Tag: bear mccreary

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Exploring 2024 SDCC

Greetings all!

Before 2024 San Diego Comic-Con fades in the rear view mirror, I want to share some of the things I have learned and experienced about SDCC over the years.

I attended my first DSCC in 2017. I had intended to go in 2016 but my husband planned a surprise trip to Scotland in honor of our 53rd wedding anniversary!

No complaints because I had a grand time. Don’t want to get distracted from my mission, but here’s a few photos to explain why I chose Scotland in 2016.

We visited the stand in for Craigh na Du.  A lovely, quiet, tree-covered mound with a lot of sheep. In the distance you can see Loch Rannoch (photo, left), the site where Claire and Ned Gowan (ep 105) quote from the poet John Donne.

Next is the shop window where Claire contemplates buying a pair of vases (ep 101). The site was supposedly Inverness but the filming actually took place in the village of Falkland in Fife.

We went to many places but one that moved me deeply was Culloden Battlefield and Drumossie Moor.

Along the walk to the Visitor Center is a lovely stone honoring Diana Gabaldon, and donated by the Ladies of Lallybroch!

I stood on a picnic table to create this short video of Culloden Battlefield and Drumossie Moor. The building in the distance is the Visitor’s Center. The video was actually made in 2017 as my daughter and I returned to Scotland one a year later! 💙

So, now you know why I didn’t go to the 2016 SDCC. I have been to every SDCC since then except during COVID shutdown.

The following is a short history of this fantastic event.

The first SDCC was held in 1970 with 100 attendees! Now, the attendance is well of 135,000 people, annually. These are attendees with badges or press passes. Many more people gather outside the venue to participate in associated events and activities.

Today, SDCC is held in the beautiful  San Diego Convention Center.   It is the long building to the right of the palm tree-lined boulevard and is located near the waterfront. It is huge –  2.6 million square feet of floor space. This year, it offered over 2,000 hours of comics, anime, gaming, discussions, workshops and other events relating to the popular arts.

The exhibit hall part is 460,00 square feet of floor space with over 1,000 exhibitors. Aisles are always packed with attendees buying all types of merchandise associated with the Comic-Con genre.

SDCC even spreads onto nearby buildings outside the San Diego Convention Center.

This year, I attended several panels, walked the exhibit hall, visited various exhibits, met with friends, and spoke with attendees.

I have already posted about two panels related to Outlander: “A conversation with Ron D. Moore,” and Bear McCreary and “World Music Building.” Click on the links if you want to catch up with these two excellent panels.

Ron

Bear

But, one of my favorite parts of SDCC is the cosplay! What is cosplay? According to Wikipedia,  the term “cosplay is a portmanteau of “costume play;” it is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.”

And, believe me, cosplayers take their characters very seriously!

The following are some of my favorites!

This is Ruby Rhod from “The Fifth Element.” Many claim he was the original influencer! You may not know, but Prince was originally cast for this role but withdrew because of costuming issues so the part went to Chris tucker.

Check out this cosplayer of Ruby!

Gandalf!

Group ensemble from Lord of the Rings! Sorry, I know zip about the guy in black with the pingpong balls. 😜

This is Roz from “Monsters Inc!” Roz is a grouchy, slug-like creature with a perpetual frown who is head of the CDA (Child Detection Agency)! 😂

Lego characters!

Captain Jack Sparrow associates! 😉

The Witcher! Maybe Yennifer and Ciri?

No comment required! 😄

Princess Amidala! 🤩

And, my personal favorite: Day of the Dead character. I now wish I had asked to photo the back of her magnificent hat.  It was covered with flowers, skulls, candles, and other symbols. Stunning costume! 😍

This is my final post of 2024 SDCC. Saying farewell until next year with shaka sign (hang loose) from me and my longtime Comic-Con buddies, Jody and Jim from Hawaii.

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo and video credits: Outlander Anatomy, Jody Chang, www.wikipedia.com, www.disneyfancom.com,  www.imbd, www.starz, www.sandiegoconventioncenter, www.youtube.com

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2024 SDCC – Bear McCreary Panel

Greetings all!

