Jamal Green

Winning a BAFTA Games Award

Music composer Jamal is part of the team that won Best Debut Game at the BAFTA Games Awards 2022. The winning video game TOEM is entirely hand drawn, with players embarking on an expedition to uncover mysteries. Jamal said, ‘I've been waiting for that feeling we got backstage after we won to wear off, but I guess it won't! You only get one shot at winning Debut Game and that makes it so much more exciting!’

A supportive learning environment

‘I didn't have any equipment of my own whatsoever when I started at Herts so I woke up early every morning to get to the Mac Suites to work before people would flood in for their classes. I was often allowed to stay in those rooms and work quietly at the back and so I'd really stay for as long as possible, stopping for lunch or going to classes when I had some of my own to go to (or sometimes not). I would stay in one of the mac suites until one of the proctors closed up at night. Herts has great facilities and state of the art equipment and I'm grateful I was able to use it to its fullest. Herts definitely nurtures students who want to push themselves by just allowing them the freedom to use equipment they otherwise wouldn't have access to.’

Advice for other students and graduates

‘My biggest bit of advice for undergrads is "find your people". I'm always telling people most of what I learned at uni came from the friends I made. We're a tight knit group of people who are still sharing ideas and guiding each other now and those friendships formed at university! Allow yourself to be surrounded by people you admire and people you feel comfortable sharing your worst ideas and vulnerabilities with. Discover, learn, fail and succeed together and you might find people you can still rely on years after university.’

Aspirations for the future

‘After winning a BAFTA Games Award, now is the best time to remain level-headed and pragmatic about the future, but I also want to remain ambitious, and I'd like to return to the BAFTAs to take home the award for Best Original Score - and why not throw in a Grammy and an Oscar for good measure.’

‘I recently went back through my social media and website bio's and took out "Composer for films, game and TV" and instead replaced it with just "Composer" I will always love writing music for films and games and I'm immensely proud of my work so far, but I also want to explore myself as an artist, musician and composer in my own right. I want to be able to look back and feel like I've explored my own ideas to their fullest.’