"Time Trap" - Indie Film Music Contest January 2023 Submission 2 of 2 || Track Preview

Here is my 2nd submission to the Winter 2022 Indie Film Music Contest. I entered the contest near the end of the submission period. This cue is the 2nd of 2 cues I submitted for this contest. There are 2 clips from this short animated / live action movie for which I composed music for and submitted. This clip continues the story so it was only natural that I continued my musical ideas further. Even the end credits (while still using the same melody) makes us of new musical lines.

About My Approach
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I continued the same approach taken i the first clip / submission. I still create more of a sound design score than a traditional orchestral one. I try to play up the isolation that might be felt by the main character. Since it is unclear whether the character is human, robotic, a hybrid, etc. I went with a more foreign robotic feel.

Again, I used all the same palette of electronic instruments from the previous submission / clip. This ensemble encompasses whaling sounds, techno rhythmic loops, the glissando crescendo synth strings, metallic scrapes, clangs, thumping bass line, drones and the sci-fi beeps and bops to evoke the isolation and hopelessness being felt by the main character now trapped in such desolation.

The drums hint at the primal instinct to survive. They play under the moments of the character trying to figure out how to repair the ship.

The main theme when heard at the end represents the character's attempts at trying to survive at all costs. It is sort of heroic sounding but not really. This is intentional. But for this segment, the theme becomes more of a motif, truncated to the first four notes of the theme which then gets repeated for action and hor various hits. The main theme is heard in its entirety over the end credits but with a new set of musical rhythmic lines and the melody ends on different notes than before. This time the cue ends with a more finalized feel unlike the way the previous cue ended which sounded more like a cliffhanger.

About the short film
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Time Trap (2013)
Director Michael Shanks
Writer Michael Shanks
Stars Scout JanssonMark Taylor

After losing control of his engines, bumbling spaceman Fripp finds himself at the mercy of his malfunctioning spaceship. A thrilling descent through an asteroid belt ensues, after which he finds himself marooned on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Without a working spacecraft, the interstellar time-traveler must dip into the dead planet's history in order to find a way home

MUSIC PRODUCTION CREDITS
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Music Composed and Performed by: Matthew C. Hightshoe
Mixed & Engineered by: Matthew C. Hightshoe
All Intellectual Property, Copyrights and Licenses are owned by: Matthew C. Hightshoe

VIDEO CREDITS
Video clip was supplied by the contest committee for use in this contest.