S4 E116 GTA5: Danser Encore | Escape Game (Feb 2024)

And Now For Something Completely Machinima

This week's review is of a self-contained excerpt from a larger film, called Escape Game by @CrisUberman . This part of the film is the final chapter of the story, Danser Encore, voiced by @lionelmazari1990 with a song by @hksaltimbank . We delve into the inspiration for the themes in the film, which draws on the philosophy of Empedocles and Rosset, although we perhaps lower the tone a little with reference to Oscar Wilde!

1:25 Intro to this week’s film pick: an excerpt from Escape Game by Cris Uberman
2:14 The first machinima music video
3:20 Complementary game and music, creating a happy hip-hop scene
5:00 GTA5 is like Roman comedy in theatre
6:03 Cris Uberman’s ouvre in GTA5, photography and real life
7:41 About Empedocles – a pre-Soctratic scholar whose work is the inspiration for the film
9:06 Louis is the central character, narrated by Lionel Mazari
9:58 Exploring the relationship between the virtual and the physical self, quoting Clement Rosset – the nature of reality and its double
12:31 Analagous to the Picture of Dorian Gray?
14:32 HK and the Saltimbanks an inspired choice for the music accompaniment
15:20 This is a type of machinima we have rarely seen
16:16 Deep dive into the meaning of a work vs just watching or reading it – we discuss pros and cons of each

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Tracy Harwood
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Amino Domini Beats