[STRICT TIMING] [Exactly 90 seconds] [96 BPM — 4/4 — 36 bars total] [Each scene is exactly four bars and ten seconds] [Finish every two-line vocal phrase by the end of bar three] [Use bar four as a short instrumental transition] [Never carry a lyric across a scene boundary] [SCENE 1 — 0:00–0:10 — FOUR BARS] [Sung entrance on beat one] Light in the dark, sweep it low, Mantis on a mission, moving slow. [Bar 4 — headlamp sting; woodblock and upright bass] [SCENE 2 — 0:10–0:20 — FOUR BARS] Sun on the leaves, he turns around, Something’s been chewing this side of town. [Bar 4 — vibraphone turn] [SCENE 3 — 0:20–0:30 — FOUR BARS] Ant bags seeds, mosquito bottles dew, Eight-wheel worm says, “Coming through!” [Bar 4 — playful muted-trumpet answer] [SCENE 4 — 0:30–0:40 — FOUR BARS] Lens to leaf, measure every bite, Gadgets in the backpack, evidence tight. [Bar 4 — baritone-sax question] [SCENE 5 — 0:40–0:50 — FOUR BARS] Cucumber trolley, zucchini mall, Creep through the market—don’t spook them all. [Bar 4 — bass walks into the smoke] [SCENES 6–7 — 0:50–1:10] [PROTECTED EIGHT-BAR INSTRUMENTAL TURNAROUND] [No vocals] [Bars 21–24 — barbecue distraction] [Muted trumpet sniffs upward] [Vibraphone sparkles] [Upright bass pauses comically] [Ant’s woodblock tug pulls the rhythm back on course] [Bars 25–28 — clean garden chase] [Baritone sax takes the original mantis motif] [Brushes and bass build controlled suspense] [Quick leaf-burst accent near the end] [No violent sound effects] [Resolve directly into the grooming scene] [SCENE 8 — 1:10–1:20 — FOUR BARS] Brush off the forelegs, polish every lens, Seeds, dew, samples—laid out by friends. [Bar 4 — steel pan enters softly] [SCENE 9 — 1:20–1:30 — FOUR BARS] Mantis on a mission, case closed by dawn, Steel pans ringing—garden party on! [Warm ensemble response on “party on”] [Clean final chord exactly at 1:30]
