Louis Febre
Encyclopedia
Louis Febre is a Mexican born composer, best known for his work on the television series Smallville
. He also won an Emmy Award
for his score to The Cape in 1997.
, Febre composed his first works for the piano at age 8 while studying piano at a private academy in Northern Mexico. In 1973, his family moved to Los Angeles where he continued his study of the piano under the tutelage of Robert Turner and Francoise Regnat.
Febre went on to formal composition study with Lorraine Kimball and Frank Campo. During this period, he wrote several chamber works and other large form compositions.
, a partnership that would produce successful collaborative efforts such as the movie Doctor Who in 1996 and led to Louis’ first television series The Cape which would earn him an Emmy in 1997 for Best Dramatic Underscore.
Febre has enjoyed success with the movies Swimfan
(2000), Tower of Terror
(Disney) and a set of Scooby-Doo straight-to-video movies in 2001. He earned an Annie Award nomination for his score for Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders
. That same year, he won a Pixie Award for the independent short film: Revenge of the Red Balloon. According to some critics, his score for Alien Trespass
transcended the tepid reviews of the film itself. Variety (magazine)
compared it to the classic sci-fi scores of noted composer Bernard Herrmann
.
In 2001, Febre collaborated with Steve Jablonsky
on the first season of the hit television series Desperate Housewives
. As an additional orchestrator, he worked again with John Debney on Cats & Dogs
, Jimmy Neutron, the Disney film Chicken Little
, Disney World Tokyo, and with Mark Snow
on The X-Files
(1998).
. With the departure of Mark Snow from Smallville
, Febre became the credited composer in season seven. His score reflected the maturation of the series' protagonist, Clark Kent
: "as Clark grew emotionally and intellectually more complex, [he] found a need to comment musically on his growth, and as he drew closer to his Superman persona, it became obvious that a 'Superman' theme would be required."
Febre maintains a prominent presence in the Smallville fan community. He is a featured personality on fan sites where he blogs about his process for composing for the show, and several fan magazines have published interviews with him on the subject of score composition for Smallville.
The 2011 released Smallville Score From The Complete Series Vol. 1 [2011] With Mark Snow
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
. He also won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for his score to The Cape in 1997.
Life
Born in the city of Saltillo, MexicoSaltillo
Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....
, Febre composed his first works for the piano at age 8 while studying piano at a private academy in Northern Mexico. In 1973, his family moved to Los Angeles where he continued his study of the piano under the tutelage of Robert Turner and Francoise Regnat.
Febre went on to formal composition study with Lorraine Kimball and Frank Campo. During this period, he wrote several chamber works and other large form compositions.
Career
In 1992, Febre was employed by B-movie company PM Entertainment, where he discovered his true compositional passion: film scoring. In 1996, he met his mentor John DebneyJohn Debney
John C. Debney is an American film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ...
, a partnership that would produce successful collaborative efforts such as the movie Doctor Who in 1996 and led to Louis’ first television series The Cape which would earn him an Emmy in 1997 for Best Dramatic Underscore.
Febre has enjoyed success with the movies Swimfan
Swimfan
Swimfan, also known as Fanatica, is a 2002 erotic thriller film directed by John Polson and written by Charles Bohl and Phillip Schneider. Considered a Fatal Attraction for a teenage audience, the film stars Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen, and Shiri Appleby.-Plot:Ben Cronin is a a star swimmer...
(2000), Tower of Terror
Tower of Terror
Tower of Terror may refer to:* The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, an accelerated freefall ride located in many Disney theme parks** Tower of Terror , a TV movie based on the Disney attraction...
(Disney) and a set of Scooby-Doo straight-to-video movies in 2001. He earned an Annie Award nomination for his score for Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders is the third of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 3, 2000, and it was produced, starting in 1999, by Warner Bros. Animation...
. That same year, he won a Pixie Award for the independent short film: Revenge of the Red Balloon. According to some critics, his score for Alien Trespass
Alien Trespass
Alien Trespass is a 2009 science-fiction comedy film based on 1950s sci-fi B movies. It stars Eric McCormack and Robert Patrick . The film was shot in Ashcroft, B.C.-Plot:...
transcended the tepid reviews of the film itself. Variety (magazine)
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
compared it to the classic sci-fi scores of noted composer Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
.
