A full orchestral soundtrack is within the reach of NZ composers and filmmakers thanks to a scoring sponsorship scheme led by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The NZSO scoring sponsorship will make the orchestra available for several days of film soundtrack recording for one New Zealand-based film annually.

Image: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, © Lev Melikhov.A full orchestral soundtrack is within the reach of NZ composers and filmmakers thanks to a scoring sponsorship scheme led by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The NZSO scoring sponsorship will make the orchestra available for several days of film soundtrack recording for one New Zealand-based film annually.

Image: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, © Lev Melikhov.The first film to benefit from the scheme, Vincent Ward's new feature Rain of the Children, is to be recorded on 21 August, with a score by New Zealand composer Jack Body.

NZSO CEO Peter Walls says, "Our sponsorship is designed to illustrate that the kind of technical brilliance for which our film industry in New Zealand has become famous, could also be there in the quality of the musical scoring."

Scheme supported by Park Road Post and Radio NZ

Supporting partners in the scheme are Park Road Post Production, which will provide its world-class sound mixing facility to complete the music mix ready for the final film and will provide a mentoring service to train music engineers in this field. The post-production facility will also provide consultancy on technical matters and equipment for the recording sessions.

Radio New Zealand will provide recording equipment, music engineering and mixing expertise and the New Zealand Film Commission will help identify suitable film projects.

NZFC welcomes opportunity

NZFC CEO Ruth Harley welcomed this fantastic opportunity to partner with some of New Zealand's premier arts and film industry organisations: "I see that this collaboration between the orchestra, Park Road and our filmmakers has the potential to take the sound dimension of filmmaking to a new level of accomplishment. Having the richness and beauty of live orchestral music to work with will be a great joy for the composers as well as the whole filmmaking team."

Buddy schemes address shortage

Also within the proposal is a series of 'buddy schemes' aimed at giving training opportunities for New Zealand composers and sound engineers to work in the specialised field of film scoring.

Currently there is a shortage of composers and sound engineers who are highly practised at working on full symphonic film scores. This sponsorship will offer hands-on experience and mentorship to develop more composers and sound engineers with the high skill levels required to work on orchestral film scores.

Scheme supports growth of NZ film industry

The scheme can be seen as further support to the growth of the New Zealand film industry, as it should encourage local filmmakers and composers to use the NZSO as a recording orchestra, helping retain post-production within New Zealand.

The orchestra already fields enquiries from local and overseas film projects wishing to work with them, but finding suitable spaces to record a full orchestra can be hard. "I don't know how many film offers I have had to turn down because all the venues we could use are booked out."

Wellington City Council is offering its support to the scheme by making one of its venues available for the first film scoring sponsorship recording.

20/8/07