[INTERVIEW] Darren Fung Focuses On Emotions Which Brings Music To Life

Darren Fung answered some questions about his work on the new movie, A Sugar & Spice Holiday as well as what he has been up to lately.

Darren Fung is a highly influential film score composer with over 100 credits to his name. His music and scores are well-received around the world. He is known for his works for the docu-series –The Great Human Odyssey which earned him the Canadian Screen Award for Best Non-Fiction Music. He earned the same award a second time for his score for Equus: Story of the Horse. This was nominated for an International Film Music Critics Association Award.

His most recently work includes his work with Lifetime’s very first Asian-American romantic comedy, A Sugar & Spice Holiday.

Check out what he has to say about his past works, his participation in A Sugar & Spice Holiday and what we can expect from Darren in the future.

Darren Fung Interview

HypnoticAsia: Tell our readers about yourself! 
Darren Fung: So, like all good Chinese boys, I started playing piano when I was three.  Wrote my first piece of music for orchestra for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composer Project when I was 15, and went off to music school at McGill University in Montreal.  So there’s very much a strong classical conservatory rooting in the music that I write – I’m very much an orchestral composer with lots of influences in jazz and ethnic music. 

HypnoticAsia: Most recently, you worked on Lifetime’s first Asian-American romantic comedy “A Sugar & Spice Holiday!” How did you feel when asked to compose for this and what was the process like when making it all come together? 
Darren Fung: It was actually a pretty quick turnaround time – I think I got approached by the Vancouver production company towards the end of October and had to deliver in mid-November.  There’s about 60 minutes of music in the score, but it’s all “in-the-box,” so it’s all a synth and sampled generated score.  So the turnaround time was quick, but fairly typical for a television movie.  It was a fun and lighthearted project, and definitely had some elements I could relate to (the overbearing Chinese tiger mother!).  I went back and forth mostly with Nancy Bennett, the Executive Producer.  The score I feel really represents the movie itself – its an American Christmas rom-com with overtones of Chinese culture.  We had to be careful not to play too much into either the Christmas element or the Chinese element, and that was the big challenge for the score.

HypnoticAsia: You have composed for big epic projects like “The Great Human Odyssey” and “Equus: Story of the Horse;” how was it working on those compared to something like “A Sugar & Spice Holiday?”
Darren Fung: Notwithstanding time and budget, the creative process for epic doc projects like Human and Equus is almost identical to that of A Sugar and Spice Holiday.  We spot the film, where I get direction in terms of what the producers and directors are trying to accomplish in the picture.  My goal is to help them tell their story with my music.  Specifically, I ask them not to speak in musical terms, but rather in emotions.  This lets me focus on writing good music, as opposed to being micromanaged in terms of musical direction.  Now sometimes, you just need more cowbell J , but I try to steer the conversation to an emotional level – why does this work, why doesn’t it work.  From a production standpoint, with Human and Equus we were very fortunate to have the time and the budget to record with a full orchestra and choir, but conceptually speaking, you can accomplish a lot of that “in-the-box”, so it’s more about adding spit and polish to what you present to the producers and directors, as opposed to managing a whole new recording process as well.

HypnoticAsia: If you weren’t composing, what do you believe you would be doing instead? 
Darren Fung: I’m kind of a policy nerd actually.  I’m very involved with music creator advocacy in my role as a board member with the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, and have a bunch of projects involved with copyright, working conditions, and professional development that I’ve spearheaded that give the other side of my brain a good workout.  On a different note, in lieu of rowing crew and playing in a beer league hockey team, I’ve adopted a road bike in my pandemic quest to maintain some sanity!  (I’d like to mention that I’m horrible at all of these things!)

HypnoticAsia: Aside from your own work, is there a composer you really admire or maybe a composition you really love? 
Darren Fung: I’ve really been digging John Powell’s work (How To Train Your Dragon, Bourne Identity, Solo) recently.  I think what I really appreciate about his work is the intricate orchestration, but also his ability to work outside of the orchestral “box.” 

HypnoticAsia: If you can choose one person to collaborate with, who would it be and why? 
Darren Fung: I’m always open to collaborating with different artists, as long as I can bring to the table my strength, which is the whole classical orchestra thing.  I always say that whenever I work outside the live orchestra world, I still “orchestrate” with the building blocks that I’m given, whether that’s a rock band or synth and electronic instruments.

I think the big thing for me is that there’s got to be an openness to give and take in the collaboration, but also just to be a good hang.  The hang thing is huge – your best work is going to come from people you get a good vibe or energy from.

HypnoticAsia: Can our readers look forward to new projects in the near future?
Darren Fung: Yes!  I’m surprisingly busy, but right now I’m working on doing some pop orchestral arrangements for Canadian indigenous artists iskwē and Shawnee.  I’m working with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra doing some cool COVID socially distanced collaborations, which is a lot of fun.

Check out other wonderful interviews like this that we’ve had with various artists now!