In a world where movie trailers are king, Brandon Lau is the composer behind the music. He’s composed music for everything from blockbuster movies like Terminator, Scream and the Croods, to video games like Destiny 2. We talk movie trailer secrets, music composition and making a beat out of frozen cheese. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Movie Soundtracks.

Brandon Lau: :01:59ish

Pointless: 38:31ish

Top 5: 59:28ish

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Uj0WdHN4qTOjdwJ4QyAK7?si=p3ReTnE8QG2x1U7aOign3g (Brandon Lau Spotify)

https://www.instagram.com/brandonlaumusic/ (Brandon Lau Instagram)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWULTEdpv_5-YADkdFvxAQ (Brandon Lau YouTube)

Interview with Brandon Lau Music Composer

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode movies, and movie music,

Brandon Lau 0:19

it's like when you watch a trailer, it's so rhythmic and so music driven. And the advantages of having that is so you really feel like there's like a tempo and a pace. I had written the track for June now it's just sitting dormant in the library. Half a year later, the track gets picked up for the Croods. Two which is a totally different style of movie. So I really like putting in unorthodox sounds in my music, I had this frozen cheese I bought from Costco in the freezer, and so I smashed it, I guess it against the countertop. And that didn't help at all in terms of really under freezing the cheese. But I was like this is a sick sound.

Nick VinZant 1:07

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or a review, we really appreciate it, it really helps us out. So I don't know about you. But there's nothing that gets me more excited for a movie than a trailer. I mean, just just listen to this.

Our first guest specializes in making the music that goes along with those trailers. This is composer Brandon Lau. How does composing music for a trailer? Like what how do you what kind of approach do you use that's different?

Brandon Lau 2:05

It's actually a quite like a, I would say an interesting process. So one very unique thing to composing for trailers versus other media is that actually 90% of the time, there's no picture first. So what happens is that the music comes first. And then the editors will take the music, and they'll edit the footage based off of the music better. Right?

Nick VinZant 2:32

Okay, that makes doesn't make sense to me, right? Like, I know nothing about this. But to me, it would be like, Wait, why don't you? Why do you do it that way, as opposed to just make the music compared to what you're seeing.

Brandon Lau 2:43

It's like when you watch a trailer, it's so rhythmic and so music driven. And the advantages of having that is so you really feel like there's like a tempo and a pace. And it feels a little bit like, like a pop song in a way where like, it's repetitive. And it's catchy, which is really good for that kind of like two and a half minute media format that it is it's very effective. And the way it has a formula to kind of capture an audience's attention. So I think that's why it's typically done that way to kind of have the music drive be the driving force instead of like the film, and then the music following that

Nick VinZant 3:24

you talk about like, okay, so you're making it for a couple of minutes. Would that music then not work if you were making it longer, right? Like, oh, this music is great for two minutes, not good for five minutes.

Brandon Lau 3:39

Because the music comes first before the editing process, we want to make our music as editor friendly as possible. If we deviate from the formula, chances are that the piece will be less likely picked for no being edited to. So it's kind of usually a safer bet to really stick to the tried and true

Nick VinZant 4:03

or that. So like you mentioned the formula. And you know, I don't want you to give away your secrets necessarily, but like, What do you mean by the formula? Right? Like you got to build it up for 30 seconds, then you slow it down, then you build it back up? Like what's kind of the general formula that you're mentioning?

