game video essay

SXSW: GRAND THEFT HAMLET, OR ALL THE VIRTUAL WORLD’S A STAGE

Premiering at SXSW in Austin, Texas, Grand Theft Hamlet garnered acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. In this compelling segment from The Digital Room (2023), produced by Mark Ager, Sam Crane delves into the creation of this remarkable documentary.

In Grand Theft Hamlet (2024), filmmakers Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls chronicle an audacious project: the production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet within the virtual landscapes of Grand Theft Auto Online amid the isolation of the 2021 COVID-19 lockdowns. Crane, also known by his stage moniker Rustic Mascara and esteemed for his performances in London’s West End, embarks on an innovative journey into digital spaces, seeking new horizons for artistic expression. His pioneering venture was lauded with Critics’ Choice Award at the 2022 edition of the Milan Machinima Festival for his avant-garde short, We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On (2021), marking a significant milestone in fusing game technology with classical theater. This endeavor introduces a contemporary lens to the interpretation of Shakespearean works. Alongside Crane, Grylls, a renowned documentary filmmaker with a penchant for human-centered narratives, navigates the uncharted territories of a virtual milieu. Her extensive background in ethnographic video work is a testament to her versatility, illustrating the evolving demands on documentary filmmakers to adapt and innovate within digital landscapes, thereby expanding the scope of narrative storytelling.

This groundbreaking work not only pioneers new avenues of artistic expression but also sheds light on the profound social and cultural repercussions of the pandemic on the creative sectors, alongside the pivotal role of video games in nurturing social bonds. Prior to delving into the filmmakers’ inventive methodologies, the technical hurdles they faced, and the distinctive experiences of the directors, it’s crucial to underscore that Grand Theft Hamlet stands as a paragon within an emergent genre of documentaries. These documentaries leverage video games or virtual platforms as their central narrative canvas, treating digital worlds with the gravitas of real-world settings. This exploration delves into the rich social and creative potential of virtual realms, emphasizing how these platforms can be a crucible for connection, collaboration, and artistic expression. Examples of such game video essays include the award-winning Knit’s Island (shot in DayZ, 2023), We Met in VR Chat (shot in VR Chat, 2022), Total Refusal’s Hardly Working (shot in Red Dead Redemption 2, 2022), and others that we have previously discussed and/or presented either on VRAL or at the Milan Machinima Festival. Many of these documentaries intricately weave narratives around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrating how virtual environments emerged as sanctuaries of community and purpose amid widespread isolation. The pandemic, while presenting unparalleled challenges, also sparked a surge in creative and intermedia experimentation, bridging the gap between traditional and digital art forms. This renaissance is vividly captured through the filmmakers’ journey, exploring new frontiers, navigating technical complexities, and bringing to light the unique perspectives of its creators.

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Matteo Bittanti


Works Cited

Sam Crane, Pinny Grylls, Grand Theft Hamlet, documentary, 90’, 2024, United Kingdom. URL

Associate writer-director: Mark Oosterveen. 

Production: A Project 1961, Grasp the Nettle Films production, in association with Park Pictures.

Producers: Julia Ton, Rebecca Wolff. 

Executive producers: Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kellman Bisbee, Cody Ryder, Will Clarke, Andy Mayson, Mike Runagall, Sam Crane, Harlene Freezer, Eric Kuhn, Hannah Bush Bailey, Shanida Scotland.

Crew: Directors, writers: Sam Crane, Pinny Grylls. 

Camera: Pinny Grylls. Editor: Pinny Grylls.

Music: Jamie Perera.

Sam Crane, We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On, 10’, 2021, United Kingdom. URL

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MMF MMXXIV: BEFORE KNIT’S ISLAND, THERE WAS MARLOWE DRIVE

Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h, Marlowe Drive, digital video, color, sound, 34”, 2017.

Before embarking in their ambitious project Knit’s Island, which will be screened on March 14 2024 at IULM University in the context of the Game Video Essay program, filmmakers Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h directed a machinima documentary set in Grand Theft Auto V titled Marlowe Drive, an experimental film that explores video games environments as a context for making a documentary. 

