My name is Paul Deetman and I am the founder and director of Hunchback Music and the game studio KeokeN Interactive. Together with my brother Koen Deetman, I’m leading an international music and game company from the Netherlands, where I work with great passionate people on new innovative projects in multimedia entertainment.

Starting my career as an electronic musician, I taught myself the art of composition and sound design, being featured by artists such as Above and Beyond, Hernan Cattaneo and John Digweed. My passion for writing to film began while I was studying audio engineering in Amsterdam at the SAE Institute. It gave me the opportunity to brighten my sense of the different expertises in the music industry and I started the practice of commercial music. I discovered the art of trailer and teaser composition and couldn’t leave it alone before landing a serious placement. Since then I’ve contributed my work on projects of Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Ridley Scott, Playstation, Marvel and DC.

I am the founder and director of Hunchback Music but I’m a composer and sound designer as well. Understanding the discipline and details of composing while keeping the overview over the studio and projects is a great combination to run the company creatively.

There is no formula for creating that specific vision and pulling it out of the creative vacuum, but it always starts by executing something. It is better to let the brush flow on the canvas than to be in your head about it. Translating and communicating the right emotions synchronized to the screen is a combination between one's creativity and the desired result of a client.

Hunchback Music is a music production and sound design studio for trailers, commercials, games and movies. Our focus is on creating carefully crafted content that resonates with the audience. It is our duty to dive into another world and capture that specific feeling to strengthen the visuals. We work with a vast team of creatives who are passionate about the story and strive towards the best results.

Creating a believable story or worlds. Provoking the right emotion at the right timing. A piece of art serves as a window into the past. Capturing that specific moment in time and its imperfections. Creating a piece of music/art can become very personal. Don’t let yourself be seduced by the details and become insecure. Let those deep, raw and dirty emotions flow like nobody's watching.

My musical styles in trailers and teasers can be very dark and grinding or it can be the complete opposite of the spectrum, where it becomes very sensitive and emotional. Since my origin is in electronic music, I always love to let my techno past influence the work I do for teasers. It enables me to create these abstract broken electronica beats for commercials.

You can create every idea that you imagine, but the manifestation in this reality is always slightly different than the initial idea. It is about how you anticipate the new given creation that reveals your next creative step. With every bit of progression, the feasibility of the larger goal becomes less and less unreal.

Being recognized by the industry and your peers is an great honor! It fuels our motivation and brings a big smile to the faces of the whole team. To receive an award like this is a crown on our work and the collaborations we did in the past years. Massive thanks to the jury and everyone involved!

Everybody can market themselves as the next best thing or service but to be really convincing the work needs to speak for itself. When you start your studio you still need to prove yourself and land the right projects. An international award is that extra recognition new clients can rely on. A recommendation in the form of an award may push them over the edge.

The biggest challenge was to create an original concept while keeping the signature feel of the brilliant in-game score by Petri Alanko and Martin Stig Andersen. I fell in love with the game Control and its dark philosophical theme. Working with Remedy Entertainment was simply amazing. We got to the desired result within the second iteration.

The electronic music scene is very big in the Netherlands, which lead to huge conferences like, Amsterdam Dance Event. Events like this are incredible for business but are also a breeding ground for new collaborations.

The new Unreal 5 engine is going to be amazing for next-gen development. The way we can produce games, film and animations are just more accessible than ever. Epic is opening up a gateway to new opportunities realizing our dreams.

1. The people

2. Art and creativity

3. New innovations

You must use all the tools you have at your disposal to achieve your goals. Just remember, it is not about the tools, but about how you use them to serve your vision. Learn every option of your favorite audio or video software. Ask professionals within your own bubble to help you when you encounter obstacles. If you are an audio producer, try to dive into the skin of a video editor so you can use that perspective on your next projects. Throw yourself into the unknown and make sure you keep moving. Be patient.

The film and game industry will fuse into something extraordinary. Games become more cinematic while having much more freedom of choices. We are in the pre-eve of a “Ready Player One” world. You can be anyone you want and lose yourself in a digital world without any “real life’ consequences. Maybe we are already in one, but we are just going one layer deeper. The more we solve our necessity of life, the more the entertainment industry will grow.

My grandpa was an incredibly creative man. He sculpted his own statues, built his own scaled airplanes and used to make his own telescopes. He was always fascinated about the universe and wondered about our place between the stars. His philosophical thinking and creativity inspired me from a young age.

Don't be afraid of the unknown and failure. If you believe in your vision, there are others who believe in it as well. Try to convert your ideas and thoughts into execution as quickly as possible. Dare to ask for help from people who have walked a similar path. Nobody has the perfect formula, but many people are willing to help you with your dreams. Don't compare yourself to the premise of someone else's success. You have to take risks without knowing whether you will earn back your investment. You can achieve all your goals, but it always takes longer than you expect. Be patient.

1. Gustaf Holmsten (Goodbye Kansas Studios)

2. Alasdair Hibberd (Frontier Developments)

3. Neil Broadhead (Wired Productions)

We want to thank everyone who has been involved in building Hunchback Music to what it is today. We feel grateful to be able to create so many beautiful stories together with so many amazing people. We hope to share our philosophy and vision on multiple mediums for many years to come.