Starship Trooper: The Games Music of Richard Jacques

By: Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, December 01, 2005

The Fantastic Game Music of Richard Jacques

British composer Richard Jacques writes, arranges, orchestrates, and produces epic anthems and dramatic underscore for film, television and interactive entertainment. Best-known for his emotive symphonic styles, Jacques' action score for Headhunter was the first video game soundtrack to utilize the world famous Abbey Road Studios Studio One and record with the A-list musicians of the London Session Orchestra. Leading film music magazine Music from the Movies Magazine acclaimed, [Jacques'] combination of ear-shattering orchestral dramatics, smattering drum loops and soaring, heroic themes is completely breathtaking.

In 2003, Richard Jacques received the Game Audio Network Guild Recognition Award

for Headhunter in addition to nominations for Music of the Year, Best Original Instrumental Song, and Best Live Performance Recording ("Jack's Theme"). In 2005, the sequel Headhunter: Redemption was a G.A.N.G. finalist for Music of the Year, Best Original Instrumental Song ("Main Title") and Best Original Soundtrack Album.

The music from Headhunter and Headhunter: Redemption is available on a 2-CD set from Hollywood film soundtrack label, La-La Land Records (www.lalalandrecords.com). The album received a 5 out of 5 rating from Music from the Movies Magazine who called it "the perfect James Bond score," and added "Jacques is destined for a career on the silver screen," while Film Score Monthly Magazine relished in Jacques' "pop Baroque orchestral sound," "synthetic sound reproduction," and "great string writing."

Jacques recently scored the live orchestral and contemporary electronica score, recorded with the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, for the Hollywood inspired action/adventure game, Pursuit Force, developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. He also completed the original bombastic orchestral score for Starship Troopers, the epic, bug-blasting first person shooter capturing for the first time the chaos and action of the sci-fi movie. Interviewed in mid November, Jacques describes his approach to crafting game music and his experiences on the Headhunter and Starship Troopers game scores.

For more information on Richard Jacques visit http://www.richardjacques.com/. 

Q: What is your background in music, and how did you break into the world of film and game scoring?

Richard Jacques: I was lucky enough to grow up in a musical family, my father being a composer and my mother a piano and violin teacher, so music was around me all the time. As a child I learned the piano, trombone and slightly later I studied percussion and timpani. Following a traditional classical music education I studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and was a specialist musician at Wells Cathedral School in England. I had been playing video games and composing from an early age and whilst studying for my music degree I got more heavily involved with music technology. Shortly before completing my studies I was hired for the position of in-house composer at Sega Europe, based in London, where I was to work on scoring both existing and new intellectual properties. Over the years I also began to get involved in scoring commercials and films, and so these days I enjoy a diverse career working in many different mediums.

"When the CD-ROM-based medium became widely adopted in consoles ..., the restrictions on scoring music based entirely on a sample/synth-based chip were removed..."

Q: What are the specific needs of music in contemporary video games and how has that changed over the last ten years you've been involved in it?

Richard Jacques: When I began to score video games the technology was still very limited. Indeed, my first game soundtrack was limited to just 64k of sound memory, in which I had to squeeze both sampled and FM synthesis-based instruments, as well as the MIDI files containing the actual musical note data. Also, I only had a little over 2 weeks to score the entire game. Just as technology has moved on, so has the music. When the CD-ROM-based medium became widely adopted in consoles such as the Sega CD, Sony Playstation, and Personal Computers, the restrictions on scoring music based entirely on a sample/synth-based chip were removed, and the floodgates were opened for digital audio that was played from a CD, thus making it possible to play back music that was recorded in a professional studio using the same creative process as a record, or indeed a film score, so it was possible to use real live musicians, voice actors and so on. I knew that it was only a matter of time before these advances occurred and so as soon as I was working on the available technology such as CD-ROM, I was recording with live musicians and voice talent. These days there is a great deal of licensed music being used in video games of course, particularly in the sports and driving game genres, and so now the two co-exist very well, side by side. In games that involve more narrative approaches, such as role playing games or action/adventure games, there is a demand for more score-based music. With many other forms of popular music there are certain stylistic trends that may be popular, but in general the video game industry employs just as many cutting edge, original contemporary scores than any other entertainment medium. Likewise, the quality is now extremely high and games are no longer a poor relation to TV and film music.

Q: What other factors have led to the use of symphonic orchestras in game scores?

