36. Doris sits with Mark Blackledge in his writing & recording studios and talks music composition for film,TV and Shades Of Bad.

Doris Interviews film music composer Mark Blackledge

Doris Shades spends the weekend with composer and orchestra conductor Mark Blackledge and his

wife Maryam. Then on Sunday morning she manages to get a very rare interview with Mark in his writing & recording studios. This adds to the blog on her web site found by clicking this text.

They talk about music composition for film, TV and Shades Of Bad as they have now done three feature films together as well as the web TV series and travel show spin off.

Actress Jean Heard has known Mark for 20 years, he has composed the music for the INDYUK films she has co produced, Freight with ICON, Bula Quo with Universal and Devil's Gate which was signed to an American company that went into bankruptcy, (which now they have back and hope to put on Amazon).

The music from Shades Of Bad helps lift the web TV show to a level way above the current web TV show, maybe other web TV shows do not consider music and sound enough. Mark's sound design in episode 13 was quite brilliant. He plays the music and breaks it down talking about the key changes and moods he produces.

Mark has now supplied Jean with a library of music cues that she lays on after each edit, but up to about episode 30 Mark did the complete sound design as well as composition.

Mark has also done other major films and TV from Nativity to many US cartoon shows some which he was never allowed to take the credit for, but that is the business and it now affords him to pick and choose what he does, sitting at the grand piano in his recording studio space which could house a mini orchestras or a large band comfortably, or on his mixing suit with screen projection on the wall opposite his desk which he also uses to remotely watch the musicians he mixes.

This is a very rare and unusual insight into film composition and Mark's methods. Good post production means better pictures. If you find the DORIS VISITS botanical gardens videos in Barbados (East Coast) and St Lucia and Tortola, his music is played throughout.

Finally as Doris has a library of music which she now lays on the dramas and the Doris Visits travel films, you can click here for a film on how she does this in the edit suit.

23. Laying music on film or web series

Shades Of Bad is a continuing TV web drama series with 40 episodes live (two Seasons), and the third Season about to start and almost fully shot. It has fully scored music.

The scored music from the very talented Mark Blackledge of Tamborine Music, and is done for us as his son Buster has directed Seasons 1 and 2 of the show. That looks to have got him his first movie.

Mark has provided us with both he sound mix and music composition up until about episode 38 but he is now doing a major TV cartoon series and a movie, so we have lost him. However, he has supplied us with a library of music cues from the first ten episodes and now Jean lays them on after the edit. The music totals over 30 minutes and obviously fits the dark and comedic nature of the show. Sinister, funny, sad, surprising.

Jean and the team have had to learn a lot more about sound in FCPX sound as before they just handed it to Mark. So, the tricks she has learnt will be shared, but it will mean the sound on all the films that never went to Mark like Ask Doris and the Travel show will be much much better.

Jean is currently editing her trip to the Dubai Mall. With 2 hours of rushes from Dubai there is no telling how many films it the visit will produce, but whether they are completed before she leaves for the Caribbean is a tall order as three episodes missing from Season 3 will be shot this Sunday. So the pipeline is crammed at DorisTV but the How To Film series has started and by far the most popular film of the first three is the one on placing music.

Jean has worked the music into the Season 2 finale episode 40, and here is how she uses the music library. At the end of this film there is an annotation to go to Episode 40, but if it fails to be as smart as it should, come back and click here.