Untitled Document

Volume 1, No. 7. May 4, 2001

Divine intervention

Colin O’Malley composes music for film and television and has done work for the Disney Company. Yet, one project as close to him as his wife almost slipped past the 27-year-old composer’s resume: scoring the film soundtrack and ambient music for the Holy Land Experience, the theme park which opened February in Orlando, Florida.

O’Malley was passed over for the assignment even though his wife, Dena O’Malley, is the marketing manager for ITEC Entertainment Corporation, the Orlando-based firm that designed and built the park. Colin had even previously scored music for an ITEC-produced ride. However, it was not until the first-hired composer fell through that ITEC producer Keith Kolbo asked the film’s director, Jack Tinsley, about hiring Colin. Colin had scored a film for Tinsley last year, and the director was a ready advocate for the young composer.

"It’s one thing to come in as somebody’s husband," Colin said. "On a project with this much budget and this much at stake, it was important to have the director bring you in."

Colin got the gig with no time to spare. He had four weeks to compose, arrange and produce 50 minutes of music with full orchestration. "It was furious; I mean nuts," Colin said. "I probably had half the time I should have had to get it done." He flew to Seattle to use members of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Philharmonic, then to Los Angeles to record Don Markese playing a Middle Eastern pipe and Judy Paskowitz singing Hebrew vocalizations. He also added in a layer of synthesizers to give the ancient-sounding soundtrack a modern tinge.

For the park’s ambient soundtrack, Colin rearranged the five melodic themes used in the film. "I did a lot of background stuff for Disney; that’s how I got my start," he said. "But never at this level, defining the themes and the overall sound of the attraction."

Despite the deadline crush, he considers the result among his best work. "I’m very happy with it. The orchestra was outstanding. And we had a budget to do it right. There was no compromise. Usually in film work it’s composition by committee and the budget gets whittled down. Keith knew what it would take to get the right sound. With what people are hearing in this day and age, you need to do it right with a world-class attraction."

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