This is how Guilhem Causse describes the film:

A director, Adam Kesher, from David Lynch’s film Mulholland Drive, lands in another fictional Los Angeles. It is in this Hollywood film landscape recreated by Rockstar Games, that this director sets out to find someone to talk to. He is looking for a bridge between the banks of reality and the imaginary. The film takes place on the game's multiplayer platform to meet “real” characters. It collects information on the individuals who inhabit this space and reintegrates the process of documentary filming into a virtual world. In a back and forth between staging and raw capture, the protagonist then lets himself be carried away into the current of a chaotic world that fascinates him, but which gradually overtakes him. Through his character and his encounters, we ourselves discover a virtual world. An autonomous world strangely close to a form of reality.

In other words, the conceptual foundation of Marlowe Drive (2018) was to document the virtual lives of avatars controlled by real people, thereby examining the intersection of our reality with the virtual environments created by video games. This is so meta, it hurts.

At any rate, this initial exploration set the stage for their later work, Knit’s Island, although the two projects engage with virtual spaces in distinctly different ways. The choice of GTA V for Marlowe Drive was deliberate, leveraging the game’s thematic elements of consumerism and the American dream to contrast sharply with the survivalist, post-apocalyptic setting of DayZ, the game chosen for Knit’s Island. This thematic divergence highlights…

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Matteo Bittanti

Works cited

Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h, Marlowe Drive, digital video, color, sound, 34”, 2018.

Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h, Knit's Island, digital video, color, sound, 95”, 2022.

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MMF MMXXIV: EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT KNIT’S ISLAND...

The Milan Machinima Festival is thrilled to present the full length documentary Knit’s Island as part of the Game Video Essay program. The film will be screened on March 14 2024 at IULM University. We are equally excited to present Angelo Careri’s insightful interview with the filmmakers, Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier and Quentin L’helgoualc’h. We are also sharing with our Patreon supporters the first of a series of exclusive excerpts of the film.

Thanks to Careri’s clever questions, we learn about the filmmakers’ deep engagement with the virtual world of DayZ, as they set out to examine the social and existential dimensions of online gaming communities. Their work blurs the boundaries between documentary filmmaking and virtual exploration, offering insights into how digital spaces can reflect and influence real human experiences and connections.

In this comprehensive and always compelling conversation that was shared with us by the film distributor, Square Eye Films, Causse, Barbier and L’helgoualc’h explain that the idea for the film began as an experiment during their studies at the Beaux-Arts. The young filmmakers were initially intrigued by the possibility of observing, rather than playing, within online games. This curiosity led to the discovery that games could serve as venues for documentary filmmaking, particularly after encountering players who used the game spaces for social interaction beyond the game’s intended mechanics.

The shift from Grand Theft Auto V, which was initially selected as a case study, to DayZ was influenced by the desire for a game that offered more realistic interactions and survival elements, contrasting with GTA V’s focus on consumerism. DayZ’s environment, which simulates a post-apocalyptic world requiring survival strategies and fostering player interactions, presented a compelling setting for exploring virtual community dynamics. The filming process involved significant preparation, both within and outside the game. The team had to manage survival elements like food and health for their avatars, navigate the game’s day/night cycle, and adjust to game updates that affected filming.

They described the experience as living a “double life,” balancing their real lives with their virtual existence in the game. The filmmakers experienced a gradual integration into the DayZ community, eventually being recognized and respected by other players. This acceptance allowed them to explore the communal and individual stories within the game, revealing layers of personal engagement and the blurring of lines between players’ virtual and real lives. The team was interested in how players and their avatars interact with the game’s boundaries and its virtual environment. They noted how the game became a space for contemplation and social interaction, contrasting with the fast-paced nature of contemporary internet culture. Knit’s Island is, first and foremost, an ethnography of online gaming spaces. 

