COMPOSER'S NOTE

I first heard from Yen at the beginning of January 2002. He had heard my music on MP3.com and said he was interested in using it in his film "Happy Birthday". Yen was looking for cyclic/serialist style music with great emotional content. This is exactly the composition space I work with and I happily agreed to the collaboration. I always have pictures in my mind when I'm composing so I had high hopes for how my music and Yen's images would come together in the finished article. Yen and I kept in close contact through the post production of the film and now it is finished, I'm delighted with the results. The drive of the film and music in unison make evident Yen's depth of understanding in the representation of emotion on the screen. For me, this reaffirms the contemporary serialist style as having a place in modern cinema. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project with Yen and look forward to further exploring the scope for minimalism in the film medium. - STEVE WHITEHOUSE, August 2002