Grand Theft Hamlet

Grand Theft Hamlet, which took the Documentary Feature Jury Award at last year’s SXSW, is groundbreaking cinema to say the least. The first documentary to win an Innovation Award at The Stage Awards in London back in 2022, the film’s production probably also marked the first time a filmmaker jumped into an online avatar and then shot her doc entirely within a video game (one in which conditions often resembled a war zone to boot). The project was born out of the UK’s third Covid lockdown in 2021, when abruptly out-of-work theater actors Sam Crane (who co-directed along with his veteran documentarian wife Pinny Grylls) and Mark Osterveen found themselves in existential distress, the former wondering how he’d support his young family, the latter physically and emotionally alone. Desperate for connection as many of us were, the two friends turned to Grand Theft Auto for camaraderie and escape, where one day they happened upon an amphitheater. Which led to a eureka moment that, safe to say, most of us never in a million years would have: Why not stage a full production of Shakespeare within GTA? 
Indeed, inside GTA all the world really is a stage. Which naturally only led to more questions (like how to cast a troupe. Or how to avoid getting gunned down during a soliloquy). Fortunately, Filmmaker was able to pose a few to the busy co-directors, both Oxford grads who cite Bruce Robinson’s Withnail and I as a touchstone, to learn all about their inspired production process; and crafting a work perfectly balanced between the heartfelt and the poignant — while being also batshit crazy hilarious. Grand Theft Hamlet opens today in theaters from MUBI.
Filmmaker: What was your initial pitch to the BFI Doc Society, which funded the project? Were they immediately onboard?
Crane and Grylls: We initially pitched it as a short film to Doc Society’s Made of Truth scheme. We actually did a video pitch inside the game, and of course got blown up a lot while we were trying to do it, so they got the vibe we were going for. I think they were pretty excited about it right from the start.
Filmmaker: You put out a casting call on social media, no acting experience required. (In fact, the only requirement seemed to be that participants not kill the troupe.) So how did the process of engaging with these avatars actually work? How did you narrow your cast and crew down to 20? Did you just take everyone that showed up and then train them in rehearsal?
Crane and Grylls: Actually there was a fair amount of us all killing each other (sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose) so that wasn’t a requirement — it’s just part of the game and you can’t really avoid it. In terms of “narrowing down,” to be brutally honest, we weren’t overwhelmed with numbers. The response to the film has been extraordinary/overwhelming/mind-blowing, but you have to remember that at the time of making it, it was just a ridiculous idea that most people couldn’t have been less interested in.
We had a lot of tumbleweed from individuals and institutions that we tried to get involved. But those few crazy souls who did turn up were all so good, so creative and idiosyncratic, and each brought something unique and surprising to the party. And I don’t think we trained them. We all learned from each other — about Shakespeare, about video games, and about community.

