Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Pelham and Mason Palanti.
Hi Zach and Mason, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Zach: I’ve been obsessed with film music since I was a little kid. I started playing piano when I was young, and I was really interested in the classic John Williams scores. Later in high school, I started producing electronic music and took a small setup of synthesizers and MIDI controllers with me to college. Florida State University has a fantastic film school, and while I was there, I met a director who was looking for a composer to make music for his student film. He and I began working together, and I immediately fell in love with the process. It was like two detectives trying to crack a case together. The influence that music can have on a scene is incredible, and I became addicted to the collaborative effort of working together to find the musical mood that works for each scene and the sonic world that works for each movie. I got so much out of that creative joy and satisfaction from that experience that I really dove into film composing. I bought textbooks from Berklee, watched every video I could find, and did a lot of reflection to find what I love about good film music and what I don’t like about bad film music. What works and what doesn’t, etc. I began scoring as many projects as I could. I did a few more student film scores before I met Mason, who would become my writing partner and one of my best friends. Mason was an engineer at a local studio I visited for a project, and we immediately connected over our love of Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins, and Nils Frahm. It got better when I heard him play piano and realized he was a genius. I brought him on board as my musical partner in crime, and we’ve been scoring films together ever since.
Mason: Music by itself, as a means of expression and a medium, has been something that I have been spiritually connected with since I was about 4, when my grandpa gave me a set of drumsticks to hit things with. The moment in which Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’ was needle-dropped in the 2003 live-action Peter Pan was most likely the moment my love of music extended into the world of film. This also is the moment I most likely fell in love with the piano and all its capabilities. All of the music I’ve loved has an immersive quality, something that invites you into a world that you can exist in for a time. So, when I began engaging with film more, I felt so at home with the music and the relationship between the two. I had been playing, making, and studying music all my life, and one of the most serendipitous and assuring experiences came from meeting Zach and working on my first film with him. In many ways, I wouldn’t be where I am on my composing journey without him, and we wouldn’t be where we are in our collective journey if not for the massively supportive network of collaborators we’ve had since we started back in Florida.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Mason: I’m super grateful with how fruitful our scoring career has been, but there’s definitely been several things I’ve personally had to overcome. As someone who’s been in bands for several years, I had gotten used to writing and playing music that was meant to be the main event. I had to really take a step back and truly learn how to underscore properly for a scene. Despite a lot of film music being immersive, a lot of my favorite moments in film have become the ones that are the most restrained, even some lacking any music at all. I’ve found this has shaped my taste in music over the years as well, appreciating and often prioritizing the silence. Mark Hollis of the 80s group Talk Talk had a lot to say about that.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
Zach: We are a collaborative film composing partnership. Together, we work with directors to help them better tell the stories they want to tell through music. There is a sort of parallel storytelling that happens with score, and there are alot of different ways to approach that, but the gist of it is that score is about communicating with the audience what may not be entirely evident on screen. A good score has its own point of view on the film. A great score can make you lean in, sit back, question things, hold on, tear up, and experience whatever it is that the film wants you to feel. Mason and I are both drawn to composers who take risks and who are able to create unique sonic identities. Truly transformative scores, from classics like Jerry Goldsmith’s score for the original Planet of the Apes to modern examples like Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow’s score for Ex Machina or Mica Levi’s score for Under The Skin, serve as sonic brands, shaping and defining the identity of the film. We’re both hugely passionate about this aspect of film composition, and we try to create a unique musical world for each project we’re brought onto. We put a lot of emphasis on the early stages of developing a sonic palette that truly fits the vision, and then it becomes about serving the needs of the film, finding the right temperature for the right moments, and telling the story as it can best be told. In a way, we become filmmakers, which is why we both love doing what we do!
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Zach: Building authentic relationships has been huge for us. We aim to operate as the musical extension of our director’s vision, and you can’t really do that without knowing the person well. We spend a lot of time getting to know our collaborators, the films that inspire them, and the music they love.
Mason: When you are able to foster a close relationship with a director, you can find a shared language together during projects, which in turn gets you more acquainted to the vision everyone in the room is chasing after.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pelhampalanti.com/
- Instagram: @pelhampalanti
Image Credits
Summer Schantz
