Suddenly, scored

The film is scored and delivered. The film's own music is gone, and its dialogue and effects are kept underneath three new cues. The scored film, the printmaster and the music-and-effects stem are in the studio.

What I heard first: the film already had about 37 seconds of music in four spots: the fight, the train arriving, a faint bed under the sniper, and the ending. It ran at a driving ~140 bpm, mostly over one long chord that never resolves. I kept that feel (a pulse that won't let go, harmony that won't settle) but none of its tunes or chords.

The cues

• 1M1 – The train comes in (0:06–0:44)
  • It starts with a low D-minor viola and cello ostinato under the end of the fight.
  • When the train first appears (bar 4), low brass, timpani and bass drum strike, and a woodblock starts ticking like a timetable clock.
  • The theme arrives in three horns on the gunman at the rifle (bar 7). It's a menacing figure built on the half-step D–E♭. A violin ostinato joins and the ticking doubles.
  • When the train closes in (bar 11) the brass grinds against the high strings, with a timpani and snare build.
  • On the sniper's view of the passing train (bar 13), everything cuts to two high violin notes a half step apart, held very quietly. That's the held breath.
• 1M2 – The shots (0:44–1:08)
  • It picks up those same held notes and lets the clock tick softly again.
  • Under his two lines it thins to almost nothing.
  • Each shot gets a full-orchestra hit: brass on the E♭, timpani, bass drum and cymbal. The first lands on bar 5 at 0:57, the second on bar 8 at 1:05. The strings drive between the two, and after the second shot they fall away.
• 1M3 – Aftermath (1:18–end): with the gunman on the floor, one horn plays the theme slowly and tiredly over quiet strings, ending on a dark D minor.

Orchestra: strings (6/6/4/4/3), three horns, two trombones, tuba, timpani, concert bass drum, snare, cymbal and woodblock. The mix uses a film hall setting at the web loudness standard. The final film measures −16 LUFS with a true peak of −1.7 dB, and the music dips about 10 dB under every line.

What fell short

• Snare roll: in 1M2, the roll into the first shot didn't come out as a roll. A second take was no better, so the original stays. The shot itself is still carried by bass drum, cymbal and timpani.
• Tuba: the tone checker flagged its sound as off-character, though it played every note. I pulled it back in the mix.
• End of film: the last 2.5 seconds of 1M3's ring-out run past the final frame, so they're cut.