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My theme for Human Target has been nominated for Outstanding  Original Main Title Theme Music! Awesome!

Its an honor to be on a shortlist with so many wonderful composers.  (See the nominees.) There was some debate within the Academy earlier this year to eliminate this category altogether, so I’m also pleased that it still exists at all.  There are still great Main Titles being written out there, and I guess Human Target is one of them.  🙂

-Bear

Tonight’s episode of “Human Target,” Christopher Chance, is the season finale.  It answers many questions that have arisen throughout the series, and asks new ones as well.  The episode is the culmination of my thematic approach to the series.  Characters we see for the first time, such as Katherine and the Old Boss,  already have their own firmly established musical themes.  Combining them with more familiar melodies, such as the Chance, Winston and Baptiste Themes, I wrote one of the most operatic scores of my career.

(Mark Valley, Bear McCreary and Jonathan Steinberg)

“The idea of scoring the show thematically, almost like an opera, was something that happened very early in the process,“ executive producer and writer Jonathan Steinberg recalled.  “For most of the audience, it’s not something that jumps out at them, but it’s a crucial part of the way we set tone, and the way our stories are told.  Using thematic music to that extent is a bit of a lost art, I think; score has become much more atmospheric for the most part in the last 10+ years.  But I think the music for ‘Human Target’ has contributed a tremendous amount to the positive reaction we’ve gotten from our audience.” (more…)

The shocking truth is finally revealed!  See who is really playing the trumpet solos for “Human Target:”

The final “Human Target” episode and blog entry of Season 1 are coming tomorrow night.  Stay tuned!

-Bear

SPOILERS BEYOND: This week’s episode of “Human Target,” Victoria, chronicles Chance as he protects a princess from an assassination attempt by her jealous husband.

The episode opens as Chance flies into New York city by helicopter and gets in a limo taking him to the British embassy. Inspired by the grand-scale cinematography, I wrote an opening cue that could have functioned as the epic introduction to a feature film. The title card begins with an exciting version of the Chance Ostinato…

… before kicking into a powerful statement of the Chance Theme:

[audio:https://www.bearmccreary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/HT110a.mp3|titles=Human Target – Victoria Title Card] (more…)

SPOILER WARNING: Tonight’s episode of “Human Target,” Tanarak, chronicles Chance’s adventures on a small mining island in northern Canada.  A doctor named Jessica Shaw (a distant cousin of Kendra Shaw perhaps?) is the target of an assassination attempt because she knows the corporation is storing deadly toxic chemicals in the mines.  Relatively light on the bigger mythology of the series, this episode still offers a glimpse into Chance’s past as he bonds with Shaw.

The episode begins with a unique orchestration of the Chance Theme, this time performed by a solo French horn.  A small percussion and clarinet groove picks up steam as the logo ends, transitioning us directly into the first cue of the show:

[audio:https://www.bearmccreary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ht103a.mp3|titles=Human Target – Tanarak Title Card]

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SPOILERS GALORE: In tonight’s “Human Target,” Corner Man, Chance travels to Brussels to compete in an underground fight club.  Relatively light on mythology and backstory (compared to last week’s densely layered Baptiste), this score focuses on the intriguing Eva Kahn (“Galactica” vet Grace Park) and the brutality of the combat sequences.

Like all episodes of the show, this one opens with a unique orchestration of the Chance Theme.  This time, Malcolm McNab plays a lonely solo statement of the theme over a dissonant, brass and string cluster.  I wanted to create a deliberate disconnect between the heroic fanfare of the tune and the atonal swell in the rest of the orchestra, suggesting our hero is about to be thrust into a dark and decadent underground layer of society:

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SPOILERS AHEAD: Tonight’s “Human Target” is what I like to refer to as a “Mythology Episode,” because it expands beyond the adventure of the week to the larger story of Chance’s past.  This narrative arc has been woven throughout the entire series, but generally limited to passing lines of dialog.  Until now, no episode has dedicated more screen time to the broader plot than Baptiste.

In this episode, we learn Chance used to be an assassin for hire when an old associate, Baptiste, attempts to assassinate foreign dignitaries in Washington D.C.  Baptiste is Chance’s equal in every way.  He represents Chance’s first worthy adversary, because he is his equal both physically and mentally.  I knew that Baptiste would require his own theme. (more…)