Herman Witkam (born 19 March 1985) is a Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his scores to motion pictures. During his studies at the Utrecht School of the Arts, Witkam worked on a number of online shorts through the DVXUser online film festivals. For two of these films, Rekindled and A Little Mouth to Feed, both directed by Jack Daniel Stanley, Witkam won awards at the Shriekfest and HollyShorts Film Festival respectively.
Herman Witkam | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 March 1985 |
| Origin | Leiden, Netherlands |
| Genres | Film scores |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, Multi-instrumentalist, Sound designer, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Duduk, Shakuhachi, Guitar, Bass guitar, Udu, Quena, Bawu, Hulusi, Low whistle, Native American flute, Recorder, Fujara, Darabuka |
| Years active | 2005–present |
Career
editAfter graduating, Witkam started working mainly on feature films and television drama, but also documentaries, such as Eric Walter's My Amityville Horror, which screened at the BFI London Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, and was named one of the top 15 festival horror films of 2012 by Bloody Disgusting.[1] The Dutch mobile phone thriller APP, for which Witkam composed a hybrid score of orchestra and electronics was released in a limited theatrical run in the US on May 9, 2014, and uses audio digital watermarking technology to give viewers a fully integrated second screen that complements the film.[2] Witkam also scored the youth drama Spijt (Regret), which received grand prizes at the Giffoni Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival's TIFF Kids and the European Film Award in the youth category, amongst a total of around 30 festival awards worldwide.[3]
Ethnic Instruments
editWitkam frequently uses traditional musical instruments like the Armenian duduk and Japanese shakuhachi in his work, which he performs himself, often using improvisation as a composing technique. As a multi-instrumentalist, Herman has performed on video game titles such as Mortal Kombat 11, Total War Rome II and Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, and internationally co-produced pictures such as The Seven of Daran: Battle of Pareo Rock and The King Maker.
Selected filmography
edit| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Golden Earrings |
| 2011 | Train to Stockholm |
| 2011 | Mila's Journey |
| 2011 | Claustrofobia |
| 2012 | My Amityville Horror |
| 2012 | Mike Says Goodbye |
| 2012 | Class Of Fun (aka Mister Twister) |
| 2013 | Regret |
| 2013 | APP |
| 2013 | Sensei Redenshon |
| 2013 | Mister Twister Goes Camping |
| 2013 | According To Robert |
| 2014 | Painkillers |
| 2014 | Hamartía - More Or Less Louis van Gasteren |
| 2014 | Mister Twister On Stage |
| 2015 | According To Jacqueline |
| 2016 | The Free Market |
| 2016 | Mister Twister At The Pitch |
| 2017 | Mister Twister (drama series, S1) |
| 2017 | My Giraffe |
| 2019 | Mister Twister 5 |
| 2020 | Mister Twister (drama series, S2) |
Awards and nominations
editAwards
edit- 2010 HollyShorts Film Festival - Best music - A Little Mouth to Feed
- 2010 Shriekfest - Best Music - Rekindled
- 2011 Eindhoven Film Festival - Best Music - Prosopagnosia
Nominations
edit- 2008 Action On Film International Film Festival Best Music - Berlin
References
edit- ^ Mitchell, Cory (December 28, 2012). "Corey Mitchell's Top 15 Festival Horror Films of 2012". Bloody Disgusting.
- ^ Mitchell, Robert (March 11, 2013). "Don't Turn Off Your Phone During This Horror Pic". Variety.
- ^ Dijksterhuis, Edo (March 31, 2014). "Spijt! uitgeroepen tot beste Europese jeugdfilm". De Filmkrant (In Dutch).
External links
edit- Herman Witkam at IMDb
- Official website
- Score Magazine Interview Archived 2014-05-31 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch)