Composer NOTES — Inside of the Score | CHARGE! film score Rick Balentine — Bringing the Story Home
Updated: 2 hours ago
By Rick Balentine
There is a point near the end of a film when the job of the score changes. The audience already knows the characters and what they have been through. At that moment, music does not need to explain the story. It needs to help us feel where the story has taken us. That was my challenge in the closing cue for Steve Gustafson’s CHARGE!: how do I bring the film home emotionally without getting in the way of the final images and performances?
For the CHARGE! film score I composed for Steve Gustafson’s film returns to a piano idea we have heard before, then gradually introduces something new. In musical terms, that returning idea is a motif — simply a short musical thought the audience has already experienced. You do not have to recognize it consciously. Its power comes from the feeling that you have been here before. The new theme then begins to move us somewhere the story has not been yet: toward its ending.
Why a familiar theme can feel like memory
The opening of this cue is about recognition more than size. I wanted the audience to feel a connection to what came before without having the music announce, “Remember this?”
That is one of the things I love about themes in film. A melody can become attached to a character, a relationship, a place, or even an idea. When it returns later, the audience brings all of those earlier feelings with it. The music can recall the journey without the film having to explain it again.
Listen to 0:00–0:46. The piano keeps the opening personal and gives the scene room. The harmony underneath it has not completely settled yet, which is important. The story is approaching its destination, but emotionally we are not there. I want the listener to feel movement — and a little unfinished business.
For me, this is where music theory becomes storytelling. An unresolved harmony simply means the music has not fully arrived at “home.” Most listeners will never name the chord, and they should not have to. They feel the question before they hear the answer.
Building emotion without arriving too soon
By 1:53–2:36, the cue begins to open up. There is more movement, more weight, and a greater sense that we are heading somewhere. But I still do not want to give away the ending too early.
This is one of the decisions a composer constantly makes against picture: when do I let the audience feel the destination? If the music resolves too soon, the scene can feel finished before the story is finished. If I hold back too long, I can miss the emotional turn. So the cue grows in stages. The orchestration becomes broader, but the harmony continues to create forward pull. In plain English: the music is getting bigger, but it is still asking us to wait for the answer.
Tension, release — and why both matter
The strongest stretch arrives around 2:43–3:22, with a major peak near 3:05. This is where the score is allowed to carry more emotional weight. But the important part is not simply that the music gets bigger. It is what happens after it gets bigger.
Around 3:22–3:30, I pull the energy back. That release creates contrast. If everything stays huge, nothing feels huge anymore. A scene needs shape just as a story does: pressure, release, another breath, another turn. The quieter moment also gives the picture back some space. The audience has felt the peak; now they have a moment to absorb it.
The breath before the final answer
The final excerpt begins at 3:22 so you can hear that change clearly. The texture becomes quieter around 3:25. To me, this is the musical equivalent of taking a breath. We have reached a high point, but I am deliberately not finished.
Then the music begins to rise again. Because we stepped back first, that final lift can mean something different. It is no longer just intensity. It feels like acceptance — the story finally allowing itself to arrive.
CHARGE! film score Rick Balentine — when the music finally resolves
This is the part of the cue I especially wanted to make understandable to someone who does not read music or think in chord names. Throughout the ending, I have been using harmony to create a sense of expectation. Some of the musical phrases feel as though they want to settle but do not quite get there. That tension is intentional.
Eventually, the cue gives us a much stronger resolution. In theory terms, resolution is the movement from musical tension toward stability. In emotional terms, it is the moment your shoulders can finally drop. The music has spent several minutes leaning forward, and now it can finally stand still. That is why the resolve feels larger than the chord itself: the audience has been waiting for it, whether they knew it or not.
That is the real reason I use theory when I score a film. The chord is not the point. The audience is. Harmony, melody, orchestration, dynamics, silence — they are all ways of shaping the emotional journey around the director’s story. The picture timecode for this ending is 01:10:55:02. The listening times in this article refer to the MP3 itself, beginning at 0:00.
Hear the complete cue
Now listen to the complete 4:32 cue. Notice how long the music is willing to wait before giving you its strongest sense of arrival. Hear the familiar piano idea, the gradual widening of the sound, the peak, the step backward, and then the final resolution. You do not need to analyze any of it. Just notice when you begin to feel that the story has finally come home.
Join the conversation
If you are a director, producer, filmmaker, or simply someone who loves movies, I would love to know what you hear in this ending. When does the music begin to feel resolved to you? And when you watch a film, do you notice the score leading your emotions — or do you usually feel it before you notice it? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I read them, and I would love to continue the conversation.
Thank you so much for reading!
Rick
Well said Rick!! Enjoyed reading this and seeing into the background of these moments. Thanks for sharing your process with us!