Thank you Marc for sitting down with us.
JSSA: When did you become the incredible composer/musician you are today?
Marc Jovani: Well, I don't think I'm an incredible composer... just yet! lol A lucky one, maybe, but other than that just a composer. But, if there's something that changed my life, in terms of getting me started in this world was going through the USC's Film Scoring Program. You learn a lot about the industry and how everything works here in LA, in that program. Then I knew Andres Boulton, who's a great composer and music editor, and we've been working together in several projects since then. This is one of them.
JSSA: What inspired your music for Jersey Shore Shark Attack?
Marc Jovani: When all this started, I was in Spain, so I took my Spanish Guitar and then.... no, just kidding! haha Before any note was written, I had a long meeting over Skype with Andres. We just finished a project together, where he was the music editor, and things went very well, so we were motivated to start with this one. We established some concepts that had to be musically achieved... Action, Horror, Fun, Love... and I wrote a 3min suite that would contain those emotions. I sent it over and seemed to work for the directors and producers. That was a good starting point, because it had the main themes that would be developed in movie afterwards. Once we had that, everything else was much easier. It was about fitting those themes over the different scenes. We met a couple of times when I was back in LA, to discuss some rewrites, but the whole process went very smooth.
JSSA: Was it easy to steer clear of the "usual" JAWS type of theme? Or did that pop in your head a lot? (LOL)
Marc Jovani: Haha, good one! It was made clear that the JAWS kind of feel was something we had to totally avoid. JAWS theme is very specific and known. The director didn't want that, so basically we came up with the idea of using Brass (instead the Strings of the JAWS theme), every time a shark was coming (or every time we wanted to make feel danger). I think it doesn't sound close, but tweet me tomorrow if you think it does :)
JSSA: Is there any clear main theme that you develop during the movie?
Marc Jovani: Oh yeah! There are three themes for this movie, but there is one clear main theme that gets developed. And that's a conversation Andres and I were having constantly. How big the theme has to sound, and when does it have to reach the climax, in the movie. It was very important to have a theme that would develop with the Jersey Shore boys/girls. At the beginning of the movie no one believes them, but you can feel they'll end doing something important, and I think the music played an important roll making them seem more heroes-like as the movie moves forward. If you want to check it out before the movie, here's the main theme, almost fully developed, coming around minute 1 in the JSSA Suite http://snd.sc/JX16E8 Right after that comes the love theme.
JSSA: Do you have a favorite section of the soundtrack?
Marc Jovani: There is this moment when Tony Siroco, who plays Capitan Salie's character, tells the Jersey Shore boys the story about the "Jersey Shore Shark Attack of 1916". It's a crucial scene because some of the reasons why the sharks are attacking the shore get revealed. It is a mysterious/intriguing yet comical moment. So the music has to point those funny moments, yet stay a bit in the dark/mysterious said... and it's got to work all together! I think it does, and it was a lot of fun working that one!
JSSA: Do you have any advice for other start up composers? Some advice that may help them through their journey of learning?
Marc Jovani: Passion, Work, Focus, Push, Ideas, Improve, Serve, Persist... and Patience
Thank you for your time, Marc.
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