Richard Jacques: From a personal point of view I knew this would happen when I was still studying music, and (between studying), playing cartridge-based video games. Since I played both trombone and percussion in various orchestras over the years, I was firmly rooted in the orchestral vein and I knew that it was only a matter of time before symphony orchestras, and orchestral music in general, would appear in video games. Obviously the technology has now allowed us to realize this, but there was also a driving force from the game designers, producers and scriptwriter/storyliners. As video games became more complex, with more realistic graphics, so too did the characters in the game. There has been a great deal of attention paid to the story, characters and dialogue in games in recent years and this has meant that simply adding a piece of licensed music, re-working an old film score, or placing the latest hottest band into a game that contains a huge range of emotions simply will not work. So I would say that it has been a culmination of many factors, both advances in technology, and in game design, and a realization that the orchestra is the most expressive and varied musical tool available to both composer and game designer.

Q: What was your musical approach to the first Headhunter gamescore? How did you create both the environmental and cinematics music as well as the material for the '?

Richard Jacques: In most video game genres there are a number of musical requirements and although this is often down to creative license of the composer, I tackled the score in three main ways. Following a series of meetings with the game director, scriptwriter, and the design team, it was clear that the game was very narrative driven and contained many twists and turns in the plotlines, as well as some

strong lead characters. So I decided that there would be requirements for thematic elements for the lead characters, situation, or 'set piece' cues required for certain key points in the game, as well as generic action, exploratory, and puzzle solving scenarios. I therefore created a main theme for the lead character, Jack Wade, plus sub-themes for other characters in the game, as well as some more underscore sections and various action cues. There were a number of thematic elements that ran throughout the score in one guise or another, be it very subtly in an exploratory cue, or very 'in your face' for a set piece action cue. The cut scenes were scored to picture once I had received the near final edits.

With Headhunter, I wanted to give the player the sense of an action blockbuster movie, while still making sure that the score worked in a dynamic way throughout the game. So I tried to build the emotional connection into the score, and depending on the setting and the gameplay segments, this was achieved through powerful dramatic themes and action set pieces, or by more subtle underscore. For example, many people have said to me that the Headhunter score was one of the most beautifully performed game soundtracks they have heard, and I think a lot of people got a real sense for the large action cues with heavy brass and percussion, and were emotionally connected to the characters and story by the use of completely contrasting, more emotional cues. As the dark overtones began to unfold throughout the story, the music reflected this and the players felt a sense of empathy with the characters, as well as the heightened tension and drama in the action segments.

Q: What kind of input or direction did you receive from the game designers or producers in determining the kind of musical flavoring needed for the first Headhunter score?

Richard Jacques: We identified the main requirements of each character and section of gameplay and discussed various styles of composition, orchestration and overall musical flavor. Being a heavily narrative-driven game, the game director and design team were keen to explore this avenue, as well as retaining Hollywood style cinematic production values. I suggested creating a primarily orchestral score, enhanced with various electronic elements that would give the game a kind of edge that the director was looking for, since the game was set in the near future. As the game is primarily an action-based game, I also needed to focus on creating a score that helped build the action, but was also sympathetic to the complex storyline and characters that the player will encounter. Therefore throughout the game and the score, the player will encounter various adrenaline-fuelled action set pieces, as well as poignant and sympathetic cues.

Q: How much music did you write for that game, altogether?

Richard Jacques: I composed a total of around 80 minutes of music for the first Headhunter game, of which we released about 68 minutes on the soundtrack album.

I believe it's crucial to have experience in playing games when it comes to scoring for them, because only then can one get a sense of the style and pace of the gameplay.

Q: Unlike a carefully patterned film score, may turn in any number of directions at a given moment, all of which the music must be prepared to accompany. How do you prepare for all of the contingencies extant in a game scenario?

Richard Jacques: When scoring a video game, the composer must understand how games work, and how they are put together. Quite often a video game score is written 'backwards,' in the sense that you do not have a number of linear scenes to score to picture, because the assets (which could be anything from a huge document to concept artwork to a playable version of the game) may become available at completely different times. When embarking upon an interactive score, the composer and game director agree what role the music has to play within the game. As I have composed many game scores I can simply look through a game design document, or endless flow charts, and I know exactly how the game will play out, and the choices that the player will face. I believe it's crucial to have experience in playing games when it comes to scoring for them, because only then can one get a sense of the style and pace of the gameplay. Unless you are scoring a non-interactive cut scene that takes place between game play levels, there are not that many similarities compared to scoring movies. So, for example, I would discuss the various 'hooks' I could get from the actual game program, so the team and myself could agree how music would react to the player's actions. This could be anything from player's health to number of enemies on screen, to proximity, to danger. There are a huge number of variants and it is a question of getting these working well from the beginning to create a cohesive game score. Of course there are a few similarities with linear music, but these are largely stylistic.

The music itself may contain a number of multi-layered 'streams' where there are various iterations of the music layered on top of one another, so that they can an be triggered on the fly from within the game program.

Q: What is the process of synching the score to those various moments and making sure, whichever way the game goes at those turning points, the music remains fluid and connected? Who do you work with to make that work out?

Richard Jacques: It does indeed vary from game to game, but once a working methodology has been established between the composer, the design team, and especially the audio programmer, then the composer will usually go about creating the main parts of the score. The music itself may contain a number of multi-layered 'streams' where there are various iterations of the music layered on top of one another, so that they can be triggered on the fly from within the game program. This is a useful tool for changing the intensity of a cue, where the composer will create multiple versions of a particular cue, and these can then be switched and cross-faded in real

time from within the game. Another technique is to create a series of transition cues which bridge the gap between cue A and cue B. There can be literally hundreds of transition cues for one main track, since the music may be required to switch at any given point, and it would be necessary to have a linking transition cue available to get from one main cue to the other. I also do a fair amount of work using not only the above techniques but also using certain MIDI commands and sounds that are held in the game console's sound memory. This is because we have a greater degree of control over MIDI-based transition cues, so for example in Headhunter there was the main orchestral tracks playing from CD and there were some linking sections, primarily percussion and strings played from the console's sound memory, which we could time accurately to make a smooth musical transition. It is also essential to work with a talented audio programmer who understands music.

Q: How did you use the interplay of thematic ideas for characters or environments in the Headhunter scores?

Richard Jacques: In both the Headhunter scores there were themes created for the main characters, so in the first Headhunter there was the bold French horn theme that made up "Jack's Theme" and the delicate flute and oboe melody that was "Angela's Theme." There were also themes for some of the lead enemy characters, such as Greywolf, Ramirez, and the mysterious Dr Zweiberg. A similar approach was taken with Headhunter: Redemption where "Jack's Theme" once again appeared, but also new themes for the new characters such as Leeza, and enemy characters such as Candy Floss, Che, and the twisted world of Liberty. In the first Headhunter, the player is introduced to the main theme of the game ("Jack's Theme") on the title screen, but this is essentially a cut-down version, so the player doesn't hear the full version of the theme until Jack is tearing through the streets on his motorbike. This is a heavily orchestrated version of the theme, containing a lot of electronic elements.

For some parts of the game where Jack is exploring or solving puzzle elements, there is a very low languid exploratory type cue. This actually contains a very drawn out version of his theme, using various compositional techniques to achieve this, and only the main motifs that make up the theme are exposed at this point. This is the same way that Angela's theme was treated, since we first meet her in a cut scene which contains a touching emotional framework, before we see her in an exploratory capacity within the game. For the environmental cues, such as "The Mall" in Headhunter, or "Manufacturing" in Headhunter: Redemption, I wanted to reflect both the surroundings and the emotional state at that particular point in the game. Both of these cues contain a certain amount of tension but also reflect the environments, so for example in "Manufacturing" there is a lot of mechanical type sounds and polyrhythms going on underneath the main body of the music. In both titles there are main thematic cues, underscore cues, mood cues, and environmental cues, as well as various cut scenes that were scored to picture, which also contain thematic elements where appropriate.

Q: How did you like revisiting the first Headhunter score anew for the sequel game?

Richard Jacques: It was an enjoyable experience going over the original Headhunter material when we began work on Redemption. However, the sequel is also a very different game, being darker and more sci-fi in its nature. I was keen to represent this in the score so whilst there are some recognizable themes that accompany the game (predominantly "Jack's Theme", the main theme from the first Headhunter) the Redemption score is largely a lot darker and more textural in its construction. Also, the Redemption score contains a greater mix of electronic elements, since the game is set further into the future than the original Headhunter. There are still a number of character themes, and so the new character of Leeza (Jack Wade's protégé) has her own themes and motifs and we see "Jack's Theme" appear later on in the score. The director wanted a more mechanical, technological sound than the first game, largely due to the fact that the game is set in two distinct worlds, Above and Below, so the stark reality of the glittering steel and glass buildings of Above provide a distinct contrast with the criminal underworld and dark, dank imprisonment of the world Below. I was keen to reflect this from a musical point of view, so when you are playing in the world Above, the sound is very clinical and technical, whereas the world Below just feels darker, more gritty, and more mechanical. This was partly achieved by the use of contrasting sound palettes but also by keeping the feel of Above more tonal, whilst the world Below was more atonal.

