For music I'm looking for something muted and simple that the audience can use to reference the flashback every time they hear it. My composer asked me for some examples of the sound I'm thinking of and the closest examples I can think of for the sound design would be the film A Silence Voice. This scene stood out to me not just because of what was happening but the way they muted the sound effects and had the music coming in as well. For music I also referenced Yuki Hayashi's work in the anime Welcome to the Ballroom (click here for a listen). From our conversations they knew what I was looking for straight away. I have sent them my storyboard, however I'm want to have a clear animatic so they have something to work with. The annoying bit is my animatics aren't normally correctly timed, which means I need fully animated shots so my composer have something to work with.
The most important sequence for the music is the flashback sequence. I am actually struggling with the beginning of the flashback. I have the water ripples set but the bubble/pattern in the water is something I have to figure out. Currently this is how transition looks like, the flashback sequence colours are still under adjustments but I think I'm going continue this style for the tears in the flashback sequence.
MUSIC & TIMELINE
After I got a composer on board I started reevaluating my storyboard, the music is introduced when the flashback starts, however most of my sound design e.g. lift alarms, accumulated sound ambience across my story piles up after the music comes in which seemed a little impractical as the main event of my films is now shifted into the flashback rather than the struggle to retrieve the toy. Due to this change my storyline doesn't flow as well as it did before
After some testing and consideration I re-edited my film in order to place a bigger emphasis on the flashback sequence. It made more sense for the struggle to build up and when the security guard gets this flashback he works harder to retrieve the toy for the boy.
Here is the original running order:
In this new version there is two instances where the security guard recalls the flashback. The first one being quite brief, kick-started by the similar way he reaches out for the toy with no music but the sound of water flowing. The second flashback is set later on in the film when the tear drops and fills the screen:
The ending is kept the same, however with the main flashback shifted back later on in the film it becomes a more prominent plot device.