Austin Wintory

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Austin Wintory
Austin Wintory, GDC 2024 (D3 KT2 3297) (cropped).jpg
Wintory at the Game Developers Conference in 2024
Background information
Born (1984-09-09) September 9, 1984 (age 39)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Genres Video game music, electronica
Occupation(s) Composer, conductor
Years active2002–present
Website Official website

Austin Wintory (born September 9, 1984) is an American composer for film and video games. [1] He is known for scoring the video games Flow and Journey , the latter of which made history as the only video game soundtrack to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. [2] [3]

Contents

Early life

Austin Wintory was born in Denver, Colorado in 1984 and started learning piano when he was ten years old, [4] after he was introduced to composer Jerry Goldsmith by his teacher. Before the age of ten, Wintory did not play any instruments and barely listened to music. [5] By the age of sixteen, Wintory started writing for and conducting the Cherry Creek High School Orchestra during their performances of the "Spirit of the Cosmos" pieces. Two years later, at the age of eighteen, Wintory conducted the Utah Symphony during its recording of "Cosmos", which became one of his most popular projects, although he refers to it as "atrocious garbage". [5] Since 2003, Wintory has composed over three hundred musical scores. [5]

Career

Beginning of game composing career and Flow

Wintory recording 'Traveler: A Journey Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra Austin Wintory with LSO.jpg
Wintory recording 'Traveler: A Journey Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra

Wintory met Jenova Chen while both attended the University of Southern California (USC). [6] After networking with an interactive media student at USC and scoring a small game project, his name was passed along to Chen, who asked Wintory to score his thesis project, Flow, [6] later re-released on PlayStation Network. Wintory, Chen and Nick Clarke developed the first version of Flow as a three-man team, with Wintory remarking that Chen had an incredible way of processing information, seeing far beyond code and reaching into the emotional implications of things. [6] As a traditional orchestral student at the time, Wintory considered the music of Flow was radically unlike any he had written before. [6] Wintory regards the pink area of the game, where the player controls a jellyfish-like creature, as the humorous area of the game, describing his music for it as almost "circus-like" compared to the overall soundtrack. [6]

Monaco

Originally, Monaco developer Andy Schatz sought out licensed music as a backdrop to the game's setting, feeling that the style of music needed was too esoteric to hire a composer. Wintory, however, was able to convince Schatz that he could create an original score that fit the project's vision. Likening 2D sprite-based games to the silent film era, Wintory agreed with the notion that the soundtrack to a game like Monaco should have an earnest yet self-aware nostalgic feeling, stating "There's no way to just objectively listen to that style of music without automatically being like 'This reminds me of a bygone era.'" [6] Wintory was excited at the chance to create an old-timey score with wit and humor, stating "when else am I ever going to be asked to write anything remotely like this?" [6]

Works

Films

YearFilm
2004Nuts & Bolts
One Three Zero
Blind Visions
Man Child
Alter Ego
Love Parade
2005It's About Ugliness
Not Too Long Ago
We Gonna Get Ronald Kim
Keepsakes
Painting Ava
New York
TAG
2006Vollarians, Unite!
Oleg's Overcoat
Long After...
The Sunset Sky
Project: Illegal Alien
Happy Days
The Good Man
The Late Bloomer
Confessions
The Proposal
The Professor's Daughter
Johnny Montana
2007Mr. Sadman
Captain Abu Raed
If You Could Have
Back Soon
Serpent and the Sun
2008Knuckle Draggers
Print
Grace
Live Evil
3-Day Weekend
The Acquirer
TK's Corner
Hubristic
2009A Little Help
The Sunset Sky
The River Why
The Echo Game
Make the Yuletide Gay
2010A Beautiful Game
Leave
Playing House
Majid
Workshop
Let the Game Begin
The Incredible Adventures of Jojo
2011Remnants
Home Run Showdown
The Grief Tourist
Junction
2012Strangely in Love
Inverse
Targeting
The War Around Us
It's a Disaster
Lost on Purpose
Aftermath
2013Targeting
Inverse
2015 The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown
Dark Summer
Tales of Halloween
The Rendezvous
Standoff
2016After the Sun Fell
Diane
Mercury Plains
2017Legacy
The Last Movie Star
Bullet Head
2018 Tread
Big Dogs
2019Clean
2020Born a Champion
2021 One Shot
Ire
A Violent Man
2022 Thai Cave Rescue

