Composer’s Notes

Pre-COVID, Unseen Enemy examined of the threat of global pandemic.

Release: CNN Films. Premiere: 2017. Re-aired: 2020

As the film began production, there were sudden Zika and Ebola outbreaks, and the team went to Liberia and Brazil to document the front line doctors overrun with patients.

Meanwhile, the experts described a fundamental problem of an interconnected globe with pockets of exposure to dangerous viruses from nature.

The score was called upon to convey the constant pressure bearing down on the doctors and scientists working on the problem.

The solution was a score that eschewed thematic material for a bed of constant driving percussion. Visuals of vast interconnected cities were accompanied by arrays of synth programming.

One idea described early in the film had a particular impact on the music - the idea that society is like a tapestry. If one thread is pulled, all of it can unravel. This sense of unravelling comes up again and again in the film’s cues.