The GTA 5 Wildlife Documentary Is Why Rockstar Was Smart To Embrace Fan Films

from the fan-works dept

When Rockstar released its own video editor for Grand Theft Auto 5, the move in and of itself received only mild applause. People have been using video games to make entirely transformative works for some time now. More important was the signal that Rockstar was sending: use our game to make fan films. This is smart for any number of reasons, but allowing fans to use games as they see fit makes those games more valuable to the market, and those transformative works ultimately only serve to advertise the original game in the first place. It's a win for everyone, in other words.

Well, what started in GTA 4 has moved on into GTA 5. One example is a recently released fake documentary about the wildlife in the GTA 5 universe. With the exception of some of the extreme closeups, the whole thing has impressive production values, and the voiceovers and music are spot on for the genre.

The creatures of GTA V all lead secret lives that we often never get to see while playing. They hunt. They eat. They try to survive. 8-BIT BASTARD and Chaney555 tap into all of that with their latest GTA documentary, “Onto The Land.” It’s an impressive 15 minute video that took 6 months to research and develop, something which is pretty obvious when you look at the quality at display.


I think the most striking part of this fan film is just what the technology of a video game allows a third party to create. We've talked for some time about how the barriers for generating all kinds of media are shortening, or becoming non-existent. That includes creative film. This video, which took a mere six months to make and was a labor of love for essentially one individual, ought to serve notice of exactly what kind of impressive work can be done simply operating inside a video game.

Additionally, you have to think that Rockstar is loving this. The company's game gets all kinds of free publicity, the filmmaker gets to create his work inside of the game, and the public gets to enjoy the fun that results. All because a content producer decided to unshackle its content and embrace fan-works.

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: copyright, creativity, documentary, fan films, gta
Companies: rockstar


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Sep 2015 @ 6:54pm

    Following your prior story today, I bet they were paid. -- You even say it's fake!

    Right in the advertising budget. And you fall for it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Sheogorath (profile), 5 Sep 2015 @ 12:38am

      Re: Following your prior story today, I bet they were paid. -- You even say it's fake!

      Rockstar may have games released on the Xbone, but that still doesn't make them the same company or guilty of the same offences. You wanna get some evidence of your claims before you start spouting your mouth?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Killercool (profile), 5 Sep 2015 @ 6:46am

        Re: Re: Following your prior story today, I bet they were paid. -- You even say it's fake!

        Facts are kryptonite for trolls.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2015 @ 12:16am

      Re:

      out_of_the_blue just hates it when due process is enforced.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Arioch (profile), 4 Sep 2015 @ 8:55pm

    The GTA 5 Wildlife Documentary

    So it's a pretend documentary with a video game fan bias.
    It amused me and it cost me only my time to watch it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    8-BIT BASTARD, 7 Sep 2015 @ 2:06pm

    next video on youtube i make will be about the hindu's
    so thank me 8-BIT BASTARD when its out

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.