‘Hollywood’ calls in USP Head of Performing Arts for Movie Music

Igelese Ete, Head of the Performing Arts at the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific Laucala Campus in Suva, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime to work with the cream of Hollywood.  

 

He recently met up with Hollywood film director Jonathon Kay in Los Angeles, to assess the music he will need to compose in the next four weeks for a new movie on dolphins featuring Hollywood A-list actors.

 

Oscar award winning composer Howard Shore who worked with Ete worked on the ‘Lord of the Rings’ soundtrack’ three years ago, recommended Ete to compose for a couple of the scenes for the Dolphins movie.

 

Director Jonathon Kay decided to use that music for the current movie trailer and felt that Ete was the only one who could inject ‘inspirational music to match the A-List actors’ voiceovers & the amazing dolphin footage shot in eight locations around the world.     

 

Ete said he was very grateful to the university’s Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Rajesh Chandra and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE), Dr Akanisi Kedrayate, in sending him over.

 

“Basically the invitation and call arrived on Friday 5 April, graduation day. I was called to the Dean’s office that afternoon, and the following day I was on Air Pacific en route to LA, Hollywood, so it all happened very fast,” Ete said. 

 

Ete said it is a big step towards the right direction for the Performing Arts at USP, and something he feels would be productive for all our creative artists, who are able to build positive relationships & alliances with overseas companies, art institutions, organizations. 

 

“The direct contact will hugely benefit our talented actors, musicians, dancers, visual artists, sound engineers and so forth,” he said.  

 

The fantasy film/documentary has been described as “an amazing, awe-inspiring, all-ages, and true-life documentary unfolding a story of legendary proportions”. 

 

“It aims to deliver awareness on the beauty, and power of the dolphins, and the importance of their survival in this larger than life adventure through the oceans eight corners of the Earth

 

Ete will be scoring music for about ten to fourteen scenes often called ‘cues’ in the movie industry, worth about 50min, and this Ete says is a huge amount in the music world, especially in the space of four weeks.  

 

Ete says “It’s going to be a huge challenge but I’m excited about it as it will push me to another level”.

 

While in Hollywood, Ete also met up with well-known Hollywood actor Owen Wilson, who was the last actor to record for the movie. 

 

Ete hopes to have a red carpet premiere in Suva next year and wants to bring in some of the creative team and featured Hollywood celebrities, saying “basically bringing Hollywood over to Suva, and of course USP will be credited & acknowledged in the picture”. 

 

“It is crucial that we create a creative industry where the world comes to us whether it be Hollywood, or Bollywood, to create a powerful infrastructure for all our talented gifted creative artists in Fiji and the Pacific.  It is about creating an industry where the world can come to us,” Ete said. 

 

Taking the cue from Peter Jackson for whose movie ‘The Lord of the Rings’ he had helped compose music for, he said Jackson has helped bring money to New Zealand, create jobs and opportunities for overseas economic investment. 

 

“In the same vein, we in the Fiji and the Pacific build towards that. It is starting to happen with the various films from Bollywood and Hollywood. And this is definitely a step towards that direction, as long as we maintain our cultural Intellectual Property and of course our integrity.”

 

Ete is also happy that the movie addresses relevant environmental issues about the protection of our marine inhabitants and environment. 

 

“As we well know we in the Pacific are the ones that are feeling the repercussions of this neglect. ‘Climate change is our reality’ and we need to send a message to the world through creative mediums about sustainable development,” he said. 

 

Big names such as Gerard Butler, Whoopi Goldberg , Kate Winslett (Titanic), James Franco and Megan Fox have lent their voices to this environmental awareness movie about dolphins.

 

The movie is expected to release in February 2014.