Sam Severin’s latest film ‘Niko & Eleanor’ is a compelling narrative short that follows a young man as he infiltrates the home of an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. Despite his apparent ill will, the pair form a symbiotic relationship — which the director explores through inquisitive camerawork and a rich visual palette. We composed the score and supervised the soundtrack of the film — which was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick this month. To establish the distinct and opposing personalities of the two lead characters, we licensed a pair of songs — a nostalgic pop ballad featuring lilting island guitars, and a brash rap delivered over a hip hop beat — which are intercut with each other during an early montage. For the score, meanwhile, we utilised the sparse sounds of plucked and scraped strings and beaten woodblock percussion to create an atmosphere of tense uncertainty. This mood intensifies as the film goes on, and is perpetuated further by the warped chimes that ring out at the film’s ambiguous climax.