When composer Kevin H. West (BM ’25) realized his score for BYU’s latest animated short had been nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award (HMMA), he didn’t think much of it—until he saw the competition. Scrolling through the list of nominees, the commercial music major was stunned to see the names of industry giants like Hans Zimmer and John Powell. “It was amazing to be nominated alongside people who I view as so established and talented,” he says.
Student Accomplice tells the story of a teenage girl caught up in a bank robbery during her driving test and has quickly captured attention in the awards circuit for both its animation and its music. Along with its HMMA nomination, the film won both a Student Academy Award and a Student Emmy.
After answering the animation program’s call for demos with a submission featuring live trumpet and trombone, West was invited to compose the short’s full score. He worked closely with the directors to create a score that blends the sounds of BYU’s orchestra and jazz band musicians. The music is bold—a dynamic fusion of adventure and tension, reminiscent of animated children’s film soundtracks. “These projects are really as close to real-world type of experiences as you can get,” commercial music professor Ronald M. Saltmarsh (BA ’87, MBA ’89) says. “It always brings out the best in these students…. I think even they’re surprised at what they can do.”
At the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York, where Student Accomplice won gold in the visual media category, Saltmarsh says industry professionals “were blown away,” calling the film’s music a “total pro job.”
Commercial music professor Aaron C. Merrill (BA ’97), one of West’s mentors, says the project will help launch West’s career after graduation: “He can go straight into the professional world with something on his portfolio that’s at a very high level of quality and production.”
Now, West plans to apply to USC Thornton’s highly acclaimed screen scoring program. “I was interested in film scores, but I didn’t know if I had what it took to actually do it,” he says. “Working on Student Accomplice has completely changed the course of my career.”
