Next in our artist spotlight series is Jesse Walton.

By the age of 16 Jesse had already been trained in classical and acoustic guitar, piano, and had an accomplished understanding of music theory. He went on to study Music and Music Technology at the East Sussex Academy of Music, where he excelled in composition and performance. He has completed a degree in Commercial Music at Canterbury Christ Church University, and is now taking his experience and expertise forward into what is sure to be a long and successful career in composition for film and television.

Please enjoy his song, I Hit The Ground:

And it was not an easy task. Even though film is a visual medium, sound (and music in particular) plays an important part in conveying emotion, setting mood, pacing, character development and so on and so forth. With a story like The Storyteller the music plays an even more integral part, as it serves as the glue that brings all of the main characters together. The story follows several people who have lost or repressed parts of themselves, and explores how they find their way back into authentic relationships with themselves and each other through music. The music in the film parallels the journey of the characters, and as such it builds and grows along with the relationships. Needless to say, choosing the right composer or songwriter for a project like this, is not a task to be taken lightly.

And so with that said, here’s who the producers have selected for ROUND 2. These six artists will now write and record a rough demo of an original song, specifically for The Storyteller:

Billy Bouchard

Frank Cogliano

Quinn D’Andrea

Anielle Reid - read her Artist Spotlight and watch the video for her song, Morality.

Rachel VanSlyke

Jesse Walton

These were all chosen based on their strengths in the use of strong and (for lack of a better word) complex guitar parts, haunting and unusual arrangements, emotional melody lines and powerful lyrics. These are the qualities the producers would like to hear on the original songs for the film.

To give you a better sense of the selection process, we will – with permission of the artists – post their submissions in subsequent posts. Links will be added to the artists’ names above, as the songs are posted. Please enjoy – and support the artists in whichever way you can. Follow the production of The Storyteller here.