A Perfect Score: Ollie Mamaril Composes Music for Commercial
Ollie Mamaril combined a passion for music with a
passion for computer arts and now his music is playing in a commercial shown all over the East
Coast. Because of the skills he learned in his Computer Arts: New Media program, Ollie’s score for
Modell’s Sporting Goods, an East Coast company, beat out a major music sound house from New York
City.
Ollie was originally interested in another major at Academy of Art University, but when he
took a tour of the department, he accidentally found himself listening in on the Computer Arts: New
Media (CANM) tour!
“Lourdes Livingston was in charge of that tour and I could tell she was passionate about how
cutting edge the program is and she was very proud of the work of CANM students,” he recalled. “
Listening to her really made me believe that I could be a part of the cutting edge multimedia work
that was going on.”
Now, in his second year as a CANM MFA student, Ollie has found the program to be continuously
innovative and exciting. What he likes most about CANM is the air of cooperation and collaboration
between students. Everyone tries to help and support one another rather than compete. Additionally,
his fellow students consistently inspire Ollie.
“I like having so many international students in our program too because I am exposed to
their inherently different sense of style,” he said.
Ollie found out about the opportunity to compose a score for two Modell’s Sporting Goods
commercials through his friend Angelo Valencia at White House Post, a production company in Los
Angeles. Ollie, who had been playing guitar in band for over ten years, jumped at the opportunity.
He showed Angelo some of the projects he had created in Scott Looney’s Sound Specific class.
In this class, students learn how to apply sound and music to multimedia websites. Though
Ollie has a strong background in music and sound engineering, Sound Specific allowed him to think
about music composition and production in an entirely different way.
Using techniques he learned in class, Ollie composed a score using only his MacBook and
guitar. Though Modell’s was initially considering using a score composed by an established large
music house, they felt like Ollie’s was a better fit.
Now, viewers on the East Coast, have the opportunity to hear Ollie’s soaring score as the
backdrop to an inspirational commercial featuring soccer team DC United’s Bobby Boswell. The music
reflects the uplifting and exhilarating mood of the commercial. This opportunity has opened up many
doors and possibilities for Ollie, particularly working with his friend Angelo again to compose
more scores for commercials.
“I'm thankful that I'm a student here at the Academy because I would never have been able to
pull this off otherwise.”
Ollie Mamaril combined a passion for music with a
passion for computer arts and now his music is playing in a commercial shown all over the East
Coast. Because of the skills he learned in his Computer Arts: New Media program, Ollie’s score for
Modell’s Sporting Goods, an East Coast company, beat out a major music sound house from New York
City.