Games

YearGameDeveloper
2002Ages of Athiria (Theme Only)Elysian Productions
2006 Flow Thatgamecompany
2007Flow Expansion PackThatgamecompany, Super Villain Studios
GroundTruth: Toxic CitySandia Nat’l Lab, USC-Gamepipe
ReplayTake Action Games
2008GroundTruth 2: Lock DownSandia Nat’l Lab, USC-Gamepipe
My Virtual Tutor1st Playable Productions
2010CensusDraft FCB
Super Awesome Mountain RPGCodename Games
2012 Journey Thatgamecompany
Horn Phosphor Games
Kinetic Party Double Fine Productions
2013 Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine Pocketwatch Games
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded [7] N-Fusion Interactive
Dropchord Double Fine Productions
2014 Soul Fjord Airtight Games
Sunset Tale of Tales
The Banner Saga Stoic
2015 The Order: 1886 (co-writer of The Knights theme, with Jason Graves) Ready at Dawn, Santa Monica Studio
Assassin's Creed Syndicate Ubisoft Quebec
The Path to LumaPhosphor Games
2016 The Banner Saga 2 Stoic
Abzû Giant Squid Studios
2017 Deformers Ready at Dawn
Absolver Sloclap
Tooth and Tail Pocketwatch Games
Luna Funomena
2018 Pode Henchman & Goon
The Banner Saga 3 Stoic
Command and Conquer: Rivals Electronic Arts
2019 Erica Flavourworks, London Studio
John Wick Hex Bithell Games
The Bradwell ConspiracyA Brave Plan, Bossa Studios
2020 The Pathless Giant Squid
AGOS: A Game of Space Ubisoft
2021 Aliens: Fireteam Elite Cold Iron Studios
2022Monaco 2Pocketwatch Games
HUSH - CraneFlavourworks
2023Strayed LightsEmbers
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Summerfall Studios
2024BitCraft(with co-composer Rachel Hardy)Clockwork Labs

Awards

List of awards and nominations
YearAwardCategoryRecipients and nomineesResultRef.
2007 British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs) Innovation Flow (Jenova Chen, Nicholas Clark, Austin Wintory)Nominated [8]
2012 Video Game Awards Best Original Score Journey Nominated [9]
2012Video Games AwardsBest Song in a Game Journey Nominated [10]
2012 International Film Music Critics Association Awards Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Journey Won [11]
2012 Spike Video Game Awards Best Song in a Game"I Was Born for This" – Journey Nominated [12]
2013 Game Developers Choice Awards Best Audio Journey Won [13]
2013British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)Audio Achievement Journey Won [14]
2013British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)Original Music Journey Won [14]
2013 D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Journey Won [15]
2013 Grammy Awards Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Journey Nominated [16]
2014NAVGTR AwardsOriginal Dramatic Score, New IP The Banner Saga Nominated [17]
2014 International Film Music Critics Association Awards Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media The Banner Saga Nominated [18]
2015British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)Best Music The Banner Saga Nominated [19]
2015British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)Audio Achievement The Banner Saga Nominated [19]
2015 SXSW Gaming Awards Excellence in Musical Scoring The Banner Saga Nominated [20]
2015Game Audio Network Guild AwardsMusic of the Year Assassin's Creed Syndicate Nominated [21]
2015Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Original Soundtrack Album Assassin's Creed Syndicate Nominated [21]
2015Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Original Instrumental Assassin's Creed Syndicate "The Assassin's Two Step"Nominated [21]
2015 International Film Music Critics Association Awards Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Assassin's Creed Syndicate Won [22]
2016International Film Music Critics Association AwardsOriginal Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Abzû Won [23]
2016International Film Music Critics Association AwardsOriginal Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media The Banner Saga 2 Nominated [23]
2017International Film Music Critics Association AwardsOriginal Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Deformers Nominated [24]
2017International Film Music Critics Association AwardsBest Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film The Rendezvous Nominated [24]
2017British Academy Games Awards (BAFTAs)Music Abzû Nominated [25]
2017 D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Abzû Nominated [26]
2017Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Original Soundtrack Abzû Won [21]
2018Hollywood Music in Media AwardsOriginal Score — Independent Film The Last Movie Star Nominated [27]
2018Hollywood Music in Media AwardsOriginal Score — Video Game Pode Nominated [27]
2018Hollywood Music in Media AwardsOriginal Song — Video Game"Only We Few Remember it Now" ( The Banner Saga 3 )Won [27]
2019Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Original Soundtrack Pode Nominated [21]
2019Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Original Song "Only We Few Remember It Know" The Banner Saga 3 Nominated [21]
2019International Film Music Critics Association AwardsOriginal Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Erica Nominated [28]
2020Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Interactive Score Erica Won [21]
2020Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Original Instrumental Erica Won [29]
2020 D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Erica Nominated [30]
2021Game Audio Network Guild AwardsBest Music for an Indie Game The Pathless Won [31]
2021 D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition The Pathless Nominated [32]
2023 Grammy Awards Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media Aliens: Fireteam Elite Nominated [33] [34] [35]
2024 Grammy Awards Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Nominated [36] [37]

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References

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