Brandon Lau 4:19

Yeah, that's a great question. I don't consider it to be a secret because the answer is out there in the open. You know, everyone has access to all the trailers that's ever been been published. And you will notice that typically, and like the first third of the trailer, or maybe less, you'll have all this dialogue and exposition. No, we want to know what the movie is about. And so typically what we want to do in the music for the third, first third of it roughly, is that you know, keep it sparse, keep it atmospheric. You know what we really want to leave room for the exposition and whatever's going on. And then you know, of course there's that huge cliche of like the single piano note which has been leading the trailers for such a long time. Now it's maybe not as popular. But even so the whole purpose of that single trailer note, it's like a small sound. That is, I don't want to say unique because it's been now done so many times, it's no longer unique, but a small sound that will capture the audience's attention. We call that like, like a hook, basically. So atmospheric. And then there's typically some sort of a hook where it's like a short melody or like a unique, like, weird sound. There are stuff like there's stuff like that. And in the second, third, this is when the action kind of picks up. And typically how that is reflected in the music is that the tempo will be more I guess, a felt, you'll often hear a clock. So that's a very, very common thing to hear in trailers. Now, the sound of ticking in the background, something to establish a sense of rhythm, and pacing. And so you can feel the tension of the trailer is escalating. This is like the second we call the second act of the trailer. And then, in the last act, you know, that's when like, the characters are jumping between mountains, and then there's like a spaceship that crashes into the galaxy. And so there's some crazy shit is going on. And then this is when we're leaving it all out on the table, you want to like your full theme, your full hook is like super wide out in the open, you have these massive drums. And then yeah, maybe at the end, there's a little like, boom, or something to Oh, coming out soon, theaters near whatever. And yeah, stuff that's like a very, very, very basic overview of the formula. I would say

Nick VinZant 6:40

it kind of sounds like you get their attention. You hook them. You show them like, ooh, suns happening here. Then you kind of explain it a little bit like, oh, wait, what's going on? And then it's the end is like, Oh, this could be good.

Brandon Lau 6:55

Exactly. Exactly. All right.

Nick VinZant 6:58

We hook them. We keep them. What's happening is gonna be good,

Brandon Lau 7:04

dear. I'm gonna hire your manager. You got the job? You know? You got, like,

Nick VinZant 7:09

never thought of that. But when I look back on all trailers, I can think of that you hear that like thing? And then like, Oh, right. It's weird how just that one sound by itself kind of snaps you to attention because it is a loan exact. It's almost like if they put some more things together, I tune it out as white noise.

Brandon Lau 7:32

Totally, totally. Exactly.

Nick VinZant 7:34

So okay, how did now how did you find yourself in this specific thing? Where like, did you go to and composing? And somebody said, You know what, Brandon, you are a trailer music composer? Or was this something that like you were always going to do this? Were you steered this way? Or was this the plan?

Brandon Lau 7:54

Yeah, um, there's definitely a lot of different factors that kind of led me down this path. I will list one of them first is definitely I have a huge I guess, passion and love for electronics slash sound designing music. So I really like putting in unorthodox sounds in my music, like having a synth note, do all kind of bendy kind of things and stuff, just playing the notes themselves, like kind of bending between notes, like putting in like, I had this frozen cheese I bought from Costco in the freezer. And there was one day that I was trying to like, get the cheese to unfreeze really quickly. So I could make lunch. And so I smashed it, I guess it against the countertop. And that didn't help at all in terms of really under freezing the cheese. But I was like this is a sick sound. And so I mean, that's like something that really draws me to music. And so although I've always been interested in composing, I find that the the vehicle of trailer music is really like a welcome space for my interests and passion. And because they're always looking for that one sound to capture the audience's attention to always looking for innovation, they're always looking for the craziest sound effects to kind of drive the attention and action of a trailer. So I feel like it was kind of a natural landing space for me to go to because of my my interest in composing and also in the sound design space.

Nick VinZant 9:34

So is it a competitive industry?

Brandon Lau 9:36

It's kind of a I guess, I'm strange balance between and so on one hand like yeah, there's it's very, very, like small and and, you know, being in the industry for a little bit. You see a lot of familiar names come up, you know, because it's just such a small world. But you know, because it's a Not at the same time. It's just like everyone is pitching for the same movie. You know, like, there's so many trailers, but there's only one like Mega blockbuster or handful of mega blockbusters that come out every year. And you think about like, there's still like 1000s and 1000s of applicants, and only like 510 big, really, really, really big blockbuster movies every year.

Nick VinZant 10:18

Maybe there's not a whole lot of people doing it. But there's enough people who are good at it that you got to you got to be on your ship.

