Who is Michael Giacchino? Many media outlets and Star Wars fans have been asking this question since the release of the newest addition to the Star Wars movie franchise, Rogue One. But fans of film music (and video game music) have known Giacchino's name and his work for well over a decade, with some of his most popular scores including the Call of Duty series, Star Trek, Lost, Ratatouille, and Up. So, I've decided to answer the question, "Who is Michael Giacchino?" and explain why he deserved to be the first composer other than John Williams to score a Star Wars movie.

Last week the folks at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (affectionately called the Television Academy by its friends) announced the nominations for this year's 67th Primetime Emmy Awards. The ceremony will be held on Sunday, September 20th at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. This year's nominees in the music categories are seriously impressive; I'm blown away by the quality of music being produced for television these days. Below is a list of all of the music nominees, with who I'd like to see win for each category. Tell me your predictions in the comments below!

I have to say I was a bit surprised by Johan Johannsson taking the Golden Globe home this week for The Theory of Everything over Hans Zimmer's Interstellar and Trent Reznor's Gone Girl scores. Well yesterday The Academy Award nominations were announced (the ceremony will take place on February 22nd), and I had to rethink how these awards might go. Below are the nominations, along with my predictions, and although Reznor's Gone Girl score did not make the cut, Hans' Interstellar score is still up for an award, as is Johannsson's score for The Theory of Everything.

How do you get started when scoring a film that requires ethnic influence in the music? Over the next couple of months I will be scoring a number of ethnic influenced films and I'll be sharing my process with you every step of the way. Our first step is the research, but it includes much more than music.

Films I will be scoring include an Irish influenced animated short by Grounded filmmaker Justine Howard, a Greek influenced documentary feature by director George Tsioutsioulas, and an Asian influenced Legend of Zelda fan film by A Boy Named Bellamy filmmaker Israel Combs. 

To college, or not to college? That is the highly debated question (one of many) in the music industry. With success stories ranging widely from both college educated and non-college educated musicians, it can be difficult to weigh the pros and cons of spending time and money for a piece of paper with some black ink on it. Let's take a look at our options for the Film Scoring career path.

When you're done, check out my list of Film Scoring programs.

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 flew by, but I'm already super excited about 2015. Those who know me know that I'm a planner and an obsessive organizer, so I take my New Year's resolutions very seriously. I write them down, put them on my fridge, and stare at them for hours. Maybe not hours. But now it's time to write some new ones! When you're done reading my recommended list, tell me what your resolutions are in the comments. 

The nominations are out for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, which will be held on February 8, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Internet is all abuzz with talks and predictions since they announced the nominations last week, and I would have jumped on posting this sooner, but I was busy getting ready to score a short film called A Boy Named Bellamy, which I'll be talking about more in the next few weeks. But I digress! Here are the nominations and my predictions for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for best music for visual media.

We've all been there - you're on a roll, the creative juices are flowing, and then out of nowhere you hit a wall. It can happen at any moment, sometimes even before you get started. So what can you do to generate new ideas and get the momentum going again? Here are just a few things I do to get the gears moving again; give them a try, you'll be surprised how well they work!

Last week I posted the first part of my 5 Ways to Become a Better Film Composer, which focused more on the non-musical side of the profession. This week is part two, and I'll be focusing more on the musical aspects. Today's film composer is very interesting, it's not at all the same as the classically trained composer of the pre-1970s or 80s eras. Because of this, there have been some drastic changes in musical styles and aesthetics in film, so today I'll try to be broad about the genres, but will include some things I think are still very necessary.

There's a lot that goes into being a good film composer, it's more than writing good music and having expensive equipment. This is the first of a two-part list where I'll give you a few ideas on how to be a better film composer. This is not a "how-to" post, but rather a list to inspire you to take a critical look at yourself as a musician and address areas you can improve upon. When you're confident in your abilities, I also have an article for 10 Ways to Make Money as a Film Composer!