A Ballenas Secondary School graduate is one of two composers behind this season鈥檚 Vancouver Canucks game opening video.

Krystian Watts, who grew up in Parksville and now lives in Vancouver, created the music for 鈥楶rotocol V: Activated鈥�, an A.I.-themed video that plays at the start of every Canucks home game this season on the jumbotron. He and Devin Belanger worked on the project for approximately three months.

鈥淚t was definitely an experience. I mean just to be part of an organization like the Vancouver Canucks was awesome,鈥� Watts said. 鈥淚 grew up a hockey fan on the Island, so it was an honour to even have the opportunity.鈥�

Watts has a diploma in audio engineering and composes music using a program called Ableton. Prior to that, he had already found success in the music industry as part of a music duo and as a DJ.

The 3:43 video shows an A.I. entity invade Vancouver and the Canucks have to create A.I. versions of themselves to defeat it and save the city.

Watts鈥檚 and Belanger鈥檚 composition consist of different sections that fit with what鈥檚 happening on screen.

They had a script to give them an idea of what would happen in the video, and were told the director wanted it to have a 鈥渟uper raw feeling鈥�, Watts said.

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鈥淭he guitar reflects on the rawness of hockey, that rocky type of feeling where you鈥檙e going to battle. Grit,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat was kind of the main inspiration for the intro. Then we transition into more the team assembling and the epic section leading up to the ending.鈥�

For the heroic finale, Watts said he and Belanger aimed for a sound reminiscent of a blockbuster movie.

They recorded live guitar riffs and then processed it electronically to make it sound extra raw, Watts added. Strings and percussion are also integrated into the composition.

Growing up in Parksville, Watts was involved in Bard to Broadway and started DJing in high school.

鈥淏oth my mom and my dad were musical, so it just became a big part of my life and I鈥檝e just been lucky to be able to do it full time,鈥� he said.

Watts wasn鈥檛 able to attend the home opener, but he and Belanger were thrilled to see their video play at the Canucks鈥� next home game.

He encourages people to keep working towards their dreams.

鈥淢y dream was to work on music full time and make a career out of it,鈥� Watts said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know exactly where I was going to go, like I started with DJing. If you鈥檙e a DJ, pursue it, if you鈥檙e a music producer, pursue it.鈥