Man vs machinima: can video games ever be art?

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":9.36,"text":"In the hierarchy of pop culture, video games are relegated to the lowest of lowbrow categories. "},{"start":15.064,"text":"Praise for their artistic qualities tends to fall flat with non-gamers. "},{"start":18.932,"text":"Author Gabrielle Zevin writes beautifully about designers creating “infinite rebirth, infinite redemption”. "},{"start":24.512,"text":"But it’s difficult to remember that when you’re watching someone run over a pimp in Grand Theft Auto. "}],[{"start":29.7,"text":"There is, however, one way in which the uncanny semi-reality of video games can be used to produce works of art. "}],[{"start":37.12,"text":"During England’s third, bleak pandemic lockdown, a pair of out-of-work actors hit on the idea of staging a full production of Hamlet while they were gaming. "},{"start":45.437,"text":"Their play, which was live streamed, won an innovation prize at The Stage Awards in London last year. "},{"start":50.94199999999999,"text":"It has now been turned into a documentary, Grand Theft Hamlet, that is a tribute to both the madness of elaborate lockdown projects and the possibilities of machinima. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":60.26,"text":"Machinima (a misspelt portmanteau of machine and cinema) is a form of filmmaking that takes place inside video games. "}],[{"start":68.19,"text":"Some are simple voice-overs recorded by gamers messing around. "},{"start":72.119,"text":"More elaborate examples include an Emmy-award-winning episode of South Park set among the orcs and gnomes of World of Warcraft and artist Brent Watanabe’s San Andreas Streaming Deer Cam, in which a computer-generated deer wanders serenely through a game cityscape listening to the babbling of NPCs (nonplayer characters). "}],[{"start":88.78999999999999,"text":"The format comes with challenges. "},{"start":91.094,"text":"In Grand Theft Hamlet, the actors are constantly interrupted by violent police chases and robberies. "},{"start":96.437,"text":"At one point, Hamlet has to break his soliloquy to make a plea for audience members not to shoot one another until the performance has come to an end. "}],[{"start":104.35,"text":"The obvious question is why? "},{"start":106.542,"text":"Why put so much effort into making films in a medium designed for mindless distraction? "},{"start":111.15899999999999,"text":"And why create something that relies on blocky computer graphics and stiff avatars that have trouble moving their features? "}],[{"start":117.99,"text":"Jenna Ng, professor of digital media at the University of York, says one reason is accessibility. "},{"start":123.93199999999999,"text":"No expensive camera equipment is needed to make a film. "},{"start":127.1,"text":"And if the aesthetic is off-putting to some it’s why she loves them. "},{"start":130.45499999999998,"text":"“I find it beautiful because it is unlike anything else we see in our visual culture. ”"}],[{"start":135.66,"text":"Machinima is a niche pursuit, though popular enough to have its own film festival in Milan. "},{"start":141.027,"text":"It joins the ever-increasing number of crossovers between traditional art forms, mainstream entertainment and gaming. "},{"start":147.219,"text":"Shakespeare fans can also seek out the Nintendo Switch offers To Be Or Not To Be (tagline: “guide Hamlet, Ophelia and Hamlet Sr to hundreds of hilarious deaths”). "}],[{"start":156.72,"text":"If you don’t play video games it can be hard to wrap your head around exactly how popular they are, let alone the idea that anyone could find them beautiful. "},{"start":164.474,"text":"But for several years now, gaming revenue has comfortably exceeded that of both film and music combined. "}],[{"start":171.1,"text":"There was even a time when it seemed as if machinima might become a dominant form of entertainment. "},{"start":176.017,"text":"In the early 2000s, during the rise of LA’s “Silicon Beach” mixture of entertainment and tech start-ups, a company also called Machinima began collecting the films and putting them on YouTube. "},{"start":185.73399999999998,"text":"Its founder declared younger generations didn’t want to watch TV in the old way any more. "},{"start":190.327,"text":"But after a change of ownership, Machinima was shut down. "}],[{"start":194.26999999999998,"text":"What has emerged since then are films with fewer online views but more cinematic ambition. "}],[{"start":199.73,"text":"At a screening of Grand Theft Hamlet co-director Pinny Grylls explained their appeal as a uniquely modern art form. "},{"start":205.834,"text":"“I think it is the job of filmmakers to reflect the world people live in,” she said. "},{"start":210.427,"text":"“And many more people live, love and interact inside these game worlds. ”"}],[{"start":214.5,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftmailbox.cn/album/178724-1730604080.mp3"}