“4th Paradox” is the story of a man who becomes stuck in a 4th dimension where his life events get looped. Detective John Ridley (played by Nate Lofton) wakes up in a looped space-time continuum with no memory and a corpse next to him. John walks through the forest not knowing where he was. He looks for clues about what has transpired as well as for an escape plan. He finds a car with a GPS which takes him to a deserted city. He enters into a building and comes to the realization that he has already been there, performing the same activity several times before. Later, being paranoid with fear he shoots himself…not to die but rather to wake up again (due to the loop).
Creating the musical soundscape for a film in which the action keeps repeating itself, all to the confusion of the main character was just as complex as you might expect it to be. Maddury wanted to communicate the disorientation and complexity of the situation while also accentuating the emotion of Detective Ridley. The composer experimented extensively to find the proper tone, using both a warm/organic approach as well as a cold/digital one. Ultimately he opted for electronic instruments that represented this unreal/futuristic world and blended in traditional orchestral instruments to reflect the character’s psychological confusion and disorientation. In contrast to this complexity, Sai confesses that the simplest time signature was the most effective. He comments, “Generally a film score is written with many time signatures. This clearly delineates scenes and themes for both the story and the viewer. A particular scene might contain different themes or leitmotifs and the different time signatures can help define the emotion and the action. I decided to keep a 4/4-time signature consistent throughout the film in order to reflect the concept of the 4th dimensional space-time where life is looped. The score reflects this idea of getting looped in a 4th dimension of repeating time-space and by using the 4/4 time signatures as a rhythmic motif which loops again, it created this concept of 4th dimension of space-time musically. It was always familiarly on repeat and yet allowed me to introduce subtle new ideas.”
One of the most stunning characteristics of the film’s score is that it accompanies the main character throughout the film. That’s not to say that it is always created a musical “bed” that we feel as the audience but rather, as John Ridley is essentially the only character in the story (other than the corpse) the musical actually serves as the detective’s only companion. No matter where he is in the film, this sonic partner accompanies him. The music is so intense and permeating that the audience instantly recognizes it’s changing emotions just as they might notice the facial expressions of another physical character, were one to be present. The voicings of the electronic and organic instruments Maddury uses are as much a type of dialogue as any spoken words in “4th Paradox.” This was fully intentional as Sai reveals, “Because this film has only one character onscreen, his emotions are profoundly felt. He has fear of where he was, hope that he could escape from this. When he finds a car and takes it, there is guilt. I always find myself focusing on characters when I am creating a score. I want to internalize their feeling and experience so I can convey this in the music. In this film, it was a special treat as I was given the opportunity to give life to this idea as a new character. It was incredibly creative, challenging, and rewarding. I’m so happy that Tyler allowed me to ‘stretch’ on this project.”