The brief for this scene was to choose a video from the database of available clips that could support the use of a 52-piece orchestra, preferably a romantic comedy, drama, horror, or fantasy. I chose Interstellar because I like the movie and this scene really jumped out at me as something that needed a lot of motion and energy in the music.

After spending more time with the clip, I decided that it should have motion but that the motion was very contained within a sense of vastness. There was also an additional layer of spirituality, especially as she interacts with “them” via the handshake. For me once I hit this stage the material usually comes quickly and that’s what happened here.

I heard big, major-sounding clusters as a type of universe that all of the motion would happen within. It only took a few minutes to decide to use 2 major scales a 2nd apart, which provided a lydian sound, great clusters, and an easy way to shift around the feeling within that polytonality. There are only 2 notes different between D major and E major, and those would be the 2 notes that would work to create a sense of motion.

To add the layer of spirituality I happened to have a brass chorale that I had not used from a previous session fresh in my mind. The rest of the work was simply bringing in and out layers of sound, create motion through rhythmic patterns, and a sense of motion through shifting tones within the tonality.

I have not had time to mix the session audio, so what you hear is the mockup.