The Ivors Interview - Joris de Man

Joris de Man made history last year by becoming the inaugural winner of the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Video Game Score, a new category recognising the growing significance and craft of video games composition. His first major games composition and orchestration was for Guerrilla/Sony’s popular Killzone series, which was recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. It has sold more than two million copies worldwide.

What are your memories of last year’s Ivor Novello Awards?

It was amazing and unexpected. When Dom Joly read out the award, it didn’t quite register. My wife, Sam, was prodding me saying, “It’s you, it’s you.” When I collected the award, I wanted to say something really profound. Instead I said, “Thanks to my wife for supporting me while I’m plonking away in the bedroom.” I was talking about my home studio, but it didn’t really make sense. Still, I got a few laughs.

How did winning the first Ivor for Best Original Video Game Score make a difference to you?

I suddenly got a lot more recognition from outside of the gaming industry. Normally when a games composer speaks to movie producers or TV directors, there can be some hesitance. That’s because games span such a wide range – from Angry Birds on your iPhone to a mega-title like the Harry Potter franchise.

If you ask people what a game is, you’ll get completely different answers. You don’t get that if you ask about pop – it’s either in the hit parade or it isn’t. So it’s harder for people to understand the work involved. But it’s a lot easier if you can say you have won an Ivor Novello Award for your music.

A lot of games music is about big orchestral scores – not the sort of thing that many games players would play on their iPod.

That’s true. You’re exposing people who would never normally think about listening to what is basically concert hall music. Some of my work is influenced by [Polish avantgarde composer] Penderetsky – maybe they wouldn’t know who he is, but they accept the music because it’s in a games context.

What’s interesting is that it’s having an effect. In America, they now have a concert called Video Games Live, where orchestras perform the music from games. It has been very successful – the audience spans everyone from young kids to 60-year-olds. That’s great.

You’re known for big sweeping orchestration, but do you like to mix it up?

Definitely. You also need to keep doing different things as a composer, otherwise it’s not interesting for you or the player. Killzone normally has a rousing main menu theme, for example. But for Killzone 3, I wanted to do something different. So I scored the first minute with just a small string orchestra and solo violin. That’s pretty unusual for a big war game featuring space Nazis. It’s not what people are expecting and it works. Someone put it on YouTube and it had 15,000 hits in a couple of days.

What are your earliest musical memories?

My mum played contemporary musical harpsichord, things like Ligeti and Bartók. My earliest memory is of us being put to bed and Ligeti’s Continuum being practised in the background. It’s a hard piece to fall asleep to, but it’s actually very soothing to me. I just need to hear one note of the harpsichord and I’m transported back home.

What will 2011 be about for you?

Diversifying. I’m looking forward to a really interesting musical year. I’m very happy in the games industry and it has been my mainstay. But I want to do more television and film work. It challenges you in different ways especially as the storytelling aspect of music comes to the fore. That’s what really excites me.