At what point in the filming process will you come onboard?

Generally, I don’t actually write anything until a film has actually been shot. But, there are some exceptions.
In the movie I’m working on right now, which is “Breaking Dawn: Part II,” they needed Rob Pattinson and the actress who plays his daughter to play piano onscreen. I had to write this duet before they shot the film so they could actually learn the parts. Rob is a musician, so he prides himself on working out the fingering for these correctly.

So, I understand the creative process, the idea of trying to find a character’s motivation. But, how do you even start to put music to it?

I’ll first watch the movie enough to get a definite idea of what I think it wants: there’s a story element that needs a theme, or there’s a character that needs a theme. I’ll have these thoughts in mind, and then I’ll go and play the piano without the movie there and that’s what I do. I’ll sit at the piano for as long as it takes — and hopefully it doesn’t take too long because they don’t give you that much time!

Have you always played piano?

I took lessons as a kid — I really hated it — and came back to it later when I was in my high school years because a friend showed me how to improvise on piano. Playing written music, which is of course what I was doing when I had lessons as a kid, is not really interesting to me. I don’t even like playing my own music once it’s written down.

Read the full interview at The Sag Harbor Express here.

Thanks Noor!

How excited are you to see Rob and Mackenzie playing piano together as Edward and Renesmee?

What are the qualities that makes a song appropriate for film or TV?

We tend to select a mix of established and respected alternative artists and performers that are less known but always the song that is selected is the best to tell the story. I do believe that is why these OST’s connect so strongly with the audience. They are hearing the songs for the first time, certainly and often are experiencing the bands for the first time as they watch the film. Heady stuff.

Read the full interview at American Songwriter here.

Such a pretty song. Christina looked fantastic performing on Ellen, it was fun to see her singing it live! She did a great job, it sounds just like the recording. What a lucky audience to be in attendance on the show that day! Not only did they get to see Christina perform ‘A Thousand Years’ live, but they also got a copy of her CD and a copy of the Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack.

Did you catch Christina when she performed on Ellen? Where does this song rank on your list of Breaking Dawn songs?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (I’ve never understood that saying… how would one live under a rock? they’d surely be squished) – you probably already know that the 4th chapter of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is now in theaters all over the globe!!! This is the very first major motion picture that my music has been a part of, and I just couldn’t be more thrilled! “Turning Page” plays twice in the film… SPOILER ALERT: The instrumental version plays while “Bella” walks down the aisle at the infamous Bella/Edward wedding. (Awww) The regular version with vocals plays during the honeymoon love scene. So for those of you Twilight fans (you know who you are) I hope you enjoy the film, and I can’t wait for you to hear/see “Turning Page”! SO grateful to be a part of this! HUGE thanks to Chop Shop Music, Atlantic Records, Summit Entertainment and the director, Bill Condon for allowing this song to be a part of their film!

Go check out more on the band on their website here.

(Thanks to @HeidiJoVT!)

1. The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies
2. Cold Feet
3. What You See In the Mirror
4. Wedding Nightmare
5. Wolves On the Beach
6. Goodbyes
7. A Nova Vida
8. The Threshold
9. Pregnant
10. Morte
11. Honeymoon In Eclipse
12. A Wolf Stands Up
13. Two Man Pack
14. Don’t Choose That
15. O Negative
16. Hearing the Baby
17. Playing Wolves
18. Let’s Start With Forever
19. It’s Renesmee
20. The Venom
21. Hearts Failing
22. Biting
23. Jacob Imprints
24. You Kill Her You Kill Me
25. Bella Reborn

You can purchase the score for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 on iTunes here.

A couple of days ago Laura Jane Scott and Leonard Jackson, AKA Imperial Mammoth, stopped by our offices to perform a (dare we say gorgeous) acoustic set for the staff, including their song ‘Requiem on Water’ which is featured in a key scene in ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.’ The newlyweds (as of like 2 weeks ago, congrats you two!) have a really interesting story about how they became a couple, and then a band, and then how their music got on to one of the most highly anticipated soundtracks in recent memory.

You can also see more on their MySpace page.

(Thanks Noor!)

What did you think of this live acoustic version of ‘Requiem on Water’? Do you like this song?

After the opening sequence with Bella and Edward getting married in front of their friends and family, the video cuts to a love story between Mars, who recorded the track especially for the Bill Condon-directed flick, and his lovely leading lady.