Brandon Lau 10:26

Totally, totally. So yeah, and yeah, no, sorry, I was just gonna say that. It's constantly growing. But in the early 2000s, it was really just a few big trailer groups, you could say, um, and then now, you know, there's just so so many more, because people are, I guess, like, you know, like, there's a greater awareness that writing for music for trailers is something that you could do. Like, I didn't know that before I started doing it. So I didn't

Nick VinZant 10:56

know it at all. I just, I guess that's the kind of thing that like, I just, I don't know, I assume they pull it off, like the music equivalent of Canva. You know what I mean? I never thought like, well, somebody had to make that music. Now, is it so okay? For in the process? Do you make the music and then submit it? Or do you kind of apply for the job? And then get it? Or like, how does this kind of work?

Brandon Lau 11:23

Two ways in which it can happen? Both ways use an intermediary, we call them the publisher. So the publisher kind of works with composers, and they collect all our music, and they're the ones with the relationships to the major studios.

Nick VinZant 11:41

Yeah, the publisher then buys it from you. And the publisher sells it to the movie studio, or the publisher just basically is like, Hey, we got Brandon's newest one. What do you think? And if they like it,

Brandon Lau 11:54

to detail process a little bit more to publishers will typically save it. So because I love electronic music and stuff. So they'll be like, Oh, Brandon, you know, try to imagine a sci fi trailers. And then like, I will kind of do eight different tracks. And then we'll group them up and an album, we still we still call an album. And then the Yeah, the publishers will then do the artwork for the album, they'll like kind of do all that. There's a lot of paperwork and other like nitty gritty stuff they have to do for packaging the album, they'll do all that. And then they will then pitch the album to all the major studios. I don't get paid anything. If the music doesn't end up in any trailer.

Nick VinZant 12:46

I mean, if you want to go ahead and put a number on it, feel free to go ahead and put a number directly on it. But like how much would you generally get paid? If it gets picked up? I would imagine that it's depends on the size of the movie.

Brandon Lau 13:01

People, I don't know if people will shoot will frown upon me giving the number away.

Nick VinZant 13:06

Any number that you said would equally surprised me no matter how much it is. Could you give, okay? If you don't feel comfortable giving the number, how many digits are in the number

Brandon Lau 13:19

five? This is especially if you are doing a major blockbuster movie for sure. Five, that's not even a question. And then, yeah, the number can change it can go into the four digits. If it's like a smaller TV show, perhaps or like a video game, maybe. But if it's a major blockbuster movie, for sure, five dishes.

Nick VinZant 13:45

Wow. Now have you ever had a situation when like, hey, you know what, we've got the newest Animal Crossing game that wants this or you can sell it to Batman? Like do you get any say in that? Like, no, no, no, no, no. Let's, let's take the bigger check here.

Brandon Lau 14:03

Um, so you know, that sounds like a suffering from success kind of fine, which but I will say I think I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is how it goes. Because there have been some huge trailer tracks from other like, bigger composers than me that have been used multiple times. So I don't think it's like a just because one once someone buys this track doesn't mean that it's off the market forever. So I actually I that one one of my tracks then in both that was the one in both the the Call of Duty promo. And also the Destiny two promo actually was the same track. So it's happened to me as well. Like when

Nick VinZant 14:43

you make a new a new track. Do you have a pretty good idea or are you just kind of like I have no right like, Oh, this is getting picked up or just kind of like well, maybe,

Brandon Lau 14:55

you know, I always hope that obviously it gets placed. I can never know for sure. But when I'm done with it I I always feel pretty good about it.

Nick VinZant 15:01

Like then do you compose around a certain genre? Like do you specialize in a certain genre? Like, okay, I do action films and horror films and thrillers, or do you just kind of do everything like, well, this might go in the new Pixar movie or it could go in scream five.

Brandon Lau 15:19

Right, right. Um, so I would say I definitely specialize a little bit more the darker side of things like sci fi, Action, Thriller Horror, I've done I've done a few of those. And typically, when I write my music, I will picture a movie or video game from that genre. But I will tell you something funny, I guess. Do you know the movie dune? Yeah. Okay, so I was really

Nick VinZant 15:46

excited before? I do.

