1. Project Overview
Appendix: Beambuddy video about Inscryption
Multi-media projects have always been an area of interest for me. Since I gained access to the internet as a young child. The intersection between music and visual forms has been something I’ve always wanted to dive into. When I got the chance to work on a short film back in November of 2025, I dove headfirst with no experience. This assignment will explore the two projects I was fortunate to be part of, as well as inspirations, my planning for this project, and the production techniques I used while working on my parts of it!
Personnel Involved
When I did my previous assignment, I deemed it important to discuss who the personnel who would be working on this project would be.
Krishna Karan(Me)
- I am a metal/rock producer specialising in instrumental subgenres like metalcore, djent, rock, pop-rock and pop-punk
- My background lies with the guitar, forming the backbone of all my creative endeavours
- I am very interested in sample creation through the destruction and desecration of the original sounds to the point of non-recognition
- This project was my first foray into writing for media, and my first score for a project
- While not music-related, I also write scripts in my free time related to media I’m consuming or creating
Tvarita Surendar
- Tvarita is a 3rd year chemical engineering student currently studying at the National University Singapore’ (NUS). She had originally taken this film studies module to get away from the stress of engineering.
- The main project we worked on was the final submission for her film module. While the second project we were working on fell into disregard due to a lack of time on both our ends
- It also marked her directorial debut, marking her first step into the creative field
- She also has experience with other creative fields, being a singer of a pop group, a camera woman for the film club in NUS and being an avid short story writer with experience in genres such as Comedy, Horror, and Romance.
2. Panopto Video – Final Product (10-12 Minutes)
3. Chronological Monthly Diary
The first draft of this project can be traced back to early October, after learning about the assignment that the interdisciplinary project course. I was looking for people to work with, my background in production being related to metal music. It was particularly daunting to find projects that could use my expertise.
It was then that I got in touch with Tvarita, a friend from my high school, now studying in Singapore. She was pursuing her degree in chemical engineering and had taken on a film course to complete her GPA requirements. With her final assignment for this course being to write, direct and edit a short film. I reached out to her to offer my services to score the short film and any other sound work she may require.
The film is meant as a showcase of grief and its different stages, and how a person would react to loss. Being a depiction of a real-life event she faced.
Appendix: Receiving Feedback for certain sections
The film began its writing process in early October, with the film being entirely narrated and having a voice-over in post. This removed the hassle of having any dialogue while filming and having to manage microphones and sound during filming. While I didn’t have any input to give during writing, I was given a few themes to focus on while working on the drafts for the score for the 7 scenes I would handle.
I spent the 2nd week of October watching the first draft, with a script she had provided, making notes of the different themes present throughout the film. Noticing the shock in the first few scenes before moving to hidden motives, and reclusion. After confirming the themes/moods with my friend. This level of basic spotting helped me to narrow down instruments, scales, and techniques I could use while writing.
The following four weeks would pass by in a blur. I’d spend time writing a draft idea before sending a screen recording of the project file for any approval from her end. Due to the time gap of 8 hours from Singapore to the UK, most of my work would carry on into very late hours, sometimes even pulling all-nighters to get the desired results.
Appendix: Movie Themes being discussed
The 4 weeks passed by with constant edits and discussions amongst us, formulating ideas on how a certain theme’s score should sound, which instruments should be the key focus, and what effects would be needed for each track, instrument, and so on. We also began discussing how the voice-over would be recorded. In the end, we agreed on recording the voice-over in Audacity on Tvarita’s laptop, and I could handle any vocal processing that would be needed.
The following week was a whirlwind of quick edits, renders and recordings as the submission deadline for Tvarita drew closer. I finalised all mixes for the 7 songs I worked on by the 14th of November, before my presentation showcasing my progress on my final project. Feedback from the presentation was generally positive, with the only feedback to be considered being to showcase my influences.
After the short film was submitted on the 28th of November, we began discussing other projects we wanted to embark on. We worked on potential ideas, such as a horror film and a short comedy film, to name a few. While meeting in December, we undertook storyboarding for certain ideas, but those ideas never bore fruit. Despite this, we pressed on, with me writing certain ideas for the horror idea.
