Brief

The Non-Linear project proved to be a difficult one to comprehend as it's not the traditional way I normally make music. The project however peaked my interest when I discovered The Last Of Us Part II having gameplay with no music which I thought was a good opportunity for me to make a score.

The Process

I decided to make all the scenes and loops on Ableton, Breaking the score up into scenes made it easier to track which scene needed specific attention to layering and processing. For Example, The intro was specifically made to be ominous and simple in which it only features ONE instrument whereas the last scene when the player is in immediate danger has a combination of various instruments and percussion. Additionally, it also has the highest BPM almost matching the heart rate of someone in a tense situation.

I knew straight away that I wanted to use sounds coming from Kontakt. I thought if I made it electronic then it would take away the immersion of the entire film. Gabi told me that she wanted the music to be strong on its own, Without the video, Gabi believed that if the music was able to carry the story with just the poem and no visuals, Then the film itself would really immerse people and take them on a dramatic emotional journey. I told her that I knew exactly what she wanted and showed her something that I thought would match her vision. I was told it was too much, Too much percussion and was way too busy. So I muted and deleted a lot of tracks until it was left with some minor progression and a simple percussion. She immediately thought it sounded a lot better and more simple, This was a huge relief as before coming into this project I was anxious to commit to something this big as I've never done a short film before so going into it was pretty hard especially committing to something I knew nothing about. In hindsight, I think it's better to actually see a brief or some deliverables from someone before committing as it could lead to a lot of stress if not properly handled or if I get lost on the way due to lack of information or guidance. Nevertheless, she said I needed to work on some cues that she was going to send to me from her poems. Cues such as impacts on specific words, Different moods and themes for different sections of the poem and as well as an intense scene in the end followed by a dramatic cliff dive at the end.

PROTOTYPES