At only twenty-eight years old, Spanish-born Lucas Vidal has not only over come a battle with cancer, mastered the ability to write orchestrations, instrument by instrument (all by hand), and honed his ping pong skills against director James McTeigue, he is also beginning to make a name for himself here in the states starting with his score for the upcoming film, The Raven. I had the opportunity to sit down with Vidal in his studio in Santa Monica and see just how this up-and-coming composer brought his ideas from the page to the screen.
Vidal may be young, but his approach to composing is almost “old school” in the sense that he begins with tangible paper and pencil to actually write out his music rather than immediately going to the computer to begin and map things out. Vidal is a skilled piano player and treated me to seeing how he begins by creating the sheet music to then playing the music and eventually mixing it all together to the final picture. While The Raven takes place in the 19th century, the score Vidal created (per McTeigue’s direction) is actually fairly modern, filled with more electronic elements than just orchestral instruments, which created an interesting juxtaposition between the film and the music, allowing the music stand out rather than simply play to the background.
Despite all his accomplishments so far, Vidal is incredibly humble and easy to talk to, lighting up the moment the discussion turns to music. It is clear that this is truly his passion and that passion shines through on screen and in his work. Write this name down as a talent to watch.
Check out my interview with Vidal along with some behind the scenes footage of the process of creating the score for The Raven.
The Raven opens on Friday, April 27th and the film’s score is available now via Amazon.