Q: You've also scored a number of TV commercials Stella Artois, Bacardi Breezer, Accuvue, Audi, Sugar Puffs etc. What are the particular needs for commercials like these and how have you been challenged to provide effective scoring for these brief stories?

Richard Jacques: Musically speaking, the TV and cinema commercials I have worked on are all very different from a lot of my game scores. The main challenge for the creative personnel and director is to get the point across to the audience in a very short space of time. Most of the commercials I have worked on are only 30 or 40 seconds long and then the composer has to supply cut-down versions of 20, 15, and 10 seconds respectively. Out of the commercials I have scored, they all have quite different musical flavors. For example, one of the Sugar Puffs commercials I scored had a very 70's funk feel to it, and the Audi commercial had a Bernard Hermann-esque style orchestral feel. In the world of commercials it is important to be able to adapt quickly and easily to what the director is looking for. Often when I am working on a commercial I write a completely different score and give the director both versions, saying "here's one you didn't ask for." This is mainly to give the director and creative team options, as I regularly have new and different ideas that perhaps they may not have thought of, so I present both ideas to them for feedback. It is also important to have a well-equipped studio and be flexible to bring in live musicians or singers when required. On one particular commercial (Accuvue one day contact lenses) the director wanted to fit about 6 different music tracks into 1 minute of footage, as the story was about a girl at a music festival, so we needed to create the feeling of there being a lot of different bands. I ended up writing 6 complete songs in different styles, which we then cut down to fit the picture. Flexibility and adaptability are the key.

Q: How do you recall scoring the Fable Factory film, LULLABELLE, and what musical challenges did this assignment pose for you?

Richard Jacques: This was a very enjoyable project to work on, since the production company, Fable Factory Films, are keen to put an emphasis on creating theatrical films with an art house flair. Musically this was also quite different to my work on video game soundtracks, because a lot of my work in games is based in the action style and LULLABELLE was a very poignant story where the audience could feel a great deal of empathy with the characters. There were also a lot of humorous moments in the film, which needed to be represented musically. I used a solo cello to provide the main motif of the score, and despite being based around a small chamber orchestra setup, there was a lot of soloistic woodwind writing and even an accordion featured for a chase sequence! In all honesty there was not nearly the amount of challenges in this project than there are associated with games.

Q: And what about the other films you have scored THREE IN ONE, PANDORA'S CLOSET, ONE PREVIOUS OWNER? How would you describe the differences in scoring games versus films like these?

Richard Jacques: Well the main differences are that these projects were either black comedies or more art house independent films. For example, ONE PREVIOUS OWNER had absolutely no dialogue at all, so the music featured heavily on this project. I would say that the main difference in scoring games versus films like these is that the music has a slightly different function. In games there is not usually a lot of dialogue, except for in cut scenes, so the music is often used to give the player a sense of emotion, tension, danger or whatever the mood may be required. In these film projects there is a clear narrative thread, and so the music has to be more sympathetic to the picture, weaving in and out at the appropriate moments, and backing up the dialogue and acting that is taking place. Also I chose to score these projects with less emphasis on orchestration and more on overall mood, melodies and emotional settings.

Q: How did you approach the STARSHIP TROOPERS game, which is associated with a film and TV franchise with an existing musical signature? What kind of discussions did you have with the game designers/producers in determining how the music should, or should not, reflect what exists in the films and TV shows?

Richard Jacques: When the game was early on in development I had a series of meetings with the developer and publisher of the game, Strangelite and Empire Interactive. Since the game is an officially licensed product, and Sony Pictures were

involved, everyone agreed that we did not want to deviate too much from the overall Starship Troopers musical signature, since this would not be in keeping with the overall style guide. Of course I knew the Basil Poledouris score from the original STARSHIP TROOPERS movie, and so I was keen to keep the game score along these lines, since Basil had created such a wonderful score and at the same time was able to include a satirical look at the society of the future. It was clear that the game was going to be in the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre, and that the score would be action heavy, so I decided to use a similar tonality to that of the first movie whilst creating new themes and musical settings.

As the player advances through the game, there is a point when the Mobile Infantry start to really fight back against the bugs, and begin making a dent in their arsenal. From this point on the score is more tonal and major key based heroic themes are evident, to represent the success of the Troopers.