Brandon Lau 15:49

I love dune. Yeah. But before dune came out, before the trailers came out, you know, sometimes we will specifically target certain movies. And my publisher was like to do this coming out, I want you to write a kind of like, you know, how dune has very specialized on kind of like the, almost a Middle Eastern percussion. That's like a huge part of sound. And my publisher was like, okay, Brandon, please write something like that. And I was like, okay, you know, Dune is an awesome movie, I'm gonna target this piece towards dune. And I wrote it, and dune didn't pick it up. So I was pretty bummed out about it, because I had written the track for dune. And, and now it's just sitting dormant to the library. And I think, half a year later, the track gets picked up in the end, like an advertisement or smaller trailer for The Croods. To, which is, which is a totally different style of movie. But you know, they've got like, kind of like those like this big drums, like kind of like wooden sounding drums, and it happened to work for the Croods as well. So to answer your question, I do typically target those darker movies and stuff, where you never know where it's gonna end up. You know, you seriously don't

Nick VinZant 17:10

know what's funny, but like, it's weird how music can match things? How much you can max match a mood? Like, why do you think that is that you can hear something and be like,

Brandon Lau 17:22

Dad? Well, I would love to say that there's like some sort of like a deeper meaning behind that connection between music and association. But, I mean, I my answer has to be just through repetition and in history, you know, like, so many, when we watch a sci fi movie, typically the music is that kind of like strange synth score and, and you know, looking at an actual movie, there's going to be epic Trump's and I think just growing up and, and watching so many of these like, to, I guess, separate things, the movie and the music, just show up together all the time. We just kind of grow to learn that association. And then now we just pick up on it. But I mean that I know, that's kind of a boring answer. But I entered answering. Honestly, I just think that's pretty much what it is.

Nick VinZant 18:16

That is interesting, though, you know, how that all kind of now, will you ever are in the industry, I shouldn't say you specifically, but will the industry kind of move in certain trends were like, ooh, this worked for this movie. So let's do that. But a little bit different.

Brandon Lau 18:33

Do? That's a great question. Man. I'm so glad you asked that because trailer music is will some people like to say that trailer music is kind of like the pop music of media scoring in in the way that we are such trend followers. Because we're basically part of advertising, right. And so if something is not in at the moment, it's not going to catch anybody's attention. And so if you, you know, just even within within the 2000s trilling music has changed incredibly, the trailers from earlier in the 2000s to 2010, you will find like these huge orchestral lead kind of trailers. And this is when they're still saying saying like, in a world in a deep voice, you know, that doesn't happen so much anymore, but that that the whole thing kind of was happening at that time. And then later that became kind of cheesy. And so now we have all these different like, you know, you'll notice that there's pop songs now used in trailers, you'll notice that there's like hip hop and trap and an EDM and you know, when dubstep was big that was showing up in a bunch of trailers too. And so it really is such a kind of like a trend following genre. I would say the most recent one that I've been told to do a lot. I remember I forgot what year was but when the Black Widow trailer first came out the first Black Widow trailer, it had this crazy like so same melody that hasn't really been done before. Um, and I remember all the polar search that I've been working with after that shoulder came up, they're like thrown at, you gotta do something like that, you know, and I had no problem with it because I loved I was so inspired by that sound I just wanted to write during that kind of stuff all day. But yeah, that's the kind of like, you know, exactly like what you said, definitely a trend following kind of thing. I would say the best example, sorry, I should have given this example first was after Inception came out the brawl sound. Yeah, that was an every trailer. And it's still in like trailers today, because it's just such a cool sound. So definitely, like a huge trend following industry.

Nick VinZant 20:42

I've always been amazed at how you can do something unique. And everybody's like, nobody's touching it. And then one person does it. Everybody likes it. And suddenly, you're a genius. Like, how you can go from Muse in a second? Is increase just amazing to me. You just gotta get the one person to sign on. And then ever, he's like, Oh, I had that idea, too. Yeah, so like, for example, like, how many tracks would do you have out there right now? Not, I guess in both in terms of like, tracks that have been purchased and are being used either by movies or video games, or TV shows or whatever. And ones that you have done? Like, what's the percentage? I've made? 100? And I got 10 picked up or fill me in? I guess?

