A8
REGION
East Oregonian
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Film award surprises composer
Short movie came
to life far from
Hollywood for
former Pendleton
resident
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
BEND — At the Holly-
wood Music in Media
Awards ceremony, nominees
normally spend the evening
at the Avalon, walking the
red carpet and steeping in
Hollywood glam.
This year, however, the
ceremony on Jan. 27 was
virtual. Nominee and film
composer Chris Thomas
stayed home in Bend wear-
ing pajamas, wrapped in
a blanket. He sat with his
wife, Brigitte, their cat
between them on the couch,
waiting for the winner of the
Outstanding Score short film
category to be announced.
When Thomas’s name
appeared on the screen as
winner, he threw his arms
into the air and grinned
happily. Brigitte snapped a
photo.
Thomas, who grew up in
Pendleton, insists he didn’t
expect to be nominated,
much less get the win. The
short film, “Imagination
Sy mphony Live,” was
produced far from Holly-
wood in Central Oregon.
When the nominees were
announced, it was so far off
his radar, he didn’t even look
at the list.
The film composer, at 38,
has snagged other awards for
his movie soundtracks. One
of his scores, for a documen-
tary called “Woman Rebel,”
was shortlisted in 2010 for
an Academy Award, and
he won Best Film & TV
Music in 2011 at the eWorld
Music Awards. His televi-
sion work includes work for
“Lost,” “House,” “Vice” and
“CSI:NY.” His most recent
movie “Haymaker” came
out this month. That kind
of put the cherry on top for
Thomas. He couldn’t be
happier that two such differ-
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Composer Chris Thomas directs members of the Oregon East Symphony Youth Orchestra during a visit to Pendleton High
School in June 2020.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Composer Chris Thomas talks about his life to members of
the Oregon East Symphony Youth Orchestra during a visit to
Pendleton High School in June 2020. Orchestra director Zach
Banks smiles in the background.
ent projects collided in time.
Both projects, though
poles apart in subject matter
and scope, leaned heav-
ily on Thomas’ composing
talents. Normally, compos-
ing comes last after a film is
shot. In both “Imagination”
and “Haymaker,” however,
composing came earlier and
Media Sales
Professional
the film was often edited to
match the score.
T he seven-m i nute
“Imagination Symphony
Live” follows a young boy
as he attends his very first
symphony. As the music
envelopes the boy, his mind
roams. He paddles a canoe
across a lake serenaded
by an oboist and scampers
through high desert and
forest, musicians playing all
around him. At the conclu-
sion, he ends up back in the
hall next to his mother as the
audience applauds.
O n e of T h o m a s’s
friends, Evan Signaldsen,
who plays with Thomas
in the cello section of the
Central Oregon Symphony,
proposed the short film in
the spring of 2019. It didn’t
take much arm twisting for
Thomas to agree to compose
the score.
“Count me in,” Thomas
recalls saying to Signaldsen,
who directed and produced
the film.
To pull it off, the men
needed the cooperation of
Central Oregon Symphony
Conductor Michael Gesme
and his entire orchestra.
“We made a pretty big
ask,” Thomas said. “We
said we’re going to need
some rehearsal time with
this piece and we’re going to
need three concerts to film
live. So we’ll take up the first
20 minutes of three shows in
a row. And the audience is
going to have to listen to a
click track we’re going to
play live in the room.”
Gesme and his musicians
agreed. At the beginning of
each concert, Thomas got
up in front to explain to the
audience what was happen-
ing. No one seemed overly
bothered by the metronome
clicks “carefully tailored so
the music will land on the
film properly.”
T he outdoor shots,
which involved drones and
trekking to isolated spots,
required musicians to play
without sheet music while
the music came at them
through speakers, complete
with metronome clicks to
keep them on track.
“People just kind of
jammed with their part,”
Thomas said. “They knew
what the music sounded like,
but they didn’t know what
their notes were. It was a
cacophony of nonsense. We
told them to ‘play it like you
believe it.’”
An electrical fire at
Bend High School, where
the orchestra performs,
altered plans for final film-
ing. The film crew had spent
the day rigging and test-
ing a camera that would fly
over the audience and stop
above the conductor’s head.
The concert was quickly
switched to another venue
and complicated filming
plans.
Thomas then needed to
record soloists, something
that COVID made more
difficult. He arranged virtual
solo sessions with musicians
and singers around the coun-
try.
“Haymaker” tells the
story of a retired Muay Thai
fighter who serves as body-
guard for a glamorous trans
woman pop star, Nomi Ruiz,
who plays herself in the film.
Director Nick Sasso told
Thomas he needed some-
thing more like a violin
concerto than a film score,
something with “soaring
violin solos and big ocean
of strings.” Thomas obliged.
“It’s probably one of my
best scores,” Thomas said.
“I had a lot of freedom. The
director, Nick Sasso, really
let me off the leash.”
“Haymaker” is now
streaming on Amazon Prime
and other digital platforms.
To see “Imagine Symphony
Live,” go to youtube.com or
the Imagine Symphony Live
website.
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