Homecoming

In the psychological sci-fi/horror short film Homecoming, a desperate mother is driven to obsession over her missing child, only to discover that he has been changed by something from another world.

A Film by Ben Nicholson & Garrett Taylor Johnson

When I received the opportunity to score this film, I was ecstatic. In the words of fellow media composer Stephe Cooper, “That’s basically the dream”. Blending elements of horror and sci-fi was incredibly fun and fascinating, and this score is full of custom synth sounds and altered orchestral textures.

In the “Working Montage” sequence above, for example, I used a cello recorded in an old, reverberant radio dome to add drive to the sound. The scratchiness of the decaying bow sound added grit and urgency to the synth keys and bass.

In the final portion of the film, we move into creature-feature-alien-horror land. For this, I was tasked with creating a sequence that moved from a traditional slow-burn tension cue to a terrifying chase scene. I started with an orchestral vibe with eerie strings and unsettling low winds, then pivoted to a searing synth lead backed with heavy bass and altered orchestral instruments to create a heart-pounding groove.

Some of the ingredients that I’m particularly proud of include:

• Sampling an eerie wind chime to play the theme for the main character’s lost child, then re-introducing that theme in the synths when the monster appears.

• Using a cello to create “static electricity” sounds to augment the monster’s scariness

• Pushing classical strings through a bitcrusher to make them feel hyper-present and “electric”

• Introducing metallic percussion (hammers, metal sheets, etc) when the main character realizes that the monster can attract metal objects like a magnet

• Sampling her lost child’s voice and turning it into a synth texture

I would love the opportunity to work on another project like this in the future, I love getting a chance to explore new sounds and combine familiar ones in new ways.