The Covid-19 pandemic which began in March 2020 mirrored some of the post-apocalyptic themes in DayZ, adding a layer of relevance to the film. The lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic paralleled the isolation and survival themes within the game, influencing both the players and the filmmakers. Post-filming, the directors expressed ambivalence about returning to DayZ purely for leisure, highlighting how their experience has irrevocably changed their perspective on the game. They feel that their connection to the game and its community is now intertwined with their roles as filmmakers.

Finally, we learn that the title Knit’s Island reflects the filmmakers’ intention to name and define the virtual space they explored, drawing inspiration from the concept of “ghost islands” on maps, places that are marked but don’t actually exist, analogous to the virtual spaces in video games…

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Matteo Bittanti

Works cited

Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, Quentin L’helgoualc’h, Knit’s Island, 2023.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

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MMF MMXXIV: GAME VIDEO ESSAY

Image by Dall-e 3

The Milan Machinima Festival MMXXIV is excited to unveil the 2024 Game Video Essay series, featuring a curated selection of international machinima that boldly departs from traditional narrative structures. Join us on Thursday, March 14, at Sala dei 146, IULM 6, for screenings of four groundbreaking works that push the boundaries of the documentary form, including two insightful presentations by the creators themselves.

Game video essay

March 14 2024, 14:00 - 17:00

Sala dei 146

IULM 6, IULM University

Via Carlo Bo 7, 20143 Milano

curated by Matteo Bittanti

Artists and filmmakers: Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll, Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L'helgoualc’h, Gina Hara, Yemen Liu.

Introduced in 2019, Game Video Essay showcases innovative machinima that transcends traditional narrative structures to explore a wide range of topics, from cultural and philosophical to environmental and abstract, using video games as an expressive canvas. These works diverge from conventional storytelling in machinima, instead offering a rich analysis and commentary on diverse issues through the unique perspective of video games. By repurposing game visuals and mechanics, these essays invite viewers to engage deeply with subjects that challenge and expand the dialogue beyond gaming into a broader cultural and societal context.

The Milan Machinima Festival is proud to present these game video essays as a testament to the evolving potential of games and video essays alike, fostering a deeper appreciation for this dynamic form of expression. The featured works in this year’s program explore themes of environmental change, artificial intelligence, virtual identity, and the role of machinima in contemporary art.

Yewen Liu’s Irreversible documents Greenpeace Poland’s innovative project to recreate the Bialowieża Primeval Forest within the virtual world of Minecraft. The forest, which has faced numerous challenges such as deforestation and ecological shifts, serves as a poignant symbol of the ongoing struggle against irreversible environmental changes. Liu’s machinima captures this virtual reforestation effort, juxtaposing it against the backdrop of the forest’s real-world struggles.

In Crowd Control, Canadian artists Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll examine the intersection of crowd simulation technology and the growing surveillance industry, focusing on the representation of the French Revolutionary mob in Assassin’s Creed Unity. By reflecting on depictions of crowds in art history and contemporary video game crowd simulations, the work questions how these technologies might shape the future of collective action and social unrest in an era of artificial intelligence.

Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h’s full-length documentary Knit’s Island delves into the online game DayZ, exploring a 250 square km virtual space where players enact a survivalist fiction. Using avatars, the filmmakers interact with the game’s community, blending in-game experiences with personal stories. The film investigates the dawn of virtual life integration and its implications for our world, offering insights into online interactions, virtual friendships, and the boundaries between digital and real-life identities.

Gina Hara’s MachinimaBodiesSpaceRhythm is a pioneering episodic series that showcases the voices of women and non-binary creators within the machinima sphere. Situated at the intersection of video games, cinema, and digital art, the series illuminates machinima’s unique, hybrid nature. Hara not only highlights machinima’s artistic potential but also prompts reflection on digital identities and the medium’s role in contemporary art.

These four works demonstrate the power of game video essays to explore complex themes and ideas, leveraging the unique affordances of video games to create compelling and thought-provoking experiences. By blurring the lines between gaming, cinema, and digital art, these essays challenge our understanding of what is possible within the machinima medium and invite us to consider the profound ways in which video games can shape our perceptions of the world around us.