Filmmaker: I read that Pinny used a variety of techniques to capture footage: a third-person videogame camera position, a first-person mode, and the in-game phone (specifically for closeups). So could you talk a bit about how you developed this approach? What worked best or didn’t work at all?
Crane and Grylls: Before starting work on the documentary, Sam made a short film of himself and Mark doing the opening of Hamlet in game and put it on YouTube. It went viral (in a small way) and so we knew that the subject matter was compelling. But in regards to artfulness – it felt very much like other game play videos online.
When Pinny and Doc Soc came onboard we knew we had to push it to the next level and make the film cinematic. Pinny spent a lot of time alone in the game exploring locations, light and camera angles, specifically experimenting with a third-person video game camera position (where Pinny’s avatar was in shot — useful for when she had to be in a scene); a first-person mode which allowed movement; and the in-game phone which allowed the camera to be very still and also for the shot to change size – useful for the closeups that were required for getting the intimacy we needed from the character’s avatars and NPCs.
GTA does lend itself very well to experimentation and flexibility, and of course the environment is stunningly well designed in regards to lighting and architecture. But we never wanted to mod the game. We wanted to represent the reality of the game as it is for the majority of players and also make it accessible to the greatest number of people, and so we used the “vanilla” console version. There were some challenges with this approach. For example, since time passes 30 times quicker in game than it does IRL, continuity of lighting can be an issue when filming in game. But of course any restriction can be a spur to creativity if you look at it in the right way.
Filmmaker: You shot around 300 hours of footage, and the actual performance of Hamlet ran four hours (with two full run-throughs), which makes me curious about the editing. How did you go about structuring the film? How long did cutting this down to feature-length take?
Crane and Grylls: It was a nightmare to be honest. At first we only had funding for a short film, and even though the Doc Soc gang gave us everything they could funding wise to crunch through the footage — such as an edit assistant to watch and log stuff and also an additional editor — it was tough. In the end you just have to put the knife in your mouth and scramble through the jungle.
A lot of it was unusable, often because of the sound quality (which often had voices mushed together and were poorly recorded though gaming mics). It was also clear that most of the footage was of rehearsals, which were frequently chaotic, and that the real story was what was going on behind the scenes. We had to ADR a lot of the bad sound and hunt for quieter moments in the chaos. We also had to dig deep and find the real story the footage was telling us, which was about community and collaboration.

Filmmaker: I’m also curious to learn about Pinny’s filmmaking process in particular. As a director who is also “a proud member of the deaf community,” how do you develop sound design? How do you ensure accessibility for an audience? And did Grand Theft Hamlet present certain challenges, or was the process similar to your prior films?
Grylls: Yes, it was challenging at times. But I found workarounds. I used bone conduction headphones so that I could use my hearing aids while I gamed — and, when possible, live captioning. But the majority of voices were recorded through people’s gaming microphones, which were not always the best quality. Also, you can’t read an avatar’s lips! Which is something I rely on a lot in real life. So I had to get my edit assistant to check and caption my initial rough edit ASAP! I often missed things. Or thought someone said something else. Thankfully I have Sam as a co-director who is hearing, so he checked stuff too. 
In terms of sound design, the in-game soundscape is pretty well mixed; and I also had (sound artist) Jamie Perera do a basic mix, the music, and Onsite to finish it off. Jamie only lives down the road so that was useful. 
But one thing we did find is that once we had captioned things for the edit we didn’t want to take the captions off. Firstly because I think it helps all audiences navigate the story better. When watching avatars speak in a group it can be tricky to work out who exactly is speaking. But also as a hard of hearing/deaf filmmaker I am passionate about making cinema in particular accessible for disabled audiences. I think captions should be the norm and not the exception. 
And I am actually fascinated by captioning. The art of it. So I am now thinking about how I can up my game on my next film by making them more creative and intuitive, so that all audiences enjoy them and have their experience enhanced by them.
One thing I would add is that gaming is actually a pretty accessible medium for disabled people generally. People who are housebound or have mobility issues, mental health problems, neurodiversity can really enjoy gaming and actually find it a lifeline. As a deaf person — but also I imagine for sight-impaired people — there are almost always technological workarounds; disabled people are often the most creative, pragmatic and resourceful people you could possibly meet. They are used to solving problem and adapting technology to their needs. Limitations can be creative.
Filmmaker: The actual performance of the play was successfully presented as a live event for both the audience in the game and the viewers watching the livestream. Which made me wonder if you see a future for live theater within gaming environments. (Especially since you’ve noted the parallels between the chaos of GTA and that of Shakespeare’s time, which included actors getting pelted with food and sex workers in the audience selling their services.) Any plans to stage more of Shakespeare’s works, or that of others, inside GTA?

Crane and Grylls: We definitely agree that there is an incredibly powerful connection between live performance and video games, but we don’t want to only do “Shakespeare in GTA.” We are cooking up a few projects, some related to video games, some related to performance, and some completely different, so watch this space!