Brandon Lau 21:28

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I want to say anywhere between 40 and 70, maybe somewhere between 50 and 60? I don't know, we're somewhere around there in terms of the amount of tracks that I've created. And then the tracks that have been picked up in any sort of way. I want to say anywhere between 10 and 25. Somewhere around there. That's Yeah,

Nick VinZant 22:01

honestly, a lot more than I, that's a better percentage than I would have assumed. Right. Right. Like that. Sounds real. First

Brandon Lau 22:09

of all, first of all, thank you. But I do feel like I should clarify when I say what I just said. So we talked about money a little bit. And to clarify, you know, first of all, not only have not all of my tracks been purchased by big blockbuster movies, but also, you know, there are like other things where tracks sometimes are used on TV. And the way that that pays out is like totally different. And it's you know, sometimes I get used in like small little tiny tank commercials, they might use like two or three seconds of stuff. So like they're, they're pushing like smaller usages to. And I'm including that in a statistic that I just gave you. So just to clarify, but I'm not like some like major hotshot, because that would be a crazy statistic,

Nick VinZant 22:52

that still it's like, alright, so I got a couple of home runs, but I get on base a lot. Like, that still sounds pretty good. I mean, it's not like, nobody has yet picked up my hour long soundtrack of Bo horn. Now, is there any problems with people ripping off the music.

Brandon Lau 23:09

So oftentimes, you know, words are kind of horrible at describing music. And so when a director wants a specific piece of music, they will often employ what's known as a temp track, which basically is like, if they're doing a commercial, for example, they will put in an already existing piece of music, and first, and you know, to kind of get the feel of it all. And then they'll pass it on to the composer, and with that already existing piece of music and be like, oh, I want my commercial track to sound like this. And so it'll be like a reference track. So that composer knows what the director wants. And yeah, I found that one of my tracks, actually, one of my composer buddies was a friend of mine was doing a job for commercial is writing a track for commercial, and the reference track that he received was one of my checks. So in a sense, he was being paid to rip me off, like, you could definitely make an argument for that. But, you know, that's done so often in the industry that, you know, I don't take any offense and, and, if anything, I'm quite flattered, honestly, that the director, you know, wanted something similar to that. I just wished that the director asked me instead,

Nick VinZant 24:29

but why would they use a reference track and not just like, hey, I want something like this, but not this. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, right? That's like, like, I want a ham sandwich. Or like, I want a sandwich and I want it to be a ham sandwich. But I don't want this ham sandwich like make me another Hanson ham sandwich.

Brandon Lau 24:47

Right. I mean, in terms of temp, how temp tracks are used. That kind of differs from director to director to to that that you listed out kind of using it like this, and I want this that happens. That's kind of the spectrum of how temp tracks can work.

Nick VinZant 25:03

Um, okay, are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions?

Brandon Lau 25:09

Let's get to a man

Nick VinZant 25:12

track, or I guess, um, trailer music that you are most proud of?

Brandon Lau 25:18

That's, that's a fun question. I, I will give you two answers, I think. So I will first give you I guess, the trailer that I'm most proud of, which is a guest the piece of music that I've written, but also factoring in how it was used and the medium in which it was attached in. And that would be my track collapsing son used with the destiny to beyond light trailer. And I honestly that placement changed my life because I've noticed something about the difference between doing a video game and movie trailer and I've seen I've done a couple of movie trailers and typically the if you go down to the comments, and I'd be like this trailer sucks, or this trailer is great can't wait to watch this a list actor do whatever whatever whatever. But man video game fans are so the I think video game fans love music, I guess because the the kind of interactive aspect of the music while you're playing the video game is so important to the experience that I've noticed the main video game trailer sometimes, like if you go down to the comments, don't be like, track name. You can thank me later, there'll be like comments like that. And after the Destiny trailer that that I did was was a you know, it was very, very popular for on the date I came out was trending like number four, number three or something like that. And then I just looked down in the comments and you're like, oh, yeah, do you track the track here is collapsing son, Brandon Lau and out like that literally actually changed my life in in a very literal way. Because if you think about like people listening to music on Spotify, and stuff like that, people, there's very few people who will listen to maybe like Tralee, music for fun. Right. So typically, it doesn't get that much traction on Spotify. But because of the people putting those comments on on the YouTube trailer, it it kind of like increased my numbers and viewership by by a ton. So I'm very, very, very thankful for that one. My favorite tracks that I've created just with the track alone, I have a new track called a the needle on my album Hand of God. And I just liked that one because it's kind of inspired by a very clean, edited style, where I'm not using a lot of reverb or like kind of like sustained sounds, and it's very, very clean and very precise. And just from a technical standpoint, I was very proud of the track that I made. So

Nick VinZant 28:01

all right, this is my like you kids today, how are you? moment, but like how are you? Are you playing any instruments? Or is it's all computer based?

