Interview with David Mateo Gonzalez: The Vision of a Digital Composer

I love being creative! I enjoy showing my skills to people and expressing my passion for what I love most through my compositions.

Currently, I work as a freelance professional, but I aspire to join a studio. I am dedicated to ongoing training and have had the privilege of contributing as a composer to projects like Mercy Land and Swap, which have been incredibly rewarding experiences.

Creativity for me is creating a composition in which your personality can be reflected and above all, the most important thing is to transmit sensations to people, both visual and emotional.

Being creative means that people notice your compositions. You must attract the viewer's attention. How do you do it? Innovating, doing different things but never without losing your personality or your ideas.

First and foremost, the heart of the creative process lies in generating ideas. I start things by brainstorming plans and how to bring them to life, taking inspiration from various sources.

Then, I dive into the technical nitty-gritty, working hard to turn that initial concept into reality while making sure I have a solid technical knowledge base to make it happen.

My favorite part is looking for references!

I often visit museums and attend classical music concerts. As a clarinet teacher, this experience greatly helps me in creating my compositions. For me, the most important aspect is to create works that reflect my personality.

My creative style is focused on creating beautiful compositions while adapting technically to the needs of the visual effects supervisor.

I must say, it has made a significant difference! Being a passionate Spaniard, we tend to pour our hearts into what we love, fueling our unwavering dedication and effort.

I am over the moon to receive this distinction! First of all, I would like to thank the international jurors for choosing my project as a winner! It's a truly meaningful honor to have professionals of this caliber choose my work.

Winning awards in such a competitive field is no small feat, given the incredible talent out there. It's an incredible feeling of happiness, knowing that the countless hours of hard work and effort have paid off.

I chose scenes with significant technical complexity and those I find aesthetically appealing. These scenes showcase my technical skills, aiming to qualify for a position in a major studio. The MUSE Awards provide an excellent platform for this.

The challenges are immense, with each scene presenting significant technical complexity. However, I've dedicated countless hours to pursuing my passion. My favorite scene is the opening one, titled 'Harrots,' inspired by 'El Papel de la Navidad,' an advertisement by 'El Corte Inglés.' It boasts both impressive technical and artistic intricacies, encompassing the most advanced composition techniques.

The entire stage is brought to life through 3D projections, featuring elements such as spheres, the Animun logo, and particles skillfully crafted with Nuke, a staple composition program in the film and entertainment industry. However, the true essence of this scene lies in creating a sense of realism, achieved through meticulous attention to lighting to evoke a truly enchanting ambiance.

I have developed my career, training in the best academies, such as Gnomon, Animun Advanced Creativity School, Rebelway, with the best mentors, but above all with a great desire to learn and develop my skills.

It is an incredible feeling to win this award, there are many hours of work, effort and many hours of dedication, the fact that such a prestigious jury has chosen my project as one of the winners, it is a wonderful feeling, because there are many people who will have worked as hard or harder than me and you don't always get this recognition.

- The wonders of VFX.

- I genuinely appreciate a well-crafted movie script. Even with the most exceptional special effects, a compelling script is essential to effectively convey the intended message to the audience.

- The way videography can stir emotions in its viewers.

I am Spanish, and I take great pride in my heritage. Spain is rich in talent across various fields, including fashion, art, and music. Where I live in Valencia, every town has its own music bands, fostering a vibrant culture of art and creativity.

Each region in Spain has its own traditional dances, and combined with our passionate Latin character, this inspires us to infuse our passion and artistry into everything we do.

Unfortunately, I can very well see that artificial intelligence is going to take away many jobs and by doing so, it would be taking away the essence of people.

The advice I would give is to work hard with dedication and perseverance, and to fight for your dreams. This industry is not easy, and you need strength and resilience when things don’t go as planned or when you don’t reach your goals.

There will be times when you don’t achieve what you’re striving for, but it’s important to have a clear conscience, knowing you’ve done everything possible to pursue your dreams.

The resources that I would recommend are continuous training, because you can't think that you already know everything. Training is essential, because the industry is progressively changing continuously.

At first, my family was skeptical about me investing so much time and money in the special effects industry. However, my mother has always supported me in everything. She often told me that when you do what you love, you will always have the satisfaction of pursuing your passion.

The person who has always inspired me is my mother, and unfortunately, she now has Alzheimer's and hardly knows us anymore. She has always told me to fight for my dreams, but dreams are not achieved just by thinking about them—you must work hard, put in a lot of effort, and do what you like most. My mother has always given her life for all of us, going out of her way to ensure we never lacked anything. She is my greatest idol!

She has always reminded us that while we may not succeed every time, as long as we give it our all with hard work and enthusiasm, we can find comfort in knowing we’ve done everything we could to reach our goals.

The key is work, effort, perseverance, and a bit of luck—and even with all that, success is not guaranteed. You have to trust yourself and stay mentally strong when you don’t achieve your objectives. Most of the time, you send countless resumes that go unanswered, with no feedback on what you should improve.

ILM, however, always responds, and that is greatly appreciated. From my perspective, that’s one of the reasons why it’s the most prestigious studio in the world.

I would like to once again thank the international jurors for this incredible distinction!

I also want to express my gratitude to the fantastic MUSE team for their exceptional work in providing people like me with a platform to showcase our passion. What you do for us all is truly remarkable.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you!