1. Kelsey Boyd, Whitney Freeman, Matthew Marcotte, and Matt Wilkins
Thomas Newman
A composer of our time
Presented By:
Kelsey Boyd, Whitney Freeman, Matthew Marcotte, and Matt Wilkins

2. THE BEGINNING
Thomas’ father, Alfred Newman, was a legendary composer, conductor, and music director.
Thomas’ brother David and his cousin Randy are also film composers. David is best known for Anastasia , while Randy is known for composing for Toy Story, The Natural, and Meet the Parents.
Thomas’ sister, Maria, is a well-known concert violinist and violist, credited as being the concert mistress for The Rapture and Fried Green Tomatoes.
Thomas has three uncles who are also well known in the music industry, one who was the former head of music at Fox, and one that was the former vice-president at Goldwyn.

3. EDUCATION
Newman attended University of Southern California for two years, then went to Yale where he earned his masters in music.
After college, Newman played around in bands and did some small work for theatres.
Newman played keyboards with two groups, The Innocents and Tokyo 77.
Newman also watched his uncle who at that time was the head of music at Fox, where he got the chance to orchestrate one of the cues from Return of the Jedi.

4. GETTING DISCOVERED
In 1984, a long time friend of Newman’s, Scott Rudin, asked Thomas to help him with the music for a film that he was producing. This turned out to be Reckless, which would be Newman’s first movie to provide music for and his first step in his father’s shadow.
Newman’s breakthrough movie was Desperately Seeking Susan, in which he wrote, “based upon picking up certain kinds of rhythms and making them groove in the most interesting way possible.”
The score that got him real recognition as a film composer was The Rapture.

5. MUSICAL STYLE Mainly graceful, serene melodies
Triumphant, bold orchestral works
Piano with accompanying strings
Little Women
Meet Joe Black
Pay It Forward

6. MUSICAL VARIATIONS Dark, serious dramas Playful comedies
The Green Mile
The Shawshank Redemption
Playful comedies
Finding Nemo
Unstrung Heroes
Simple, orchestral scores
The War
Fried Green Tomatoes

7. INFLUENCES Father, Alfred Newman Brother and Uncles
The King and I
The Grapes of Wrath
Brother and Uncles
Cousin, Randy Newman
Toy Story
Monsters Inc.
The Three Amigos

8. FAVORITE COMPOSERS Charles Ives John Cage Bernard Herrmann
Strictly orchestral works; no soundtracks
John Cage
4’33” composer
Bernard Herrmann
Psycho
The Twilight Zone

9. AWARDS BMI Film Music Awards- won 6 and included Fried Green Tomatoes
Emmy Awards- nominated for Against the Law and won for Six Feet Under
Academy Awards- nominated for 5 but never won, one of which was Little Women
Grammy Awards- nominated for 2 and won the award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for American Beauty

10. AFI Award for the Best Original Music Score- for Oscar and Lucinda
Saturn Award- nominated for 2 which were Meet Joe Black and The Green Mile
AFI Award for the Best Original Music Score- for Oscar and Lucinda
Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score- for American Beauty
BAFTA Award for
Achievement in Film Music- for American Beauty

11. DIRECTOR’S THOUGHTS
Frank Darabont: “What he does is equal to what the actors do and what the writer has done. He really is a co-storyteller. He manages to elicit an enormous amount of the emotional content of the film without being obvious.”
Joan Avent: “He creates a kind of vicseral situation whereby you’re able to experience the narrative. You won’t see in Tom’s music a lot of ‘stings’ about hits and ‘look at me’. Instead, you’ll see a kind of airy weave that allows you to feel what’s going on.”
American Beauty: Sam Mendes says, “Tom’s exquisite score added a dimension to the movie I could not possibly have imagined.”

12. CAREER HIGHS
One of his first gigs in Hollywood was orchestrating one of the cues from Return of the Jedi in 1983.
The first movie he scored was Reckless in 1984
His breakthrough did not come until 1985 with the Movie Desperately Seeking Susan

13. OUR THOUGHTS ON THOMAS NEWMAN
Writes in a wide range of music using some different techniques such as rock and techno
His does well in adapting to the movies story line and creating music that flows along with it.
He gets credited along with his family but most of his work is original and should be credited alone.

14. QUESTIONS Name one movie Thomas Newman scored.
Name one famous musician relative of Thomas Newman’s.

15. RESOURCES http://users.pandora.be/obelisk/tnc/