Composers

JAMES CHAPPLE

Voodoo Highway Music Group

GEORGE SHAW

PAUL EDWARD-FRANCIS

TANGELENE BOLTON

MODERATED BY KAYA SAVAS (Film.Music.Media)

Screening Link available upon Registration

YouTube Live Stream Q&A : 

TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 6:30PM PT

Join us for an evening featuring some of the top talents in music for animation as they break down choices and elements of specific scenes and reveal their process! Featuring a conversation with composers Paul Edward-Francis (Netflix’s Blood of Zeus), James Chapple of Voodoo Highway Music Group (co-founded with Graeme Cornies and Brian Pickett, shows include Total Drama Rama, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and Paw Patrol), George Shaw (Mythic Studios’ Console Yourself, Please), and Tangelene Bolton (Disney’s Just a Thought).

James Chapple, along with Graeme Cornies and Brian Pickett, founded Voodoo Highway Music Group in 2000. They have become one of the most in-demand composition teams in North America. With studios in Canada and the United States, the work of VHMG can be heard giving voice to some of the world’s top shows in children’s animation. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Paw Patrol, and the Total Drama franchise are just a few of the multi-awarding-winning series that bears the unique VHMG sound.

Experience has afforded them the ease of working as a connected, cohesive team, and together they have been responsible for thousands of hours of original music for Film, TV, Video Games, and advertising. In 2019 VHMG moved deeper into the music placement field with the creation of Voodoo Publishing, a one-stop-shop for TV/Film and trailer work. Additionally, the trio carved out the Voodoo Jr specialty division as a means to keep up with their continued demand within the children’s content community.

George Shaw’s range of work covers 17 feature film credits, custom music for trailers, video games, and over 60 short films. George’s latest feature is Baby Steps, produced by Oscar-nominated Li-Kong Hsu, producer of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and is currently at work on an animated feature. YouTube videos featuring George’s music have amassed over 300 million views. George worked with Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, to pen the song “Ode to Geeks,” celebrating Lee’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Geekie Awards as the Music Director from 2013-2015. He also scored YouTube Original’s longest-running show Escape the Night, Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop for Geek & Sundry, and created the viral hit Star Wars Musical which has nearly half a million views.

George was selected to the Universal Film Composer Initiative in 2019, the first Hollywood studio program to nurture diverse voices in composing and included a mentorship with Universal Film Music and DreamWorks Animation executives. George actively advocates for the need for diverse voices in composing through his work on the Composers Diversity Collective Executive Committee. George plays clarinet, piano, guitar, and picked up Chinese woodwind instruments after studying Chinese music. He resides in Los Angeles where, in his limited free time, he can surf and snowboard on the same day. His plans for world domination include earning an EGOT, becoming more famous than Irish-playwright George Bernard Shaw, and perfecting time travel.

Paul Edward-Francis is an Annie Award-nominated British composer from Manchester who presently lives and works in LA. He started working as a composer back in 2006 when he composed the music for several successful British TV productions including adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s classic fantasy novels, Hog-father and The Color of Magic. Both featured a star-studded cast of greats such as Jeremy Irons, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee, and Brian Cox among others. Paul later found himself working on a series of Horror films including the cult classics Howl and The Seasoning House. Since moving to LA in 2015, Paul has worked on numerous productions for film and television with some of Hollywood’s biggest studios including Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, Netflix, and Hasbro. He has also worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras which include the likes of ‘The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ and ‘The City of Prague Philharmonic.’ 

Alongside Sony Music and Milan Records, Paul has recently released the soundtrack for the hit Netflix series, Blood of Zeus. The new Anime series for Netflix centered around Greek mythology and the score was much inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood and classic scores from the likes of Miklos Rozsa and Bernard Herman. Paul’s work on Blood of Zeus has earned him a nomination for Best Music in the 48th Annie Awards. Paul has also recently finished work on the much anticipated Micronauts re-boot by Hasbro.

Tangelene Bolton is a film, TV, and media composer who recently wrote the music for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Just a Thought, which premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and during screenings of 2019, The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures). It can now be seen on Disney+ as a part of the Short Circuit Experimental Films series. She also recently worked on the new Marvel’s Avengers game as Technical Score Engineer/Additional Drum Programmer, writes additional music on the CBS legal drama show, All Rise, and is a 2020 Sundance Film Music in Animation Composer Fellow. Additionally, Tangelene has written additional music for the Nickelodeon hit animation show, Shimmer and Shine and was the technical score engineer on the Rise of the Tomb Raider game (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix). Aside from her work in film, TV, and games, Tangelene is active in the commercial world. Recently, she composed the music for the #EmbraceAmbition PSA with Mindy Kaling for the Tory Burch Foundation and Warner Bros. Animation. She also composed the music for the national campaign for Nordstrom’s The Nordy Club, as well as AirAsia’s Malaysia Day.

Tangelene has performed and conducted world premieres of her music, most recently at The Wiltern with the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra for The Future is Female: A Concert For Women In Film. She has also recorded and conducted her music at the historic Fox Newman Scoring Stage and Capitol Records.

*** IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ ***

– FREE for current SCL members (click HERE to check membership status).

– Registered Attendees will be emailed a YouTube Live Stream link approximately 10 minutes before Seminar starts. The link will be emailed via Eventbrite.

– Attendees may ask questions using the YouTube Livestream chat function. 

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