“Vanilla Sky” by Nancy Wilson, Various Artists

Vanilla Sky might be one of my favourite Cameron Crowe films, although it’s an almost frame by frame remake (or in the words of the director, cover) of Pedro Almodovar’s Open Your Eyes. Crowe even cast the same lead actress for it. But he created such a stylistic and well-directed film, that you can sense his love for the original material in every scene. It’s like customizing your favourite album art… (we’ll talk about that later) … a true labor of love. I actually created all of these custom covers in a rush sometime late last year – after hitting upon the idea…

“Duel” by Billy Goldenberg

A few weeks ago a frequent visitor asked me to do a custom covers set for Duel by Billy Goldenberg. This 1971 score for Steven Spielberg’s directing debut is held in high esteem by Soundtrack afficionados and was recently released – for the first time! – by Intrada as a Special Collection Edition. And while they generously opted for a flip cover art, they went with two lackluster designs from the DVD release. I think we all agree, that this artwork makes the film look like a cheap tv movie. And even though it initially was a tv movie, it’s also a Steven Spielberg film and it deserves…

“Inside Out” by Michael Giacchino

Michael Giacchino’s triple pack of scores concludes with Inside Out and I have the feeling, that this will be his best work out of the three. Given Giacchino’s past with Pixar and the highly creative premise of the film, I’m hoping for an emotional rollercoaster ride. A story revolving around joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust might be the perfect opportunity for any composer. But with Giacchino Pixar wisely chose the perfect man for the job. Just listen to Up and you’ll know what I mean. The ad campaign for the film had a very nice set of colours. It’s cheerful but not oversaturated. Just the right balance….

“Jurassic World” by Michael Giacchino, John Williams

We’ve actually arrived in times when sequels and reboots are being made by childhood fans of the original. The Jurassic World teaser poster looks like any fan out there would design it (and even did). But when you think about that, isn’t that great? Doesn’t that mean, that the film will receive as much care and lifeblood as possible? I think that’s the best premise we could wish for. I decided early on, that my custom covers should reference the iconic design of the first Jurassic Park soundtrack. I even went so far and re-used the same Paint Shop Pro template (had to reinstall PSP…

“Tomorrowland” by Michael Giacchino

A secret world, future technology, a faceless enemy and a mysterious little pin… these are the ingrediences of Brad Bird’s latest tale of wonders. I’m really looking forward to Tomorrowland, both the movie and the score. But while the titular place has a BioShock Infinite like retro-futuristic vibe, the marketing campaign was severely underwhelming so far. This film holds so much promise, but for an entirely new intellectual property Disney imho failed to create something remarkeble. I dig the pin design to some degree, but I think even this MacGuffin-like prop could look a little more magical. The director himself designed a really wonderful logo (which I…