Listening to it, I think that the articulation you used (is it Bartók pizzicato by any chance?) at the beginning is not accidental given the theme you wanted to address.
The piece revolves around the phrase "specified" by the celesta, am I right? In my opinion, you were right to provide for a reduced duration, because indeed the repetition
of the same phrase, even with the addition of other parts tending to stratify the harmonization, still feels the need for a part that acts somewhat as the
"countersubject" in a fugue, without contrasting, but assuming a role of counterpart; for me, if it had lasted 4 or 5 minutes, it would have been excessively long.
I myself "suffer" from a limited capacity at the moment in developing themes, and I tend to use (usually) many different parts in the same piece, but sometimes everything becomes chaotic, though at least
I am consistent with the life I live; musically it is a "problem" nonetheless (I speak for myself).
The black and white of the image and the dissonance in the finale give the idea of something that makes you feel uneasy, but you still tried to express everything ironically.
At the beginning, I seem to understand that you wanted to create a contrast between the pizzicato and the celesta, with its more delicate sound,
then you used the same phrase, varying it slightly.
A question regarding the use of the pizzicato in particular: at 0:36 there is this articulation performed by other strings besides the cellos—perhaps they are the violins; how did you write them, joined or separate?
Because at that speed, unless there are instrumentalists performing separate parts, pizzicato is not an easy thing to recreate with real instruments.
In that fragment, you had the strings do (I am speaking of the part itself, not the articulation you used) what is usually done by French horns; the phrase in question would lend itself well to the use of this instrument.
It doesn't seem redundant to me either; however, this type of piece is best seen in an appropriate context. I mean that taken without image(s),
for me it could lose intensity, even if its structure is simple; with images (perhaps a video where there are objects and places that incessantly remind you of relatives), it assumes another potential, while remaining that for me what is defined as film music is a "risky" subject—I am speaking in general.
What can be done (as you have started to do) is precisely to take photos, make videos of them, and set them to music; I thought about doing it myself sooner or later. One would learn to work on synchronization, and above all on the creation of pieces closely linked to the images we have chosen or not.
One thing that, in my view, would be quite complicated but also stimulating would be, besides making one's own videos, to film (as has already been said here on the forum) videos or films (even fragments) for which the music is also known (which complicates things even more because one is influenced) and set them to music.
