Ainan Celeste Cawley, composer, for “Reflection” a film, by Ignas Versinskas.

Ainan Celeste Cawley, my eldest son, composed the music for the film, “Reflection” , at age 12. The short film (15 minutes), written and directed by Ignas Versinskas, is premiering at the Vilnius International Film Festival, which is from March 14^th to March 28^th, in Lithuania.

Now, I don’t know if you know much about film scoring...but Google taught me something very interesting. In the field of film music scoring, a youthful composer is thought to be one in their twenties. I couldn’t find any examples of ones anywhere near as young as Ainan was when he composed the music used in Reflection. It seems, therefore, that Ainan is the youngest film score composer, in world history.

It came as a big surprise that Ainan, who has over the years been primarily interested in science, computer programming, mathematics and digital animated film-making, should suddenly emerge as a composer. It was very sudden. We had a piano in our house for six long years – and Ainan never touched it. He seemed utterly uninterested in it. Then, one day, I heard music coming from the piano room, when Ainan was in the early months of his 12^th year. It was very familiar music...Beethoven, in fact. I approached the room, very curious as to what I would find. There Ainan sat, at the piano, playing Beethoven, without any sense, at all, that this might be considered unusual – considering that he was doing so, without any piano lessons, or aid, whatsoever. I listened and didn’t interrupt until he had finished. It was only then that I told him how beautiful it sounded. He quietly absorbed my words without comment.

“How did you learn to play that?” I further enquired.

“Oh, I heard it somewhere, before.” He said, casually.

It turned out that he remembered the music from months ago and had worked it out, by ear on the piano.

Within days, Ainan was composing his own pieces. I learnt this by asking him who had composed the piece he had just played one day.

“Me.”, he answered, simply and started to play another – of his own, it turned out.

Music emerged from him, spontaneously and with considerable skill, considering how little time he had been playing and composing.

My friend, Ignas Versinskas, a director, writer and actor, whom I had worked with on Vikingdom, (both of us were actors on it) was making a film. He invited me to play the lead, Trent, in the film Reflection. Trent is an Interpol agent – a detective whose life consists of inquiry into the darker acts human beings are capable of. I agreed to do the role. However, Ignas had a problem – the composer he intended to use had gone overseas and was difficult to contact. That gave me the idea of a solution. I invited Ignas round to listen to Ainan play his music.

Ignas was smitten at once. Ainan’s music was just what was needed for Reflection. He decided then and there to invite Ainan to compose the music for Reflection.

Ainan composed the music for Reflection over a few weeks, at a few minutes, to tens of minutes, a day of work. He is quite spontaneous with his music and it didn’t need all that much time to compose the pieces. He ended up composing quite a few more works than were actually used: the ones most suited to the needs of the film, were chosen.

Ainan then played the music into a computer system, which recorded his performance in complete detail. 

Then the music was output, sometimes as a piano, as it had been input – but sometimes as other instruments. Thus, the music used in the film was all performed by Ainan as well as composed, but his performance is disguised by the fact that some of it had been output to sound like different instruments, to the piano he plays.

If you take a look at Ainan’s IMDB page, here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

You will note that Ainan is now described as a composer and is listed as the composer on Reflection.

If you click through to the full cast and crew page for Reflection, here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2751566/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

You will see that it states “Original Music score by Ainan Celeste Cawley”.

Of all of Ainan’s many achievements in his life, this one is the one of which I am both most proud and most surprised. I regard it as my favourite achievement of his, because of its utter unexpectedness – and because it shows creativity in a domain that I did not expect him focus on. It also shows genuine creativity and that is something many prodigies do not display (many of them just show skill, not creativity). Ainan is showing something more than that, therefore...he is showing the working elements of true genius, too – that is, originality and creativity.

I have always described Ainan as a scientific child prodigy – because that was his focus when he was very young. However, his mind has broadened over the years. He is now operating at a high level in many domains, scientific, mathematical and artistic. There is a term for such a prodigy: it is called an omnibus prodigy. The composition of the film score for Reflection, establishes Ainan as an omnibus prodigy. If you do some research into it, you will find that this is the rarest kind of prodigy, since almost all prodigies operate in a single area. Not so, with Ainan...his mind now encompasses many facets of human endeavour. I am left to wonder what he will become in the years ahead and what more surprises there might be.

As for now, I am pleased just to be able to listen to his music composition, on a daily basis when he comes home from University. It is, now, one of my greatest pleasures, in life.