In 2001, Febre collaborated with Steve Jablonsky
Steve Jablonsky
Steven Jablonsky is an American music composer for film, television and video games. He has been the music director for all the Michael Bay movies produced and directed since The Island...
on the first season of the hit television series Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
. As an additional orchestrator, he worked again with John Debney on Cats & Dogs
Cats & Dogs
Cats & Dogs is a 2001 American-Australian action-comedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman. The screenplay by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra centers on the relationships between cats and dogs. It was shot in Victoria and Vancouver. The film was released on July 4, 2001 by Warner Bros...
, Jimmy Neutron, the Disney film Chicken Little
Chicken Little (2005 film)
Chicken Little is a 2005 computer-animated science fiction family comedy film loosely based on the fable The Sky Is Falling. It was the 46th animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation...
, Disney World Tokyo, and with Mark Snow
Mark Snow
Mark Snow is an American composer for film and television.Born in New York, he grew up in Brooklyn, graduating from the High School of Music and Art and, afterwards, the Juilliard School of Music...
on The X-Files
The X-Files (film)
The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files...
(1998).
Smallville
Febre is probably best known for his work on the hit television series SmallvilleSmallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
. With the departure of Mark Snow from Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
, Febre became the credited composer in season seven. His score reflected the maturation of the series' protagonist, Clark Kent
Clark Kent
Clark Kent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
: "as Clark grew emotionally and intellectually more complex, [he] found a need to comment musically on his growth, and as he drew closer to his Superman persona, it became obvious that a 'Superman' theme would be required."
Febre maintains a prominent presence in the Smallville fan community. He is a featured personality on fan sites where he blogs about his process for composing for the show, and several fan magazines have published interviews with him on the subject of score composition for Smallville.
The 2011 released Smallville Score From The Complete Series Vol. 1 [2011] With Mark Snow
Awards
| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Emmy Award Emmy Award An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various... - Best Dramatic Underscore: The Cape |
Win |
| 1998 | BMI Broadcast Music Incorporated Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed... TV Music Award |
Win |
| 2001 | Pixie Award - Best Music Score: Revenge of the Red Balloon | Win |
| 2001 | Annie Award Annie Award The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972... - Best Music Score: Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders |
Nomination |
Television
| Title | Studio |
|---|---|
| Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels (2011 TV series) Charlie's Angels is an American reboot television series developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar for ABC, based upon the 1976 series of the same name created by Ivan Goff, and Ben Roberts. The series ran on ABC from September 22, 2011 to November 10, 2011.Charlie's Angels was canceled on October... |
Sony Sony , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues.... /ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... |
| Smallville Smallville Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross... |
Warner Bros./WB |
| Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W... |
Touchstone Television Touchstone Television ABC Studios is the television production division of Disney-ABC Television Group. ABC Studios was established as Touchstone Television in 1985 and given its current name in May 2007.... /ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... |
| Birds of Prey Birds of Prey (TV series) Birds of Prey is a television drama series produced in 2002. The series was developed by Laeta Kalogridis for The WB and is loosely based on the Birds of Prey DC Comics series... |
Warner Bros./WB |
| The Fugitive | Warner Bros./WB |
| Mr Murder | Pratchett-Kaufman/ABC |
| Medusa's Child | Topanga Productions/NBC NBC The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago... |
| The Cape | MTM Television MTM Enterprises MTM Enterprises was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS... /CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of... |
| LA Heat | PM Entertainment |
Feature Films
| Title | Director | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Control | Tim Hunter | Millenium Films |
| Nine Lives | David Carson | Millenium Films |
| Swimfan Swimfan Swimfan, also known as Fanatica, is a 2002 erotic thriller film directed by John Polson and written by Charles Bohl and Phillip Schneider. Considered a Fatal Attraction for a teenage audience, the film stars Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen, and Shiri Appleby.-Plot:Ben Cronin is a a star swimmer... |
