REGRESSION

EVENT: JORDY VEENSTRA (OCTOBER 13 - OCTOBER 26 2023, ONLINE)

Regression 4

digital video 4096 x 1716 (4k Scope), color, sound (Stereo, -14LUFS; Stereo, -23LUFS), 13’ 51” (original), 2023, The Netherlands

Created by Jordy Veenstra

Three years have passed since the unveiling of Veenstra’s Regression 3, a machinima that explored the aerial expanses of Grand Theft Auto V’s vast territory. Today, we stand at a significant juncture as Regression 4 further solidifies the significance of the series. This installment takes audiences on a highly experimental cinematic journey, focusing on the underwater realms of Los Santos and Blaine County and some of the many secrets found within.

Jordy Veenstra is a video editor, experimental filmmaker, machinima artist, and front end developer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In his practice, Veenstra connects videogames, experimental narratives and technology through the medium of machinima and his “practice of distortion” framework, consisting of rules and values that revolve around the “distortion” of otherwise clear video-game generated images and audio, with the intent of moving away from perceiving the film as a “product from a videogame” and more as a “product of cinema” by using various values found in traditional cinema such as cinematic resolutions and aspect ratios, 24 frames per second, color grading, motion blur and grain. Veenstra’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 2020 and 2022 editions of the Milan Machinima Festival, while Regression Trilogy has been featured on VRAL in 2020.

NEWS: A CLOSER LOOK AT REGRESSION

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Currently exhibited on VRAL, Regression is an ongoing series by Dutch filmmaker Jordy Veenstra’s about the places, spaces, and means of transportation featured in Grand Theft Auto V’s fictional state of San Andreas. While working on the second installment in 2019, Veenstra created “a visual experiment “ titled Train Ride to test the different mods and camera angles he was going to use. The result is a relatively long video - clocking at 26 minutes and 10 seconds - with terrific vistas and a relaxed tempo. Veenstra describes the therapeutic effects of the video he made:

I would watch it every so often after a stressful day because of its ambience and peaceful atmosphere. It gave off a different atmosphere compared to the faster-edited Regression 2.

Train Ride was released alongside Regression 2.

As Veenstra writes,

The original footage of this film was shot without the use of Extended Video Export due to it originally being an experiment. I initially did not plan to release this film. Therefore, the quality of the film is less pristine than what I normally use and upload.

On the contrary, the viewing experience is truly remarkable.

Watch Train Ride below: