Musical Arc: Time Theft

Overview

The audio spine is built on three layers that interlock with the accelerating loop structure:

1. Muzak Bed — Constant chipper 1950s corporate training reel music. Bright, overly upbeat, slightly canned. This plays throughout, establishing ironic contrast with Arthur’s escalating despair. Volume ducks under VO/dialogue.
2. Clock Tick — Analog clock ticking. Starts as subtle texture in Act I, grows in volume and tempo to become the dominant rhythmic driver by the final loop. The tick rate should increase proportionally with loop compression.
3. Narrator VO — Cheerful, overly enthusiastic training film host. Measured pace in early loops, speeds up and eventually stutters/skips as the loops compress.

Ambient Sound Rules (per Editorial Guardrails)

• No silence >2 seconds. At minimum, one of these is always present: clock tick, typewriter clatter, projector hum, muzak.
• Ambient texture: projector rattle, fluorescent hum, typewriter clatter — always in the background, never foregrounded.

Three-Act Musical Structure

Act I: Establishment (0:00 - ~1:00)

• Title card (0:00-0:08): Muzak fades in over scratchy title card. Projector rattle.
• Introduction (0:08-~0:35): Full muzak bed, narrator introduces Arthur and “the virtues of punctuality.” Clock tick subtle.
• First loop (0:35-~1:00): Muzak continues. Clock tick at normal pace. Narrator at measured cadence. Everything feels orderly and cheerful.

Act II: Acceleration (1:00 - ~3:00)

• Loop 2 (~1:00-1:30): Identical muzak, but clock tick slightly faster. Narrator repeats advice, slightly faster.
• Loop 3 (~1:30-1:50): Clock tick audibly faster. Muzak same but feels incongruent. Narrator quickening.
• Loop 4 (~1:50-2:05): Clock tick becomes a prominent pulse. 2-3s faster than previous loop. Narrator voice catching/stuttering.
• Loop 5 (~2:05-2:15): Frantic. Clock tick is a rapid heartbeat-pace. Narrator stuck on “Company time… company time…”
• Each loop compresses: ~25s → ~20s → ~15s → ~10s → ~8s

Act III: Resolution (3:00 - ~3:45)

• Final attempt (~3:00-3:25): Arthur wrestles the machine. Clock ticking reaches maximum tempo. Muzak continues unchanged (the ironic contrast peaks). Narrator is gone.
• Conclusion (~3:25-3:45): Clock strikes 9:01. “DENIED.” Muzak returns in full force, as if nothing happened. Narrator returns cheerfully for the sign-off. Fade to end card.

Music Generation Plan

• Muzak bed: Generate 2:30 clip via lyria-3-pro-preview. Prompt: “Cheerful 1950s corporate muzak, bright brass, light percussion, stock training film music, overly upbeat, mono quality”. May need 2 clips to cover full runtime.
• Clock tick SFX: Generate via genmedia-music or source from SFX. Needs to be tempo-adjustable — may use multiple clips at different tempos, or generate a single tick and use ffmpeg atempo to create accelerated variants.
• Ambient texture: Projector rattle, typewriter, fluorescent hum — generate via music tool as ambient soundscape.

Ducking Configuration (Timeline JSON)

Music track:   volume_db: -2, duck_under: "voice", duck_db: -12
Voice track:   volume_db: +4  (TTS needs boost per USAGE.md)
SFX/Clock track: volume_db: -6, duck_under: "voice", duck_db: -6  (gentle duck, tick stays audible)

Tempo Acceleration Map

Loop	Duration	Clock BPM (approx)	Narrator Pace
1	~25s	60 BPM (normal)	Measured, deliberate
2	~20s	80 BPM	Slightly faster
3	~15s	100 BPM	Quickening
4	~10s	130 BPM	Stuttering, skipping
5	~8s	160+ BPM	Stuck/broken