The Regression films are a series of experimental Machinima films entirely shot in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series with the help of various mods and the Rockstar Editor. All of the films are experimental and artistic visual studies of a Grand Theft Auto game, but each revolve around different perspectives and contexts of these vibrant and lively video game worlds. Each installment in the Regression saga is an individual take on one of the maps featured within a single Grand Theft Auto video game.
The term 'Regression' refers to the digital world of Grand Theft Auto being portrayed as a copy of our society, when in fact it is perceived as a step back for mankind as the 'perfect world aesthetic' slowly crumbles once one becomes fully immersed within this game. The world shows its' cracks through satire, foul language, lack of laws and aggressive advertisement, for example.
Secondly, the Regression series holds a personal interest in bringing the artistic (deeper colors and contrasts/noise/grain) and technological (24fps/cinemascope) aesthetics from traditional cinema into the digital video-game world in order to enhance the cinematic value of the films. I refer to this approach as 'the cinematic practice of distortion'.
Regression is an on-going project. Further installments in the Regression series are expected in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
All films were made with a highly experimental approach, or only contained a basic story framework that I forced myself to follow during production. It was not until the framing, rendering and editing that the story was pieced together.
All of the raw gameplay clips were cut, edited, framed and exported from within the Rockstar Editor. In some cases, depth of field was added to the shots. Thanks to EVE (Extended Video Export; a mod for GTA V), the Rockstar Editor was able to export Apple ProRes 422 HQ clips on true 24 frames per second.
All of the films were edited within Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Audition. The practice of distortion itself was conducted in After Effects. All of the clips were graded and given noise, Pixel Motion Blur and other visual effects in order to come as close to an authentic cinematic experience as possible from within the digital video-game world.
Regression (2019)
An artistic and experimental visual study on the city of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto V.
Regression 2 (2019)
An artistic and experimental visual study on Los Santos and Blaine County by
train in Grand Theft Auto V.
Regression 3 (2020)
An artistic and experimental visual study on the Grand Theft Auto V map by airplane.
Regression 4 (2023)
An artistic and experimental visual study of the Grand Theft Auto V map seen through its many water bodies, underwater secrets and marine life.
REGRESSION I/II/III/IV (2019 - 2023)
A film made by Jordy Veenstra
Produced by A Pixelated Point of View
Film Score:
The Regression films contain tracks composed by: Kai Engel, SuperMash, Jason Shaw, Chris Zabriskie and Kevin McLeod. Please consult the YouTube page of each particular film for the full credits. The tracks were obtained with a Creative Commons License and used lawfully and accordingly to the license it was obtained with.
Mods:
The Regression films contain Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V mods obtained from gta5-mods.com, Github and gta4-mods.com. The creators of the mods are: Nightingale, Hanneswasco, MAFINS, OpenIV-Team, J10, Walter, AlexanderLB, BlU3t00th Mods, elsewhat, Guadmaz, Unknown Modder and Jordy Veenstra. Please consult the YouTube or Vimeo page of each particular film for the full credits. Laurel vectors were obtained from vecteezy.com
Grand Theft Auto is a trademark of Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive.
© Jordy Veenstra 2019 - 2023
© A Pixelated Point of View 2009 - 2023
