Model Painting

Model Painting is a short, 0:42 second track on 2011 Super 8 album, composed by Michael Giacchino. It is the third track on the album. In the film, the music accompanies the main protagonist, a young boy named Joe, as he sits quietly in his room, painting a small model sculpture of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, surrounded by other models and paints.

The music begins and largely consists of a string tremolo. A slow and melancholy version of Joe’s Family Theme, plucked out on harp strings begins and layers overtop the tremolo. After a short moment of transition, Joe’s Theme ends, and the tremolo gives way to a high string note held for the last several seconds of the track. The tremolo giving way to the high, redemptive string note held at the end seems to represent the turmoil Joe faces in his life, and how the model painting helps him to escape it. In the film, it is clear that Joe paints models to escape his world for a while, and he notices a similar characteristic in the creature at the end of the film.

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