Wildlife & Natural History Documentaries
scored by Ben Mowat
Music for Wildlife & Natural History
When conveying compelling narrative of the natural world through film, music is an essential element.
Ben Mowat has scored several short documentaries covering conservation and human/natural world issues. The environment and nature are subjects close to his heart and an area which can bring great purpose to film music. Ben also has a wildlife documentary style Library Music album published in 2020 by Radio France Internationale Instrumentals.
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"Honey, The Badass
Single Mum Leopard"
Fiction: Drama & Film Noire
scored by Ben Mowat
Drama Short Film: Respite
A drama short by Vanessa Heron, shot on Vancouver Island, Canada in 2018/19. The film is about a young woman, Lola (Marisa Vieira), who struggles with the angst of being stalked in the small town she works and lives in. Her attention is swayed when a handsome new guy in town comes to her defence, but it leads her to a predicament almost worse than before. Lola savours the moments of respite she experiences through her love of nature and photography.
Film Noir Pastiche Short: The Black Widow
Finished in 2015, The Black Widow is the film maker Mark Graham's idea of a prequel to The Maltese Falcon. An amateur film project which partly helped Ben Mowat obtain a place on the MA programme in Composition for Film & TV at Bristol University, whilst Mark Graham went on to study special effects. Ben Mowat created a mid-20th century "Film Noir" style orchestral soundtrack inspired by the likes of Max Steiner, Bernard Herman and English composer Frederick Delius. The music is performed by a high quality sample based orchestra which Ben programmed and produced.
The special effects in this film are also quite remarkable, with music of the film shot in front of green screen and the actors not always in the same room. The 1930s office in which Sam, the main character works was actually created as a miniature model inside a cardboard box! Humphrey Bogart himself then makes a cameo appearance, as does Ben Mowat although unlike Humphrey, he didn't need to be rotoscoped and sampled from various 1940s films.
Current Affairs & Documentary
scored by Ben Mowat
Music for rolling news channel, France24
Music for France24
In autumn 2018 Ben Mowat worked with France24 journalist Claire Paccalin to produce some bespoke Library Music tracks which she used during a series of reports on the effects of Brexit on the fishing industry.
These reports were both broadcast on France24 and published on YouTube.
One of the tracks is a collaboration, using a riff by guitarist Jack Williams.
Current Affairs/Activism Documentary:
Rojava: A Call to Arms
Music in the second half of this film is by Ben Mowat, from 5:08.
This short documentary by Richard Moyse tells the story of a man from Bristol who went to Syria to fight with Kurdish militia, the YPG, against ISIS. It brings awareness of the YPG's and the women's army, the YPJ's struggle, the suffering of the Kurdish people and those who have paid the ultimate price.
Branded as terrorists by the Turkish government for political reasons, the YPG/YPJ and Kurdish people are caught in the middle of a proxy war between Russia and the USA taking place in Syria. The situation is complex and ongoing.
In May 2017, Charlie left everything behind to go and fight against ISIS in Rojava, Kurdistan, a Middle Eastern utopia based on the notions of feminism and equality.
Charlie recalls what it is like to be at war with ISIS and takes us to an outpost in the battle of Raqqa, ISIS’ capital. As Charlie re-adapts to ordinary British life, his comrades in Syria are still fighting and paying the price. But if the price is high, so are the stakes.
Animation
Fantasy Orchestral Music
Score Relief 2021 Competition Entry
#scorerelief2021 "Spring" The Cue Tube Competition, Jan 2021 - Ben Mowat
Composed for the Score Relief 2020 competition, this is an example of Ben Mowat's orchestral mock-up skills. He composed, orchestrated and MIDI programmed this piece using Spitfire Audio's BBC Symphony Orchestral plug in.
Animation for Children
Music & Sound Design
Ben Mowat created the music and most of the sound design for this 1 minute animation for children in collaboration with student animators from the University of West England (UWE).
