BRUNO COULAIS SCORES 2 NEW WORKS - DISNEYNATURE’S OCEANS AND FOCUS FEATURES’ BABIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COMPOSER OF TWO OF THIS YEAR’S OSCAR® NOMINATED FILMS SCORES TWO ANITCIPATED DOCUMENTARIES – DISNEYNATURE’S OCEANS AND FOCUS FEATURES’ BABIES



LOS ANGELES (March 11, 2010) – The scores of Bruno Coulais are filled with the complexity of international and inanimate sounds that bloom into characters in their own right. Whether writing for a documentary or a kid-friendly animated film, Coulais creates moods and emotions in the absence of actors. On the heels of an Academy award season that saw two of Coulais’ films nominated for Best Animated Feature (CORALINE, THE SECRET OF KELLS), the French composer wrote original scores for two of the year’s highly anticipated documentaries: OCEANS and BABIES.



In Disneynature’s OCEANS (opening Earth Day, April 22), Coulais explores the depths of the seas, its inhabitants and the dangers of the ocean. For Focus Features’ BABIES (opening May 7), he creates a delicate, light, funny and emotional score as the film simultaneously follows the life of four of the world’s newest human beings.



Coualis’ scores are innovative and idiosyncratic with their combination of orchestral pieces, toys, ethnic instruments and children’s voices. Mixing orchestra and adding contrapuntal themes tease additional meanings and emotions from a scene according to Coulais.



Coulais writes the original score and also acts as his own orchestrator. “For me it’s very important to make my own orchestrations because when I think of melody, I think of it with the instruments I’ll write with,” says Coulais. “Depending on the density of sequence, sometimes I will have just a few instruments -- strange instruments like the water phone. It’s a metallic percussion where you put water on a kind of basin with a tube and a bowl. You can play notes on it, and it’s a strange, beautiful, very deep sound.”



An ethereal tone dominates the score to Disneynature’s OCEANS. The documentary offers an unprecedented look beneath the sea, exploring the playful splendor and the harsh reality of the weird and wonderful creatures that live within.



“OCEANS is more than a film. It is a manifest for nature,” Coulais said. To capture the great depth of OCEANS Coulais tries to convey through music how wonderful the world is, but also fragile. Coulais hopes through this film, and his music, the audience will have a greater understanding of how important it is to preserve the splendor of the oceans. His score is written for a full orchestra, a kind of concerto for harp and violin with electronic sounds. His score was recorded in Paris featuring French soloists Marielle Nordmann (harp) and Laurent Korcia (violin); along with the French choir Mikrokosmos.



BABIES is a visually stunning film that simultaneously chronicles the lives of four of the world’s newest human inhabitants – in Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco and Tokyo, respectively. The joyful documentary follows the babies from first breath to first steps, on a journey at once universal and amazingly original.



“The music of BABIES was written for a very special orchestra that included a lot of toys, a string quintet, wind orchestra, ethnic instruments, piano and percussion,” says Coulais. “The words of the lyrics have no meaning. The vocals sound like the beginning of human language.” Although the cast of BABIES is international, “we didn’t want to adapt the music to the nationality of the babies, but to be universal.” Vocals were recorded by French artist Rosemary.



Coulais’s score to LES CHORISTES earned him an Academy Award-nomination, A BAFTA Award-nomination and won a Cesar Award. Other credits include LUCKY LUKE, VILLA AMALIA and the Academy Award-winning Winged Migration.

author: Ray Costa