INTERVIEW: COMPOSER JOHN JENNINGS BOYD ON THINKING THIS WILL BE EASY AND 40 YEARS A PRISONER

Today we’re having a conversation with composer John Jennings Boyd. Recently, John scored HBO Max’s documentary “40 Years a Prisoner” and Warner Brothers’ “Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge.” Other animated highlights include the score for the Universal/Illumination short “Minions Scouts” and additional music for “Despicable Me 3," “Minions,” and for Sony's “The Smurfs” and “The Smurfs 2.” His television highlights include HBO's “Ferrell Takes The Field,” OWN’s “Black Love,” NBC's “Superstore,” and HBO’s “Entourage.” In addition to scoring film and TV, John co-founded Soundcat Productions and has written and produced music for multiple national and international ad campaigns. Needless to say, John is an experienced composer and we’re excited to share this interview with you!

Kurrent: Tell us a bit about yourself. What was your first job in music and how did you decide to become a composer?

John: I’m John, a composer for media, dad of two toddlers, and husband to an amazing wife. I co-founded a music production company with composer Eric Hachikian in 2010 called Soundcat Productions that focuses on advertising and I score film and TV projects under my own name. Other interests are amassing rarely used stringed instruments and lounging.

My first job in music was playing keys and guitars in a cover band called Mr. Pink during my college days. (I’m not sure how good we were, but we had tons of fun, lots of corny 90’s rock!). After college I taught elementary school music in Miami, FL for a year, which was nice but wasn’t my calling. My first actual job in the music industry was working as an intern for composer Trevor Morris and then as an assistant for composer Jim Dooley at Remote Control Productions in the late 2000’s.

I decided to become a composer shortly after starting my sophomore year of college. I was at the Florida State University School of Music and was very interested in composing, world music, and jazz, and much less interested in practicing my piano etudes. Luckily, FSU had a world class film school and I was able to do some early experimenting and collaborating on student films. I was able to bring together most of my musical interests while scoring these films and a couple won student academy awards, and I thought 'this will be easy!'

Kurrent: Did you collaborate with the director of 40 Years a Prisoner prior to this project? What is your collaboration like?

John: Yes, Tommy Oliver and I have been collaborating in one form or another for almost a decade. We met on a film he produced called “Kinyarwanda” in 2011 and I scored his first feature film, “1982” in 2013. I’d like to think we have a pretty special director/composer relationship. He trusts me completely and is unconcerned with schedule. I am always open to his thoughts and direction and ditching ideas if we want to push forward in a new way. As for the process, it is very slow and methodical. Basically, he comes to the studio and I write to picture while he is in the room. This is anathema to many composers, but we like it! Anyway, once we have a few ideas that we feel are serving the film, I will work for a few weeks on applying them to different scenes. When I have a big batch of cues ready to show, he comes back to the studio and we edit the compositions in real time. It takes a lot longer than the more traditional ‘composer writes all the music then notes are given over and over’ approach, but in the end we are both very happy because we’ve had lots of time to air our thoughts and grievances.

Kurrent: What episode was the most fun scene to score for the Mortal Kombat films?

John: My favorite scene was the final fight scene between Scorpion and Quan Chi. It’s when Scorpion finally gets his revenge! On an actual film scoring basis, it was fun because it was extremely challenging to hit all the important fight moments while going back and forth between two narratives: the fight between Scorpion and Quan Chi and also a few cut away scenes to the rest of the White Lotus crew escaping the crumbling island. I was able to use the scorpion theme I created throughout the scene and it was super satisfying for the fans to hear Scorpion utter some lines that I won’t spoil for anyone who hasn’t seen it. Just a super intense scene. (Here is the scene on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMkKPVsp2LU)

Kurrent: What gear do you tend to use, or instrumentation? Does it differ in your documentary versus narrative projects?

John: I am definitely a gear junky, but I primarily use software for day to day work. Cubase is my DAW/sequencer where I compose and I run Pro Tools to host giant sessions that hold all my cues in a chronological timeline with the video. Instrumentation is typically a per project choice but I always keep a base palette of orchestral instruments at the ready. I will always bring some new sound to every project I work with, and that might be a particular instrument for an appropriate region or time period, or it might just be a cool sound that is unique and identifiable. As for the documentary vs narrative question, there is less of a difference in instrumentation and much more of a difference in approaching the scene. In a documentary, there is usually much more talking and, depending on the direction from the filmmakers, a more objective approach to scoring the scene. I try not to lead the audience as much while scoring a documentary unless it is a specific request or if it makes sense to the narrative as a whole. On a scripted film, I am actively keying in on what the audience should be feeling in that moment and trying to enhance that. In “40 Years a Prisoner,” the subject matter is very emotional and political, so an even hand was necessary. Tommy and I chose a handful of spots to be very emotional and I think by holding back in other areas of the film, it makes the emotional moments more impactful.

Kurrent: Who are some of your musical influences?

John: This is always a tough question because there are just so many. My wife is always teasing me because I’ll leave random stations on in her car without turning back to her preferred stuff (could be bluegrass, opera, jazz, hip-hop, whatever!) I spent many years in college and grad school playing in jazz combos but also in world music groups (Balinese Gamelan as an example). This exposure really opened up my palette to interesting harmonies, rhythms and timbres that I draw on while composing. As for film composers, I love the legendary Ennio Morricone, Thomas Newman, Michael Danna (another gamelan lover!), and the late Johann Johansson. These composers constantly pushed musical boundaries and found unique ways to bring an individual voice to a medium that has a lot of expectations… much respect to them!

Kurrent: Tell us more about your score for the Minions project!

John: Such a fun project! I worked very closely with co-directors Guy Bar’ely and Frank Baradat on creating a super zesty and minion-istic score. The plot revolves around the Minions being at summer camp and they are completely incompetent at everything required of them. We ended up creating a very catchy tune that would be whistled by (and later sung) by the minions as they ran into a bear, ate hallucinogenic berries, and eventually destroyed a damn - wiping out the entire camp. I also hired some great Los Angeles brass players to be the accompaniment for the whistling, and I had fun recording random pots and pans and other weird percussion instruments. All in all, it was a nice departure from the intense and busy scoring style that is typical of most animated films.

Kurrent: Where can we find you on social media?

instagram: @johnjenningsboyd

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnjenningsboydmusic/

twitter: @jjbreezie

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Learn more via John's website: -- thanks for reading!http://www.johnjenningsboyd.com