Carter's Notes

I've only worked in advertising a few times - animated a few logos and composed a few "jingles". Without a story I have a hard time seeing the role of the music in a TV spot - what is it supposed to mean?

In this case, I was told that the CEO of New York Life had liked the score to "Fargo" and wanted something in that vein for his firm's new campaign, so I went with that instruction and used similar instrumentation. Still I admit it left me confused - why should a Scandinvian / Celtic melody and a film noir arrangement be appropriate for an insurance company?

Seven years later they were still making new spots that use the music.

Show Info

Produced by the Berlin Cameron agency

Composed and Conducted by Carter Burwell

Voiceover by Ruby Dee

Originally broadcast 2000

Audio Samples

Here, for demo purposes is an example:

For an explanation of the columns above, click here.

Video

This is a Flash clip of one of the original spots from 2000 (from VHS). [0:60, 4.0M]

This is a Flash clip of a recent spot using the theme. [0:30, 1.2M]