Discovering her potential

Tahlia Griffis (Master of Fine Arts (Creative Practice), Music programme) spent her MFA(CP) internship working with local composer and sound designer Tane Upjohn-Beatson. She says, “This was a wonderful opportunity. Tane has a wealth of knowledge across many fields of music and sound and I was able to assist him in two projects.”

During the internship, Tahlia worked as a typesetter/copyist for Tane’s work on a feature-length film, Blue Moon; she also assisted in the creation of an OST (official soundtrack) for his work in Weta Workshop's Bug Lab exhibition, which showed at Te Papa in 2016.

Personal growth
She believes she gained vital personal knowledge during the internship: “I've always thought of myself as someone lacking the skills necessary to be a "one man band" when it comes to film scoring. But Tane is both a fantastic composer, sound designer and everything in between. I've learned that my orchestral and classical background does not prevent me from being a capable mixer or editor. As long as I have passion and curiosity for my music and its applications, I can find new ways to create and express that music and continuously grow from my experiences.”

Discovering her capabilities
Working on Blue Moon proved the highlight of her internship: “Tane was very pushed for time so I had to use my best judgement in terms of dynamics and articulations based on the demos he would send through. I improved my typesetting skills greatly, produced a score that I was very proud of, and had an absolute blast in the "pressure-cooker" environment. The music and sound team worked like a well-oiled machine right from the start, and I still have a copy of the entire score to remind me of all the hard work we put in!”

Exploring future directions
Working with Tane has allowed Tahlia to expand her sonic horizons: “I no longer see a film score as being orchestral based when I am composing. I have become so fascinated by synthesizers, ambiences, filters and the concept of building my own instruments, and I have to thank Tane for a lot of that. I am constantly thinking about how I can improve my music in new ways and am very excited to see where this new learning will take me!”