In David Fincher's 'The Game,' composer Howard Shore used a 'prepared piano' to create a sense of psychological unease. A prepared piano is a traditional piano that has had various objects—like bolts, screws, and rubber—placed on or between the strings to change the timbre. This turns the piano into a percussive, detuned instrument that sounds 'broken.' For a story about a movie legend (Michael Douglas) who can no longer trust his own reality, the prepared piano was a perfect metaphor. It sounds familiar yet fundamentally 'wrong.' This technique, pioneered by avant-garde legend John Cage, showed that by 'hacking' a traditional instrument, composers can create a modern cinematic atmosphere of tension and paranoia that fits a legendary thriller perfectly.