You're completely open and free in this genre and you can try anything and really go for it and that's what I really like about it."

Inspirations and Style

Jason says he has been inspired by previous composers throughout cinema history and tries to put his own flare to his his work, and added: "I have a love for scores particularly from the late 60's and early 70's.

"My style generally has something from those time periods in their influence. Such as the work from Bernard Herrmann and even the classics like Henry Mancini and John Barry. I really like what they've done.

"Left to my own devices, much like the works of Hanz Zimmer he like myself has his own sound on a wide variety of films, I would say my work is somewhat like that.

"It's 2021 so your compositions have to sound modern but those periods are definitely an influence and you'll be able to hear it in the score I'm going to do for the horror experience in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde."

The Classic Horror Experience Night

The upcoming event at the Hadleigh Old School features Jason showcasing his compositions to the audience live, he said: "The night is basically split into two halves - the first half is a trip through various film scores, where I will be talking about many musical subjects and I will be playing a little bit of music with original interviews excerpts from the directors of the 60's and 70's. It's like an interactive trip through horror cinema.

"In the second half I will be showcasing a composition to the film Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. So you will be able to get a full experience"

"I am of course really excited about the event and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there."

You can get all the information for the event on our What's On Page here.

The ticket price is £13 you can buy a ticket by emailing the provider at: [email protected].

You can follow Jason's Youtube page here.

Or find his website information here.

For more events visit our What's On page here: Hadleigh Nub News What's On.

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