Thank you Ainan.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Does the world care about genius, anymore?

I ask this question for a very specific reason. It is the experience of my life, with regards to my child prodigy son, that is not easy to secure adequate and fair coverage of his creative and intellectual achievements. This abstemiousness in the coverage of genius, is not particular to Ainan. In fact, I have written many more articles  on giftedness and its issues, than have ever been published. So many of my best articles on giftedness are not allowed to be seen and read by the world, because of unfortunate media mindsets. It is very strange to watch the media’s priorities, in which, too often very, very trivial matters (David Beckham’s new haircut, anyone?) receive massive global coverage, whereas much more significant, indeed, historic achievements, such as Ainan making a scientific discovery and co-authoring a research paper at the age of 8, receive relatively modest coverage, considering their importance. It is very strange to watch. It seems that the modern world celebrates ordinariness and sidelines the truly exceptional. Once, it was not so. There was a time when, to become famous, one had to be truly an exceptional being. Now, it is the other way around – the very ordinary (such as reality TV stars), manage to achieve great fame, on the back of seemingly no achievements whatsoever, whereas the world’s greatest scientists, for instance, are essentially unheard of, outside of their own discipline. We have an inversion of the age old relationship between merit and fame.

It seems that in our time, too often, the unworthy become known and the worthy remain unknown. At least, it is not difficult to think of talentless, famous people and even easier to think of very talented, unknown ones (we all know one or two such people). Public regard now seems to be accorded on those most like the public – ie. unexceptional – and least like the giants of old – ie. geniuses. This is a tragedy,  not only for the geniuses concerned, but for Mankind and human society as a whole. I shall explain why.

A genius has the power to transform the human world – be it culturally, technologically, scientifically or societally. Yet, to effect such transformation, the genius needs to influence the world. The ability to influence that world and effect the positive changes they could make, depends directly on how well known they are. The better known they are, the more the world will listen to their ideas. Thus, it can be readily seen that, to reach their maximum potential for positive change in the world, a genius needs to be famous, in a very real sense. An unknown genius is an uninfluential genius. An unknown genius will not be able to change the world, to any significant degree. It is only when their work becomes well known, that it can have a chance of affecting the world. Thus, it can be seen that the media, by starving the general public of information on geniuses, by preferentially covering the Top 100 Celebrity Haircuts/nose clippings/shopping sprees, are directly impeding the progress of humanity.

Humanity cannot progress unless the work of its creators becomes widely known. That creative work cannot become widely known, unless the creators themselves are also widely known. Thus, it can be seen that creative work cannot change the world, in any real way, unless its creators are themselves well known. Fame can be used for trivial or profound purposes. In the hands of a genius, it can be used to truly transform the world, in a positive way.

It is time to silence the tumult of unremarkable “celebrities” and put in their place, the truly remarkable among us. By empowering such individuals of genius, with the influence that comes with fame, the world will progress with greater rapidity, to the benefit of all.

So, it is up to the media, to make a point of giving people of genius – and their creative works – an appropriate level of coverage, in proportion to the significance, rarity and potential of the achievements. A book, an artwork, a musical composition, a scientific paper, an architectural design, a poem, a film and any other creative achievement are all INFINITELY more worthy of global coverage, than a celebrity’s latest “hook up”.

Let us usher in a world of significance – and let the trivial be silenced. Banish celebrity haircuts, relationships, and trashy behaviour from the world’s newspapers and put in their place achievements and achievers of significance.  Were this done, we would soon all be living in a much better world than this one.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Vikingdom Teaser Trailer Released

As regular readers will know, I played a role in Vikingdom, the KRU studios epic action adventure film. Last night, at 9 pm, KRU released a one minute, seven second teaser trailer for Vikingdom. I am visible in it, to the eagle eyed (try the 22 second, in the right hand upper corner).

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkBbQm-W5SI

Vikingdom will be released, I expect, in the next few months. My role, Warick, is a significant one in that I am one of the questors, in the main quest, which occupies most of the film. I am, therefore, onscreen, for much of the time.

The funny thing is, I never would have expected to have been in an epic action adventure film. It was a good experience. The hero of the film, Eirick, was played by Dominic Purcell, of Prison Break fame.

Please let me know what you think of the trailer below. I hope you go on to see the film when it comes out. It certainly looks like it will be enjoyable to watch...and it will give you a chance to see some of my acting, in action, as it were.

Happy watching.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)