14 DAY TRIAL // Grammy award nominations are recognitions that few composers ever get and Austin Wintory, the man who is up for the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for his work on Journey, believes that getting on the short list is a sign that video games are equivalent to any other entertainment medium.
Austin Wintory tells Joystiq that, “I'm still working toward excited. I'm still in that kind of shocked, semi-delirious, blurry, anticipating-waking-up-any-time-now stage. I do look forward to being excited about it. But I feel like I'm right now still in the blast radius, in that Saving Private Ryan moment where everything's silent except for that high-pitched ringing and everything's moving at a different framerate.”
The composer is really pleased with the fact that John Williams, his idol, is nominated in the same category for the work he has done on The Adventures of Tintin.
Wintory says that a nomination for Journey at the Grammy’s will lead some to respect video games more, but he also believes that developers need to find their own ways of becoming important to the community.
He adds, “I think that people are going to fall in love with them because they play them and they listen to them and it will be a direct one-to-one communication. For them to really take hold they won't need validation from third-party sources, even one as prestigious as the Grammys.”
The composer is also working on a number of new projects, linked to video games, films and personal compositions.
The only announced project at the moment is Land of the Lounge Lizards, a remake of Leisure Suit Larry.
Another upcoming title which will have a Wintory-created soundtrack is Monaco, which was scored at the same time as Journey.
The award ceremony for the Grammy’s will take place on February 10 of next year.