"US" COMPOSER IS A GENTLE MAN WITH A KNACK FOR FRIGHT
(Starts at 7:45)
When writer/director Jordan Peele met composer Michael Abels, Abels was teaching music at a private school in Santa Monica. On the lookout for a composer of color for "Get Out," Peele came across Abels' work on YouTube (a piece for string quartet and orchestra called "Urban Legends") and tracked him down. While Abels had been making music since he was a child and had wanted to compose music for films after graduating college, he never got an opportunity until "Get Out." Now Abels has scored Peele's second film, "Us," as well. And after getting messages from aspiring film composers of color looking for advice, he co-founded the Composers Diversity Collective. Abels spoke with The Frame fill-in host Steve Cuevas about "Us" and how he used silence, children's voices and a nonsense language to create a terrifying score.
THE WORK LIFE OF JANITORS AT MOVIE THEATER CHAINS
(Starts at :45)
Gene Maddaus of Variety has been investigating the day to day working reality of the people on the lowest rung of the movie business food chain– the men and women who clean up popcorn and spilled Coke at the movie theaters.
HOW DREAMERS CAME TOGETHER TO MAKE A GRAMMY-WINNING ALBUM
(Starts at 18:45)
Frame contributor Betto Arcos brings this story about the making of "American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom." It features 53 Dreamers and won three Grammys last month.