Interview with Mark Petrie 作曲家专访-马克·皮特里
Author: Clothilde Lebrun
Mark Petrie 出生于新西兰，目前在洛杉矶工作，担任预告片、电影、游戏、电视和广告的作曲家。他在粉丝中的知名度主要是因为他为PostHaste 音乐库制作的预告片音乐提示 。他的一些曲目已经被用于电影大片预告片中，例如以 “Kara Kul”为特色的 绿灯侠预告片和以“Aurora” 为特色的超凡蜘蛛侠预告片。
Trailer Music News：你是什么时候开始作曲的，为什么开始作曲？
Mark Petrie：我很幸运能在新西兰一所很棒的男子学校上学——迪尔沃思学校——它为每个学生提供长达九年的免费学费和住宿。学校还提供免费的音乐理论和器乐课程，这对我帮助很大，因为和学校录取的大多数其他男孩一样，我是由单亲父母抚养长大的（我父亲在我五岁时去世）。我在这所学校开始学习钢琴后不久（9 岁），但老实说，我的心从未放在表演上。我曾经让我的一些老师感到沮丧，因为我不是在练习他们分配给我的音乐，而是在“浪费时间”即兴创作和创作我自己的作品。
TMN：你是如何进入预告片音乐的？
MP：在这所学校，我有一位热爱电影音乐的鼓舞人心的老师。他会向我们展示有音乐的场景和没有音乐的场景之间的区别。他还会向我们展示电影音乐是如何专门定时来操纵观众的情绪的，在像外星人这样的经典电影中（这把我的几个同学吓出了房间！）我们小孩子看电影很有趣，在课堂上听音乐，但我认为它也从很小的时候就在我的脑海中种下了一个想法。
在伯克利音乐学院主修电影配乐后，我最终来到了洛杉矶，就像大多数有抱负的作曲家一样。这些天我把时间分配在为预告片、电影、游戏、广告和电视写作。预告片写作对我来说是最近的一次冒险——尽管音乐行业的竞争是出了名的，但预告片音乐的标准却如此之高。在参与其中之前，我需要额外几年的时间来真正提高我的制作技能！
尽管我在电视和电影作品中不时涉足史诗动作音乐，但我的第一个官方预告片音乐创作演出是在我的朋友瑞安·阿蒙 (Ryan Amon) 向我介绍他们之后与 PostHaste Music 合作的。
这是一种很好的工作关系——在过去的三年里，我和我的妻子 (Gina Brigida) 已经为 PostHaste 写了 100 首曲目。
TMN：你经常旅行和搬家——你出生在新西兰，你去了英国，然后去了美国。这对你的工作有影响吗？
MP：我不确定它对我的写作有何具体影响，但旅行确实帮助我培养了自给自足的能力。对于任何有抱负的作曲家来说，成为一个“自我开创者”是非常重要的，我想你会发现今天任何成功的作曲家，他们在找工作和经营业务方面和他们在创作音乐方面一样擅长. 无论好坏，这两种技能齐头并进。
我还利用高中和大学之间的那几年时间来真正反思我想以什么为生。经过一番自我反省后，我得出的结论是，我最想写音乐。
TMN：你主要因为你为PostHaste Music所做的提示而闻名。您已经在哪些公司工作过？
MP：我为一些其他预告片音乐库编写过，包括：Immediate Music、FineTune Music、MMX Music 和 Music Junkies。我还为一些不一定专门研究预告片音乐的其他图书馆编写过作品，例如：Killer Tracks、Auracle Music 和 S3 Music。我什至刚刚推出了自己的图书馆，面向低预算项目——Royalty Free Kings。据最后统计，我在世界上有将近 2000 首曲目，预告片音乐只占其中的一小部分。
TMN：你从哪里找到灵感的？你有一个特别的创作过程，还是更自发的？
MP：多年的电视写作迫使我写得很快，这很好，因为我通常每周写 5-6 天。即使“缪斯”没有流动，我的手指也会敲击键盘（对我来说幸运！）坐在那里即兴创作最终会产生一些有用的东西（我认为这种技能来自于小时候的那些年而不是练习）。然而，预告片音乐的复杂性和要求意味着想法并不总是来得那么快。事实上，我可以很容易地花几天时间来想出一个足够强大的旋律或主题来作为整个预告片的基础。我必须充分利用创造力流动的时间，当它不流动时，接受它并通过做其他事情等待它结束。
TMN：你的曲目通常很典型，很容易辨认。你是如何在保持相似风格的同时，在每次作曲时都创作出新音乐的？
国会议员：在预告片世界中越来越出名既是福也是祸，因为我的曲目比以往任何时候都受到更多的审查。在过去的几年里，我写了很多预告片音乐（大约 50 首预告片曲目，更不用说 100 首电视、广告和电影曲目了），一些粉丝指出有一种“声音”很多曲目共享。当你写了这么多音乐时，每次都想出一些全新的东西绝对是一个挑战，但我想你会发现我最近的曲目与我过去几年所做的不同。目前我真的在尝试用新的合成器和打击乐来突破极限。有一个可识别的声音很好，但我想确保我不会过分依赖任何特定的乐器或音乐设备。
我认为作曲家自然会以符合他们个人品味的风格写作，换句话说，你写你想听的。不过，我从未打算以“我的风格”写作。这只是我自己的音乐品味和我可用的工具的结合，这些工具构成了您可能会在我的许多作品中认出的标志性声音。
TMN：你认为是什么让你的 cues 在音乐总监和粉丝中都非常成功？
MP：我认为我作为作曲家最大的优势是我的旋律创作，这绝对是一个我不需要那么努力的领域。在过去的几年里，我真的花了很多时间（和金钱！）来提高我音乐的制作价值。因此，我认为我的曲目最近在预告片世界中取得的成功是由于以更现代、更有影响力的方式提供了坚实的主题材料。
TMN：你使用样本还是现场录制音乐？
MP：我所做的大部分工作都是基于样本，但时不时地我有机会向轨道添加现场部分。
TMN：你的妻子 Gina Brigida 也是一位作曲家。你们是单独工作还是在项目上合作？
MP：我们都有独立的工作站，但我们经常为同一个项目贡献音乐。
TMN：你对未来有什么特别的计划吗？
MP：今年我会写很多预告片音乐并为几部电影配乐，但我可能也会制作一些游戏。这是我更愿意在其中工作的一个领域。
TMN：你还有什么想和我们分享的吗？
