The word “Oticons” is a combination of two ancient Greek words: ota (ears) and ikon (image). Our intention was to find a brand name that was our own, simple and direct synonym for “film music”, because for the founders of Oticons talent agency, film music is a unique art form that is difficult to put into words and whose universal meaning and nature is equally difficult to describe. However, since film music is directly related to the art of cinema, there is a specific variety of symptoms and effects that have a great influence on it, simply because it is also obligatory for film music to follow the modern norms of the film industry. There are currently certain facts in this industry that really worry us and that we could no longer ignore; these facts became our motive to organize the Oticons Faculty International Film Music Competition.
It is indeed a sad reality that certain styles of music now dominate almost every single one of the thousands of films produced worldwide every year, from the biggest blockbuster to the smallest indie film. This is why more and more filmmakers, or content producers as the industry likes to call them, are complaining that almost everything they hear has the same "sound". At the same time, more and more film composers are complaining about how often they encounter less visionary filmmakers who are unable to share their vision with a film composer. The most worrying fact, however, is that film composers today are forced to take on the role of a music content producer who has to use his digital toolbox efficiently, and thus have almost no chance to prove their own talent as an artist in the filmmaking process, which still serves a great and unique art.
In fact, the world definitely doesn't need more producers of content that always ends up sounding the same, but it does need high-quality film music, and that's an aspect that we don't think any other competition has drawn attention to so far. We believe that our world lacks timeless music that can be identified with a specific context while standing on its own.
The Oticons Faculty Competition was created to find the people with this unique vision who will nurture and develop it. We want to motivate the already working composers and the aspiring film composers to participate in this competition and prove that what is considered an “impossible” task to realise in a film or a soundtrack album in today's film music landscape is actually still possible and not a lost art that has long since become a simple-minded craft. Undoubtedly, there are numerous talented artists in every corner of the world waiting for the spark that will spur them on and make them prove that they really can stand out from everyone else!
In short, the Oticons faculty competition is meant to be a wake-up call. It should enable talented film composers to unleash their highest compositional abilities, allow them to reach musical depths beyond the mainstream and, above all, inspire them to achieve the highest aesthetics of film music.
We would like to welcome you to the Oticons Faculty Competition and thank you in advance for your valuable support. We very much hope that with this initiative we can shape the future of film music together with all of you! And we wish good luck to all those who see this as a calling and take part.
Good luck!
the Oticons Faculty Team