MUSIC+SOUND AWARDS TALK TO...
Joris de Man
Composition Juror
Joris de Man is a two time Ivor Novello-winning and Bafta-nominated composer with 25 years of experience scoring for video games, animation, film, TV and commercials.
With compositions crossing many styles, from glitchy electronica to orchestral sounds and hybrid acoustical minimalism, his focus has always been on strong, recognisable melodies and story-driven music that supports the emotional journey and personality of the characters it voices.
Known for the epic live orchestral scores to the first three titles in Guerrilla Games / Sony's ‘Killzone’ franchise, other recent works include Guerrilla's recent Playstation 4 blockbuster 'Horizon Zero Dawn’; its DLC 'Horizon Zero Dawn - The Frozen Wilds’; MOBA hit 'Vainglory’, used for Apple’s iPhone 6 launch; and live orchestral score for Bafta-winning director Mike Mort's animated feature, 'Chuck Steel - Night of the Trampires’.
Here we chat to Joris about his composition in the gaming world…
February 2020
How did music enter your life and what was it that took you in the direction of game music?
I was fortunate to be born in quite a musical family; my Dad was a professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Netherlands, and my mother a contemporary Harpischord player. My own journey started around the age of 6, when I learned to play the violin. In my early teens I played in a school orchestra, but realised that the violin wasn’t a way to attract girls, so I joined my brother’s band and we did a few gigs, winning an interschool competition in the process. I played mainly keyboards and a bit of drums, but soon realised live performing wasn’t for me. I was never (and am still not!) a good player, and I realised I enjoyed a studio environment where I could tweak to my heart’s content a lot more.
In addition, I was heavily involved in the ‘demo scene’ on the Atari in Europe - a scene where people tried to outdo each other in areas of programming, pixel art and music. So my challenge was to squeeze as many cool sounds out of a 3 channel sound chip as I could. That led me on to games, and the games industry - Holland didn’t have any, so I turned to the UK and in my late teens joined The Bitmap Brothers, a games company in London.
Wow, that was an early break into the industry then. How did that position at The Bitmap Brothers come about and how has your career progressed from there?
Whilst still in Holland, I started to write music for some small games for a multimedia company (pre-internet startups) that was working with Philips on their CD-i platform - the precursor to CD-Rom. It was the first time someone paid me for my work and started the realisation that this could be a job. I was also really interested in the games industry so that is what I set my sights on. After a failed trip to London to meet some developers (I was planning to go to the ECTS, a business games event at Olympia, but went to the Future Entertainment Show instead by accident - a short-lived games consumer event), I bumped into one of the Bitmap Brothers by sheer chance, and slipped him a demo tape. A few months later I was hired and after working for them for a year and a half, went on to different companies.
The last company I joined (Guerrilla Games) managed to become very successful and was later sold to Sony. In 2005 I decided to go freelance and have been working for various game companies since.
Turning to your work practice now, when you first come on board a job, what is it that you need to understand about the project from the director to get started?
What is the feeling that needs to be conveyed - what is a game or project trying to communicate that isn’t said in the visuals, gameplay or storyline? And of course anything that determines the style and approach, musically, and the choices one might make about sonic palette and instruments.
Once begun, what is your composing process generally?
Everything for me starts with a piano sketch of some description - a theme, a hook, something that gets you going, a sense of pace, emotion, structure - the early stages are really just a case of trying things out and seeing what sticks. Once you have a basic concept and framework, then you can start developing that into a piece. I compose by ear, so once I have a melody, I’ll start hearing other possibilities of what might go with it.
Has there been a project that has been particularly rewarding for you in recent years? And one that’s been especially challenging?
Horizon Zero Dawn, and its expansion, Frozen Wilds, were two projects I really enjoyed. They were hugely creative and challenging, as they didn’t want the typical ‘big sound’ - in fact, quite the opposite, so I had to develop a sound and palette that was quite far removed from what I was used to working with - solo instruments, sometimes played with unconventional techniques, sounds and textures that were quite rough and unpolished, and solo vocals, which I’d never done before.
Do you have a favourite style or genre to work in?
I love writing orchestral music, but I also really enjoy doing synthesised scores; it really depends on the project. I like anything that challenges and forces you to turn your creative habits on their head.
And lastly, what does 2020 hold for you work-wise?
More game projects, but also a ’sync mission’ to LA to look at some more film and animation work - I scored a stop-motion animated feature at the end of 2018 and it was one of the most enjoyable projects I ever worked on.
Visit Joris’ site to find out more… www.jorisdeman.com