John Polson John Polson John Polson is an Australian actor, director and founder of Tropfest. In February 2001, Polson attended the 12th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in Hokkaidō, Japan where his film Siam Sunset won the Minami Toshiko Award... |
20th Century Fox 20th Century Fox Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios... |
| A Woman's A Helluva Thing | Karen Leigh Hopkins | Regent Entertainment |
| Jack and Gord | John Comri | C3 Productions, Inc. |
| Hobb's End | Philip David Segal | A.V.R.I.O. Filmworks/Avrio Filmworks/Polestar Entertainment Group |
Video Feature Films
| Title | Director | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Scooby-Doo And The Cyber Chase Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase is the fourth of a series of direct-to-video animated films based on Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 9, 2001. It features the Mystery, Inc. gang, which includes Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Freddy, Daphne and Velma... |
Jim Strenstrum | Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century... Prod. |
| Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders is the third of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on October 3, 2000, and it was produced, starting in 1999, by Warner Bros. Animation... |
Jim Strenstrum | Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century... Prod. |
| Scooby-Doo And The Witch's Ghost | Example | Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century... Prod. |
| The Force | Mark Rossman | Republic Entertainment |
| Last Man Standing | Joseph Merhi | PM Entertainment |
| Martial Outlaw | Karl Anderson | Image Organization |
| Private Wars | John Weidner | PM Entertainment |
| Rage | Youssef Kdiry, Joseph Merhi | PM Entertainment |
| Scanner Cop Scanner Cop Scanner Cop is a 1994 Canadian film. It is the fourth film in the Scanners series and the first film in the Scanner Cop series. It was written, produced, and directed by Pierre David.-Plot:... |
Pierre David | Image Organization |
| Serial Killer | Pierre David | Image Organization |
| The Silencers | Richard Pepin | PM Entertainment |
| Two Bits & Pepper | Carey Michael Eubanks | Republic Pictures |
Cable Films
| Title | Director | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Time Bomb | Steven Gyllenhaal | Viacom Viacom Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television... /CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of... |
| Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life | Tom McLoughlin Tom McLoughlin Tom McLoughlin is an American screenwriter, film/television director and former mime whose credits include numerous television movies, such as Murder in Greenwich, the feature film Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and the 2009 Lifetime Movie Network film The Wronged Man.In 1977 McLoughlin was... |
Working Title/Lifetime Lifetime Lifetime may refer to:*Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive*Mean lifetime, a certain number that characterizes the rate of reduction of a particle of an assembly... |
| 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story is a 2004 television movie produced by ESPN documenting the life of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, his poor upbringing in Kannapolis, North Carolina, his rise to dominance in NASCAR, his relationship with his son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and his death in the 2001 Daytona 500... |
Russell Mulcahy | Orly Adelson Prod/ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming.... |
| Red Water | Charles Robert Carner | Sony Pictures/TBS TBS (TV channel) TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s... |
| Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story is an American TV film directed by Peter Levin. It was first released on April 7, 2003 in the United States. This movie is adapted from Liz Murray's autobiography, which named Breaking Night, written by herself.... |
Peter Levin | Patriarch Pictures / Lifetime |
| Christmas Rush | Charles Robert Carner | Sony Pictures TV/TBS |
| Dead In A Heartbeat | Dan Sackheim | Shavick Entertainment / TBS |
| Hidden Target | Armand Mastroianni | Columbia TriStar TV / TBS |
| First Target | Armand Mastroianni | Columbia TriStar TV / TBS |
| Nowhere To Run | Armand Mastroianni | Columbia TriStar TV / TBS |
| Final Run | Armand Mastroianni | Columbia TriStar TV / TBS |
| First Daughter | Armand Mastroianni | Columbia TriStar TV / TBS |
| To Love, Honor and Betray | Peter Levin | Orly Adelson / CBS |
| My Father's Shadow | Peter Levin | Jaffe Braunstein Films / CBS |
| Tower Of Terror | D.J. McHale | Disney TV / ABC |
| Doctor Who | Geoffrey Sax | Universal Studios Universal Studios Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios.... TV / FOX |
| The Secretary | Andrew Lane | Imagine / CBS |
External links
- Louis Febre
- Louis Febre at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Louis Febre interview in Durance Magazine
- Gorfane/Schwartz Agency Louis Febre