Coffee Run, scored
Published November 2026
A life lived twice on one cup of coffee: a quick F-major theme on flute and clarinet, organ and a trumpet fanfare for the wedding, the same organ gone minor under a bassoon dirge for the funeral, then a lone clarinet as the café goes dark. Scored on November 1, 2026 through the scoring studio, the same loop anyone gets: the film went in, the scored film came back 13 minutes later, and nothing was touched by hand.
What was asked
- The sound: Animation.
- How much music: wall to wall.
- If the film already has music: Replace it.
- Direction: “One woman races through a whole life on a single cup of coffee: keep it breathless through the wedding, the funeral and the café again and again, then let it all fall away at the end.”
Those are the studio's own controls, set as anyone would set them. The composer is free to depart from them when the picture asks for it, and says so when it does.
The composer's notes
What the studio's composer wrote back with the scored film, in its own words; only its closing offer of changes is left out.
The film is scored and delivered at −16 LUFS with a true peak of −1.4 dBTP. The scored video, printmaster and music-and-effects stem are in the studio. The film came with no sound at all, so there was no old music to replace and no dialogue to duck under: the score is the whole soundtrack.
How I read the film: she lives her life twice. The first lap runs office, carnival, wedding, funeral, park with the pram, a fall from the sky, then the café, a rooftop sprint and a white burst. The second lap is the same life about 50 s later and faster, until the café goes dark at 86 s. I scored that as two cues, with one coffee theme running through both.
1M1, 0:00–0:43, the first life
- Office: a woodblock ticks like a clock, and the clarinet introduces the coffee theme, a quick, bright tune in F major.
- Carnival (bar 4): a xylophone glissando throws us in. The flute takes the theme over oom-pah pizzicato and trombones, and a xylophone run tumbles down with the parachute.
- Wedding: organ chords, a short trumpet fanfare and triangle "bells". A slapstick crack cuts it off.
- Funeral: the same organ goes minor, under a hurried bassoon dirge and timpani. It's grief at double speed.
- Park: brass stab, then the theme back on flute with a skipping woodblock. Xylophone, flute and a chromatic bassoon all fall together as she drops from the sky.
- Café (bar 17): a slapstick crack and her own café tune on clarinet, over walking pizzicato bass, with triangle for the cup clinks. The coffee theme comes back on flute and xylophone, then everything climbs.
- Rooftops (bar 24): snare, brass stabs and pizzicato eighths drive into a full-orchestra hit with cymbal crash on the burst at 43.1 s.
1M2, 0:43–1:30, again, faster
- The same music comes back scene by scene: the clock and theme, the circus, the fanfare, the dirge, the park fall and the café tune. It's the same life, quicker and more worn. Every scene change lands on its beat.
- The ending: the café tune thins and slows. At 86 s the orchestra drops out, leaving one soft organ chord. The clarinet plays the opening notes of the coffee theme slowly, alone, and lets the last note fade with the picture.
Orchestra: flute, clarinet, bassoon, two trumpets, two trombones, pizzicato violins (6) and cellos (4), xylophone, organ, timpani, woodblock, slapstick, triangle, snare and clash cymbals. It's mixed on a close, dry cartoon scoring stage.
What to know:
- Every part played all its written notes.
- Some scene changes land mid-bar rather than on a bar line, because the cuts don't fall a whole number of bars apart at this tempo. Each hit is still exactly on its beat.
- The burst's cymbal rings about 3 s into 1M2's opening, on purpose.
- The scene times come from the storyboard, so they're accurate to about a second.
Who played
- 1M1: Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpets, Trombones, Violins pizz, Cellos pizz, Xylophone, Organ, Timpani, Woodblock, Slapstick, Triangle, Snare, Cymbals.
- 1M2: Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpets, Trombones, Violins pizz, Cellos pizz, Xylophone, Organ, Timpani, Woodblock, Slapstick, Triangle, Cymbals.
Every part is its own stem in the delivery, with the notes it played.
The delivery, measured
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Length | 1:30 |
| Integrated loudness | −16 LUFS (the web target) |
| True peak | −1.4 dBTP |
| Loudness range | 6.2 LU |
| Picture | copied untouched |
| Film in to scored film out | 13 minutes |
Score this film yourself
Open Coffee Run in the studio as a sample, pick another sound or write your own direction, and get your own version back.
Open it in the studio →FAQ
Is Coffee Run free to use?
Yes, under CC BY 4.0: use it, score it and share it, with the credit "© Blender Foundation, studio.blender.org/coffee-run" and the licence named.
Was anything fixed by hand?
No. The film went through the scoring studio's own loop on the live service; the score, the mix and the delivery are what came back.
Can I score my own film this way?
Yes. Drop your cut into the scoring studio, pick a sound and how much music you want, add a line of direction, and you get the scored film, a printmaster, an M&E and every stem back.
AI film scoring · an original score for your cut
- For editorsa score cut to your edit
- For directorsyour short, scored
- For composersyour parts, played
- For creatorsan original score, not stock
- Replace a film's musickeep the dialogue
- Score a silent filmwall to wall
- With your own AI agentthe same loop over MCP
- The demo reelone film per genre
- Big Buck Bunnyevery call and receipt
- AI tools comparedwhat each does with a cut
- Stock music comparedEpidemic, Artlist, ACE Studio …