I continue my experience at 2024 SDCC with the Bear McCreary panel titled, “Musical World building!”

Before the panel came to the podium, heavy metal music filled the packed auditorium! 👂 Turns out, this music was from “The Singularity.” You can hear more of this composition by following this link: https://bearmccreary.com/thesingularity/

After the muscial intro, the panelists then came out individually and introduced themselves:

First  to the stage was Bear McCreary! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

We Outlander fans honor Bear who has brought us, over the seasons, the most wonderful renditions of the Sky Boat Song! And, of course, we fans are keenly aware of his numerous musical accomplishments beyond Outlander!

Next was Kyle Higgins who was unknown to me but, given the applause, was recognized by many audience members. He is best known for his work on the Batman franchise at DC Comics, namely writing the miniseries Batman: Gates of Gotham and for the Nightwing and Batman Beyond titles, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise at Boom! Studios, and Radiant Black at Image Comics.

Matias Bergara was next.  He lives in Uruguay and is a video game designer, comic book writer and artist. After winning numerous awards in South America,  he works almost exclusively for the international market, and illustrated a children‘s book by Neil Gaiman, “Odd and the Frost Giants.”

Last, but certainly not least, was Raya Yarbrough! Raya is Bear’s spouse who was beautiful and poised as always. Raya, is an eclectic poet, singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Although she is most recognized as the singer of the theme for Outlander, her voice and original music have been featured in many TV series, including  Battlestar Galactica, Marvel’s Agents Of Shield, Da Vinci’s Demons, and Agent Carter.  Her album “Raya Yarbrough,” was released internationally on Telarc/Concord records. 

We were not allowed to video record this session, but I did make an audio recording. I hope you enjoy hearing the session in its entirety. Here it is!

The following are highlights from the discussion in case you missed them.

*Bear talked about working on The Singularity, a graphic musical novel that required collaboration between numerous heavy metal groups and artists of word and graphics including Kyle, Matias and Raya. His goal was to develop one cohesive vision and bring it to life by collaboration. This is the backbone of musical world-building. 

In other news, Bear is working on a broadway show titled “Particle Fever!” It is based on the Higgs boson, aka the God Particle, discovered at the CERN large particle accelerator in Switzerland. He claims molecular physic’s time has come! 🤓

Bear said his musical score for Battlestar Galactic is tattooed on his heart because he got his start there at age, 24! However, his favorite score is from Godzilla: King of Monsters!

He revealed that he decided to score an original piece for the ending credits of Godzilla. When the film was first reviewed by the bigwigs, they started to leave as the credits rolled, but Bear asked them to wait. After the credits were done, they exclaimed they hadn’t authorized money for a final piece but he explained he knew that, he just wanted to do it! Presumably, for free! 🤩

*Kyle was asked what he would tell his young self. His answer: “just finish things!” 🤗 He also said clarity is very important. And, conflict with its tension and release plays an essential role in his creative efforts.

*Matias made a comic book out of music. He advised the audience to do things honestly and directly.  😇

*Raya is a poet, song writer and singer and is now a mother of two! She told us her mother wrote “Night Terrors” for Star Trek: the Next Generation. something I did not know! As a busy mom, she has to find time during the day to compose. She says while writing lyrics, she may not know what she is trying to say until she gets to the last line! 😮

Her latest project is a collaboration with Bear based on 82 ancient wheels and cogs found in the sea near Athens. These remnants comprise the oldest known analogue computer, an orrery (model of the solar system), known as the Antikythera mechanism (image below). Raya sings the voice of the machine as they explore its psychology! 🤔

There is much more to hear in the recording so I will close with gratitude for the gifts that Raya and Bear have given to the Outlander community. Looking forward to the second half of season 7! 🤗

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo and video credits: www.wikipedia.com, Outlander Anatomy, Bear McCreary

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2019 SDCC Interview with Bear McCreary

Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, I enjoyed the privilege of spending three hours in the presence of Bear McCreary, the wildly creative Outlander music-maker!

