Ford Taurus Spot

Most of you know that I've been working at a music house. It started as an internship in January and is in the process of transitioning to a full-time job (the hours are certainly full-time). We produce music and sound design for commercials, theme park rides and sometimes film. I really love the work and the people here. My job is "composer in residence." That means I have a studio on site where I compose on as many projects that come through the door as is humanly possible, usually between 2-5 commercials a week. When I do this I compete against the company's roster of freelancers, and the competition is steep because some of these guys have been doing this for over a decade.

In the past few weeks I finally won my first two spots. One, a commercial for University of Michigan, will go into production in the fall and run during all U of M football games (probably for years to come). The other was a segment on a web campaign for the new Ford Taurus. That Taurus spot went live today online.

The Taurus spot was unusual work for me because it was longer - 80 seconds, compared to the usual 30 seconds - and was more of a score-to-picture assignment. My job was not as much to create a memorable song as to underscore the action happening in the demonstration.

Things to look for are the transitions (are they seamless, or do they draw attention to themselves?) and whether or not the different musical ideas accent the changes in energy throughout. Also, the sound design was done in house as well by a guy named Jeff, who is amazing at what he does and has become a good friend. He also played the electric guitar on my spot.

Here is the link. My spot is to the right, called "The Sophomores."