Cue of the Week: “Contemplating the Discovery”

A question we film composers often face is how to musically support small, incidental moments — those connective mini-scenes that give us vital information at a glance. These moments need to be emotionally connected to the overall tone of the film, but are often too fleeting to warrant a big musical theme.

A handy technique for these situations is to repurpose an earlier melodic idea into a more subtle, supporting form. In this selection from the score of Secrets Beneath the Floorboards I compressed the film’s main theme into a repeating accompaniment for chimes. Set it against some moody ambience, and voila: the perfect accompaniment for the heroine peering at a mysterious drive she’s unearthed from the (titular) floorboards.