Stephen Trask scores Cirque du Freak

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Dan Goldwasser

This spring, composer Stephen Trask was at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox to record his score to the new Paul Weitz film, Cirque du Freak, based on the vampire book series by Darren Shan. Written by Paul Weitz and Brian Helgeland, the film stars John C. Reilly, Willem Dafoe, Chris Massoglia and Josh Hutcherson.

Trask recorded his score with a large 86-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony – conducted by Pete Anthony – and a 10-person choir. Orchestrated Steve Bartek, Edgardo Simone, Dave Slonicker and Darren McKenzie, with additional music by Lior Rosner, the thematic score features lots of orchestral effects to add to the suspense and action beats.

In the booth, scoring mixer Greg Hayes worked diligently with Trask at the console, while music editor Amanda Goodpaster and director Paul Weitz would discuss the music and give feedback. Assistant music editor Joe Bonn, additional music composer Lior Rosner and orchestrator Steve Bartek also provided input, while Erik Swanson handled the ProTools recording duties.

One of the unique instruments heard in the music is the African kora (a harp-like instrument), performed by Bruno Coon, which Trask employed to represent Dell’s (Massoglia) life "pre-vampire".

Cirque du Freak will be released by Universal Pictures on October 23, 2009.

You've only seen 10 images - click here for 25 more scoring session images for this project!