Avatar sequel track has David on Cloud Nine
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A BUCKIE digital musician's track is helping promote one of the biggest blockbuster movies for years.
David Chappell (28) had an extra reason to be festive after learning that his instrumental track, Cloud Nine, has featured on an advert for Avatar: The Way of the Water.
The former Buckie Community High School student is no stranger to lending his talents to Hollywood – three years ago his track Dreaming Awake was played as a background to actor Tom Hanks when he was presented with the Cecil B DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Golden Globes in January 2020.
At the time, Mr Chappell described it as a "watershed moment" for him, but featuring in the promotional campaign for the Avatar sequel has moved things on to a different level.
He said: "To have my track used for Avatar, one of the most anticipated films of the decade, I couldn't ask for it to be part of a bigger film," he said.
"With Dreaming Awake it was nice seeing it used but I thought it was a bit of fluke, to be honest. This year, I've had some proper placements and Avatar has moved things on, I'm now feeling that it's all a bit less of fluke.
"It takes a fair amount of luck to get a major placement. You're relying on your publisher putting your work out there and then people deciding they want to use it. All these things are out of your control, to a large extent.
"However, I feel I'm very much on the right track with what I'm doing."
The success of Cloud Nine in being picked up for a blockbuster movie is all the sweeter as it was part of an album which at one point looked as if it had been doomed by Covid.
Mr Chappell explained: "I was working on the album Cloud Nine is on when Dreaming Awake was used at the Golden Globes and was then released in March 2020 – just as Covid and the lockdown hit.
"Cinemas were closed and the movie industry really didn't know what to do with itself for a while.
"It's great to see a track from the album getting usage like this."
Mr Chappell added that he was actually on holiday early in December when a quote request for Cloud Nine was put in, which was followed up a couple of days later by confirmation that it was going to feature as part of the global marketing campaign for Avatar: The Way of the Water.
Among the other recent successes for Mr Chappell's work are the movie Till and Netflix's Slumberland, as well as video game Apex Legends.
He added: "I doing a mix of trailer and TV work at the moment – the TV work is going very well," he added.
While his work may be rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest productions on the planet, Mr Chappell remains very much grounded and in touch with his local roots.
"I feel very fortunate that I can stay here in Buckie but work with people across the world," he continued.
"For example, the publisher who got me the Avatar placement is French but is based in Luxembourg while the publisher for Dreaming Awake was Croatian.
"Even 10 years ago I couldn't really have done what I'm doing now, it's all down to advances in the internet.
"Twenty years ago I would've had to go and live in London or LA and work from an actual studio using real musicians, so it's amazing I can do what I do from a converted room in my home in Buckie.
"I also feel privileged that I'm doing something that I love, it's not really work to me. I just want to keep on going on as I am."
Mr Chappell made his first tentative steps into the business around five years ago, with things really taking off two or three years ago.
After leaving school Mr Chappell headed for Aberdeen University to study physics. It was there he really fell in love with producing digital music and, while he had his degree as a fall back if required, he knew where he wanted to direct his life.