Bruno and his onscreen love experience the many joys, trials and tribulations of being in a relationship. And as is often the case in real life, things starts out cute; every little moment and snuggle is more romantic than the one before. Bruno goes out of his way to court his female friend, even holding a private screening of “Breaking Dawn” to woo her. They share kisses as footage of Bella and Edward’s honeymoon flashes on the wall. But at some point, the pair begin to fight, though Bruno isn’t going to let her go that easily: He uses his songwriting skills to persuade her to stay with him.

The heartbreak expressed on the track is mirrored in solo shots of Bruno standing around looking sullen. As the video closes out, we see that the song Bruno wrote while his lady was asleep turned out to be romantic enough to win her back.

In the final shot, Bruno stands alone while rain hits the window behind him and sings, “Cause there’ll be no sunlight if I lose you, baby/ There’ll be no clear skies if I lose you, baby/ Just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same if you walk away/ Every day, it will rain, rain, rain.”

Read more at MTV here.

What do you think of the video for ‘It Will Rain’? Have you picked up your copy of the soundtrack yet?

The Breaking Dawn Soundtrack is out now! Featuring brand new songs from Bruno Mars, Christina Perri, The Joy Formidable, The Belle Brigade and many more!

Go get the soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 on iTunes here.

In addition you can check out the soundtrack on Spotify:

Get the Breaking Dawn Soundtrack experience on Spotify, where you can stream the soundtrack and listen to track by track commentary by Soundtrack Music Supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, plus a Bruno Mars contest, playlists from Christina Perri and The Joy Formidable, AND a bonus track by The Belle Brigade!

Check out the soundtrack on Spotify here.

New York, NY (November 8, 2011) – MTV is set to exclusively premiere Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter, producer and multi-platinum selling artist Bruno Mars’ new music video “It Will Rain,” the first single from THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 soundtrack that features a never-before-seen clip from the film, on Wednesday, November 9th at 7:56pm ET.

Immediately following at 8:00pm ET, “It Will Rain” will premiere on MTV.com, MTV Hits and mtvU, and go into rotation the following morning during AMTV.

Co-written and produced with the Smeezingtons (Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine), “It Will Rain” is currently available for sale exclusively via iTunes. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 soundtrack will be released on November 8, 2011.

Bruno Mars is a multitalented singer, songwriter, producer and musician. After co-producing and performing on two of last summer’s biggest hits (B.o.B’s “Nothin’ On You” and Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire”,) Mars’ first solo single “Just the Way You Are,” hit number 1 in multiple countries across the world and won the critically-acclaimed artist a Grammy Award for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.” Bruno’s 2x Platinum-certified debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans went on to claim two additional hit singles “Grenade” and “The Lazy Song.” Mars has now sold over 15 million singles worldwide and is touring internationally. For more information, visit http://www.brunomars.com.ion of the tale of vampire love, boundless friendship, acceptance, and finding your true self. The project, based on the fourth novel in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, is written by Melissa Rosenberg with Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt and Stephenie Meyer producing.

The soundtrack for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK will be released on November 8, 2011. In addition to Bruno Mars’ “It Will Rain,” THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK features new tracks from an extraordinary array of artists, including Christina Perri, The Joy Formidable, The Belle Brigade, Theophilus London, and Mia Maestro. Iron & Wine, who were featured on TWILIGHT – ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK, return with a newly recorded version of their song “Flightless Bird, American Mouth.”

Bruno Mars took a break from the European leg of his tour to call in to “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” Monday to give us hints where his hit song “It Will Rain” may appear in upcoming Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 when released on November 18.

Bruno began by apologizing for the delay in releasing his “It Will Rain” music video saying, “I’m sorry about that. I take it very seriously. If it’s not right I don’t want to put it out.”

“I started writing it a little bit on tour. I was just writing to write. I had my guitar with me on tour when I was in the states. I never finished it. The opportunity came up to go see some scenes in “Breaking Dawn.” When I saw a couple of the scenes I was like “That song I started might be perfect for this.” Definitely watching the movie inspired me to finish writing the song.”

Bruno further hinted, “I seen a couple of things…I might have seen them get married.”

Read the full story at KIIS FM here.

Where do you think ‘It Will Rain’ should appear in the movie?

