Collaborn Visions

From Young Composers

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First things first. My real name is Mathew Losefsky and I am Founder and self-appointed Managing Director of Collaborn Visions, a print and web comics production service which is currently exploring options for offering scoring production aspects for its Special Division webcomics, presented via the soon-to-be-available SSPFF process for S-Animation webcomics. Such explorations into Audio service providers and communities are estimated to be premature by as many as 18 months. Hopefully less, but you should know the time factor so you don't think I am ready now. This projection does not mean I am any less serious at this time...

I am foremost a writer and pursuing webcomic and various other projects for the sole reason of crafting series and franchises I can stand to write for and actually get paid doing so; there is no money in writing fan fiction, no matter how good. Reimbursements for Managing and Directing Collaborn Visions will be an unexpected boost to my funds and will hopefully help to get several projects rolling to a sufficiant degree that various interested parties will realize how serious I am and others will become aware and interested.

To illustrate my lack of self-awareness in relation to my surroundings, here I am a writer in a community full of professional and aspiring composers, and I have neglected to consider that I might be of any value to some of you. I write songs. I am not sure about "arranging" lyrics, but I definitely write them. I prefer to tell a story, usually of one or a group of characters in relation to another, not to go on about an object or a feeling in general. I can try anything, but I prefer moody material or something with attitude. Once I get going, I have a hard time keeping it short; there is so much that could be said about some stories and scenarios and my imagination runs away with me. So just ask...

I have a great interest in composing and music in general, but no time to pursue such things if they are not directly in connection with "my" various projects. I plan to dictate the core strains for much of themes and scoring for various of "my" projects via my whistlings, hummings and voicings. Like most people, I prefer certain styles and sounds, but I am not overly fond of any particular Genre. I would say that New Age is my considered favorite and I like numerous pieces in all other major Genres. I prefer complexity, but believe that simplicity is just as nice. I favor instruments which sound "exotic" to my ears, which does not necessarily mean they are from other countries. I listen to very little music because I have not the time and it depresses me to hear music I like and to think that I might have learned to craft such moving and inspiring tonal beauty.

ABOUT Collaborn Visions

Getting work as a musician/composer for Collaborn Visions will - to begin with - involve bidding down from a higher budget percentage to a reduced one which will winnow out the most expensive and disinterested "applicants". Actual bidding will be for the commissions to compose character, locale and entity themes, as well as score individual episodes and entire series, involving their choices of composed material lengths and average and specific numbers of instruments. As one slated C-V project in particular will need 150+ hours of material in an estimated span of 5 years, obviously no one artist can be commissioned for its entirety and fewer instruments will be used to keep cost down to begin with. Rescoring and mixing this particular project's entire soundtrack - when the funds are made available - is estimated to run up to $1,350,000.

Comprised of four development and production divisions - Conceptual, Textual, Visual, Audio - Collaborn Visions is conscentrating at this time on building up the first two divisions out of necessity, but exploring the possibilities for the latter two as well. The Audio Division is expected to be comprised of a freelance "staff"(as all divisions are), each member on call for when work is offered and free to decline or accept as available or interested. The projected breakdown is as follows: 5-10 proven/skilled versitilists, 8-30 claimed and proven specialists. The editing/mixing skills are expected to come with the composers, but other support in that field will be sought out if necessary.

Scoring tends to be thought of as extrenuous in connection with traditional webcomics at this time, but even they might have various themesongs written and composed to compliment then. On the other hand, special presentations of webcomics via the SSPFF process - now or shortly in development - are to have full scoring and the longer/larger ones may even have soundtrack CDs released.

Scoring a webcomic presented in SSPFF is going to be a sticky business. The optional utilization of the manual progression mode by viewers means that the entire score will have to be broken down into independant and series snippets, some as short as 7 seconds, and very few frames in this mode will require pieces longer than 20 seconds. Auto-sequences are the exception at up to 45 seconds or more, but there may be very few of them.

Presentations in SSPFF are estimated to average 18-24 minutes, but some special presentations could be 1:20:00 and longer.

Composers for webcomics presented in SSPFF will have to be able to make it good and keep it to the point in many instances, yet convey the mood of the present scene or set the tone for the next, perhaps both via the same piece. The commissioner(s) may have very specific styles and sounds and instruments in mind, so you may have to work closely with him/her/them. Experience or the natural ability to compose in a full range of tempos and to convey many different moods will be most desireable, of course, but specialists are almost the more favored.

It may be a relief to know that one of the productions C-V is "privately" slated to handle on an internal basis, is so expansive that no particular styles, sounds or instruments are to be preferred in general. Every known instrument on earth is expected to eventually be utilized for its scoring. Featuring hundreds of races and dozens of distinct cultures and at a low end estimate of 100 scoring hours total, it would be foolish to limit the options by choice. So no matter your style, skills, talents and preferences, there will or can be made a place for your work.