In Their Own Words: Jonas Gammelholm

2015-11-03
EA Staff

There are so many opportunities to work in gaming, even if you’re not fluent in code. Meet Jonas Gammelholm, 21. Originally from Denmark, he’s been a part of creating Need for Speed trailers with our MediaWorks team.

Learn what it’s like to get your start in gaming working on Need for Speed.

How did you get your start with MediaWorks?

Actually, I had just got my high school diploma, but for a few years now, one of my hobbies has been creating machinimas — in-engine videos for my YouTube channel. With this as a reference and a recommendation from a well-known cinematic artist, I then applied for the vacancy at EA here in Cologne. After the application process that involved a lot of practical tests, I eventually got hired.

Tell us about a typically day in the office: What do you do?

I create scenes for the Need for Speed trailers. That includes recording the vehicle animations (when a car drifts around a corner in the trailer, that's exactly what we did in the game), the animation of the cameras, lighting of the scenes, rendering, and a whole bunch of other things.

I also took a lot of the screenshots that you can now view on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or needforspeed.com.

What are some of your most memorable moments working on Need for Speed with MediaWorks?

It’s amazing, truly a dream job. The job description fits my interests perfectly. I can express my creative passion through the best gaming graphics out there, and I get to live out my inner nerd by exploring the depths of the Frostbite engine.

I attended gamescom as part of my job; one of my screenshots was printed as a poster, and eventually signed and handed out by Ken Block, whom I got the chance to meet backstage as well as Magnus Walker.

I got to visit Ghost Games in Sweden, where I attended a Seminar with Need for Speed's Art Director Yuta Nakamura. And of course, I have great colleagues who make sure I'm well taken care of after moving all the way to Germany by myself from Denmark.

How did you start producing machinimas?

I happened to come across a video in which someone used the physics of the CryENGINE to make hundreds of wooden crates collide — something about these flying crates fascinated me so much that I started a YouTube account of my own in order to be able to subscribe to the channel. And then it wasn't long until I uploaded my first video.

Can you walk us through the process of creating a game trailer?

Cinematic artists receive an outline of the scenes, after which we independently begin with location scouting in the game. We simply play the game and document possible locations.

After that comes the animation and the camera. The animations and settings then need to be exported from Frostbite in order to animate the camera. We then create a raw cut, and once it has been approved, we take care of the lighting.

When everything is perfect, we render the video at low resolution. A final approval is then given by our manager — and if he agrees, we then render the video in HD. But even then we're not done: Now comes post-production and cutting. It is also important to mention that the trailer footage comes directly from the game — except for a few color corrections and the occasional lens flare, nothing else is touched up.

What advice would you give someone who wants to work in gaming?

Just seven months ago I was the one asking this very same question. I think there are a few key elements which you should pay attention to if you want to work in the games industry.

Creating projects of your own is probably the best way to gather experience in games development. Having something tangible to show is the most important thing if you want to catch your future employer's eye. It doesn't matter if you did it in your own room in your parents' house like I did, or paid a whole lot of money for a traditional education.

Also, working together with other people can really help. You learn to work in a team and also learn from each other. Even if you only ask for tips and get to know new contacts, it can turn out to be very valuable in the future. Without the recommendation of a well-known cinematic artist, I wouldn't have gotten this job.

And that brings me to my third point — sometimes you just need a little luck. This answer frustrated me a lot when I was looking for advice, because the definition of luck is that you have no influence over it. That's true, but you can still improve your chances.

I couldn't force someone to write me a recommendation, but I could increase the chances of getting one by contacting people and showing initiative. After all, if you’re passionate about what you do, chances are high that you will get noticed.

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