Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Into the Forest is an excerpt from the Australian film 'The Butterfly Tree' 2017 - Directed by Priscilla Cameron
Produced by Bridget Callow-Wright, MidWinter Films, Cowlick Films.

Caitlin Yeo's award-winning score for the 2017 Australian film 'The Butterfly Tree' is a masterclass in delicate, atmospheric storytelling. Set against the backdrop of the Glasshouse Mountains in Queensland, this magical realist film follows a young boy navigating the complexities of grief and loss within a hyper-real, vibrant natural world.

The soundtrack was met with significant critical acclaim, earning both Feature Film Score of the Year and Best Soundtrack Album at the 2018 APRA Screen Music Awards. Critics have noted that while the score is minimalist and intuitive, it provides essential emotional grounding for the film's fantastical elements.

This orchestral version of Into the Forest was arranged by Steven Stanke for a concert performance on Sunday 28th March 2021 with the Central Coast Orchestra at The Art House in Wyong. The performance was highly acclaimed and very well received.

The creative approach for the score was to create an orchestra of insects and to balance the film's saturated, hyper-real style with a thin, delicate, magical score featuring high-register strings, effected insect sounds, and earthy, organic percussion.

This work should be approached with a sense of the awe and wonder of a young boy coming of age during a grief-stricken time in his life, who retreats to the forest and finds a fantastical world full of butterflies, natural wonders, and lightness.