BIFSC 2026 reflection by Nicholas
The film is a sci-fi style animation about a cat-like creature having adventures on an alien planet, including exploring, facing danger, and escaping. I chose to use classical orchestra instruments, as I need a wide range of sounds, from bright and clear motifs to heavy, darker backgrounds and surprise elements, including loud “jumpscares” to keep the soundtrack unpredictable, just like the film.
For the first part, I decided that my soundtrack should start with a leitmotif for the cat creature. Since the opening scene is looking at a forest that got slightly messed up by the creature’s spaceship and ends on the frame focusing on the creature on the ground, I decided the leitmotif would be for the creature instead of the planet, as what happened to the creature is the main focus of the scene. I chose the harp, strings, and woodwinds for the first part. Harp is used as a connection between pauses of the melody to fill in the blank parts of the melody that don’t cover to make it more fluent, woodwinds being the main melody in G major and strings being the harmony playing chords supporting the woodwinds. When the logo of the studio popped out, I placed a short and light harp Arpeggio with G major notes with a C# to signal the melody started and made the harp notes slow down when the text “Space Cat Hob” came out giving it a feel of exploration and curiosity as listeners won’t be able to tell what’s the next Arpeggio and how fast it would be. The melody and harmony started with G major and ended in G major when the camera moved to the cat and stayed quiet the whole time. I wanted to leave more possibilities so I did not use a minor, since that would make the film feel concerning or possibly a bad ending. I used a Glockenspiel for decoration.
After the first part, before the creature got shocked by an electric zap, I did not write anything to create tension or any kind of build up, I left a blank part so when the creature got shocked by the electric zap, audiences would have absolutely no warning for the loud noise and bright visuals. Did this to make the film dramatic and add contrast. I used a FF bass drum for a “bang” noise and increased the volume of the other notes all the way up to a Sforzando, which is extremely loud compared to the start that then returns to the original volume for the sake of scaring audiences. Maybe it also gets audiences more excited about what happens next.
After the zap where the creature started to play around like a real cat, I used strings and woodwind arpeggios that went up and then down aligning with the creature spinning around, so my score would have a playful factor for extra immersion. Without the playful factor, it would soon become overly repetitive, as if the audience were listening to a boring narrator that already knows the entire plot. As the creature finally fixed his helmet screen and explored around, I made the leitmotif return to remind the audience to pay attention to the main character.
In the scene where the first hornet came out, I made a motif for it in E minor and C minor, which is fast and loud, using strings to resemble buzzing noises and the hornet flying around. As the camera switches back to the cat, I return to the original motif as the scene transitions to the cave, another loud sound as hostile plants attack and a separate part in the cave and as the cat helps the hornet as a connection between parts, instead of only using cat and hornet theme. Again, adding diverse melodies between can be more.
During scenes where the character fights a bunch of these hornets/bees and summons over his ship, I constantly switch between the cat’s motif and the hornets to match different scenes. For example, when the scenes are the cat getting chased, then I would use the hornet theme. If it’s the cats performing some quick thinking action like dodging obstacles and operating the spacesuit, I use the cat theme, each time a little differently for more variations (to make it less boring.) Instruments like the tuba and trombone are used for lower notes and powerful “beeps.”
As the cat ran into some mechanism and started to have a parkour while avoiding the metal gears, I created a separate part that starts with the hornet’s motif to create tension using its minor key but also changed the rhythm to a call/response by the strings, brass. Now the bars are filled with 8 notes, 4 for the strings and 4 for the woodwinds. I chose this to mimic the noises gears make when they click around.
After the escapes and the hornets get trapped in the spider net, I continue to use the cat and hornet motif as the camera looks at them and switches scenes. I added a completely new theme for the spider in E minor with low, dark sounds from the cello, double bass, and tuba as the spider appears menacing and slowly approaches, signaling danger. I then reuse the cat’s theme when he operates the spacesuit and saves the hornets.
As the hornets calmed down and stopped attacking, I placed the hornet’s theme but this time in E major. I adjusted the timing so as the calm hornets suddenly become hostile again, that E major musical phrase can get interrupted to create more contrast. I continue in E minor and change to G major as the spaceship activates some kind of bomb mode and comes to save the cat, matching the cat-hornet pattern I made.
As the ship explodes, the cat got sent flying, which I used arpeggios that start with D and go up each time with one semitone at a time until the cat gets hit by a tree, then timed the rest of the notes when the cat lands on mushrooms and on the ground.
In the end, as the cat woke up again and saw the amazing view of the planet, I re-used the harp and theme I wrote in the start with an extra Glockenspiel note in the end.
