Naperville native composes music for animated movies, TV

He laughs about it now, but Michael Kramer had a teacher at Naperville Central High School who tried talking him out of a career as a Hollywood music composer.

It will be impossible to succeed, the teacher warned.

"He was just looking out for me ... and he wasn't 100 percent wrong. I have so many friends and acquaintances out here who have had to go to their Plan B's. It's not an easy environment," said Kramer, 32, now an award-winning movie and TV music composer living in Los Angeles. "The thing about my personality is that if you tell me I can't do something, I'll die trying to do that thing."

Fortunately, he didn't die trying. Kramer worked hard to build his career writing (or helping write) musical scores for dozens of movies and TV shows, including "Furious 7," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu," "Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures" and "Thor: The Dark World."

He plays 20 instruments and has won two prestigious BMI TV Music Awards for the "Lego Ninjago" scores.

"I love working with animation, because you get to do things you can't do in live action or dramatic films," Kramer said. "You can go big, you can go bold, and go over the top. As a composer, that's really fun."

The process of composing music is more complex than it might seem. First, you sit down with the producers and directors and find out what the film requires. What scenes need support? What type of emotions do they want the audience to feel? Then you compose.

Kramer says he comes up with "nuggets" of music, either by sitting at the piano or taking a walk and thinking about the music. And then he'll develop a musical theme that can be repeated throughout the show.

"The rest of it is just building from that foundation," he said.

"It's really about building as much as anything else."

Next, Kramer records music for a "mock-up" to give the director, using real instruments, computer-generated music or a combination of both. Sometimes filmmakers will hire musicians or an orchestra to record these mock-ups.

"My favorite part, by far, is being in a studio, breathing life into these little nuggets. It really is a magical experience," he said.

Kramer's musical gift emerged when he was a kid in Naperville.

He'd listen to his two older sisters' piano lessons, then sit down and play the songs. He'd eventually end up at Columbia College, where - unlike his Naperville Central teacher - his Music For Interactive Multimedia teacher, Joseph Cancellaro, encouraged him to go to Hollywood.

"He had this infectious gumption and drive," Kramer said. "If you were talking about something, he'd be like, 'Just go do it!'"

Kramer enrolled in Columbia's Semester in L.A. program, and it changed his life. He saw industry composers, orchestrators and writers create music for TV and film, and he knew that was the career he wanted.

Kramer attributes much of his success to his parents, who he said had "a huge hand" in the pursuit of his dreams.

His mom, Kathy, who home-schooled him and his sisters when they were young, taught him how to be entrepreneurial.

His dad, Mike, a master carpenter, taught him how to build things.

They also taught him, "If you don't see a way through to do what you want to do, make your own path."

"I'm so grateful to wake up every day and write music for a living," Kramer said. "When I came out to L.A., one of the things that struck me the most were the palm trees. I kind of attached to them. Even now, whenever I drive by them, I'm reminded, 'Hey, you're out here doing what you love.'"

- Jamie Sotonoff

• Dann Gire and Jamie Sotonoff are always looking from people from the suburbs who are now working in showbiz. If you know of someone who'd make an interesting feature, email them at dgire@dailyherald.com and jsotonoff@dailyherald.com.

Words of advice

Naperville native Michael Kramer, who composes music for TV shows and movies, offered a little advice for aspiring Hollywood music composers: “A really important lesson is to be self-reliant, and to create your own works. Nobody is going to reach out their hand and give you an opportunity. You have to create your own opportunities. And the way to do that is to practice your art, and never give up.”