RuneScape: A Lifetime of Adventure-
Dir. Kevyn Harris
With the 20th anniversary of the online RPG approaching, I log back in to revisit the world and its inhabitants, and re-experience the wonder that brought us all together so many years ago.
I wrote and directed This short documentary film in the spring of 2018 as a course requirement for my Documentary class at RIT's School of Film and Animation. I personally love the idea of exploring and learning about culture through film, and online cultures have become so prominent in the world today that they simply cannot be ignored. I have played Runescape since I was a young kid, and I always thought the game was populated by very interesting players. I decided to interview some, and show the world how diverse and wholesome this community can be.
This film presented many challenges that I had never encountered in traditional filmmaking - mainly, what do I Show on the screen? Sure, I can set up standard interviews with guests and put them center stage, but what does a talking head contribute to a magical fantasy world full of quests to complete, dragons to slay and tales to tell? I had to get creative with the game itself. A lot of my "filming" was actually done using screen recording software, staging scenes in-game with my friends. We fought monsters, chatted with other players, and explored the vast world together, all while I cropped, framed, and recorded the gameplay using OBS Studio (open broadcast software).