Q: How did you expand the musical signature of the STARSHIP TROOPERS feature films to create a new musical environment for the game?

Richard Jacques: I wanted to represent the conflict between the Mobile Infantry and the enemy alien bugs. To achieve this I decided to have two distinct tonality settings. As the player advances through the game, there is a point when the Mobile Infantry start to really fight back against the bugs, and begin making a dent in their arsenal. From this point on the score is more tonal and major key based heroic themes are evident, to represent the success of the Troopers. A lot of the material that occurs earlier in the game has a more atonal feel to it, and I was keen to make some of the cues rather "spiky" in their nature, to represent the bugs lunging forward to attack. We also decided to use Basil Poledouris' excellent "Klendathu Drop" cue from the first film to appear on the title screen of the game since this is synonymous with the movie. Then I created new themes and material for the rest of the score.

Q: How did your thematic ideas interact in the TROOPERS game?

Richard Jacques: There is a main theme for the Troopers and a main motivic element for the bugs, and there is constant interplay between these two ideas that are then expanded upon throughout the gameplay sections. For example, in one major battle sequence, you can hear both thematic elements but as there is no apparent conclusion to the battle, the bug motif also features just as prominently. I wanted to make the main Troopers theme heroic and a little over the top, since this is what worked so well in the original film and the game was also stylized in this way, using a similar sense of irony. There are also many situation based cues, which are used for certain set piece battles, exploration sections, and so on. Some of the themes may be exposed in short form but largely these types of cues are purely situational heavy, so the score is composed in a way to reflect that. In the game score there are also a number of march type cues, which on the one hand gives the player the sense of the militaristic elements of the game world, but also these are used for specific game play sequences where the Troopers are advancing up a mountain side, or over hill and pushing forward. We were also keen to use some themes and motifs for some of the different classes of bugs, for example some of the Warrior or Tiger bugs use the very "spiky" motif, but the huge Tanker and Brain bugs have a much heavier feel to represent the sense of scale of these colossal alien creatures, and the threat that they pose to human civilization.

We were also keen to use some themes and motifs for some of the different classes of bugs, for example some of the Warrior or Tiger bugs use the very "spiky" motif, but the huge Tanker and Brain bugs have a much heavier feel.

Q: What would you consider to be the central musical thrust to your Troopers score?

Richard Jacques: Starship Troopers is all about action, so it was a question of really emphasizing the struggle between the Mobile Infantry and the bugs, so that the player really felt a sense of purpose, subsequently the music was used to drive the game as well as highlight the key battle segments and give the player a sense of anticipation in the appropriate moments.

Q: What was most challenging for you in scoring STARSHIP TROOPERS?

Richard Jacques: The music itself is fairly complex from a compositional point of view but also it was a challenge to follow on from what Basil Poledouris had created in the first film. Being a fan of both the movie and its score, I wanted to make the score faithful to the overall STARSHIP TROOPERS universe whilst making it work in a game situation. Since there is a lot of dense orchestration in my score, I spent more time orchestrating than composing, and because there was a lot of percussion in the score, it was also a challenge when it came to mixing everything. The game is action heavy so I also had to ensure that I could continually build the shape of the score right up to the end of the production.

Q: What are your next scoring assignments?

Richard Jacques: Next year I am due to score three as-yet-unannounced games, a movie score, and possibly some work in musical theater, as well some production library work.

Q: What's the future plan for your career? Where would you like to be in the next five years?

Richard Jacques: I would like to continue to work on large scale challenging projects in games, film and TV, and working with creatively like-minded and talented people.

Former editor/publisher of CinemaScore magazine, Randall Larson was for many years senior editor for Soundtrack Magazine and a film music columnist for Cinefantastique magazine. He is the author of Musique Fantastique: A Survey of Film Music in the Fantastic Cinema (Scarecrow, 1984) and Music from the House of Hammer (Scarecrow, 1995). In addition to Soundtrax and Music News for Cinescape.com, Randall reviews soundtracks Music from the Movies, writes for Film Music Magazine, and in many other fields.

Recommended Soundtrack sources:
www.buysoundtrax.com  
www.intrada.com  
www.screenarchives.com  
www.footlight.com  
www.arksquare.com/index_main.html  (Japan)
www.intermezzomedia.com/  (Italy)
www.moviegrooves.com
www.moviemusic.com  

For questions or comments, contact the author at Soundtrax@cinescape.com