Applications for APRA’s Tropscore open today

Tropscore applications open today and Australian songwriters and composers are urged to create a winning musical score or sync for one specially-selected film entered in Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival.

This year’s short film and blank canvas is Remote, a finalist from the 2013 Tropfest competition. The film’s director, Michael Noonan, has also come on board as one of the Tropscore judges.

Now in it’s fifth year, Tropscore teams the global PR juggernaut of Tropfest with the resources of national songwriter and composer member organisation APRA AMCOS to give an artist or band a chance to perform their winning score live on stage to an audience the size of Ballarat city, as well as take home $5,000 cash.

Entries to APRA Tropscore 2015 opened 13 August and will close on 8 October 2015 at 6pm (AEDT), with finalists to be announced on 12 November 2015. Last year 12 finalists were selected from more than 400 entries.

Last year’s winner Melbourne media composer, sound designer and part-time guitar teacher, Benjamin Huang wrote for Tropfest New York 2013 film Capture, which was written, directed and edited by Jennifer Gerber.

Benjamin Huang said, “Short films are unique. There isn’t much time for complex or deep developments like you get in feature films. Composing for short films is an opportunity to experiment and try to be novel as well, which is what makes composing for this art form so enjoyable. Since my win, more projects have opened up for me – having the Tropscore brand on my resume gets people more interested in listening to my work. Now that I have that validation I’m more motivated, more determined on pursuing film scoring.”

Read more about Benjamin's Tropscore experience here

Michelle O’Donnell, APRA AMCOS Manager of Film and TV said, “Tropfest is about great stories, told well – in seven minutes. Tropscore is about great music composition creating a mood and a meaning and we all know movies are made by music. This one-of-a-kind competition gives songwriters and composers the opportunity to create a soundtrack and showcase their talent and versatility to a massive global audience. The message for film makers is that music should be the first thing you consider when planning your production – local musicians and composers benefit immensely from inclusion in your art.”

This year, Tropfest and the Tropscore performance will take place on Sunday 6 December at Sydney’s Centennial Park.

Download the film selected for Tropscore 2015 from the Tropfest website