scoring

SERIAL

Phillips approached the score to the break-out season of the hit podcast as if it were. Using simple and haunting piano, subtle strings and menacing synths Mark tried to highlight the ambiguity of the story and draw the listeners into the mystery without influencing their opinion on Adnan Syed’s guilt or innocence.

MOST LIKELY TO MURDER

This new film from Lionsgate straddles the line between three genres: coming-home-for-the-holidays indie, murder mystery, and screwball comedy. Phillips score works to act as a glue to bridge these three genres together and also infuse it all with a cohesive feel. The hour-long score shows the diversity of styles Phillips can convincingly capture. 

THE SCARLET E | On the Media

Brooke Gladstone and On the Media teamed up with author Matthew Desmond to make a special series on the eviction crisis in America. Phillips’s score evokes the heartbreaking reality many hardworking Americans face as they bump up against a system that seems as if it was created to make it as difficult as possible for poorer Americans to find and keep an apartment.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE

TAL is the most consistent podcast/radio show out there. Their iconic sound is baked into the DNA of public radio shows and podcasts. Phillips was commissioned to write a batch of songs to be used regularly during their show. The songs need to be used in a wide variety of stories and have that classic “This American Life” feel.

BETYE SAAR | Taking Care of Business

An official selection for Sundance and SxSW and featured as an Op-Doc on NYTimes.com, this short film shows the work and life of a 91 year-old, trailblazing black artist who’s been making provocative pieces since the 60s. Phillips’ score captures the eclectic, collage-like feel of her work.

STRAYS

Using delay-drenched plucked cello, piano and other stringed instruments, Phillips crafted a score that captures the tension of this short film about a young woman who learns she’s pregnant and then drives to her deceased grandmother’s neglected house in the country. Without much dialogue, Phillips’s score captures both the quiet respite of the country and the uneasiness of the main character.

EVERYTHING IS OKAY

Phillips scored this 5-part digital series written by and starring Cirocco Dunlap for Topic.com (First Look Media). The series is somewhere between Black Mirror and the New Yorker's Shouts & Murmurs (for which Dunlap has contributed). Phillips had to create score that was at times scary, funny, and surreal -- but that always captured the ennui of being young and single in the 21st century.  

BAYARD AND ME

Official selection at the Sundance Film Festival 2017.

Phillips wrote cues with a vintage feel that also carry the historical weight of the film’s subjects: civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and his boyfriend Walter Naegle. Rustin was a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. and a respected civil rights leader. In a time when gay marriage was still inconceivable, he and Naegle came up with a creative alternative in Rustin actually adopting Naegle. Phillips score compliments the bittersweet emotions of this moving love story.

HOMECOMING | podcast season 1

Phillips wrote a sparse and haunting score for this critically acclaimed podcast starring Oscar Issac, Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer and Amy Sadaris. His music infused the show with suspense and uneasiness. and helped HOMECOMING win the Peabody Award and go on to become a TV show on Amazon Prime starring Julia Roberts.

STORIES OF THE MIND

Stories of the Mind is a PBS broadcast series that takes a candid look at mental health issues and some new, exciting treatments researchers are exploring. Phillips wrote dramatic and moving music that reflects the suffering of the episodes’ subjects but also captures the exciting new science involved in treating mental illness.

HOLD ON

Official selection for the Sundance Film Festival 2017.

Phillips wrote a score that captures the long and distinguished life of this film’s main character – a grandmother suffering from dementia. Phillips used sul pont strings and an old, slightly out-of-tune piano to help the audience see the world through the grandmother’s confused lens of dementia as her oblivious grandson takes care of her for an afternoon.

PASSENGER LIST

Phillips wrote a suspenseful score and theme song for this narrative fiction podcast starring Kelly Marie Tran. In addition to editing and sound designing the series, Phillips created music that’s helping solidify the genre of fiction audio scoring.

CUTIE AND THE BOXER DVD EXTRA

In addition to his sound design for the Academy Award Nominated Cutie and the Boxer, Phillips composed the music for this hypnotic DVD extra.

AN OPEN SECRET

Phillips added strings arrangements and drones to most of the music in this devastating expose of sexual abuse of child actors in Hollywood. But Phillips also fully wrote several cues for some of the films most emotionally intense moments.

THE ZENO QUESTION

This film is a collection of dozens of short chapters that capture the existential questions that often accompany the first year of college. Phillips created dramatic and comical vignettes to accompany each chapter and play off the films classical Greek literature references and its protagonists dry humor.

PROPHET'S PREY

Prophet’s Prey is a horrifying tale of abuse, abductions and brainwashing within the FLDS Church. Phillips added strings and additional scoring to many of the drones created by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Phillips also wrote entire pieces of his own, like these two tracks.

PLAYING POLITICS (THE GUARDIAN)

Phillips wrote the playful tracks for this short about a high school class in New York City doing their own simulation of the 2016 election. Phillips used prepared piano and solo stringed instruments to give the classroom exercise a more serious feel than it would otherwise have.

GREENWOOD

This meditative short film shot in a lush forest of upstate New York shows the transformation of an oak tree into a traditional rung stool. Using bowed piano strings and never-ending reverbs, Phillips created a score of peaceful, hypnotic drones.

Watch the full film here: http://cabinporn.com/greenwood

KINGSWOOD

Official Selection at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Kingswood is a short-film about a fleeting summer romance between two teens, one of whom is squatting in her dad’s abandoned housing development. This piece by Phillips was used as the final cue and the scoring for the credits.