I Lost the 2024 IFMC

I entered the Indie Film Music Contest for the first time this summer. They announced the semi-finalists today - and I wasn’t included. I worked my ass off on this thing so it’s pretty disappointing.

I paid extra for a critique so hopefully that has some helpful points. I especially feel bad because I participated in a beta-test for the IFMC Composing Course they’re launching soon - so it’s as if even after being trained on what exactly to do by the same people holding the contest themselves, I still couldn’t place.

They’re holding a video game scoring competition, but as of right now I don’t know if I have the heart to enter that one. Since adaptive scoring is more of a challenge, to enter would feel like losing a game on medium difficulty, and then trying again immediately afterwards on difficult.

Anyway, here’s my entry. I hope someone else likes it, because I sure do.

““When a pandemic disrupts an immunocompromised family's lives, their steadfast mom, who is also a nurse, must isolate herself until they can all be reunited.” I used synthesizers instead of symphonic instruments because I felt they best represented the location of a hospital (or a hospital parking lot), as well as the modern themes of pandemics and public health. A Kontakt drum instrument made from nothing but car sounds proved to be the perfect way to illustrate the never-ending waiting, claustrophobia and tension our protagonist experiences while stuck in her isolation tank on wheels. For the emotional highpoint at the end, I layered real timpani drums and woodwinds to help convey the joy and release she feels when she finally gets to see her son.”