John Paesano

Last updated

John Paesano
Born (1977-07-02) July 2, 1977 (age 47)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres Film and television scores, video game scores, classical rock, ambient rock, electronic rock
Occupation(s)Composer, conductor, arranger, musician
Instruments Piano, keyboards, synthesizer
Years active1997–present
Website johnpaesano.com

John Paesano (born July 2, 1977) is an American composer working primarily in film, television, and video games. He is known for collaborating with director Wes Ball on the Maze Runner film trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , as well as composing for the Marvel Television series Daredevil and The Defenders. As a video game composer, he has contributed music to the acclaimed titles Detroit: Become Human and the three installments in the Marvel's Spider-Man series. Paesano won the BAFTA Games Award for Music ( Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales ), as well as the D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition ( Marvel's Spider-Man 2 ).

Contents

Biography

Paesano was born in Birmingham, Michigan. He first studied classical music at Conservatoire de Paris located in Parc de la Villette, France before continuing his studies at Berklee College of Music pursuing a major in musical composition and film scoring. John knew from the age of nine years old, he wanted to become a music composer. [1] He then worked under composers Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams providing additional music for the former, and orchestrating for the latter. [2] Paesano cites Steven Spielberg's 1987 film Empire of the Sun as his motivation for getting into film scoring. [3]

In 2014, Paesano was hired to compose the music for The Maze Runner . Speaking of the job, he recalled seeing Wes Ball's 2011 short film, Ruin and was intrigued by it, composing a short demo (which eventually would become the "Maze Runner" theme) for Ball. He visited the sets in New Orleans, observing the "environmental soundscape" and tried to incorporate the natural sounds into his score. He recorded the score with an orchestra at the Newman Scoring Stage with sessions running for 2 weeks. Paesano would later return to score the 2nd and 3rd film of the series, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Maze Runner: The Death Cure . [2] [4]

Paesano was later tasked with composing the score to Spider-Man developed by Insomniac Games, joining the game's development in the early stages. He worked with game director Bryan Intihar and brought about creating several character themes, emphasising the need for the music to be its "own character" in the game. [5] Paesano ensured that his music struck a balance between the cinematics and the gameplay as he wanted the player to be fully immersed. He looked at distinguishing his music from past Spider-Man films and games and decided to focus on creating a musical identity for Peter Parker. [6]

In 2021, he composed the music for the Avengers Campus themed area at Disney California Adventure, combining themes from the MCU's Avengers , Spider-Man , Doctor Strange , Guardians of the Galaxy , Ant-Man , Captain Marvel , and Black Panther films; a single entitled "Welcome Recruits" was released in April 2022. [7]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirector(s)Studio(s)Notes
2007 Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix Sebastian Montes
Scooter Tidwell		 Cartoon Network Studios Television film
2008 Another Cinderella Story Damon Santostefano Warner Home Video
Warner Premiere 		Direct-to-video film
2010 Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Lauren Montgomery Warner Home Video
Warner Premiere
Warner Bros. Animation
2011 S.W.A.T.: Firefight Benny Boom Stage 6 Films
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
2014 When the Game Stands Tall Thomas Carter TriStar Pictures
The Maze Runner Wes Ball 20th Century Fox
2015 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
My All American Angelo Pizzo Clarius Entertainment
2016 Brain on Fire Gerard Barrett Broad Green Pictures
Almost Christmas David E. Talbert Universal Pictures
2017 All Eyez on Me Benny Boom Morgan Creek Productions
Same Kind of Different as Me Michael Carney Paramount Pictures
The Star Timothy Reckart Columbia Pictures
Sony Pictures Animation
2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Wes Ball 20th Century Fox
2020 Tesla Michael Almereyda IFC Films
The Secrets We Keep Yuval Adler Bleecker Street
2021 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Swinton O. Scott III Walt Disney Pictures
Bardel Entertainment [8]
Disney+
2022 Cheaper by the Dozen Gail Lerner Walt Disney Pictures
Disney+
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules [9] Luke Cormican Walt Disney Pictures
Bardel Entertainment
Disney+
Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again [9] Matt Danner Walt Disney Pictures
21 Laps Entertainment
Atomic Cartoons
Disney+
Alibaba Pictures
2023 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever Luke Cormican Walt Disney Pictures
Bardel Entertainment
Disney+
2024 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Wes Ball 20th Century Studios
Oddball Entertainment
Jason T. Reed Productions