Hot Topic are hosting an exclusive listening party for the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack! Twilight fans hungry for the new album ahead of its November 8 release date can head to their local Hot Topic this Saturday November 5 at 3:00 PM local time to hear the soundtrack and shop their wide selection of new Breaking Dawn goodies.

Customers who purchase $25 or more of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn merchandise in stores will receive an Edward and Bella wedding invitation (pictured below) as a free gift while supplies last.

Read more at the official soundtrack site here.

“I always thought of this movie as the bookend to the first movie, and that was such a great powerful, romantic song for those characters,” he told MTV News during a phone interview last week. “It just felt right to kind of refer back to it at this important, important moment,” he added about “Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” the first of the two-part finale.

Of course, Condon wouldn’t reveal exactly which important moment this song will accompany in the November 18 film, leaving fans to wonder whether its delicate strains will find their way into the wedding itself or perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Cullen’s first dance as man and wife.

Condon did divulge, however, that the song is just one of many callbacks to earlier “Twilight Saga” films.

“[There are] quite a few,” he confirmed. “Musically, I would say at the wedding there’s a jazz quartet that plays a couple of tracks from ‘Eclipse.’ Carter Burwell has come back to do the score. He did the first movie, so ‘Bella’s Lullaby’ features in this movie too.”

Moral of the story: Keep your eyes and ears peeled for touching tributes to “Breaking Dawn” predecessors.

Read more at MTV here.

(Thanks Noor!)

I love the song, I don’t care where they use it!

Are you glad that ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth’ is back for Breaking Dawn – Part 1?

Yeah, I think I sigh out loud when I hear this song. It’s just so gentle and beautiful. I’m so glad they brought this song back for Breaking Dawn after being such a big part of Twilight.

What do you think of the wedding version of ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth’?

(Thanks Noor!)

Brother-sister duo the Belle Brigade didn’t set out to write “I Didn’t Mean It” for the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack, but it came out ideally suited to the mood of the hyper-romantic vampire flick. “We wrote ‘I Didn’t Mean It’ while housesitting for our friend with a piano,” says frontwoman Barbara Gruska. “We pretty much wrote the whole song in a few hours, which is a lot faster than usual. We were really excited about the song when we wrote it, and it kind of sat around for a little while until we were asked for material for Twilight. The song is about jealousy, so it works well with the whole Twilight love triangle.”

Read the full story on Rolling Stone here. You can also check out more on The Belle Brigade here.

I do love this song. At heart I’m just not a pop fan, but this song definitely works for me.

What do you think of the lyric video for The Belle Brigade’s ‘I Didn’t Mean It’?

“When I screened the movie, it was definitely one of my favorite days ever,” she told MTV News on the set of the video for her “Breaking Dawn” track, “A Thousand Years.” “I went with all these Hollywood people, and they were there for work, and I was there for work to get inspired to write a song, but I was an über-fan, like, sitting in the front crying. And I had the best time ever.”

So did the film live up to all her expectations? “The movie was unbelievable!” she gushed. “It’s my favorite now, so I definitely had the best time ever. [It's my] favorite of the whole series. It definitely blew my mind, and I will say, I can’t say anything about it, [but] I will say that if you’re a ‘Twilight’ fan, you will be very happy, ’cause it was my favorite one.”

Perri notes that previously revealed plot points, like the wedding, honeymoon and birth scene, live up to the hype. “I think the fans are most excited about the wedding, the sex scene and then the baby, but they’re the three best parts of the book,” she said. “But everyone’s going to be really happy. I don’t know how I kept this all a secret. I respect the privacy of the gigantic franchise. Why would you want to give it away?”

“I wrote [the song] for Edward and Bella in their perspective,” Perri explained, calling the song “pretty, classical and simple.” “It’s the purest love song I think I could have possibly written. It’s about the simplest kind of love and a timeless love.

“I’ve been a really big ‘Twilight’ fan for years. For me, it just has to do most with the love story between Edward and Bella. I feel like it’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ and they just happen to be vampires and there’s werewolves. I loved the story from day one.”

Perri said that being such a “Twilight” fan makes having her song on the soundtrack that much more meaningful. “The fact that my dream came true … still blows my mind, and I don’t think I’ve fully processed it yet, even though we’re on the set of the music video,” she said. “I feel like maybe when we’re at the premiere and I see it in the movie is when it’ll really hit me because it just seems so dream-like. I feel so honored. It feels really epic.”

Read more at MTV here and here.