JONNY DANCIGER
director, designer, composer
Best
Family
Show
Winner
Edfringe '23
Best
Design
Nominee
Offies '24
Commercial for Mind, 2020
Director - The Nott Brothers
Toy Soldier
Cinecam, 2016
Director - Mark Danciger
This intimate sci-fi short follows a scientist and her friend as they attempt to send a message to themselves in the past. Matters intensify when they receive only the word 'Help' from their future selves, finding themselves in a difficult paradox.
The score aimed to create tension out of repetition, auralising time as a threatening force.
Ticking motifs, pizzicato strings and dissonant looping piano figures created a sense of entrapment. More subtle scoring was created through the spectral treatment of machinery sounds, allowing cold drones to emerge seamlessly from the sound design.
Tachyon
Screen Your Story, 2018
Director - Mark Danciger
The music aimed to create both humour and tension in this self-aware horror-comedy short. A babysitter is left to look after the children of an 'ordinary' family shortly after a mysterious statue has been delivered to the household. The music combined references from gypsy klezmer bands, Danny Elfman's film scores and traditional horror soundtrack. Instruments from the gyspy band jump between comical pastiche lines and creepy tone clusters. The vibraphone acts as a comedic motif every time a character looks into camera.
Due to production time restraints the soundtrack was created within three days.
Left Alone
OUFF, 2016
Director - Mischa Andreski
This quirky short film follows an overly pretentious physical theatre company as they prepare for an 'immersive' showcase. Protagonist Ella feels isolated from the troupe after a failed relationship with the director.
The score balanced an intimate piano motif with an unrelenting drone scape. I wanted to enhance the sense of Ella feeling smothered by the company through the drones rising in prominence, only giving way to the piano when she decides to leave at the end of the film.
Ensemble
The Arbor (Trailer)
Requiem Pictures, 2016
Director - Shannon Britton
DOP - Jake Hatt
Sound Design - Jonny Danciger
The trailer for this short dystopian thriller intercuts between the two main settings of the film - the interrogation room and the club. Disjointed club beats fall out of sync with each other, but in sync with the changes of shot. This creates a sense of unease that grows with spectral drones and metallic scrapes as the trailer focuses on the interrogation room and reaches its climax. A flickering fluorescent bulb at the end
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Flying Pig Theatre, 2017
Director - Cat Bolt
DOP - Alex Wood
Sound Design - Jonny Danciger
This new adaptation of Euripides' Bacchae retold the story using live music, interactive sound technology and physical theatre. The trailer features rescored versions of my choral music from the show for electronics and zither. The music combines tense modern spectral drones with a traditional middle-eastern harmonic language.
Unfortunately the video is now unavailable, but the trailer soundtrack can be listened to here.