Sound for Vision: The Music of After Judgment Part 1

// January 22nd, 2010 // Projects

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!:   As some of you might already know, I compose the music for the Web Series “After Judgment”, it’s sister companion series “Before Judgment” and most recently the sci-fi comedy “Hurtling Through Space at an Alarming Rate” On the flip side, I also work on Film/TV/New Media projects as a location sound mixer, sound designer, dialog editor, foley artist and mixer.  The title of this blog: “Sound for Vision” will reflect on these different areas of audio from time to time.

That being said, I thought I’d start the inaugural blog off with my involvement as the music composer for “After Judgment”

If you haven’t checked out the show yet, here’s a little background:

“Judgment Day has come and gone. Most of the world’s population and all the children have simply vanished. Those remaining cannot die, and do not age. They exist on an Earth frozen in time, where all sources of power and energy have ceased; a world where daylight never ends, nothing works, and the ocean is poisonous.”

If I tell you anymore, I’d be giving too much away, so go check it out!

crazylady

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The first cue I wrote for the series shows up in what eventually became Episode 3 “Time Has No Meaning” (Originally this was intended to be the first episode that would be aired, more on that in a future blog) We’re introduced to the world of After Judgment with a conversation between “The Crazy Lady” (Played by Beth Fisher) and her imaginary cell phone as Steven (Joel Bryant) lies on his bed staring at the ceiling from inside his apartment.

I approached this cue wanting to put the viewer into a world that was both strange and a bit unnerving.  Musically., I wanted to compliment what was happening on screen yet not distract from it. The show takes place 100 years in the future yet ones first impression of the environment is very primitive, so I used a combination of traditional percussion with a spacey synth playing a spooky melody.

AJ SHEET THEME

At this time I had no idea that this melody would become such an important contribution to the rest of season 1 and has in a way become the After Judgment theme.

steven3

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After being teased with a bizarre flashback 100 years in the past to the event that is referred to as “The Day” Steven begins to do some reflecting.  I went more melancholy with this cue, giving the scene a sad yet hopeful feeling.  He is the Hero after all, we’re supposed to cheer for him!  This theme would show up again in Season 1  in Episode 14: “Time Waits for No One” This had nothing to do with the title of the episode, but if you watch the scene it reflects a similar emotion.

stevensun

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And finally, another cue that turned into what I’m calling  the “Love Theme” of sorts for After Judgment.  It makes it first appearance in Episode 4: “My Life For One Star” with Steven again reflecting on the past.  This is our first clue that the sun never sets in this world, or hasn’t in a long time.  This theme would appear again next in Episode 7: “Sunset and the Afterglow” as Steven and his new “friend” Michelle (Taryn O’Neill) as they reflect on a few subjects strange and not so strange in the land of After Judgment. It’s final appearance in Season 1 would be in Episode 13 “Sins of Our Father” in a similar post reflection/yet romantic situation.

So that’s it for Part 1.  If you have any questions or topics you would like me to blog about or just want to say hello, you can contact me here.

Cheers,

Brian

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