How Gaming Music Inspired Andreas Nilsson's Live Spectacular
You might know Andreas Nilsson for the weirdo music videos and commercials he directs, often with a zany comic styling, but he also used to play guitar in an alt rock band with “the worst band name in the world” according to a member of Queens of the Stone Age. He also has a background in production design for theatre and live music, which was his career focus prior to directing commercials. So when video game developer DICE asked him to direct a live show at the Royal Swedish Opera to celebrate 30 years of the company, it felt like a great chance to return to the stage.
For the epic project ‘DICE at the Opera’, he worked with composers including Hildur Guðnadóttir, Solar Fields, and others to design a stunning orchestral show incorporating music from DICE’s hit games Battlefield, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Mirror’s Edge, all performed live and accompanied by custom video projections and on-stage electronic video installations.
Making for a provocative combination between the historic venue and a contemporary performance, Andreas collaborated closely with lighting designer Ishai Mika (who recently did ABBA Voyage) to create visual representations of poetic moments from each of the games, tying in elements like colour and landscape to the video projections. The show was performed six times during the month of October.
LBB’s Alex Reeves spoke to Andreas about this unique show.
LBB> How was this project first described to you and what were your initial thoughts?
Andreas> I’ve worked at the Royal Opera in Stockholm before and I’ve also worked with some of the composers, so when DICE and the Opera were looking for a creative director for their set of 30th anniversary concerts it felt like a good match and a nicely curated ensemble of people.
My initial thoughts were “I can't make a celebration of a war game.” Clearly, I didn’t know much about these games before, so there was a lot of research I had to do to understand the fundamental narratives of these games.
LBB> Where did you start?
Andreas> I started with the music. The music is the script. Always.
LBB> How did you go about visualising how the show would look and how the orchestra, projections and on-stage installations would interact and work within the space of the opera house?
Andreas> It's a pretty intricate production flow. But it's very much a collaboration between different creatives where of course the musicians, the composers and the conductor are dictating the overall feel. We also have a lighting designer that we collaborate with on projects like this. In this case, it was Ishai Mika who is a very talented designer from Stockholm. The process is not very far from shooting and cutting film, to be honest. You write the script, you block it, you build the set, you light it and then you cut it.
LBB> How did you choose the most iconic parts of DICE games?
Andreas> I wanted to avoid any graphic images of war and also avoid a too literal read of the aesthetic of the game. I wanted to capture the feel of the game but not illustrate it with images from the game if that makes sense. I got help from people at DICE, who guided me and gave me a breakdown of the narratives. I didn’t have time to play all these games, so their guidance meant everything. Viktoria Anselm, Ben Minto and Stefan Strandberg were very important collaborators for this.
LBB> This show drew on so many skills you might not get to use in your usual film directing life. What aspect did you most enjoy exploring in that regard?
Andreas> As I said earlier, I don’t think it's that big of a difference. And the stage is where I started working, so it’s a bit like coming home when I do these kinds of things.
LBB> You worked with some real world leading talent here. What parts of the collaborative process still really stick with you?
Andreas> What I appreciate in a project like this is that everyone involved is allowed to do what they are good at, and no one is expected to re-create someone else’s vision.
LBB> What have you taken from this project that you'll use in your work moving forward?
Andreas> Not sure I necessarily learned it from this job, but I guess this proved for me that it's important to work in different formats to keep myself engaged and inspired.
