While most of the focus on James Cameron’s Avatar movie and Ubisoft’s games has been on the groundbreaking 3D technology, there’s been a lot of innovative work done in the sound department, as well. Chance Thomas, the composer of James Cameron’s Avatar game, took some time away from the recording studio to talk about the creative process that went into filling the 5.1 surround sound experience that Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC gamers will hear starting December 1.
 
Can you explain how scoring for Avatar compared and contrasted to previous Hollywood licensed games?

Let’s start by comparing a James Cameron project (Avatar) with a Peter Jackson project (King Kong).  Both directors are highly talented, huge Hollywood power players.  Interestingly, they both selected Ubisoft to create the games for their pet projects.  Both invested heavily in proprietary technology and teams to bring their vision to life on the screen.  And both are fabulous story tellers. But there are some interesting points of divergence, at least as far as the music is concerned. Cameron’s team made sure I had the opportunity to interface with film composer James Horner about half way through the project. It was a smart move to see that our aesthetics were aligned or at least complimentary. Pretty big deal, and surprisingly, nearly unheard of with movie games. 

How did meeting with the film composer help you?

Pandora

Getting together with Horner impacted the game’s score quite positively. Our scoring instincts in some places were remarkably alike, but we had significant divergence on other parts of the score. This interface with Horner offered the game team a chance to evaluate those differences and make educated decisions. On the other hand, Jackson’s team, as far as I can tell, left the music entirely in the hands of the game developer.  There was no planned connection between my score and that of the film composer.  Although most reviewers thought the game was actually using the film’s score, that synchronicity was sheer luck.  My score for the videogame was signed, sealed and delivered before the first note was ever written for the film.

Can you expand on working with the film's composer James Horner? Was the game a collaborative effort with music?

I was very curious to learn about Horner’s creative process, to get a feel for his technical production pipeline, and of course, to hear his take on Avatar. I wasn't disappointed. Lightstorm had arranged for us to get together at Horner’s writing studio. I arrived with Simon Landry, Ubisoft’s Montreal music director. We met with Horner and engineer Simon Rhodes in their scoring room. Together, we went through about 45 minutes of the film, listening to the score, asking questions, talking about instrumental palettes, vocal textures, percussion samples, woodwind players, you name it. Some sections I asked to hear again and again so I could take notes, scrutinize harmonic progressions, pick out instrument choices, and analyze his voicings.

What was your creative process like for this game?

Write, write, write! There was such a massive amount of music to write for this score.  Ubisoft's audio team, led by Steven Dumont and Brian Youds, designed a very sophisticated adaptive music system which required 4 layers (4L) of music for every level in the game, both races. This dual race, 4L system required absurd amounts of music in order to flow properly. By the time the dust settled, I'd written over four and a half hours of total score for the game. It was very intense. I wrote for at least 100 hours each week.

Did you play the game at all to help with the score?

Avatar

Ubisoft brought me up to Montreal at the beginning of the gig and gave me a chance to get into the game.  It was amazing.  The graphics, the programming, the sound design – everything was cutting edge.  I wanted to take a build home right then!  But the security was so tight on this project, I never got a build on my own machine.  So for my primary inspiration I used screen shots from each level and game design documents.  I also spoke frequently with Steve and Brian, who would describe things for me over the phone.  Simon would also chime in from time to time with great ideas and direction.

Can you talk about your inspiration for the Na'Vi music?

The Na'vi are a native culture. Their mystical attachment to and profound appreciation for the natural world surrounding them reminds me very much of the culture of our own  Native Americans. At the same time, they are from another planet, a very alien planet.  So in order to set up the right kind of musical atmosphere, I concocted a blend of Indian and South American acoustic instruments and then mingled them with synthetic ambiences. Then for stylistic direction, I pulled heavily from Peruvean and Navajo idioms. I also found it interesting and appealing to weave in some Asian motifs here and there.

What influenced the RDA music?

For the RDA, I went with a more traditional heavy brass and massive percussion approach. These guys represent the industrial-military complex of Earth. Though set in the distant future, I felt the score needed a familiar connection for the player, an immediacy that the RDA is instinctively about power, technical might, domination. Those kinds of ideas have a well known musical language already developed in contemporary film and game scores, and I didn't feel it would serve our audience to drift too far for those moorings.

So much has been made of the 3D visuals for the Avatar game, but what will the music add to the experience?

3D sound

The 3D visuals are about the wow and the now. The music adds the chills and the thrills.  The visuals make your eyes big and your mouth drop open. The music makes your pulse race and the sweat bead up on your forehead. A composer’s job is to sit inside the emotions of the audience, intensifying the experience, making it not just a cerebral undertaking but an adventure for the whole persona. While the player is playing the game, a great music score is playing the player.

How do you see music complementing the 3D experience?

The 3D visuals have the effect of immersing you more deeply into the world than you typically experience in game environments. The 4L adaptive music system compliments that visual punch by adjusting deftly, naturally, on the fly to the players’ decisions and game direction. It’s quite brilliant work by the Montreal team. It pulls you in, underscores the action – whatever that action may be – and stimulates a very intense and always appropriate internal response.

Have you played or seen the 3D game? What are your thoughts on that?

Oh yes. It's mind-blowing.

You mentioned that Ubisoft only hired one composer for the project and that's not normal in games. Do you see that changing as so many other aspects of gaming have followed Hollywood examples?

3D visuals

For a few years now, games have been experimenting with a composer-by-committee approach to music scoring. The rational behind this is that games require a tremendous amount of music in a short time, and game companies mitigate their risk by spreading the work around to several composers. But I disagree with this approach. I think it sucks the creative energy right out of the score. It reduces composers to house painters, rather than artists. “OK guys, you paint that wall over there beige. You, paint that wall eggshell.  And you, paint that ceiling a creamy neutral.” No offense against house painters. But where’s the artistry in that? Where’s the creativity? Where’s the passion?

Why did you decide to score so many hours of music? What does this add to the game?

Steve and Brian’s music system required it - four layers of music for every game level, both races.  Loading up their system with so much music brings tremendous flexibility, subtlety and responsiveness to the score. In addition, there were lots of in-game movies.  Maybe 35 to 40 in all? I can’t remember exactly. But these all needed scoring too. Finally, there were dozens and dozens of important moments in the game that we scored specifically for a given scene. Each may happen only once in the entire game, but they all have their own unique music. It’s very much a film scoring approach. That kind of care, passion and attention to detail in the music design really brings each scene to life, allows each to have its own moment. Credit Ubisoft’s audio team and EP Patrick Naud for investing the time and resources necessary to pull that off. It’s world class. I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t win those guys a Best Interactive Score award.