The grades for the movie came back in late December, with the film being awarded an A- grade by the staff, while being slightly criticised for inconsistent cinematic framing, it was praised for the writing quality and the use of colour. Due to the high grade achieved in this project, she was invited to showcase this film at a small film festival hosted by the Film Studies course.
The screening was undertaken in the second week of January, with a healthy turnout, alongside QnA sessions with directors of the 4 films. The film, according to discussions with Tvarita, while being praised for the music and sound direction, an aspect I was proud to be a part of. With the screening completed, the first part of this 2 part project was deemed officially complete from both our ends.
Appendix: Screening of My Informal Letter
The second project, originally begun in February, with filming taking place at NUS Dhopper studios for a documentary about a Dance Club situated in the same university. This project was created by the Film Extracurricular Club, a club where she is a member. While she was working as a camerawoman on this particular project, she reached out to me, alongside the director of this documentary, to see if I would be interested in writing the background score for this project. I agreed to the documentary and was sent the only version of the documentary I have at the time of writing this project.
While writing the music for this particular project, I was given references by the director and Tvarita, who was an AD for a dance studio, using the hip-hop-centric style of the advertisement. Using that, the introduction for the documentary, before heading into the more interview-related aspects of the documentary. I was advised by the director that they wanted the documentary’s music to be more laid-back and more of an afterthought. Using this advice, I created a short version of the interview score and sent it to them. This was the last contact I had with the director, as they planned a reshoot of the elements due to unforeseen circumstances.
4. Evidence of Planning/Process
Gantt Chart outlining my working timeline
5. Reference Material/Inspiration
When first beginning work on these two projects, I had no idea where to start and how to end, being a total novice to the world of scoring and working in any other genres besides alternative and its sister genres.
Research for this project began with watching many short films of the same nature and theme as well as any related media. Using ideas from Indian short films such as ‘Juice’ by Neeraj Ghaywan and ‘The Promise’ by Tighmanshu Dhulia, I found the use of pianos and strings was a common theme in both the references I watched to gain an idea of what techniques I could use. I also looked at works by Sean Townsend and how he used his Piano in the recreation of famous metal tracks.
I also looked at scores from critically acclaimed composers such as Hans Zimmer and viewed how he used his piano, especially for tracks in the end of Interstellar, how he viewed his piece as something small and fragile, for such a ‘massive, epic’ project such as interstellar, i decided to not make music the main focus of such a emotionally driven film, but rather something to supplement the rather somber tones of the film. This led to the executive decision of focusing the music as a background element and keeping it rather subdued, with only subtle highlights to maintain interest throughout the short film as well as any aspects of
However, when we discuss the intro of the documentary, the style has completely changed. Due to the nature of the documentary being focused on a hip-hop dance club, I was advised that the intro would call for something more upbeat and focused on the hip-hop style that many K-pop-centric dance clubs use in their advertisements. I was sent a reference by Tvarita, and after a few changes to the way the beat would progress, it was deemed perfect for what the intro called for, despite my lack of visual stimuli. The Interview aspects of the documentary did call for something more subdued, just to create an atmosphere around the people being interviewed. Due to this, I used the same references and inspirations as before to create a background score that was deemed fit.
6. Use of Technology
Being a production student, technology played the biggest role in the creation of the musical elements of both projects I was part of. Without technologies like sampling, MIDI arrangement, the existence of DAWs and the internet as a whole. This part of the assignment will discuss the different production techniques used..
Appendix: Demonstration 1
Appendix: Demonstration 2
Pianos were the most common instrument across all the songs; a lot of arpeggios were used, with the root notes changing to add different harmonic layers. My own usage of pedal tone riffs inspired a lot of the writing style. Pedal Tone riffs in their simplest terms could be described as where a single low note is repeated, while notes/chords above/below it change. This was a key component as changing the root of the arpeggio would help it develop some movement and sense of progression in the piece. However, to add to the rustic feel of the, I wanted to add in some mild foley effects from the piano. I recorded a few squeaks from the pianos at the Leeds Conservatoire practice rooms and put them underneath the piano to simulate an old, worn-out piano after being inspired by an Ableton instrument that added certain effects with a randomiser.
Appendix: Demonstration of Foley sounds
The other instruments that I wanted to highlight that formed a core part of the sound were strings. Thanks to a multitude of string plugins I had acquired over the years as well as stock Ableton Instruments, I was able to create lush-sounding spaces that didn’t rely on the piano to be the sole musical component. While not being a string player, I used references from songs I have heard, where strings are used to add more body to a harmonic element.
