Cosmos Laundromat, scored

The film is scored and delivered: 90 seconds with orchestra wall to wall, at web loudness (−16.1 LUFS, true peak −1.4 dB). The clip came with no soundtrack at all, so there were no dialogue lines to duck under and no old music to remove. The score is the only thing you hear.

The theme. The sheep's theme is a slow tune in D Dorian, a minor mode with a raised sixth. It opens by climbing a fourth (A–D–E–F), and the raised B natural gives it a windswept, lonely edge. It's eight bars: a first phrase that settles, then a second that reaches up to G and comes home.

1M1, "The Edge of the World" (0:00–0:54)

• The studio credit: low strings hold a D, and harp plays open fifths like wind off the sea. A far-off flute plays the first three notes of the theme, then a soft timpani roll builds into the fade-up.
• The silhouette (0:13, bar 5): the theme enters alone on solo oboe, over quiet strings and rocking harp. The second phrase climbs higher, and the violins add a soft line under it.
• The title card (0:42.5, bar 14): the theme lands on the downbeat, played by four horns in unison, doubled by violins and flute in octaves. Under it are full strings, bassoon and harp chords, with a timpani stroke, bass drum and cymbal after a harp run and roll leading in. Then it broadens and fades as the cut to the log arrives.

1M2, "The Log" (0:54–1:30)

• The drag: cellos, basses and bassoon play a heavy, plodding figure, one heave and two steps per bar. Over it the clarinet plays his theme low and warm, like the sheep humming to himself as he pulls.
• The flock keeps its distance (1:09, bar 6): the plodding stops. The harmony shifts to colder chords under a single high violin note, with soft horns and slow harp. The clarinet tries the opening of the theme and gets no answer; a faint flute echoes it from far off.
• The close-up (1:22, bar 10): a single soft timpani note. The oboe starts the theme and stops on a hanging E over a chord that doesn't resolve, so the film ends on a question.

What was fixed or approximated

• Oboe re-take: in 1M1 the first oboe take played the right notes but sounded like strings. I re-took it, and the take I used plays all 24 notes of the theme cleanly.
• Percussion re-take: the bass drum and cymbal dropped part of the roll into the title. The best re-take still misses one quiet stroke at the start of the roll, which you won't notice.
• The handoff at 0:54: that cut falls on beat 3 of a bar rather than a downbeat. So 1M1's last D minor chord rings about four seconds into 1M2's opening, which is also in D minor, and they blend instead of cutting.
• The ending: 1M2's last two seconds of reverb are cut at the final frame.