Original Score Frank Strangio

Music Recording Allan Eaton StudiosFlagstaff Studios

Music Mixed by Ian McKenzieBush Dance Music Captain Moonlight

The band Captain Moonlight provided the music for the bush dance - the band will be remembered for working with Joe Paolacci at times, details of Paolacci's anthology album at Raven, here, and some of the band scored a close up in the film:

Some of the cues for Dusty were released on a CD compile of Frank Strangio's music. Dusty was Strangio's first feature film score:

Track 26 Running Free 1'53"Track 27 First Kill 1'23"Track 28 Mustering 1'24"Track 29 Tom's Death 2'50"

This was a promotional CD and is now rare. On the other hand, the film mix on the DVD gives many of Strangio's cues plenty of air.

Composer Frank Strangio:

At time of writing, Strangio still had a personal website here. It contained this biography:

Italian born Frank Strangio was raised in the United States and migrated to Australia as a teenager. He attended the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and is a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. While living in Boston Frank studied Composition privately with composer Michael Gibbs and piano with Madame Margaret Chaloff and Ray Santisi.Upon his return to Australia, Strangio began composing music for myriad projects, from Corporate films and presentations to Commercials for TV and Radio. His first feature film score was forDusty, by director John Richardson, and was the winner of the Best Music Award at the 28th Asian Pacific Film Festival. Dusty was an orchestral score featuring members of the MSO.

This was followed by cult classics BMX Bandits, (Nicole Kidman's first film) and Dead End Drive-in, both directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. It is said that Dead End Drive-In is Quentin Tarantino's favorite Trenchard-Smith flick. Following this, Frank composed the music for the Craig Lahiff film Fever, featuring the late Bill Hunter and Gary Sweet, and received an AFI Nomination for Best Film Score.Strangio has gone on to compose many other film scores including Paradise Found (directed by Mario Andreacchio) starring Kiefer Sutherland and Nastassja Kinski. The score was recorded at Angel Studios in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra and at Waveband Studio in Melbourne. The score was nominated for Best Soundtrack Album at the Australian Screen Composer Guild awards.Strangio composed the orchestral score to Andreacchio's The Dragon Pearl starring Sam Neil. This was the first official Australia China co-production and was filmed at Hengdian World Studios in China. The score was recorded by the Slovak National Orchestra.Frank has also composed for many documentaries and television series including the inimitable 'Round The Twist, which was awarded an AFI Award for Best Children's Program for the episode "The Whirling Dervish". The episode "Little Squirt" won the Le Prix Jeunesse and was nominated for an Emmy Award.The series Mortified scooped several awards as well:Gold Medal winner at 2007 New York Festival of Int'l TV Programming and Promotion Youth ProgramsGrand Award winner for Best Youth ProgramNomination for Banff World TV Awards2007 International Emmy Nomination2006 First Prize at Chicago Int'l Children's Festival2006 AFI winner for Best Children's TV SeriesMore recently, Frank composed the dark, electronic score to Leigh Sheehan's teen thriller, Six Plots.

Strangio was a synth man for many years and provided a note on this aspect of his work:

In a bid to expand his musical horizons and compositional technique, Strangio invested in the legendary Synclavier Digital Music System.The Synclavier was, undoubtedly, the most advanced music technology of its time and was championed by such musical luminaries as Sting, Frank Zappa, Quincy Jones, Mark Knoefler and film composers Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Howard Shore and too many others to list here.Strangio states that "the beauty of the Synclavier is not only its unique sonoric qualities, but its human interfaceability", thus enabling him to compose intuitively, efficiently and quickly." the beauty of the Synclavier is not only its unique sonoric qualities, but its human interfaceability."

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS2007 New York Festival of Int'l TV Programming and Promotion Gold Medal Winner for Best Youth Program - Mortified

2007 New York Festival of Int'l TV Programming and Promotion Grand Award Winner for Best Youth Program - Mortified2007 Banff World TV Awards Nomination - Mortified2007 International Emmy Nomination - Mortified2006 First Prize at Chicago Int'l Children's Festival- Mortified2006 AFI Award Winner for Best Children's TV Series - Mortified2006 Australian Guild of Screen Composers Nomination for Best Original Song for the Screen (with Joe Creighton)2000 AFI Award Winner for Best Childrenʼs Program - Round The Twist1993 Emmy Award Nomination for Best Children's Program - Round The Twist (series 2)Winner of Le Prix Jeunesse for Best Children's Program - Round The Twist (series 2)1986 Penguin Award for Best Music - The Lancaster Miller Affair1988 AFI Award Nomination for Best Music - Fever28th Asian Pacific Film Festival Award for Best Music - Dusty

The site also provided this filmography:

Feature Films:

Six Plots (2012)The Dragon Pearl (2011)Under a Red Moon (2008)Elephant Tales (2006)Paradise Found (2003)Dalkeith (2002)Young Blades (2001)Muggers (2000)Dags (1998)Under The Gun (1995)Iron FistSex is A Four Letter Word (1995)Lex & Rory (1994)Get Away, Get Away (1993)Voyage Into Fear (1993)Strangers (1991)Bony (1990)A Kink In The Picasso (1990)Fever (1988)The Dreaming (1988)Living Forever (1987)Coda: A Symphony of Evil (1987)Contagion (1987)Dead-End Drive In (1986)The Blue Lightning (1986)BMX Bandits (1983)Dusty (1983)

Television Series & Mini-Series

Mortified (2006/2007)Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003)Round the Twist (1993-2001)The Genie from Down Under (1998)The Genie from Down Under (1996)Glad Rags (1995)Snowy River (1994)Under The Skin (1993)Bay City (1993)Songs of Innocence (1992)Lift Off (1992)Bony (1992)Flair (1990)The Lancaster Miller Affair (1986)The Harold Holt Mystery (1985)Glass Babies (1985) Television Movies

Strangers (1991)Bony (1990)Living Forever (1987)The Blue Lightning (1986)

Documentaries

P.S. I Love YouPeru - The Land of the Llama ReunionThe World's Greatest CommercialsThe Tree Kangaroo: Forest RecluseThe Beast that Man ForgotThe Adventures of the Quest seriesThe Wild Yak of Tibet The Destroyers 100 Years of Australian FootballRex Hunt Fishing AdventuresThe Worlds Greatest CommercialsThe Australian Football Program Rex Hunt's Fishing World Monuments To Man A Walk In The Sea The Researchers EscapeThe Dream Merchants of Asia

Crocodiles: The Deadly Survivors The Enterprise Wildcat & Pipedreams On The Line Living Forever The Brisbane LineJerusalem of Heaven & Earth      Australia's Hidden WealthJourney to Hainan Triumph of the NomadsThe PintubiThe Mississippi ChallengeThe Wharfie

(Below: Frank Strangio)