Television

YearTitle
2011 Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
2012–2018 DreamWorks Dragons
2014 Crisis
2015–2018 Daredevil
2017 The Defenders
2017–2018 Salvation
2019–2023 Truth Be Told
2019–2022 Devils
2019 Charmed
2020 Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
2021 The Hot Zone: Anthrax
2021–present Leonardo
Invincible

Video games

YearTitleDirector(s)Studio(s)Notes
2017 Mass Effect: Andromeda Mac Walters BioWare / Electronic Arts Debut work as video game composer
Gran Turismo Sport Kazunori Yamauchi Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment Also used in Gran Turismo 7
2018 Detroit: Become Human David Cage
Gregory Diaconu		 Quantic Dream Composed the soundtrack for Markus, one of the main protagonists
Marvel's Spider-Man Bryan Intihar
Ryan Smith		 Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment / Marvel Games Also composed for the game's downloadable content Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps
2020 Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Brian Horton
Cameron Christian
2023 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Bryan Intihar
Ryan Smith

Theme park attractions

YearAttractionLocation(s)Ref.
2021 Avengers Campus Disney California Adventure [7]

Awards

WorkYearAwardOutcomeRef.
DreamWorks Dragons 2012 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production (for "How to Pick Your Dragon")Won [10]
The Maze Runner 2014 IFMCA Awards for Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller FilmNominated [11]
2015 World Soundtrack Award for Public Choice Award Won [12]
The Defenders 2018 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Nominated [13]
Marvel's Spider-Man The Game Award for Best Score/Music Nominated [14]
HMMA Award for Best Original Score – Video Game Nominated [15]
2019 D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Nominated [16]
Detroit: Become Human Nominated [17]
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales 2021 BAFTA Games Award for Music Won [18]
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 2024 D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Won [19]
BAFTA Games Award for Music Nominated [20]
2025 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media Pending [21]

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References

  1. ↑ @ExBee (February 12, 2021). "The ExBee Podcast: S1E5 | John Paesano Interview" . Retrieved August 23, 2021– via YouTube.
  2. 1 2 Hannett, Michelle (September 12, 2014). "WAMG Talks To THE MAZE RUNNER Composer John Paesano". We Are Movie Geeks. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  3. ↑ Rozeman, Mark (April 6, 2016). "Devil's in the Details: Daredevil Composer John Paesano on Scoring Hell's Kitchen". Paste . Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Interview: 'Daredevil' Season 2 Composer John Paesano". Geeks of Doom. March 21, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  5. ↑ Wood, Chandler (September 12, 2018). "Composing Peter Parker – The Music of Marvel's Spider-Man with Composer John Paesano". PlayStation Lifestyle. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  6. ↑ Dedmon, Tanner (October 3, 2018). "How 'Marvel's Spider-Man' Harmonized Web-Swinging With Music". ComicBook.com . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Music from Disneyland's Avengers Campus Released". Film Music Reporter. April 22, 2022. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ Howard, Courtney (December 3, 2021). "'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Review: Animated Reboot Delivers Plenty of Familiar Charms". Variety. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021. A Disney Plus release of a Bardel Entertainment Production
  9. 1 2 Schonewill, Kyle; Earle, Robby (March 17, 2022). "What's New in the MCU with John Paesano". Friends From Work: An Unofficial Marvel Podcast (Podcast). Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  10. ↑ Patten, Dominic (February 2, 2013). "Annie Awards: 'Wreck-It-Ralph' Wins 5 Including Feature, Robot Chicken 'DC Comics Special' TV, 'Paperman' Best Short". Deadline . Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  11. ↑ "IFMC Awards 2014". IFMCA: the International Film Music Critics Association. February 20, 2015. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  12. ↑ World Soundtrack Awards (October 24, 2015). "Winners of the 15th World Soundtrack Awards". World Soundtrack Academy. Archived from the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  14. ↑ Crowd, Dan (December 8, 2018). "The Game Awards 2018: All the Winners". IGN . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  15. ↑ Xu, Linda (November 15, 2018). "Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Full List of Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  16. ↑ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Marvel's Spider-Man". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  17. ↑ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Detroit: Become Human". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  18. ↑ Beresford, Trilby; Ritman, Alex (March 25, 2021). "'Hades' Takes Top Honor at BAFTA Games Awards". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Announces Winners of 2023's Best Video Games at 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  20. ↑ "20th BAFTA Games Awards: The Nominations". BAFTA. March 7, 2024. Archived from the original on April 12, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  21. ↑ Willman, Chris (November 8, 2024). "Grammy Nominations 2025: Beyonce Leads With 11 Nods as Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX Are Among Top Nominees". Variety . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
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