Ok, I gave it a shot anyway and was able to complete an entry before the deadline. I went into this as blind as possible and didn't familiar myself with the story or music other than what was in the brief on the competition page. (Only checked on the original score just before submitting my entry to make sure I wasn't copying anything. haha) So, I centered the music on the idea that this woman's beliefs are a corruption of something beautiful or at least this scene was at the beginning of that corruption.
For the instruments, I didn't want to choose the standard or traditional sounding "church instruments" given the religious side of the character. Instead, I chose distorted (or "corrupted") versions like a heavily effected organ (from LABS), a "rippled" string/horn section (from SA Aperture) that gave an uneasy feeling, and a choir sound from a pair of Mellotrons (from Logic) panned wide. Even the violins (Violins 1 & 2 from BBCSO Core) are run through fuzz pedals so they didn't stay too clean. Also, I chose NI's Una Corda for the piano sound (with reverse delay and heavy reverb added) because of it's harp-like qualities, but not really fitting the familiar sounds of either a piano or harp.
As for the theme itself, the first thing that came to mind when reading the brief was "the day of judgment is at hand!" So, I had to sneak in some Dies Irae vibes, of course. But since it's my understanding that Maud hadn't turned too dark at this point in the story, I tried to make that impending melody line "pretty" as a symbol of something beautiful before the corruption fully set in. Starting the theme like this would give the theme a chance to turn darker and more "epic" as her story progressed if I were to expand on the theme later on.
Anyway, tell me your thoughts. This is literally the second video clip I've written music for. (The first being the now infamous Westworld Competition. ha)