John Paesano (born July 2, 1977) is an American composer working primarily in film, television, and video games. He is known for collaborating with director Wes Ball on the Maze Runner film trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, as well as composing for the Marvel Television series Daredevil and The Defenders. As a video game composer, he has contributed music to the acclaimed titles Detroit: Become Human and the three installments in the Marvel's Spider-Man series. Paesano won the BAFTA Games Award for Music (Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales), as well as the D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition (Marvel's Spider-Man 2).
John Paesano | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 2, 1977 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | Film and television scores, video game scores, classical rock, ambient rock, electronic rock |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, conductor, arranger, musician |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards, synthesizer |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Website | johnpaesano |
Biography
editPaesano was born in Birmingham, Michigan. He first studied classical music at Conservatoire de Paris located in Parc de la Villette, France before continuing his studies at Berklee College of Music pursuing a major in musical composition and film scoring. John knew from the age of nine years old, he wanted to become a music composer.[1] He then worked under composers Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams providing additional music for the former, and orchestrating for the latter.[2] Paesano cites Steven Spielberg's 1987 film Empire of the Sun as his motivation for getting into film scoring.[3]
In 2014, Paesano was hired to compose the music for The Maze Runner. Speaking of the job, he recalled seeing Wes Ball's 2011 short film, Ruin and was intrigued by it, composing a short demo (which eventually would become the "Maze Runner" theme) for Ball. He visited the sets in New Orleans, observing the "environmental soundscape" and tried to incorporate the natural sounds into his score. He recorded the score with an orchestra at the Newman Scoring Stage with sessions running for 2 weeks. Paesano would later return to score the 2nd and 3rd film of the series, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Maze Runner: The Death Cure.[2][4]
Paesano was later tasked with composing the score to Spider-Man developed by Insomniac Games, joining the game's development in the early stages. He worked with game director Bryan Intihar and brought about creating several character themes, emphasising the need for the music to be its "own character" in the game.[5] Paesano ensured that his music struck a balance between the cinematics and the gameplay as he wanted the player to be fully immersed. He looked at distinguishing his music from past Spider-Man films and games and decided to focus on creating a musical identity for Peter Parker.[6]
In 2021, he composed the music for the Avengers Campus themed area at Disney California Adventure, combining themes from the MCU's Avengers, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther films; a single entitled "Welcome Recruits" was released in April 2022.[7]
Filmography
editFilm
editTelevision
edit| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas |
| 2012–2018 | DreamWorks Dragons |
| 2014 | Crisis |
| 2015–2018 | Daredevil |
| 2017 | The Defenders |
| 2017–2018 | Salvation |
| 2019–2023 | Truth Be Told |
| 2019–2022 | Devils |
| 2019 | Charmed |
| 2020 | Penny Dreadful: City of Angels |
| 2021 | The Hot Zone: Anthrax |
| 2021–present | Leonardo |
| Invincible |
Video games
edit| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Mass Effect: Andromeda | Mac Walters | BioWare / Electronic Arts | Debut work as video game composer |
| Gran Turismo Sport | Kazunori Yamauchi | Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment | Also used in Gran Turismo 7 | |
| 2018 | Detroit: Become Human | David Cage Gregory Diaconu |
Quantic Dream | Composed the soundtrack for Markus, one of the main protagonists |
| Marvel's Spider-Man | Bryan Intihar Ryan Smith |
Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment / Marvel Games | Also composed for the game's downloadable content Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps | |
| 2020 | Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Brian Horton Cameron Christian |
||
| 2023 | Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | Bryan Intihar Ryan Smith |
Theme park attractions
edit| Year | Attraction | Location(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Avengers Campus | Disney California Adventure | [7] |
Awards
editReferences
edit- ^ @ExBee (February 12, 2021). "The ExBee Podcast: S1E5 | John Paesano Interview". Retrieved August 23, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Hannett, Michelle (September 12, 2014). "WAMG Talks To THE MAZE RUNNER Composer John Paesano". We Are Movie Geeks. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
- ^ Rozeman, Mark (April 6, 2016). "Devil's in the Details: Daredevil Composer John Paesano on Scoring Hell's Kitchen". Paste. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
- ^ "Interview: 'Daredevil' Season 2 Composer John Paesano". Geeks of Doom. March 21, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
- ^ Wood, Chandler (September 12, 2018). "Composing Peter Parker – The Music of Marvel's Spider-Man with Composer John Paesano". PlayStation Lifestyle. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Dedmon, Tanner (October 3, 2018). "How 'Marvel's Spider-Man' Harmonized Web-Swinging With Music". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ a b "Music from Disneyland's Avengers Campus Released". Film Music Reporter. April 22, 2022. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- ^ Howard, Courtney (December 3, 2021). "'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Review: Animated Reboot Delivers Plenty of Familiar Charms". Variety. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
A Disney Plus release of a Bardel Entertainment Production
- ^ a b Schonewill, Kyle; Earle, Robby (March 17, 2022). "What's New in the MCU with John Paesano". Friends From Work: An Unofficial Marvel Podcast (Podcast). Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- ^ Patten, Dominic (February 2, 2013). "Annie Awards: 'Wreck-It-Ralph' Wins 5 Including Feature, Robot Chicken 'DC Comics Special' TV, 'Paperman' Best Short". Deadline. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ "IFMC Awards 2014". IFMCA: the International Film Music Critics Association. February 20, 2015. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ World Soundtrack Awards (October 24, 2015). "Winners of the 15th World Soundtrack Awards". World Soundtrack Academy. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Crowd, Dan (December 8, 2018). "The Game Awards 2018: All the Winners". IGN. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Xu, Linda (November 15, 2018). "Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Full List of Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Marvel's Spider-Man". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Detroit: Become Human". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
- ^ Beresford, Trilby; Ritman, Alex (March 25, 2021). "'Hades' Takes Top Honor at BAFTA Games Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ "Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Announces Winners of 2023's Best Video Games at 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "20th BAFTA Games Awards: The Nominations". BAFTA. March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ Willman, Chris (November 8, 2024). "Grammy Nominations 2025: Beyonce Leads With 11 Nods as Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX Are Among Top Nominees". Variety. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
External links
edit- John Paesano at IMDb
- John Paesano on Twitter