Brandon Lau 28:11

Yeah, so the music that I do is definitely, if not 95% 100%, computer based. But um, I would say the part that is most like playing an instrument for me is that those synth songs that are featured in my track. I'm kind of a stickler for designing my own sounds. It's a metric,

Nick VinZant 28:34

it's really an instrument of its own if you think about it, totally. Is there one in the industry? Is there like a trailer music in the industry that like people look at and say, that is the best.

Brandon Lau 28:45

There are a bunch of trailer tracks and composers that I look up to a one being that there's so many I'm just struggling to pick one. But you know, for a sake of time, I'm just going to ask them a couple of that I really like Mark Petrie, I've been listening to this guy before I knew I wanted to do trailer music. And he has a track called redshift, which landed in both Avengers Infinity War trailer if I'm not mistaken, and also the venom trailer. And that track to me is really, really inspiring. I think it's a perfect lesson on how to develop a catchy hook and a catchy melody. I think it's done extremely, extremely well.

Nick VinZant 29:33

trailers that you can think of in which the trailer music is synonymous with the movie. I think of like pineapple express that done in a day. Like where the movie The music is more popular than the movie?

Brandon Lau 29:48

For sure. For sure. Yeah. Oh, I can think of a couple but they're kind of cheating. Um, so I actually have a couple movie posters behind me. The one here It is for a movie called annihilation. And that movie, it came on, I think in 2018. And, um, the trailer had this one sound that was absolutely crazy. And it's kind of like the theme like it's about aliens and, and sci fi stuff. And so like the kind of the alien theme from the movie actually made it to the trailer. This is very rare, by the way that actual music from the movie gets put into the trailer. But that was one of the instances in which they chose to do it. And I can definitely see why. Because that theme for the movie was very hook, like, you know, and so kind of going back to what I was talking about in terms of hooks and stuff. It totally worked for the trailer music medium. So it's a little bit cheating, because you know, the sound was actually in the movie. But I think that trailer music was I thought it was really awesome.

Nick VinZant 30:59

How do you feel when you tell someone that your music was in a trailer or video game? And they say, Never heard of it?

I mean, that was a great question.

Brandon Lau 31:18

I love I wish people would ask these questions more often, man, I mean, I love the unapologetic ness of it. Um, I mean, I don't make too much of it. Man. I I definitely that happened to me a lot when I was first starting out, especially because the things that my music ended up even I was like, What the heck is that? I don't like look it up. Like, I've literally never heard this thing before money still. You know, I really don't take any offense to it at all. You know, like, there's just so much media out flowing in a universe. I don't expect everyone to know everything. So it's totally fine.

Nick VinZant 31:53

Are there parts of trailer music that people should specifically listened to that may give away secret clues within the movie or game? Like if you're really paying attention, the one that I can think about, like in Star Wars, where they play like the Darth Plagueis movie, the music or the at a certain time? Like, are the clues ever hidden in the trailer music itself?

Brandon Lau 32:18

Yeah, so back to kind of what I was saying, unfortunately, the movie and like, okay, the movie slash video game, and the trailer itself are completely unrelated. You mentioned Star Wars. And like I also talked about dune earlier. And those are like these huge IPs that they really want the themes to be involved in trailer. Sometimes they'll do it and that's where you're gonna get your clues for things to listen to and that kind of thing. I would say more so on that question, it's more like a disclaimer are coming from me that they are not related. Because sometimes I'll look at the comments, for example, for the Destiny trigger that I did, and they'll be like, oh, yeah, dude, I hope I can buy this soundtrack from Bungie. Like, dude, I'm so sorry, man. I actually I'm not familiar with Bungie at all. I'm not familiar with this video game. This is just a one time

Nick VinZant 33:11

associated. Just pick it up. Right? Like,

Brandon Lau 33:14

exactly, exactly. But so will you ever

Nick VinZant 33:17

have somebody come to you and like, Hey, man, we love this. We want to use it, but she just changed this one part.

