Dr Miguel Mera

Senior Lecturer, Director of MA Music

Centre for Music Studies  

E: miguel.mera.1@city.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7040 8278
W: www.miguelmera.com

Overview

Dr Miguel Mera is a composer of music for the moving image and a musicologist. He is interested in the combination of practice and theory within the context of contemporary culture and the creative industries.

His work has been screened at film festivals and cinemas around the world. The film Broken (2007) was a finalist in the Kodak Awards, and won the Golden Camera Award at the Nashik International Film Festival, India. What Does Your Daddy Do? (2007) was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. Moth (2005) won the Best Film Award at the Splash Film Festival. Television composition projects include dramas and documentaries for BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, Discovery and History Channels, and Idents for Nickelodeon. The documentary Auschwitz: the Forgotten Evidence (2004) was shortlisted for a BAFTA and nominated for an Indie Award. Ian Hislop's Scouting For Boys (2007) - a documentary about Robert Baden-Powell and the history of the Scout movement-was shortlisted for a prestigious Grierson award.

Dr Mera is also widely published in music and moving image studies and his work includes two books, several refereed journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and other papers. He is the author of Mychael Danna's The Ice Storm: a film score guide (Scarecrow Press, 2007) and co-editor of European Film Music (Ashgate, 2006).

He serves on the editorial board of Music, Sound, and the Moving Image (University of Liverpool Press), Music and the Moving Image (University of Illinois Press), and The Journal of Film Music (Equinox Press).

Prior to joining City in 2010 Dr Mera taught at Anglia Ruskin University (2008-2009), where he developed new provision in popular music, and at the Royal College of Music where he was responsible for Screen Composition (1998-2008).

Dr Mera has led numerous workshops in association with the British Film Institute, Wigmore Hall, South West Music School, Dartington Summer School, BBC Concert Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra. Miguel is a member of BAFTA and served on their Learning and Events Committee for five years.

His contribution to the public understanding of the subject includes appearances on the BBC Proms, Radio 3, and Radio 5 as well as numerous pre-concert talks and events.

As a composer Dr Mera is published and represented by Music Sales and First Name.  For further information see his webpage www.miguelmera.com.

He is Senior Lecturer and Director of the MA Music at City.

Research interests

Composition for the moving image; Film, television and videogame sound; Contemporary instrumental, electronic and digital music; Popular music; Collaborative processes in music creation.

Research and publications

Mera, M. (2009) Little Ashes. dir. Paul Morrison, Factotum/Aria Films/APT Films/Regent Releasing.

Mera, M. (2009) The Satanic Verses Affair, dir. Janice Sutherland, first broadcast Saturday March 7th, 9pm, BBC 2.

Mera, M. (2009) 'Reinventing Question Time' in Derek Scott ed. The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology. Aldershot: Ashgate,pp. 59-83.

Mera, M. ed. (2009) 'Invention/Re-invention' a special edition of Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, (3) 1, University of Liverpool Press.

