Budding film score composer Lizzie Mackie at home
yesterday. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
A Dunedin student is making a noise in the United States
film industry, without leaving her bedroom.
Lizzie Mackie (20) has composed the musical score for the
short film Time Is On My Side, by New York production
company Tea Town Communications Group.
"The score of the film was all written and recorded in my
bedroom in Dunedin and sent to the New York studios," she
said earlier this week.
"It's all done by email and Skype. It's quite strange to be
there, but not be there." The Otago Polytechnic information
technology student began composing soundtracks through an
internet site established by Los Angeles actor Joseph
Gordon-Levitt to encourage collaboration between musicians
and film-makers.
"I was completely self-taught, so this was a big learning
curve for me. I started muddling around with audio and film
about a year ago on the site.
"You record a song, and then other people can download it,
edit it and collaborate with you. That's the purpose of the
site.
"It's about building your reputation and getting your name
out there," she said.
"It's so exciting, being able to communicate and collaborate
with people you've never met before and see them pick up your
music and do something new with it."
An earlier track, Make Space For Me In Your Coffin, on
which she sang and played cello and guitar, featured at the
Sundance and South By South West film festivals.
"That's when Tea Town found me."
Her next project is co-writing a score, with United States
and Irish composers, for a Scottish film about global
warming, White Out.
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