Mark Nicholls is a versatile and adventurous composer, musician and producer with a deep knowledge of cinema, and a flair for playing with genre tropes and conventions - always with a keen focus on serving the project’s narrative, flow, emotional core and nuance.

Mark graduated with Distinction in a Composing For Film and Television Master’s degree at Kingston University, receiving the Outstanding Achievement Award in the process. Here he excelled in orchestration and sound design, adding these to the skills he’d acquired over a 20 year career as an electronic and alternative rock musician/producer to create a unique signature sound. This is perfectly encapsulated by his score for Joe Bichard and Jack Cunningham’s Mars!, for which Mark instructed a live orchestral quintet to employ several experimental, extended techniques to bring the animated visuals to life in the most visceral of fashions. Mark also holds a First Class degree in Commercial Music Production from The University of Manchester.

Professional commissions have included a number of collaborations with Red Thread Journal, such as Beth Buxton and Jill Beth Hannes’ comic horror, fashion short Doll Valley, featuring a score which seamlessly transitions from a kitsch 50s easy listening pastiche to intense synth swells and eerie banshee wails. This unnerving sound contrasts hugely to the lush orchestral polyphony which features in Mark’s reimagining of Buxton’s elegant ode to nature, Biophilia.

In addition to film, Mark has released several albums and toured extensively worldwide as lead/bass guitarist of Keith and Boxed In, favourites of BBC 6Music, KEXP and KCRW, among others. His work as a session musician has also seen him collaborate with household names, such as Neneh Cherry and Lily Allen. However, it is film and media composition which he views as his true passion. Here he is able to blend his skills as a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist with a level of cineliteracy which truly sets his work apart.