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Trapped demo idea 1 0:280:00/0:28
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Trapped demo 2 0:350:00/0:35
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Trapped titles pitch 0:370:00/0:37
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0:00/0:36
How wide was your reference pool when devising the theme concept? Did CBBC supply you with a pitch deck/concept art/etc, to get the process moving?
Having done some music themes for other CBBC shows, I was invited to BBC TV Centre to meet Rob Hyde, the genius creator and Series Producer of the conceptual gameshow Trapped!
He explained the concept of the multi-floored Tower which child contestants enter, to play a game on each floor, where one child is a secret Saboteur and one child is evicted out of suspicion by the other children, so that ultimately only one winner escapes the Tower. A different Saboteur on each level is secretly coached by the residing Voice, who menacingly revels in trapping children. Rob conjured up a gothic throwback fantasy world, explained the characters including the Caretaker host via mood-boards and profiles, and he showed me artwork of the wonderfully evocative cartoon kids and scenes inside and outside the Tower island that would inspire the title animation.
Branching off that, did you have any external musical references/inspirations? For the opening theme or just the soundtrack in general?
Lemony Snickets (composer Thomas Newman) was one of Rob's fave references, and Danny Elfman was probably referenced for Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.
So I knew it had to be orchestral, magical, dramatically threatening in a kid-friendly way. It would be a competitive pitch, demo’ed for free, but with a budget to win if successful.
Back home I assembled music references, sounds and instruments, I created a demo of a first idea using the software tools at my disposal, including orchestral samples which build and crescendo to a peak.
Recalling the storyboard images of the kids making their way in a storm by boat to the Tower, I made this adventure-laden theme idea for a then-standard 30 second duration limit:
[Trapped demo idea 1]
As I was almost finishing this, Rob emailed me some rhyming couplets which he imagined might be spoken over the title theme by the Voice, to set out the format during the title music.
Oh no, those did not fit well over the top of my first idea, and demanded a new pace and rhythm to match. So I started over, reciting the potential positioning of the words by the Voice as I went, along with the likely timings of the animated events in the storyboard. A couple of intensive days later, I arrived at this.
[Trapped demo 2]
I sent it to Rob, and was dismayed at his feedback that he did not much like it.
Perhaps it was hard to imagine without vocals, so I telephoned him and recited along with the music track down the phone, in the positioning I had intended the words to fall.
That piqued his interest.
In the following days I listened and tweaked the track, adding the busy bassoon motif as a galloping melody to sit under the words, and paying meticulous attention to the likely timings of the storyboard, replaced the orchestral flourish at the end with the trademark Trapped door slam, which required the layering of several SFX to achieve the desired impact and scale. Then I formally submitted this as my demo theme pitch on the deadline, along with a few shorter stings which could potentially punctuate the drama of the show’s format points.
[Trapped titles pitch]
The final master version of the theme came a couple of months later, after being commissioned (yay!) and supplied with the title animation. This now included the actress’ Voice recording, which I edited to time with the music, and a bunch of my sound FX added, to bring the animation alive.
[Trapped! Titles Master]
I noticed two prominent motifs in the main theme that crop up throughout the soundtrack: the opening phrase on the mallets; and the main staccato motif on the bassoon. Would you happen to possibly remember your process of writing these motifs? Any narrative ideas you wanted to convey?
One of the references that I listened to was Thaikovsky’s Nutcracker for its humour, especially Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. That probably inspired the instrumentation of the very beginning, which follows the rhythm of the opening words ’This is not a fairytale’, quickly changing from the major key of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to a more menacing minor phrase.
And possibly the bassoon was inspired by Saint-Saens’ Carnival Of The Animals or the grandfather in Prokoviev’s Peter And The Wolf, who was not unlike the grumbly Caretaker. Sonically the bassoon should keep out of the way the voice of an actress, EQ-wise, so that nothing would ultimately mess with the clarity of the spoken words.
I likely tried various iterations of the tune until it felt just right with ‘fresh ears’.
The evolving brass chords I played as it builds towards the end keep the momentum shifting forwards, with essential drama from orchestral drums and percussion stabs.
Those dynamic, orchestral wind motifs which revolve in the second half were sourced from a sample CD album of Orchestral motifs, and likely transposed and manipulated to progress through chord changes.
Same with the orchestral and brass swells; it’s great to be resourceful with real orchestral samples (far more are available nowadays), over the orchestral parts being played via MIDI.
The leaning semi-tones are important for a chromatic feel of unease, seasickness and whimsical tension, and I exploited that chromatic trick as much as possible in other tracks as game beds inside the Tower, including rising modulations for new levels of tension.
What were the decisions behind the orchestrations? I've always appreciated the fantastical, Gothic power that the arrangement provides.
The decisions behind the orchestrations were informed by my ambition for its scale and orchestral authenticity, while being limited in the sounds I owned (licensed), since everything was done in my old Mac. Sometimes having limited resources focuses the mind on making the most of a certain number of ingredients, rather than limitless supplies and countless instruments which can be intimidating with my mass of licensed software nowadays, which needs more time to sift through.
Through all your decisions when creating this theme, what vibe were you wanting to communicate to the audience?
The vibe I aimed to produce was variable, to tell the narrative arc of the storyboard:
childish fancy (the innocent opening) → mysterious (the magical twist into dark fantasy) → adventure, movie-esque drama (the journey) → cinematic, epic, formidable (The Tower) → crescendo build into peak ending (sonic branding the format title, i.e. being trapped)
However it had to remain whimsical rather than horror, being a format for children aged @ 8-12 on CBBC.
Do you feel the theme reflects the programme well? I hope you do, as I definitely agree and have glimpsed a YouTube fanbase with the same fascination of this soundtrack, but curious if you feel you achieved everything you wanted to achieve with the cue?
If the client (and the audience) are vibed and happy, then that’s a job with which I can be happy!
Because I worried about a BBC sound engineer combining the music with the Voice, and making the music just a background element (a galling outcome to witness on air), I made sure that I took control of doing the final Voice / music / SFX mix and master, to make sure that everything glued together loudly and with maximum impact.
Nowadays I have better tools for mastering and that would show that I’d need to boost and mono-narrow the low bass / sub, and possibly tame some of the mids - but this master was plenty loud.
I usually play with a title theme and its mix via thousands of tweaks on multiple occasions until I am happy when I listen afresh, so I remain happy with the result.
It’s a pity that the format never got exported or remade elsewhere or recommissioned beyond series 4 (Trapped Ever After), as it had massive, untapped, global potential but seemingly no licensing department. What would it take to bring back Trapped! if only to free those poor Unfortunates?
Interview with Chris Leit, fan of Trapped! for study of film/media composition at uni.