ARTIFICIAL.

Sleeve notes for the Kronos records soundtrack release.

As a genre of film and indeed as a genre, whether it is in book form or even a comic book, Science Fiction can either appeal to many or be either loved or loathed but the public at large, yes of course blockbusters from Hollywood as in Star Wars and Close Encounters of the third kind, are examples within the genre that obviously sat well in the eyes of the cinema going public. But, examples such as these are or were few and far between and many SCI-FI films as in shorts or low budget productions do tend to attract something of a niche following. The production values and standards of many being a little shaky to say the least, which is probably due to the budget the film manged to scrape together. The Sci Fi movie when produced correctly and written well is in most cases an enjoyable experience, both visually and cerebrally, often thought provoking and engaging and at times is a journey of discovery, escapism and enthrallment. It is a genre that can create moments of true brilliance within cinema and literature. ARTIFICIAL, is a short film which runs for less than thirty minutes, produced in Spain in 2015 and directed by filmmaker David Perez Sanudo, it is a tale of a man who arrives at a job interview full of hope that he might get the position, but what he does not realise is that he has already been selected and his potential employers make him an offer of 80, thousand Euros to agree to take part in an experiment where he will be cloned. The musical score is by Spanish born composer, Jorge Granda, who has created a highly atmospheric soundtrack via the utilisation of an entirely electronic score, synthetic sounds are at times grating and non-musical when not handled with care and expertise, I am happy to say that this is certainly not the case with this score, the music is pleasing and also very melodic and filled with delicate notations and motifs that trickle along at a steady pace to relay a sense of calm initially, but after a while these calming sounds become a little more tense and begin to alter and transform into something that is slightly more dark and uneasy, let us remember this is a short film which has a duration of just 20 minutes, so the composer had very little time to establish his score and also to expand it into themes or something that remotely resembled thematic material. In a feature length motion picture, the composer has sometimes nearly two hours to enhance the proceedings and is able to introduce more than just one central theme having the luxury of a longer running time in which he create themes for certain characters, in the world of the short film, the composer has an infinitely more difficult job as he must enhance, support and underline the storyline but has very little time in which to do it in, and invariably a smaller budget. For ARTIFICIAL, composer Granda, has worked a little bit of musical magic, he has fashioned a score that is contemporary, synthetic and one that works well with the images and scenarios on screen, but he has also managed to infuse emotion and fragility into the work, which is as we all know rare in electronic soundtracks.

Composer, musician and producer Jorge Granda was born on December 14th, 1985, since the early part of 2010 he has focused upon the composition of music for films and media. He has been involved in the writing of over 30 scores for short films, and has also worked on documentaries and other visual projects. His sound or style is not dissimilar to that of the combined styles of Vangelis and British musician and composer Mike Oldfield, where he combines both synthetic colours and musical textures with conventional instrumentation such as, Guitar, piano and percussive elements alongside samples, fusing these effectively to produce attractive and effecting musical moods and atmospheres. Many of his albums are available on various music sites and he has in a short space of time built up a wonderfully diverse and original sounding body of work. Thanks to Kronos records, we can hear the alluring and haunting sounds that the composer created for ARTIFICIAL.