Captured by BBC Studios Natural History Unit and featuring immersive cinematography and emotional storytelling, the docuseries Primates tells the stories of species rarely seen on screen.
Denise Santos
We checked in with composer Denise Santos of Bleeding Fingers Music to learn more about what went into creating the series’ score and what her favorite scene was.
Which scene was your favorite to work on in Primates?
Denise Santos: I think my answer for this changes all the time. For now, I’d say that my favorite scene to work on was a portion of the gorilla sequence where they show how male gorillas also measure their dominance by how well they take care of their offspring.
It allowed me to show gorillas in a different light. They’re usually shown as giant and scary creatures of the jungle. However, in this scene, the male gorilla is shown to be playing lovingly with his kids, and I was able to write sweet and nostalgic music over it. I’m a sucker for that part of filmmaking where the audience is taken out of their biases on what a particular character is supposed to be like.
Which instruments, tools or plugins did you use to score this scene?
Santos: As it is a tender moment, I layered some tuned percussion to create a lullaby. There are quite a few instruments in the layers because I wanted to get a good balance of sweet but powerful. I didn’t want it to sound too thin or too thick.
So on the layers, I had a celeste, marimba, toy piano and vibraphone amongst some synths hidden beneath. I know that sounds a bit much, but it was the combination that worked for the purpose. Then, along with the tuned perc layers, I also had solo violin and solo cello in the second section to carry over the lullaby and give it an even sweeter feel. Again, the balance of lightness and body was essential for this; that’s why I had the violin play alongside the cello.
What technical challenges did you encounter while working on this scene?
Santos: Finding that balance in instrumentation was a challenge. It took different combinations of instruments before it felt right, but I think it was worth it.
What was the dialogue like between you and the series showrunner regarding this scene?
Santos: It was pretty straightforward, really. I knew what the showrunners were going for, so there wasn’t much back and forth on this one. The footage and the narration also already provided a lot of information that helped guide my writing process.
