RUNNER | Original soundtrack by Jay Hosking

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A complete re-scoring of one of my favourite short films.

This is a love letter to the National Film Board of Canada. (Yes, this is the same Board of Canada where those Scottish gents derived their name.) The NFB, particularly its cartoons, were a huge part of my childhood, but Don Owen's "Runner" sticks with me as one of my very favourite short films.

The premise of the film is simple: in Act I, the runner runs for the joy of it; in Act II, the runner trains with his team; in Act III, the runner competes in the big race. But underlying it all is an incredible sense of depth, a meditation on being alone, on the friction of being alone even when surrounded by others, on how we only compete with ourselves. Through the incredible camera work of John Spotton, the world blurs until only one individual remains. Ultimately, victorious and surrounded by a crowd, our runner takes off his shoes and runs barefoot, alone. While being released in 1962, its themes are as recognizable today as they were then.

This reimagining of the soundtrack takes these themes to heart. The foundation for the music began with some musical explorations in my "How I make ambient synth music" video (). From there, the additional elements definitely leaned toward post-rock, and that somehow felt thematically appropriate despite the original jazz soundtrack.

You can find the film with its original audio here:

You can learn more about Bruce Kidd, the runner, here:

To see how I made the soundtrack, there is a 49-minute walkthrough and behind-the-scenes video available on my Patreon. In short, lots of plug-ins for piano, strings, synth, drums, and bass, and adding real guitars for Acts II and III.

I am extremely proud of this project, and extremely grateful to have the National Film Board of Canada and all their incredible works.

Thanks for listening.