The Score (Remake)

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The Score (Remake)

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The Score is a Bonus Content chapter from Until Dawn (2024 Remake). It goes in depth about the game's score composed by Mark Korven.

Transcript

[Joe Thwaites] It was really exciting when we found out that we were going to be working on Until Dawn again. It was a really exciting opportunity to revisit the music for the game. The original score by Jason Graves really brought the game to life and we were keen to elevate and enhance on the foundations that he'd laid.

When we first started this process, Mark's name came up as someone who was doing some really interesting stuff in the horror space.

[Mark Korven] I tend to steer away from cliche all the time. You know, I try to look for what's needed, but how can I twist that in a certain way to make it hopefully something that you haven't heard a million times before?

[Joe Thwaites] He does some great work in films like The Lighthouse and The Witch. He found elements from those film worlds that really picked out interesting things from the narrative. We were keen on doing something very similar in Until Dawn.

One of the first things we started looking at when we started on this game was the main theme and how we wanted to update that for the title. You'll hear that from the very beginning, and it will be introduced all throughout the game and at key moments. I think the importance for us was having something that had a real hook to it, that was really identifiable, that you would hear it in any style and in any part of the game. You would immediately pick up, oh, this is relating to the wider Until Dawn universe.

[Sam] Did you see this view? I mean, holy cow?

[Joe Thwaites] Each environment, we really wanted to create its own musical character that would go with it. So for the mines, the sanatorium, the forest itself and the lodge, we had four different suites that would sit within these worlds that would give each of them a character and their own kind of melodies and sound world, which you immediately knew when you were changing from environments, changing between different characters. It kind of sat you in that place very quickly. You understood where you were because of that musical world.

[Mark Korven] I tried to evoke the feeling of being in these places, like, you know, with the mines. It's metallic. It's, you know, the scraping of the wheels on the mine car tracks. And it's echoey, so there's more reverb. It's not so in your face. It's more sort of a haunted feeling than the lodge would be close. It's indoors in a nice warm cabin, so it's more in your face.

[Joe Thwaites] I think one of the most iconic places in the game is the sanatorium. It's got a lot of history to the building, and we had a lot of fun introducing bits of music from that past and making it feel like there was history within the music that was kind of distant memories as you were exploring it.

[Jessica] You guys go ahead. I'm just going to wait here for a bit. See who else is coming.

[Joe Thwaites] One of the things that we wanted to do in this reimagining of Until Dawn was look at character themes and seeing if there's more opportunities to bring in thematic material to represent each of the characters. And that might be a melody, but it also might be something more like an instrument that represents that character.

[Mark Korven] I think in this score there was probably more of an accent on melodic motifs for all the characters, and that was sort of new to me because I tended to do a lot of broad brushstrokes where you're really scoring the vibe of the overall film.

[Sam] Okay, so you hear that too, right?

[Mark Korven] The score was mostly done in the box, so that's basically in my home studio with not a lot of acoustic instruments performed within the recording of the score. When you're composing in the box, as we say, there can be a certain thinness to the sound. It's sort of closed in like that. But as soon as you get more players involved and recording in this beautiful studio, then the whole sound just sort of widens up and becomes larger than life.

[Joe Thwaites] With a couple of the sessions we're doing here, we're kind of trying out some more experimental things. And our kind of goal here is to really find some interesting and unique sounds that can really characterize some of the places and sequences within the game. One of the cues even has all of the players blowing across their cellos and double basses, which creates this really eerie, windy sound. And yeah, a lot of those kind of creative effects really help create this kind of eerie, uncanny space because you're taking the acoustic sound of the instruments, but then kind of manipulating it in a way that you're unfamiliar with and kind of you get this uncanny valley feel to it.

We've got a percussionist coming in who's basically bringing a truckload of interesting and fun sounds, including squeaky hinges and other bizarre contraptions that we're going to be playing around with to make kind of interesting and unique sounds. We set out to create something that was very differentfrom the original and to help score the environment, score the characters, and create a little bit more of an overarching thematic experience for the game. And create a little bit more of an overarching thematic experience for the game. And I think we've achieved that.

[Mark Korven] Both Joe and James were just a pleasure to work with. I mean, the team worked together just like the meshes in a gear. It's just been wonderful.

[Joe Thwaites] It was amazing to be able to reimagine the score and go on this new journey with it. I'm really excited with how it's come out and I hope the audience enjoy it as well.

[Mark Korven] This is all very, very new to me, but very, very exciting. You gotta shake up your world now and then.

Video

Until Dawn Remake (2024) Behind The Scenes- The Calling + The Music Score