MP：作曲家创作的音乐通常是在背景中，在视觉效果之后，因此我们所做的通常得不到太多认可。尤其是预告片，大多数人认为它只是宣传电影中的音乐。那谢谢啦！你们在这个网站上所做的事情真是太棒了——总体上获得了更多对预告片音乐的认可。
TMN：如果你有 100 万美元，你会用它做什么？
MP：如果我感到慈善，我会捐赠给像奇迹基金会或我们的部队家园这样的伟大组织。如果我感到贪婪，我会买很多 Apple 股票！
TMN：谢谢！
Mark Petrie was born in New Zealand, and now works in L.A as a composer for trailers , films, games, TV and advertising. He is mainly known among fans for the trailer music cues that he did for the PostHaste Music library. Some of his tracks have already been used in blockbuster movie trailers, such as The Green Lantern trailer – featuring “Kara Kul” – and The Amazing Spider-Man trailer – featuring “Aurora”.
Trailer Music News: When and why did you start to compose?
Mark Petrie: I was lucky enough to go to an amazing school for boys in New Zealand – Dilworth School – that gives every student free tuition and housing for up to nine years. The school also provides free music theory and instrumental lessons, which was a huge help because like most of the other boys accepted at the school, I was raised by a solo parent (my dad passed away when I was five). I started learning the piano soon after starting at this school (age nine), but to be honest, my heart was never in performing. I used to frustrate some of my teachers because instead of practicing the music they assigned me, I would be ‘wasting time’ improvising and coming with my own compositions.
TMN: How did you get into trailer music?
MP: At this school I had an inspiring teacher who loved film music. He would show us the difference between a scene with music and a scene without it. He would also show us how film music was specifically timed to manipulate the viewer’s emotions, in classic movies like Alien (which scared a few of my classmates out of the room!) It was a lot of fun for us young kids to watch movies and listen to music in class, but I think it also planted an idea in my head from a very early age.
After studying at Berklee College of Music, where I majored in Film Scoring, I eventually ended up in LA, as most aspiring composers do. These days I divide my time up between writing for trailers, film, games, advertising and TV. The trailer writing is a more recent venture for me – although the music business in general is notoriously competitive, trailer music is held to such an incredibly high standard. I needed a few extra years to really sharpen my production skills before getting involved in it!
Although I had dabbled in epic action music from time to time in my TV and film work, my first official trailer music writing gig was with PostHaste Music, after my friend Ryan Amon introduced me to them.
