Multiple WSU faculty members helped create, perform movie score.
A WSU music professor composed and performed the complete soundtrack for the new short film “The Cross-Up,” which was released in February and is now available on Amazon Prime.
Greg Yasinitsky, a professor of saxophone, composition and jazz studies at WSU, originally became involved with the project when his childhood friend and screenwriter Jerry Hauck was discussing the need for a composer.
“I have always wanted to write music for the movies, but never had the opportunity,” Yasinitsky said. “This was sort of serendipitous.”
Yasinitsky’s connection to the writer gave him the opportunity, but he was chosen because of his extensive background in music, he said.
The 22-minute film, directed by Eddie Velez, was featured in multiple film festivals as well as screenings in Los Angeles. It is a comedy about a mafia-like character receiving a visit from God to turn his life around.
The entire process for creating the soundtrack took approximately a year, Yasinitsky said. This involved writing the music, recording and having the directors review the soundtrack among other steps.
Much of Yasinitsky’s work was done at WSU, he said.
“We have great musicians here at WSU and a great recording studio just down the hall,” he said. “I thought if I put this together, we can use the people here.”
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