Herman Witkam Explained

Birth Date:19 March 1985
Origin:Leiden, Netherlands
Genre:Film scores
Occupation:Composer, Multi-instrumentalist, Sound designer, producer
Instrument:Duduk, Shakuhachi, Guitar, Bass guitar, Udu, Quena, Bawu, Hulusi, Low whistle, Native American flute, Recorder, Fujara, Darabuka
Years Active:2005–present

Herman Witkam (born 19 March 1985) is a Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his scores to motion pictures. During his studies at the Utrecht School of the Arts, Witkam worked on a number of online shorts through the DVXUser online film festivals. For two of these films, Rekindled and A Little Mouth to Feed, both directed by Jack Daniel Stanley, Witkam won awards at the Shriekfest and HollyShorts Film Festival respectively.

Career

After graduating, Witkam started working mainly on feature films and television drama, but also documentaries, such as Eric Walter's My Amityville Horror, which screened at the BFI London Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, and was named one of the top 15 festival horror films of 2012 by Bloody Disgusting.[1] The Dutch mobile phone thriller APP, for which Witkam composed a hybrid score of orchestra and electronics was released in a limited theatrical run in the US on May 9, 2014, and uses audio digital watermarking technology to give viewers a fully integrated second screen that complements the film.[2] Witkam also scored the youth drama Spijt (Regret), which received grand prizes at the Giffoni Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival's TIFF Kids and the European Film Award in the youth category, amongst a total of around 30 festival awards worldwide.[3]

Ethnic Instruments

Witkam frequently uses traditional musical instruments like the Armenian duduk and Japanese shakuhachi in his work, which he performs himself, often using improvisation as a composing technique. As a multi-instrumentalist, Herman has performed on video game titles such as Mortal Kombat 11, Total War Rome II and Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, and internationally co-produced pictures such as and The King Maker.

Selected filmography

Film
YearTitle
2010Golden Earrings
2011Train to Stockholm
2011Mila's Journey
2011Claustrofobia
2012My Amityville Horror
2012Mike Says Goodbye
2012Class Of Fun (aka Mister Twister)
2013Regret
2013APP
2013Sensei Redenshon
2013Mister Twister Goes Camping
2013According To Robert
2014Painkillers
2014Hamartía - More Or Less Louis van Gasteren
2014Mister Twister On Stage
2015According To Jacqueline
2016The Free Market
2016Mister Twister At The Pitch
2017Mister Twister (drama series, S1)
2017My Giraffe
2019Mister Twister 5
2020Mister Twister (drama series, S2)

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

External links

Notes and References

  1. Mitchell. Cory. December 28, 2012. Corey Mitchell's Top 15 Festival Horror Films of 2012. Bloody Disgusting.
  2. Mitchell. Robert. March 11, 2013. Don't Turn Off Your Phone During This Horror Pic. Variety.
  3. Dijksterhuis. Edo. March 31, 2014. Spijt! uitgeroepen tot beste Europese jeugdfilm. De Filmkrant (In Dutch).