Brandon Lau 33:25

Totally, totally. Totally. Yeah. So I didn't end up getting this trailer. But um, I was I made it to like a really, really because they're eliminating Yeah, yeah. Just through the process itself. Yeah, yeah. So I made it pretty far into the process for the movie The Grudge. And the grudge makes this like, throat noise. Um,

Nick VinZant 33:50

I can't I can't hear the horror movies. Man. The scariest movie I've ever seen is like the old King Kong and that was just like, Nope, it's too scary for

Brandon Lau 33:57

me. Do I totally feel you? I totally feel you. But yeah, and was the girl who makes this like really weird. And then kind of like aggressive throat noise. And they actually sent me the, the direct sample of that throat noise from the movie and they're like, please put this in your track for for the trailer, and I was like, Yeah, dude, this is this is awesome. I would love to use this in my track.

Nick VinZant 34:22

Okay. This is the thing that I want to do. This is when I have arrived and my career is complete or it is like I am established now. Is there something that you're looking at and be like, This is what I want?

Brandon Lau 34:39

So um, yeah, that's a great question. I I know I just spent the last hour talking to you about how much I love trailer music and stuff. So for me, I'm still trying to make the transition into Doing more movies or TV or even video games, for example. And having my my income more based in that realm,

Nick VinZant 35:09

oh, composing a horror thing?

Brandon Lau 35:12

Totally, totally. Yeah. Because that, on the other hand, you know, is actually the narrative. It's actually the story I get to talk with the director about, okay, this character is feeling this, you know, how should your music reflect that and every film, every scene is going to be different. And I know, I'm going to have so much fun, kind of delving into that creatively, and kind of growing as a composer and an artist, in terms of developing my musical ability, I guess. And so I'm definitely looking to move more into that. And to strictly answer that question, I guess I would love to do I guess, a major studio film or TV show? Obviously, you know that that's very, very, very competitive. And I'm still a ways away from that. But I would say that's probably when I would feel okay. I've made it and this is my career, I guess. I mean,

Nick VinZant 36:04

it seems like you're off to a good start. Right? Like, this is how you kind of get into it, right? It's not just like, hey, I filled out this app job application to be next John Williams.

Brandon Lau 36:15

toys. Oh, yeah, no, definitely, you know, if only you know, yeah,

Nick VinZant 36:18

he's good. Like, that's, like, right. But okay,

Brandon Lau 36:23

he's the goat, honestly. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 36:25

When you look at that kind of a style of music, whenever you're talking about trailers, or video games, or doing the whole movie or whatever? Does it? Does it really match in the sense that like, which one of these is happening first? Or is it happening at the same time? In which is the music making the mood? Or does the movie make the mood and then the music supports it? Right, like, which one's making me feel a certain emotion more? Because in some ways, honestly, kind of think it's the music. You know, like, you've seen those things, like Star Wars without John Williams, and you're just like, What the hell is going on?

Brandon Lau 37:05

Yeah, well, first of all, as a composer, I really appreciate you saying that. It makes you feel important. Without

Nick VinZant 37:13

the music, it's like a laugh track and a comment. Like, I don't really use that. Was that funny? You know what I mean? Yeah, no, said it.

Brandon Lau 37:22

Mm hmm. I would say so if you're talking about it, from an audience digesting it kind of way, then I would say, obviously, I'm very, very biased. But the music is really huge part of what you feel. Kind of like that. That's the emotion. It's, it's in the music. But before while, but while we're making the movie, I think as a composer, I'm definitely looking to play a supportive role. I'm not trying to be like, Okay, this is my movie, actually, you know, you're gonna feel how I feel. So I'm definitely gonna, like try to whatever the director once and how that story, how that story is created, and how it's meant to be perceived. In the words of the director. That's always what I'm going to be trying to push forwards.