Conducting for Film Composition Students

Last month, I had the opportunity to be a guest lecturer at UCLA Extension for Film Scoring. This was my third time teaching film composition students in Prof. Mark Smythe's class how to conduct their final pieces. Each student has to compose a 1 to 2 minute piece for a scene from a movie (usually an action scene) and conduct it, recording with live musicians. Prof. Smythe always selects awesome scenes to compose music to - scenes from movies like Iron Man and The Dark Knight. 

It is always an wonderful to hear each student's music written for the same scene, similar yet so different from each other. And what a thrilling experience it must be for them to hear their own music played with live instruments...amazing reward for all their hard work. I wish all these composers so much luck in their future endeavors!!