It’s been a great working relationship – over the past three years my wife (Gina Brigida) and I have literally written 100 tracks for PostHaste.
TMN: You have travelled and moved a lot – you were born in New Zealand, you went to Great Britain and then to the US. Did this influence your work?
MP: I’m not sure how it may have specifically affected my writing, but the travelling certainly helped me develop the ability to be self-sufficient. Being a ‘self-starter’ is incredibly important to any aspiring composer, and I think you’ll find with any of the successful composers working today, they’re just as good at finding work and running their business as they are at writing music. For better or worse, the two skills go hand in hand.
I also used the years between high school and college as a time to really reflect on what I wanted to do for a living. After some soul searching I came to the conclusion that I wanted to write music more than anything else.
TMN: You are mainly known for the cues that you did for PostHaste Music. Which companies have you already worked for?
MP: I’ve written for a handful of other trailer music libraries, including: Immediate Music, FineTune Music, MMX Music and Music Junkies. I’ve also written for a number of other libraries that don’t necessarily specialize in trailer music, like: Killer Tracks, Auracle Music and S3 Music. I even just launched my own library geared towards lower budget projects – Royalty Free Kings. At last count I have nearly 2000 tracks out in the world, trailer music making up only a small slice of that pie.
TMN: Where do you find your inspiration? Do you have a particular creative process, or is it more spontaneous?
MP: Years of writing for TV forced me to write quickly, which is great because I usually write 5-6 days a week. Even when the ‘muse’ isn’t flowing, my fingers will hit the keyboard and (luckily for me!) something usable eventually comes out of just sitting there improvising (a skill that I think comes from all those years as a kid mucking around instead of practicing). However, the complexity and demands of trailer music mean that the ideas don’t always come as quickly. In fact I can easily spend a couple of days just coming up with a melody or theme strong enough to base a whole trailer piece from. I have to make the most of the times where the creativity is flowing, and when it isn’t, just accept it and wait it out by working on something else.
TMN: Your tracks are usually very typical and easily recognizable. How do you manage to keep a similar style and yet create new music every time you compose?
MP: Getting better known in the trailer world has a blessing and a curse, as my tracks are under more scrutiny than ever before. Over the past couple of years I’ve written a lot of trailer music (something like 50 tracks just for trailers, let alone the 100’s of tracks for TV, commercials and film), and some fans have pointed out that there’s a ‘sound’ that a lot of the tracks share. When you’re writing so much music it’s definitely a challenge to come up with something completely new each time, but I think you’ll find that my most recent tracks are a departure from what I’ve done over the past couple of years. At the moment I’m really trying to push the envelope with new synths and percussion. It’s nice to have a recognizable sound, but I want to make sure that I don’t lean too heavily on any particular instruments or musical devices.
I think a composer naturally writes in a style that aligns with their own personal tastes, in other words you write what you want to hear. I never set out to write in ‘my style’ though. It’s just a combination of my own taste in music and the tools that I have available that make up the signature sound that you might recognize in a lot of my work.
TMN: What do you think makes your cues very successful, both among music supervisors and fans?
MP: I think my biggest strength as a composer is my melody writing, it’s definitely one area I don’t need to work as hard at. I’ve really spent a lot of time (and money!) bringing up the production value of my music over the past couple of years. So I think the recent success my tracks have enjoyed in the trailer world have been a result of solid thematic material delivered in a more modern, impactful way.
TMN: Do you use samples or do you record your music live as well?
MP: Most of what I do is samples based, but every now and then I get the opportunity to add live parts to a track.
TMN: Your wife, Gina Brigida, is also a composer. Do you work separately or do you also collaborate on projects?
MP: We both have separate workstations, but we often contribute music to the same projects.
TMN: Do you have particular plans for the future?
MP: This year I’ll be writing a lot of trailer music and scoring a few films, but I might be working on some games as well. It’s one area I’d love to work more in.
TMN: Anything else you would like to share with us?
MP: Composers usually write music that’s meant to sit in the background, behind visuals, and as a result we usually don’t get much recognition for what we do. Especially with trailers, where most people think it’s just music from the movie being advertised. So thanks! It’s awesome what you guys are doing with this site – getting more recognition for trailer music in general.
TMN: If you had one million dollars to spare, what would you do with it?
MP: If I was feeling charitable, I’d donate to a great organization like The Miracle Foundation or Homes For Our Troops. If I was feeling greedy, I’d buy lots of Apple shares!
TMN: thank you!
