Kiwi filmmaker Stephanie Beth makes her debut documentary feature with Us and the Game Industry, an exploration into the endeavours undertaken by creative contributors to the 21st century’s biggest art form: the video game. The documentary follows the artists and designers of thatgamecompany, the studio behind the critically-acclaimed PSN title Journey, Alexander Bruce, creator of first-person puzzler Antichamber, and many more.
Us and the Game Industry is playing as part of this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival. Go to nziff.co.nz for more information and session times.
Hello from Flicks. What have you been up to today?
Hello. Started work at 6.00a.m. Did two hours of mail. Had a nap. Had a read of Susan Faludi’s Stiffed about the men who worked for Douglas airline industry in the 1960s; went off and bought a shower coat (shell) for the north island at a second hand shop; posted off a few postcards for Us and the Game Industry to Auckland and Wellington. (It has smal pics of key developers who are in the film); tried out a Czech beer; fitted in a winter walk along the river around the block– checked out the new gravel layers on top of sewerage and water system rebuilds; now it’s dinner soon and I’m going to make page one of a little App.
What drew you to the idea of making a documentary about videogames as an art form?
My son (then age 19) did art for a programmer for a point and click game in Flash in 2007. This was Anikas’s Odyssey for Tricky Sheep. I recognized that I was watching a producer world rather than a consumer world and that this was not exactly happening on every block of every suburban street in my town. I held the thought for a few months, saw my son’s career maturing, then decided to explore the generation in development – somewhere where systems and structures were in place where art and industry was discussed and shared. I went looking for features of individuality in the larger milieu. This meant getting to the USA – seeing the Independent Games Festival and the like.
Do you think there’s still a heavy stigma that videogames are not art?
Would you want to phrase that question that way? Stigma? What are you getting at? Perhaps we can talk more. A lot of games have art in them – there have been refinements in graphics – fewer have the intention of being art. They are design.
How were you introduced to thatgamecompany?
I appointed my son researcher for the film. He showed me Flower in 2008. After I had watched that being played, I wrote to Jenova Chen.
When talking to Antichamber-creator Alexander Bruce in the flesh, does he ooze with genius?
No oozing. No genius. He’s more a bright keen games players with a knack for physics and design who decided to make games and stuck with the plan. No oozing. No genius. Someone who likes the games world and showed stamina to work an idea to completion to the best of his ability for the player.
If you had to convince a non-gamer that videogames are art, what game would you get them to play?
No game at all. A non-gamer will bring in reference points about art. If I was curious to wonder if that person might play a game I think steps towards perhaps introducing games might be to find out how he enjoys perception/concept, design, narrative, worlds or participation. I’d ask her about her experience with art – leave it at that for several months. I might invite her to a curated event at Moma in New York next. I would look at her interest in genre as a starting point, I think.
Could you share your strongest memory from filming?
In 2011, I waited outside my accommodation in North West LA for my DP to collect me on a fine day on a side street. We got in the wagon, headed to the coast, took the sharp turn left, headed down the coast then headed into the office in Santa Monica to film at thatgamecompany. I was really happy – I had that rare time you get on a film shoot with your DP – we were en route; I was on the California coast and working; I was going to film in a very creative world where work and effort was the norm.
What other videogames would you have liked to explore to argue for the art form?
I was aware of Cactus as an experimenter. He hadn’t committed then, though (This is all during my decision-making phase 2008-2009). Also, MESSHOF seemed to ‘get it’ at the DIY level – interesting ideas would follow.
What was the last great film you saw?
Miller’s Thérèse Desqueyroux, a classical piece. It gave Tatou scope to “explore the dark side” of entrapment.
What are you thinking about doing next?
I have a year of marketing this film. I am thinking about writing a fiction.