Selected film compositions

• Mera, M. (2010) Sense Less, dir. Muntesr Bdawi, first screening, tbc.
• Mera, M. (2010) It's a Serendipitous Thing, dir. Cassius Mathias, Zoom Films, first screening tbc.
• Mera, M. (2009) Holler, dir. Cassius Mathias, Zoom Films, first screening National Film Theatre, 14th December.
• Mera, M. (2009) Little Ashes. dir. Paul Morrison, Factotum/Aria Films/APT Films/Regent Releasing.
• Mera, M. (2009) The Satanic Verses Affair, dir. Janice Sutherland, first broadcast Saturday March 7th, 9pm, BBC 2
• Mera, M. (2008) Bucco Blanco, dir. Cassius Mathias, Zoom Films, first screening National Film Theatre, 20th December.
• Mera, M. (2007) Ian Hislop's 'Scouting For Boys', dir. Debbie Lee, Takeaway Media/BBC 4, first broadcast BBC 4,14th May. BBC2, 18th June.
• Mera, M. (2007) Broken, dir. Vicki Psarias, Ten Thousand Films, first screening East End Film Festival, 24th April.
• Mera, M. (2007) Colin's Disco Channel Idents, dir. Tracey Cleland, Nickelodeon, broadcast throughout 2007.
• Mera, M. (2006) Trent 2 Rent, dir. Cassius Mathias, Zoom Films, first screening National Film Theatre, 9th December.
• Mera, M. (2006) What Does Your Daddy Do? dir. Martin Stitt, Sprig Productions, first screening 63rd Venice Film Festival, 30th August-9th September.
• Mera, M. (2006) Chrysalis, dir. Tony Clark, Metamorphosis Productions, first screening Metropolkino, Innsbruck, Austria, 19th October.
• Mera, M. (2006) Horizon: Waiting for a Heartbeat, dir. Sarah Neale, Nobles Gate/BBC, first broadcast BBC2, 19th January.
• Mera, M. (2005) Married to the Prime Minister, producer Cate Haste, Flashback Television/Channel 4, first broadcast Channel 4, 5th December.
• Mera, M. (2005) Versailles, exec. producer Bridget Sneyd, Lion Television/BBC/Discovery, first broadcast BBC 4, throughout March.
• Mera, M. (2005) Moth, dir. Simon Corris, Amulet Films, first screening Odeon Covent Garden, 24th February.
• Mera, M. (2004) Auschwitz: The Forgotten Evidence, dir. Lucy Carter, Flashback TV/Channel 4, first broadcast Channel 4, 29th November.
• Mera, M. (2004) The First World Cup Remembered, dir. Guy Oliver, FIFA, first screening Stade de France, Paris, 20th May.
• Mera, M. (2003) The Goodbye Plane, dir. David Bartlett, Kewhaven Pictures, first screening Los Angeles Film Festival, 16th September.
• Mera, M. (2002) Yellow Bird, dir. Tom Hooper, Icarus Films/LFVDA, first broadcast ITV 1, January 8th 2004, first screening 46th London Film Festival, 15th November.
• Mera, M. (2001) Secrets of the Guillotine, Uden Associates/Five, first broadcast Channel Five, 18th December.
• Mera, M. (2000) The Last Few, Corporate Film Company/Five, first broadcast Channel Five, 22nd August.
• Mera, M. (2000) Sweet Smell of Roses, dir. Sandra Murta, SIADUC, first screening CINANIMA Film Festival, Espinho, Portugal, 18th November.
• Mera, M. (1999) Last Best Friend, dir. Steve Smith, RCA, first screening 43rd London Film Festival, 14th November.
• Mera, M. (1999) 'Fugee Girl, Vicarious Productions/Channel 4, first broadcast Channel 4, 18th September.
  

Written publications

Books

Mera, M. (2007) Mychael Danna's The Ice Storm: a film score guide. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Mera, M. & Burnand, D. eds. (2006) European Film Music. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Chapters in books

Mera, M. (2009) 'Reinventing Question Time' in Derek Scott ed. The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology. Aldershot: Ashgate, 59-83.

Mera, M. (2008). 'Scoring Moth: Beyond the Temp Track' in David Cooper, Ian Sapiro and Christopher Fox, eds. Cinemusic? Constructing the Film Score. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 33-50.

Mera, M. (2005) 'Reap Just What You Sow: Trainspotting's Perfect Day', in Steve Lannin and Matthew Caley, eds., Pop Fiction - the Song in Cinema. Bristol: Intellect, 86-97.

Edited journals

Mera, M. ed. (2009) 'Invention/Re-invention' a special edition of Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, (3) 1, University of Liverpool Press.

Mera, M. & Morcom, A. eds. (2009) 'Screened Music: Global Perspectives' a special edition of Ethnomusicology Forum, (18) 1, London: Routledge.

Articles

Mera, M. and Winters, B. (2009) 'Film Music Sources in the UK and Ireland', Brio: Journal of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.  vol.46, no.2, pp. 37-65. 

Mera, M. (2009) 'Invention/Re-invention' in 'Invention/Re-invention' a special edition of Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, (3) 1, University of Liverpool Press, 1-20.

Mera, M. (2009) 'Interview with Nicholas Hooper' and 'Interview with James Hannigan' in 'Invention/Re-invention' a special edition of Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, (3) 1, University of Liverpool Press, 87-97 and 99-115.

Mera, M. (2009) 'An Interview with Canadian-Armenian Filmmaker Atom Egoyan' in 'Screened Music: Global Perspectives' a special edition of Ethnomusicology Forum, (18) 1, London: Routledge, 73-82.

Mera, M. and Morcom, A. 'Introduction: Screened Music, Trans-contextualisation and Ethnomusicological Approaches' in 'Screened Music: Global Perspectives' a special edition of Ethnomusicology Forum, (18) 1, London: Routledge, 3-19.

Mera, M. (2002) 'Is Funny Music Funny: Contexts and Case Studies of Film Music Humor', Journal of Popular Music Studies, 14 (2), 91-113.

Mera, M. (2001) 'Representing the Baroque: The Portrayal of Historical Period in Film Music', The Consort:  Journal of the Dolmetsch Foundation, 57, 3-21.

Mera, M. (1999) 'Read my Lips: Re-evaluating Subtitling and Dubbing in Europe', Links and Letters, 6, 73-85.

Mera, M. (1998) 'Towards a Better Soundscape', Diegesis: Journal of the Association for Research in Popular Fictions, 3, 15-23.