It all started in the press room. Promptly at 3pm, Bear strode through the door exuding star-power personality and boundless energy! For the next hour, he patiently walked the press line answering every question with enthusiasm and excitement. Handsome and lithe, his commanding presence leaves little doubt this is the man who has produced such a prolific body of musical work!

Soon, my turn to ask questions… Bear responded with the same focus and attention afforded each press member in the room. Enjoy our brief exchange! 

Daughter, Sonatine, costumed with sword in hand, posed with papa in the press line.

Bear then joined us for a round table discussion. Press members were allowed one question per round. The following recording contains all Q&A wherein Bear offers thoughtful, candid and pithy resposes. Hope you watch in its entirety! 

During the round table discussion, I commented on Sonatine’s Quest, an original vocalization by Sonatine Yarborough McCreary and scored by her father.  Here, Sonatine sings her feelings about a favorite storybook. Hope you listen to this wonderful creation by his wee lass (clearly, this apple fell close to the tree!).

And, she is only four years old!

After the round table, we scrambled to a different building for Bear’s panel presentation, The Music of Monsters, open to all attendees.  He informed the packed session that he became enthralled with sci-fi films and monsters at age 5, after seeing Godzilla footage in Tim Burton’s 1985 film,  PeeWee Herman’s Great Adventure! 

Bear then posited this insightful premise: music is critical to film because it gives monsters a voice!

He then showed several outstanding examples of iconic music from sci-fi films to support this premise. At the end of each clip, he encouraged audience participation by inviting attendees to call out feelings the music evoked. Responses were numerous, robust and exciting as a vast range of emotions were called out from the floor! 

For example, he showed an iconic image from the 1951 film classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, reminding us of the ominous feelings this music awakens.

He is right! I saw this film at age 9, and to this day, I can recall the eerie music and the words: “Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!” Gort is the name of the menacing robot; Klaatu, the name of the humanoid alien (played by actor Michael Rennie). See the trailer here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaatu_barada_nikto.

Bear also showed a clip featuring his musical score for 2016,  “10 Cloverfield Lane.” Bear’s intense and haunting music for this psychological thriller by producer J.J. Abrams establishes mood and scale, as seen in the closing moments of the film.

Bear shared footage from the 2019  film, Child’s Play, scored entirely with toy instruments. He didn’t expect this approach to be welcomed by the director, but it was! He showed this bit of the creepy “Buddi Song,” written by Bear and sung in a child-like voice by actor, Mark Hamill.

Although Bear didn’t perform the music live for us, in the following splendid video, he sings the theme from Child’s Play in a kiddie’s voice while playing multiple toy instruments: watch for bells, ukuleles, harmonicas, pianos, accordion, and several toys I can’t even name! His music gradually builds from innocent childish notes to a thoroughly menacing finale. Hear the theme song in its entirety here: https://youtu.be/YNjCEimjX_4 

Bear’s last clip was from 2019’s, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. He shared his first version of Godzilla’s theme and, no surprise, it was excellent! Then, he played the final spine-thrilling, spine-chilling theme, building on music from an earlier Godzilla film, which proved mighty, powerful and awesome! This underscored how critical it is to continue with music until it is right; the final thunderous score is magnificent! 

Listen to Godzilla’s theme here:

And, this video is a must see! It shows the collaboration of Bear, his orchestra, Tibetan monks and Japanese Taiko drummers producing music for Godzilla: KOTM: 

The session concluded with a robust Q and A. Even after three hours of non-stop shop talk, Bear was as gracious and enthused as at the outset. We were more than lucky he attended 2019 SDCC! 

In case you are not familiar with Bear’s prodigious resume, it includes his very first musical score created for Battlestar Galactica, ten years of writing music for The Walking Dead, five seasons composing music for Outlander, and themes for Rim of the World, and The Professor and the Madman, to name a few.  Let’s congratulate him on  his nomination for the prestigious 2019 Saturn Award for best film music. If I had a vote, he would get it. Thank you, Bear!

What a splendid way to spend an afternoon at 2019 SDCC!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

Photo credits: Bear McCreary, Defiant Public Relations, iMDB, OutlanderAnatomy, You Tube