Hero - Short Film Score - Walkthrough Pt.15 - M5 (Part 2)

Today, we're focussing on the "stand-off" part of the cue M5 for my score for HERO.

All the other parts of this walkthrough series are available here.

The sequence in the movie that we're focusing on today starts at 9:01.

As always, we're working with reductions, the score sheet, Midi and orchestral recording is attached at the bottom of the post.

For this sequence, I had the following spotting notes:

• 09:02:00 start hinting aggression, build to western pulse, very loud and aggressive
• 09:14:08 – ticking clock, just pulse
• 09:20:14 evil guy reference
• 09:35:01, build and drop, music out

Here's the recording of that sequence:

https://soundcloud.com/robin-hoffmann/hero-m5-bar-25-39/s-hNfeLEvxC4q

And the playback of the Piano Reduction:

https://soundcloud.com/robin-hoffmann/hero-m5-bar-25-39-piano-reduction/s-Xvk3qZhEQHX

There are several purposes of the music here. Firstly, it should support the decision of the younger brother to turn around and go into confronatation instead of going home as well as getting us back into the fantasy of the kids who are now reenacting a Western Stand-Off.

Bars 25-30 are the build up into the next scene as well as the build up of the aggression. I wanted to portray the nagging thought and aggression that gets the upper hand in this scene by using small musical devices that repeat and build. For instance there is that descending 3 tone motif in the lower strings that becomes stronger on each repetition.

Harmonically, we're on a G pedal with alternating chords on top, going from Gm to Am7b5 back to Gm followed by a Cm7. The harmony however is only properly transported through the low brass in relatively low voicings that analogue to the dynamics keep ascending. I wanted to create a sense of tension by introducing more dissonant intervals into the voicings without going "all in" just yet so I chose voicings with major seconds in bars 25 and 27.

Additionally, there is a "boiling" texture in the low woodwinds (not complete in the reduction - there is one more line in straight 16ths plus support by the low piano) which is outlining a very low Gm chord. I used this texture also in the following cue as I felt that it had some sort of restlessness and "foreboding" quality which gave this sequence a bit more "edge".

There is a melodic idea that is happening in the higher strings which is another ascending motif that becomes more prominent and louder (adding more sections) with every repetition. I wanted this whole sequence to have a more ominous texture so I chose to go with "sul ponticello" here, which means to play the notes very close to the bridge which introduces a lot of high harmonics into the sound which makes it more glassy, scratchy but also softer than normal tremolo (hence the switch back to natural tremolo on the last time to push the dynamic increase some more). I forgot to mark it in the reduction, but this figure is also doubled by the woodwinds with flutes playing flutter tongue which again adds a bit more to the ominous sound quality.

With bar 31 we transition to the Western scene. As per the discussion during the spotting session, the directors wanted a pulsing and ticking quality here which I also felt to be very appropriate but I didn't want to go quite too literal on the "clock ticking" so I went for a more low quality. The reduction is incomplete in a few regards. There is one element in there which I always find very cool which is Timpani glissandi while playing a roll. It is essential to stay within the range for what is possible with the pedal but it has a great almost spooky quality as it also crescendos with higher tension of the membrane so I use this device here.

Additional to the low G's and Bb's that build these pulses (effectively outlining a low Gm chord) this pulse is also doubled by a cluster on the lowest four keys of the piano. Obviously, this doesn't have any tonal relevance to the sound but serves as a percussive element.

To create some tension, I used the "obvious" device of some held high violin temolos. With the villain comin back into frame, of course it needed a statement of his motif which happens in muted horns. This motif lands nicely on a Emmaj7 chord which creates a rather harsh rub with the Bb in the pulse but in this case of course is very much desired to add to the tension of the scene.

So at this point for everybody including the audience it is very clear what is going to happen in this. For the music it means that it doesn't need to disguise where this is going but rather should build the tension accordingly:

In a way we all know what should happen in that scene, but not when and I felt that it was essential for the music to build up without telegraphing its target and consequentially making the moment of the draw predictable. If you for instance use a diatonic chord progression or scale, the audience can anticipate when it reaches its target which is of course not what we want in that scene.

So there are specific decisions in here to avoid that.

1. I use non-diatonic chords that don't telegraph a tonic. They are basically minor chords that are a major third apart. (Gm->Ebm->Bm) with a bass line that descends a semitone and then a minor third and then a semitone again. So basically, it is a symmetric chord motion. I could have gone on here with the Bm/D followed by a Bm moving to Gm/Bb and then the cycle would start again. So there is no predictability when this cycle would end and therefore leave the potential conclusion open.

2. On top of that, I use a chromatically ascending triplet figure which keeps crawling higher and higher. Obviously, a chromatic scale doesn't have any predictable end. I could have gone on and on with that pattern (maybe even building a shepard's tone where at one point when pitches get too high the instruments would drop one by one down an octave and continue moving upwards essentially creating the feeling of an endless ascension). 

Besides the dynamic crescendo and the joining in of more instruments this whole build-up does not telegraph its ending. I also tried to end it not on the downbeat of a 4/4 but a little more unexpected after an inserted 2/4 which of course also adds to avoid an expectable end.

And other than what we expected, the whole sequence ends not in a shooting but rather by the younger brother getting back into the scene interrupting it. So it was appropriate to abruptly end the music just as that movie reenectment get's interrupted by the younger brother.