Natural Talent and Ceaseless Dedication Leads Composer Samantha Van Der Sluis to Makes a Powerful Mark in Film
The age old question of ‘nature vs. nurture’ is one that philosophers and psychologists have debated for centuries. The most common belief today is that it’s a little of both.
The story of film composer Samantha Van Der Sluis’ journey into the world of music is one that truly reveals that some people are in fact born with astonishing natural talent; but her success in the film industry, and as a composer overall, arose from her inner drive and the ability to follow through on nurturing that talent.
“It wasn’t until high school that I started learning music. I was 15 years old when I started watching YouTube videos and learning to play some songs on the piano. I asked my dad to take me to the piano shop, and he was so surprised that I was able to play piano that we bought a piano that day,” Samantha recalls. “I received piano lessons in order to learn how to read music and my first lesson consisted of playing advanced music by Bach and Chopin, it just seemed to click with me!”
By the time she graduated high school back home in Cairns, Australia, Samantha received the highest award for piano performance given by the Australian Music Examination Board — and that was after only three years of piano lessons! By age 22 she had created the composition ‘Searching for Home,’ which was selected by Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra and Uilleann pipes soloist Maitiu O Casaide to be performed on their 2016 World Tour. An impressive accomplishment for even the most tenured composer.
As a composer she made a huge mark at the highest musical level at an incredibly young age; and while these early accolades have revealed her skill to the masses, they’ve been mere stepping stones in the grander scheme of what she set out to accomplish.
Samantha recalls, “My passion for storytelling came first. When I was younger, I tried making some animation ‘movies’ on the computer… I was especially passionate about animation films and wondered for years what exactly was making scenes seem more emotional than what was showing visually. I realized it was the music and wanted to pursue that.”
She got her break into the film industry as the lead composer on the film “Fifteen Years” before being tapped to compose the score for Stephen Hall’s (“Sinners,” “Small Talk”) 2016 dramatic film “Day Off,” a film that put her on the map in a big way.
Starring Irish Film and Television Award nominee Dawn Bradfield (“The Clinic,” “Pure Mule,” “The Gift”) and Joe Mullins (“Property of the State,” “The Clockmaker’s Dream”), “Day Off” centers on Brendan (Mullins), a 50-year-old man suffering from dementia, and his wife Laura (Bradfield), who spends most of her time taking care of him. When Laura receives a call on her day off that Brendan’s gone missing, she has a good idea where he’s wandered off to.
As Brendan walks through town flooded by memories of their wedding day and struggles to make sense of them, a soft, sparse piano melody plays in the background, which perfectly captures the isolation the deteriorating character feels, and drives home the overwhelming emotion of the scene.
“The score expresses solo instruments which feel intimate and vulnerable. The film focused on the ideas of loss and solitude so I brought out these emotions through the music” explains Samantha. “It begins with a sparse, minimal texture and evolves into a more orchestrated, thick texture, which constantly repeats itself. The act of repetition is a little ironic, due to portraying a character who is having trouble remembering certain life moments, but because one of his important memories is still there, his wedding, the repetitive music pieces seem to work.”
The score Samantha created for the film also does a brilliant job of simultaneously communicating the pain Laura feels as she watches her husband’s mental faculties slip away and the seemingly inexhaustible love she has for him.
“Day Off” producer Ronen Cassidy says, “Samantha added another 50 percent of the production value to the film with the quality of her music. The main theme for Laura the main character added a lot more sadness and vulnerability to her.”
Laura ultimately finds Brendan sitting in a bedroom of the hotel where they were married. There, she comforts him as he sits frustrated by his inability to fully remember everything. Over the course of the film the volume and texture of Samantha’s composition builds with intensity leading us up to this pivotal moment. The music then reverts back to the subtle four-bar chord progression and single one-note piano melody that opens the film, a choice on Samantha’s part that heightens the deeply intimate feeling the couple experiences as they sit in the hotel where they were married so many years before.
Earning a nomination for the Best Score Award from Ireland’s Underground Cinema Awards, Samantha received extensive international attention for her role as the film’s composer. “Day Off” received nominations for four other awards at the Underground Cinema Awards, a Kinsale Shark Award nomination and three award nominations from the Richard Harris International Film Festival where it took home the Newport Beach Competition Award.
Samantha says, “Film music is so expressive and reflective of a character’s thoughts and feelings as well as the mood of the scene. The director and composer work close together to achieve a marriage between visuals and music to represent the vision of the film.”
Since beginning her career as a film composer just a few years ago Samantha has continued to be tapped as the lead composer for several powerful works, such as Scare-A-Con Film Festival nominee Travis Bain’s (“Throwback”) 2017 thriller “Landfall” starring Australian Screen Industry Network Award winner Tony Bonner (“Quigley Down Under”). She was also personally requested by “Day Off” director Stephen Hall to be the composer on his new thriller film “Nightshift,” which recently wrapped production and has been purchased by Archstone Distribution.
With work that speaks for itself and says leagues about her power skill, Samantha quickly caught the attention of some of the field’s most prominent composers, such as Primetime Emmy Award winner Jeff Russo. Recognized for her staggering musical aptitude, she became a key member in Russo’s music departments on major films and television series such as the three-time Golden Globe Award winning series “Fargo” and the hit CBS series “Star Trek: Discovery,” as well as the film “Lizzie” starring Kristen Stewart, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017. She was also tapped to join eight-time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard’s music department on the Oscar Award winning film “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” where she arranged the musical suite under the direction of Mark Graham (“Ready Player One,” “The Simpsons,” “American Dad!”).
At the end of the day, it’s Samantha’s talent, ceaseless dedication to perfecting her skill, and a burning love for film music that has led her to skyrocket to the top of one of the most competitive industries in the world; and she is the perfect example of what’s possible when one cultivates their natural gifts. She’s definitely one composer that audiences will want to keep their eyes out for when the credits roll.
“I wanted to tell stories through music, and bring the visuals to life through music, and film music was absolutely the right path.”
