The successes of Turkish film soundtracks Pinar Toprak

Among the successes of the film soundtracks of the Turkish Pinar Toprak, is the main theme of the successful film Captain Marvel, The Lightkeepers, finalist at the 2011 Academy Awards for Best Original Score or her work for the film also of DC superheroes, Justice League, directed by Zack Snyder and under a musical contract by Danny Elfman. Likewise, he had the opportunity to participate in the creation of the famous video game Fortnite.

Other of his achievements are having worked for Paramount Pictures or with Hans Zimmer, having composed for more than 40 feature films and having received awards from the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA); Emmy and ASCAP Awards and membership with voting rights to the World Soundtrack Academy, along with composers like Alan Silvestri either Ramin Djawani.

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Who is Pinar Toprak?

Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, she began her classical musical education at the age of five. After studying composition and multiple instruments at the conservatory, he moved to Chicago to study jazz, before continuing on to Boston to earn a degree in film music at Berklee College of Music. She then moved to Los Angeles, where she earned a master's degree in composition from California State University, Northridge at age 22, and quickly became an active and revitalizing songwriter in Hollywood. He joined the music production company Media Ventures International (now known as Remote Control), home of the film composer Hans Zimmer.

Pinar Toprak's professional career began with an internship at Paramount Pictures' Music Department, where she attended sessions every day. In his own words, this was the first step toward achieving his goal of working for Zimmer, an achievement he reached some time later.

His big opportunity came in 2006 when he composed the soundtrack for the video game Ninety-Nine Nights and subsequently, Behind the Enemy Lines 2. Since then he has worked on more than 40 feature films and several video game and television projects, as well as the Skydance Media fanfare, between 2010 and 2022. Later, he managed to be a finalist for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Original Score, by The Lightkeepers (2009) and composed the music for the documentary film The Wind Gods (2011), for which he received a second IFMCA award for Best Documentary Score.

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Soundtracks by Pinar Toprak

In 2007 he composed the soundtrack for the film Fall Down Dead, directed by John Keeyes, a horror film of dubious success but, a year before, he had already composed the music for the video game Ninety-Nine Nights, when she was pregnant with her first child. Critics have called it “a good accompaniment, but nothing memorable.” Still, he made his way to a successful future.

About his work in us again, the Disney animated short, the director, Zach Parrish, commented that he loved “the idea of using soul and funk as a soundtrack, because it captures the entire essence of the generations that grew up between the 1960s and the 1960s. 70, but we also wanted to add other modern elements that would properly adapt to the short, and for that, our composer Pinar Toprak was fundamental.”

“When we had the first meeting, I realized that this project was unique, and although I understood the concept of the short film, it ended up being much more beautiful and incredible than I ever imagined. From the beginning I felt blessed that they had called me to work with them. It was wonderful,” says Toprak.

Two years before us again, Toprak worked for Pixar Animation Studios on the short film Purl. Its soundtrack, also inspired by jazz, functioned as a contrast to its orchestral and electronic works. The score shows elements typical of his studies and specific composition of this musical genre.

Also for Pixar and Disney +, he composed the music for SparkShorts, whose score merges with the story in a true work of art. In the same way, and thus becoming one of the most fashionable composers today, she created the soundtrack for the Netflix production, The Angel, a thriller about the Arab-Israeli conflict, which allowed him to deploy all his musical creativity and achieve great critical success.

Together with Emir Isilay, he returned a year earlier, in 2018, to the horror genre for independent production The Monster Project, directed by Victor Mathieu, in a film in which the soundtrack stands out above the film itself. Both thriller and horror have been genres for which Toprak has designed a large number of scores. This is what he did in The River Murders, another failed film, although with Ray Liotta and Christian Slater as protagonists. Likewise, she participated as main composer in the romance with a thriller structure, by Jeff Calentano, Say It in Russian.

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Pinar Toprak: awards and prizes received

The composer has obtained numerous awards and recognitions throughout her career. Firstly, it won the award for Best Original Score for a Comedy Film at the International Film Music Critics Association Awards for the Guardians of the light, in 2010; and the award for Best Original Score for a Documentary Film in 2011.

In 2019, his most powerful work at the audience and composition level, the soundtrack of the film Captain Marvel, earned him the nomination for the People's Choice Award in the World Soundtrack Awards in 2019. And in the same year, for The tides of destiny, obtained the Shirley Walker Award at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Awards. Regarding the Emmys, in 2020, for the film McMillions, won the Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Musical Composition for a Documentary Series or Special.

The first woman to compose the music of the Marvel Universe

After having participated in compositions for the series 'Krypton and 'Justice League' (Justice League) and for the video game Fortnite, the Turkish woman composed the film's soundtrack Captain Marvel, in 2019. In this way, it became the first woman to compose the soundtrack for a Marvel Universe story. And, similarly, she became the photographer of the protagonists Brie Larson, Gemma Chan and Samuel L. Jackson.

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The work done by Toprak for Marvel Music and Hollywood Records in this American superhero film is a mix of electronics and orchestra, which was recorded with 90 musicians at the iconic Abbey Road studios in London. About his score he commented that “Captain Marvel She is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, but at the same time very human. Emotions do not take away his strength, he is strong and at the same time sensitive. “I wanted to hear the humanity instilled in the hero.” It is important to note that we are talking about the second highest-grossing film of 2019.

Currently, he has just finished his work for the production The Lost City, directed by Aaron Nee and Adam Nee and starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt and released this year.

In conclusion, we must highlight the recognition obtained by Primar Toprak and its soundtrack for Captain Marvel, which will be one of the hits that will be played on the krypton tour by the Film Symphony Orchestra, the best film music concerts that you can see live.