The Screening
The Machinima screening contained one film in particular that I enjoyed. Rehearsals for Retirement reminded me of the melancholy and despair one feels in a world devoid of people. The shots of nature should have been peaceful, but the color scheme and music made the night eerie. There are moments when the shot is based on the ground, which makes the viewer feel insignificant amongst the grass. Similarly, the shots from above also make you feel insignificant because you see a world that can easily ignore your existence (especially the city). What is most eerie about this film is the lack of people; how can there be shots of the world without people, especially in a game full of NPCs?
Game Over Screen
The alternating shots taken from below and above reminded me of the game-over screens in Call of Duty, specifically, in the Zombies game mode. The older titles are especially great at creating a miserable environment, and part of the reason is that the games have a dark color scheme, similar to Rehearsals for Retirement. Moreover, these worlds are devoid of humans, unless you count the zombies as humans, but when you die, they become mindless creatures who stand around. The game-over screen begins on the floor in the location where you died, then it transitions into shots from above the map, where you can often see the zombies shaking their heads in confusion. Although you die, you cannot help but feel guilty for dying since the zombies now have nothing to do and the world will never be the same without you. Starting a new game will simply create another world in which the life and movement of it depend on you staying alive.
Double Death
Death is inevitable, and any consequent new run will end in the death of purpose for you, the zombies, the hellhounds, the Pentagon Thief, and even the annoying monkeys in ascension; the world ends when you’re not a part of it. This is the feeling I got from Rehearsals for Retirement: the world may be scary, but it will surely miss you, for its existence relies on you. (I guess you can get the same idea from Cory Arcangel’s Super Mario Movie, but I prefer to keep my sanity and already limited vision intact). Remember, even if the world is cruel at times, you’ll always have someone who wants you, who will travel to the Pentagon, Kazakhstan, Siberia, and the moon–zombies!
