Before making the piece i created a mind-map which helped arrange and convey my thoughts. I tried to find similar points that found their way to each other – one was ‘big’ helping me see that it was a description i wanted to convey heavily in my piece. I thought that something orchestral would allow me to portray that. I looked up films and art that i associated with the descriptions ‘dark’ and ‘bleak’ such as The Joker and found the composer Hildur Guðnadóttir who’s music tends to lean towards the more darker tones and fit what I wanted to go for in my head.
I recall the planning piece i made before making the mindmap being very different. With this one (below) it was mostly trial and trying to come up with something as I was really struggling to come up with something. I realised however it wasn’t the direction I wanted to go in – preferring a more orchestral approach.
Other inspirations for the piece included Camille Saint-Seans – Danse Macabre, which I randomly found on my recommended. I later found that it was based upon The Plague also known as the The Black Plague which was extremely coincidental. Nevertheless it provided the grounds for an orchestral idea and the idea to really enhance the strings. I remember sampling a small section from the song that I really liked that would really inspire me.