Mark Mancina page

'I think people in general really appreciate film scores, and that record companies don't give them credit. Then something like Titanic happens, biggest selling thing in history. You start thinking to yourself, you know, that's because people are hungry for good music. They don't care what it is. If it's good, they'll like it.'

Personal quote

There is much more then just action that rules Mark Mancina's list of film scores. You start your career with anything that notifies you as a respectable composer and Speed did accomplish that more then ever. He struck gold and his little action experiment began to role. But the last couple of years there has been a remarkable change in scoring for Mancina, and since that moment I started to respect him more then ever. Not only action music succeeds to sound good but drama and animation as well. And those are the big possibilities for Mancina, he has the ability and possibility to score more versatile projects, and to be noticed through his stylistic way of composing it. And that is all what he wanted in the first place. Mark Mancina was one of the first to actually leave the studios of Media Ventures and while it hasn't exactly brought him on to the A-list, he's one of the few to bring a more then distinctive own voice in the music business.

Biography

Mark Mancina started already with music at an early age and spent his time with various bands. The most notable name was Yes, were Mancina got in contact with future Media Ventures partner Trevor Rabin. At that time he started arranging for Seal and Emerson Lake and Palmer and was noticed by composer Zimmer. While he scored several movies like Space Mutiny and Where Sleeping Dogs Lie, it was the arranging and producing on Zimmer's True Romance that started it all. Later he co wrote Sniper with Zimmer and scored his first movie Speed. This movie was not only a success but the score equally opened options for Mancina, the same year he already wrote Monkey Trouble. The next few years action was the game and Fair Game, Bad Boys and Money Train are easy to notice examples. Also Jan De Bont kept returning to Mancina's talent and Twister and Speed 2 were born. But not only movies were scored, also successful Television series like From the Earth to the Moon were equally respected. After The Lion King (of where Mancina had contribution in it), Disney brought Mancina onboard Tarzan and together with Phil Collins, he scored a very entertaining score with several highlights to prove it. Further, Training Day was considered for Academy Consideration (a bootleg is flying around on the market) and Domestic Disturbance was scored. Brother Bear and The Haunted House show the recent path of Disney for Mancina's career. Luckily Mancina seems to step aboard more Hollywood A Class movies, with August Rush, The Shooter and the much anticipated Meg coming out in the near future. And not to forget, Mancina also wrote material for The Outer Limits and received critical acclaim for his work on The Lion King on Broadway, receiving a Grammy nomination and an Ivor Novello Award for his work.

December 15, 1998

I just like playing myself. I like to play. A lot of composers that I know don't play that much. They play, but they don't play on their scores that much. I don't know, maybe it's self indulgent, but I like to play. When somebody hands me a charango, which is a South American, tiny, tiny sort of a guitar instrument, it'll end up on my score somewhere.
(on exploring new territories)