Bodhi 菩提
Bodhi 菩提
Genre: Drama
Director: Png Zhen Yu
Winner - Best Original Music, National Youth Film Awards 2019
A mum's fear for loneliness becomes prominent as her son prepares to embark on a new journey as a monastic. She begins to cast doubts on her faith and struggles to choose between her faith and her only son.
Score Type: Zen | Chinese
Scored for solo xindi (Chinese flute), harp, muyu (Chinese temple block), and strings.
Of faith and family, of new journeys and letting go - such were the beautifully poignant themes in Bodhi/菩提. The main theme consists of a simple recurring phrase, each time rising up, but coming back down again - symbolizing the concept of 'letting go'. Xindi musician Ng Weixuan’s sublime expression brought the music to transcend the superficial, touching hearts while bringing a sense of uncertain calm.
Every single hit on the muyu (temple block) was recorded live (not looped!) - the director himself sat through and played everything during the recording.
Xindi: Ng Wei Xuan
Muyu: Zhen Yu Png
Recording Engineer: Tharshwin Thanaskodi
Recorded at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music recording studio.
Progress
Progress
Genre: Action | Sci-Fi | Comedy
Director: Alistair Quak
Nominated - Best Original Music, National Youth Film Awards 2019
Far into the future, in an unnamed dystopian, totalitarian state, we follow a regular day in the life of Sergeant Major Lam, as he oversees his troops on a mission to take down a rebel building. However, as the film unravels he is forced to come to terms with himself, as we explore the true extents of his relationship between work life and family… Oh and also, a heck of a lot of intense violent action.
Score Type: Electronic-Orchestral Hybrid
Progress was an interesting film to score, as the soundtrack was part of important world-building - from a glorious (and satirical) national anthem, to heart-thumping action scenes, to an emotional theme exploring the relationship between a father and daughter on opposing sides of the war.
The action scenes had me recording various traditional Chinese instruments - relentless ostinato from the erhu, chromatic loops on the zhongruan, pitch-bending tremolos on the guzheng…listen out for them in the video of a fight scene above! - before processing and mangling them in various ways (often beyond recognition) for an electronic-orchestral hybrid score.
The Anthem, written for the fictional totalitarian state in the film, heavily draws inspiration from what I deem to be one of the most beautiful national anthems in our real world, even going as far as employing retrograde inversions of its melodic lines.
