Chris Field (composer)

Chris Field
Chris Field in 2013
Born	United States
Residence	Los Angeles
Occupation	Singer/songwriter, composer, and musician
Known for	Composer: Theatrical trailers
Spouse(s)	Katie O'Brien Field
Website
Official website

Chris Field is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, composer, and musician. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, and played guitar in Los Angeles for groups among multiple genres including electric guitar, jazz, and rock music. He learned how to compose music by inputting compositions from Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Prokofiev into his computer. Through his music associates, he became acquainted with two friends who started X-Ray Dog, and he began to contribute musical compositions to this company. Field also works with Extreme Music, and through them, Field's music has been placed in numerous television shows. In December 2014, a part of Field's catalogue was acquired by BMG Chrysalis.

Field's work as a musical composer for movie theatrical trailers has included X-Men, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, XXX, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Hotel Rwanda, Kinsey, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. His first contribution to a film trailer was for the The Full Monty. He composed a piece "Gothic Power" for The Lord of the Rings film series; this was later used as a trailer for a film within a film in a sequence for Ben Stiller's movie Tropic Thunder. In 2014, Field's piece "Acts of Courage" was released on the album, This Is Epic Music, Volume I, through Imperativa Records, on iTunes and physical cd. The album notes state that the piece "Gothic Power", written by Field in 1999, started a new direction in cinematic music that came to be identified as epic music.

Field released his debut album, Sub-Conscious, in 2006; it was made available on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon.com, and for retail sale at Borders Books. It received a positive reception, and his song "Floating" from the album reached spot number eight in the New Age genre for iTunes in Luxembourg on July 7, 2011.

Early life and family

Field was raised in the San Fernando Valley.^[1] He played guitar in Los Angeles for a period of time as a young man.^[1] He contributed to productions including electric guitar, jazz, and rock music.^[1] He acquired his first computer about 1998, wherein he began to learn musical composition and production.^[2] He experimented by taking compositions from Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Prokofiev, and inputting them electronically into his computer.^[1] He noted in a 2006 interview that his wife Katie O'Brien Field helped with promotion of his music.^[2]

Career

Film trailers

He met associate Mitch Lijewski through his guitar playing, and was introduced to Tim Stithem.^[3] Lijewski and Stithem started X-Ray Dog and he started contributing musical composition through work with this firm.^[1][3] Field has worked as a composer for theatrical trailers for films.^[2] His trailer musical composition work has included films such as X-Men, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, XXX, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Hotel Rwanda, Kinsey, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.^[1][2]

His first musical composition for a movie trailer was for the film The Full Monty; he worked on this piece with friend Mark Griskey who was a fellow composer at X-Ray Dog.^[3] Field explained his thought process on the film trailer: "A trailer, is like a one-minute or whatever, mini movie that's got to have its own feeling and form to it — trailer music is very intense and gets right to the point. It sounds simple, but it's taken me some years to really figure out. I call it 'rock and roll orchestra' because it's got orchestral elements and, sometimes, a choir, but it also has a lot of rock elements like the drive, the drums and the way it just builds and builds."^[1]

His musical composition piece "Gothic Power" was used in trailers for The Lord of the Rings film series.^[3] The debut of the first trailer in theaters was quite popular with fans.^[4] Subsequently the piece was utilized by Ben Stiller in a fictional movie trailer for a film within a film in Tropic Thunder.^[3] He composed a piece called "The Vision" which incorporated string music; it was utilized for the end of the trailer for the 2007 film Atonement.^[3]

Solo artist

Field released his debut album, Sub-Conscious, in 2006.^[5][6] It featured orchestral music from the Northwest Sinfonia.^[2] He created the album as a way to branch out from theatrical trailer composition into work as a solo artist.^[2] Field utilizes Logic Pro and MIDI for his musical composition; after this process he delivers these files along with an MP3 to the individual in charge of orchestration, who uses Finale software to convert this to musical notation.^[2] The album was made available on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon.com, and for retail sale at Borders Books.^[2]

The album received a positive review from Jamie Bonk of ZoneMusicReporter.com, who commented: "As far as debut albums are concerned, composer/producer/multi- instrumentalist Chris Field's Sub-Conscious is an outstanding record: great compositions and arrangements, first-rate performances and most importantly a defined point of view."^[2]

Discography

Track listing

All music composed by Chris Field.

Filmography

The following is a complete list of music Field has composed.^[7]

Film

Video games

See also

• Atonement (soundtrack)
• Neoclassical (New Age)
• Ultima X: Odyssey
• X-Ray Dog

References

Further reading

• Bonk, Jamie (July 2006). "A Conversation With Chris Field". ZoneMusicReporter.com (Core Solutions, LLC; www.zonemusicreporter.com). Retrieved June 14, 2013. 
• Hamm, Jennifer (January 13, 2001). "'Rings' vs. Rain – Frodo Fans Rally for Movie Trailer". Los Angeles Daily News (Los Angeles: MediaNews Group). p. 6. Retrieved June 16, 2013. 
• Steinblatt, Jim (Summer 2006). "Picture This – Chris Field". Playback Magazine (ASCAP: The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). Retrieved June 14, 2013. 
• Vilaghy, Gergely (August 7, 2009). "Interview with Chris Field". Trailer Music News (www.trailermusicnews.com). Retrieved July 17, 2013. 

External links

• Official website
• Chris Field at the Internet Movie Database
• Sub-Conscious at AllMusic
• Chris Field, videos on Vimeo