This year, the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is presenting Cade Mirabitur’s The Long Fall in its special screening series The Classical Elements: in this short machinima, bodies and objects chaotically collide in a small house as it plummets down a deep hole. The sudden implosion of domesticity evoke the state of uncertainty and meaningless of the world we live in: randomness is the universe’s quintessence, the fifth element. Created using Valve’s popular Garry’s Mod (2004) during the first COVID-19 lockdown (very much like Xue Youge and Yu Hu’s La Caduta - The Fall), The Long Fall was originally screened at Slamdance 2021. Mirabitur is twenty year old American filmmaker from Detroit, Michigan. He mainly experiments with filmmaking techniques and technology that limit cinematic creation to only its essentials, yielding a bare and unique final product. Recurring themes in his films include time, death, technology, and decay. He directed several short films including Soap (2020), The Answer (2019), and Yellowcake (2019).
We asked Cade a few questions via email:
MMF: Why did you choose Garry's Mod to create The Long Fall? Did you consider other game engines or video games, e.g. The Sims or Grand Theft Auto? What's your relationship to digital gaming
Cade Mirabitur: The Long Fall was created somehow impulsively. It was conceived, originally, as a student project, and went through multiple revisions before taking its final form. One major aspect to why I decided to work in Garry’s Mod was because I was stuck in my home during the pandemic, and lacked any sort of filmmaking equipment. I only had my laptop. That sparked the idea of using a game engine. I toyed around with using Grand Theft Auto V, attracted to its superb graphics and physics engine, but ultimately chose to go with Garry's Mod. Despite being nearly a decade older than Grand Theft Auto, Garry’s Mod had a loose, expressive quality to it that couldn’t be replicated anywhere else. Immediately I was reminded of the machinima filmmakers I was a fan of as a child, mainly DasBoSchitt and kitty0706. I decided to take the playful, spastic energy of the machinima films of the past, and try to apply them to something a bit more personal. I’m a big video game fan, so it was very interesting trying to make a film using one.
MMF: As a first attempt at machinima, The Long Fall is a remarkable achievement. You've made several shorts before. How would you compare the pros and cons in filming with a game engine vs. filming IRL? How long did the production process take? Did you encounter any specific challenges?
Cade Mirabitur: Yes, it was. Filming in Garry’s Mod is almost nothing like filming in real life. I was completely inexperienced with the filmmaking tools provided in the game. Almost everything you see on screen derived from a challenge. I had no idea what I was doing! All I knew was that I was frustrated, lost, and going crazy locked in my house. With every revision, I gradually learned how to animate, but I still felt like I lacked the ability to express how I was feeling. After the third or fourth revision, I was ready to call it quits. Then, I attached a camera to the inside of a train car model, placed a ragdoll inside, and dropped it down a hole. It blew up in my face. From the chaotic visuals to the roaring sound, I could barely tell what was going on, and I loved it. From then on, I spend about a week just recording experiments of me dropping anything and everything down the hole.
MMF: The Long Fall is a great metaphor for the Covid-19 crisis: suddenly our world was turned upside down and the entire world was sort of stuck in limbo, suspended mid-air, waiting for something to happen, a resolution, some kind of closure... If you were to make a machinima today, one year after the first lockdown, would you change anything? Are we still stuck in limbo, or do you personally see the light at the end of the tunnel?
Cade Mirabitur: It’s tough to say. I want to be positive and say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I still have my doubts. Things in America feel worse than ever, but I think we’re past the sudden instability we experienced at the beginning of the pandemic. I wouldn’t say were still in limbo. We’ve landed at the bottom of the hole, and right now we’re learning how to adjust to the darkness. Maybe one day, we will find the strength to pull ourselves back up to the surface, or maybe we’ll find comfort in a permanent residence down here. Needless to say, it's a slow process, and it’s going to feel strange for a long time.
MMF: Will you make more machinima in the future or do you consider The Long Fall a standalone project, an experiment, a one of a kind cinematic experience ? What did your schoolmates and teachers at the College for Creative Studies think about your work? And how was the short received at Slamdance?
Cade Mirabitur: Maybe. I'm still very new to the process, but I’d love to extend my machinima skills in the future. That being said, I don’t think I’ll ever try to recreate The Long Fall. It was a spontaneous project that stemmed from feelings that have long since faded. However, since it was so well-received, I would love to try to create something in the same vein, either through Garry’s Mod or another game. I was given a lot of positive feedback. Almost everyone found it to be chaotic and heavy on the senses. Since there’s no dialogue or story, the only thing you’re left to attach to is the flailing bodies and raging sound, which if you aren’t prepared for, can be extremely overwhelming. I wish I could’ve seen a live audience reaction at Slamdance!