There were also minor synth elements present in a few songs in both the documentary and the short film in certain scenes. Most synth parts were composed with the same approach that the piano took, forming the core idea of the score with plucked and lead elements. However, due to a Synth’s versatility with different aspects, such as pads, it was also used in the same way I used strings in these scores. Alongside synths, there was also the usage of granular synthesis using existing samples to add textural elements to the score
Appendix 4: Strings Demonstration
Appendix 5: Granular Synthesis Demonstration
Mixing was the aspect I was most excited about, as during writing, I came up with ideas to see how I could elevate the sounds to fit the theme of the movie better. I fell in love with the reverb from Archetype Gojira by NeuralDSP; the shimmer feature added a layer, which I tried to emulate with other reverbs and failed. Despite being a guitar amp, using the delay and reverb features helped a lot in creating space, and even more textural elements and was used on quite a few of the instruments, including the piano and string elements. All processing, such as EQ, compression, and limiting, was handled by my custom mix chain. Automation was used with great effect, helping me control effects such as the filter, the tempo of certain aspects and even time signatures, signalling changes in the section.
7. Evaluation
Being a part of this multimedia project was the most challenging creative endeavour I had undertaken. But it was incredibly rewarding to work on these two projects, as they helped me develop my creative skills by working in environments I wasn’t typically used to. This part of the assignment will be exploring how the projects fared after a period of reflection, and how they could be improved should I undertake any similar projects in the future.
My Informal letter can be classified as a success. The short time frame of a month I had to work on, from spotting to the initial drafts and finally to the submission, all in a single month, was a feat that was very hard to achieve but was manageable. Discussing contributions with Tvarita, she mentioned that while first coming up with the idea for the short film, she didn’t expect musical contributions to play a big role, but after submission, she confirmed that the music fit the project well. While showcasing this project in the seminars, my peers agreed that my musical contributions fit the project goals, and the result was cohesive and flowed well with the project, with some comments regarding the repetition of the pieces and that the mixes for the pieces could be louder
However, work on the documentary felt more strained, with both parties entering a very busy time of the year, the project had effectively reached a standstill at the time of writing this evaluation. I was later informed by both Tvarita and the director that the documentary would have to be reshot after the assessment periods were over for them. While heartbreaking, the audio components I provided did fit with the theme the director called for. While my peers agreed on the same, the only feedback I got from them was to focus on the mix.
Feedback received from Peers and Tutor
Developmental Potential
Being my first foray into writing for a multimedia project of this calibre, I certainly recognised many spaces where I could develop my skills even further. Having a cohesive main project despite the short time frame showcased how I could create material for short films that would be an even better fit for the same. The two projects also showcased my ability to work with projects with a tight schedule and showcased my time management skills.
Conclusion
The success of ‘My Informal Letter’ showcased how there is still a growing audience for Short Films across the world, while my musical contributions were not the main focus of the project, they did play a key role in building atmosphere in the film. While the documentary was affected by exigent circumstances, the project is on track to be a success, with communication being strong
8. Bibliography
Ableton (2024). Granulator III. [online] Ableton.com. Available at: https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/granulator-iii/.
BeamBuddy (2024). The Darkest Secret Ever Found in a Horror Game… [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F9DH1F5hDk [Accessed 29 Aug. 2025].
Burlingame, J. and Film Music Society (2014). FMS FEATURE [Hans Zimmer’s ‘Interstellar’ – by Jon Burlingame]. [online] www.filmmusicsociety.org. Available at: http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2014/110614.html.
Dhulia, T. and Royal Stag Barrel Select Shorts (2026). The Promise. [online] Youtu.be. Available at: https://youtu.be/Wd2B4LV5h2Y?si=wqXltteRMUbCHo4p [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026].
LargeShortFilms (2017). JUICE I NEERAJ GHAYWAN I SHEFALI SHAH I ROYAL STAG BARREL SELECT LARGE SHORT FILMS. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Sk7fQGIjE.
Sean Townsend (2020). Chillswitch Engage – The End of Heartache – Cover Album. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JvvO-Fb68g [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026].
Appendices
Full version of all scores
