Month: December 2023

I want to talk about the piece that I created for Jin’s animation. For me it is a departure from the types of work that I have done previously, and I like the direction it has taken me in. 

The initial piece was composed of a low pad sound, a vocal choir sample, and a piano. The piano part is an improvisation over the top of two chords played on the pad. I didn’t adjust the timing or force quantisation. The reason for this is that I wanted to capture both the organic texture of the animation and embody the concept of life and death as a cycle (again, very organic) that is depicted in the animation. Making the notes quantised in this style of music wouldn’t match the feeling that I was aiming for.

After further development and feedback from Jin, I detuned the G in the piano part to break away from Equal Temperament to something a little closer to the harmonic overtone series (Figure 1). The setting used on the G is -29 cents. This resulted in making the piece feel more organic and ‘live’.

I’m fascinated by how such a small detail has such a dramatic effect on the feel of the final piece. In combination with the panning of the piano and the reverb, the melody line in this piece really comes alive.

I made minimal changes to the original sketch. Some levels were changed to order to hear the dialog better.

The additional part that I worked on is when Dawn walks down to Joyce. I created a variation of the main theme that reversed the timing of the notes for Dawn, so she had her own theme. I also added when the vampire wakes up. Here, I wanted to create a feeling of dread and suspense. I utilised Linear Chromaticism in the strings to create tension (Figure 1) and added a bassoon to add timbral texture and variety. It is subtle but you notice when it isn’t there.

Because this clip was already edited, I used the existing cuts to mark changes in the music. When the vampire smiles, I move to more dissonant notes (Figure 2), and again I do this when the vampire steps forward. This punctuates what we see on screen to make the overall feeling more sinister. By matching the action, it heightens the emotional tone of the music, making the sum of the parts greater.

I really enjoyed creating this score, it has challenged me to think outside of diatonic centric music and focus more on the feeling that I’m trying to evoke. I also think that this will be a focus for my creative practice going forward as I see both creative development and growth from these projects and can see even further development in more exploration.