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I always try to pick a "hero" or a "theme" sound for my scores that's related conceptually to the narrative of the film. When I first saw Trespassers I knew immediately I wanted the star of this score to be the doorbell. The doorbell is the death knell that heralds the horrific events of the film. I wanted that first press of the doorbell to echo and reverberate throughout the rest of the film, as if the doorbell itself was somehow controlling or forcing the action to occur.

I bought an antique door chime on eBay, took it apart, and made recordings playing those chimes in every conceivable way. Bowed, struck, scraped, activated with dry ice, blown like a pan-flute. It's the spine of pretty much every cue and informed the melodic and harmonic direction of all of this music.

This score also features a superb team of collaborators and musicians. David Rothbaum and I have been working together since 2008. He's an exceptional synthesist, guitar player, and all-around musician. He played all the guitars on this score, as well as co-wrote a handful of cues. Also appearing are percussionist Ted Byrnes, vocalist Micaela Tobin, and Lenka Morokova who plays a custom-built "Bohemian Crystal" instrument, which is in some ways related to the Cristal Baschet, but has it's own unique and haunting tone. I'm grateful to Orson both for making a movie that invited experimentation, and his trust in allowing me to actually make this score, which is full of many of my favorite techniques and ideas.

- Jonathan Snipes

Jonathan Snipes is a composer and sound designer for Film and Theater living in Los Angeles. He occasionally teaches sound design in the theater department at UCLA, and is a member of the rap group clipping.

1. jonat8han.com