As we navigate an increasingly digital landscape, the Game Video Essay platform serves as a vital platform for artists and filmmakers to interrogate the role of technology in our lives and to imagine new possibilities for creative expression. Through their innovative use of video game engines and their willingness to push the boundaries of traditional storytelling, these creators are charting new territories in the world of machinima and beyond.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

MMF MMXXIV: GINA HARA

The Milan Machinima Festival is excited to unveil Gina Hara’s latest project Machinima Bodies Space Rhythm, as part of our Game Video Essay program. We warmly invite you to an exclusive screening event on March 14, 2024, hosted at IULM University. This presents a rare chance to experience Hara’s groundbreaking work firsthand, with the added privilege of an introduction by the artist herself.

Gina Hara’s Machinima Bodies Space Rhythm is a pioneering episodic series that delves into the realm of machinima filmmaking from the perspectives of women and non-binary creators. This project aims to showcase their distinct voices within the machinima sphere. Situated at the intersection of video games, cinema, and digital art, the series illuminates machinima’s unique, hybrid nature. Hara not only highlights machinima’s artistic potential but also prompts reflection on digital identities and the medium’s role in contemporary art. World premiere.

Gina Hara is a Hungarian-Canadian filmmaker and artist. She holds an MA in Intermedia, an MFA in Film Production and worked with film, video, new media, gaming, and design. Waning (2011), her first fiction film, was nominated for a Best Canadian Short award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Your Place or Minecraft (2016), a machinima web series focusing on game studies, is currently available on YouTube. Hara’s full length documentary Geek Girls (2017) explores the notion of subculture from women’s perspective and was screened internationally, including IULM University in 2018 during the Gender Play conference. Her artworks have been exhibited by several institutions including the New Museum in New York, the Budapest Kunsthalle and the City of Montreal.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

ARTICLE: WHY LOOK AT ANIMALS?

VRAL is currently exhibiting Aleksandar Radan’s This water giver back no Images. To provide context to this remarkable work, we are discussing the Serbian-German artist’ oeuvre. Today we take a closer look at his 2019-2022 mockumentary series Steckbrief Natur.

In the context of game-based video art, Aleksandar Radan’s Steckbrief Natur series (2019-2022) stands as a sui generis work marrying the mechanics of machinima with the aesthetics of avant-garde documentary, or rather, mockumentary. This trio of nature “profiles” reimagines the popular genre of wildlife documentary through a lens that educates, even as it unsettles. By utilizing game engines to construct surreal dreamscapes, Radan’s triptych, consisting of Der Waldkauz (The Tawny Owl, 2019) and Steckbrief Natur - Episodes 2 & 3 (2022) probes the porous boundary between nature and techno-culture.

Initially introduced via the mighty Franco-Teutonic platform Arte.tv after the first episode was presented at a handful of film festivals in Germany, the series showcases Radan’s flair for technical innovation through avant-garde machinima. This inventive use of game assets aligns with the project’s conceptual interests in simulated and actual ecologies. In this sense, machinima’s reputation for flexibility and surreal possibility makes it an ideal vector for Radan’s exploration of environments where realism ruptures without warning.

At its core, Steckbrief Natur examines the interplay between documenting wildlife and the narratives we overlay onto other species. In Der Waldkauz, the tawny owl becomes more than flesh and feathers: it is a cipher for philosophical ruminations on existence and mortality. Through lingering shots of the raptor’s piercing eyes, Radan establishes its role as a messenger between altered states of being. This fascination with animals as vessels for cultural mythologies permeates the series.

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Matteo Bittanti

Works cited

Aleksandar Radan

Steckbrief Natur - Der Waldkauz (The Rawny Owl)

digital video, color, sound, 9’ 41”, 2019, Germany

Steckbrief Natur - episodes 2 and 3

digital video, color, sound, 14’ 02”, Germany

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