Those of you who have been following our articles with some frequency will know that GTA BOOM often brings attention to particularly well made, humorous, or creative fan videos made using the Rockstar Editor.
The Editor was introduced in GTA V's PC release, allowing players to capture gameplay and later edit it — or even to set up scenes — with various NPCs as actors, alongside set-pieces using assets from the game in order to make whatever kind of video they wish. Since this is the PC we are talking about, it was inevitable that the industrious coders of the GTA V modding community would eventually start creating alterations and additions specifically for the Editor.
Recently, with the release of the massive Freemode Events update, the Rockstar Editor has finally made its way to the current-gen consoles and received a substantial update to speed it on its way.
A significant segment of GTA V fan videos are recreations from popular scenes from television, films, trailers, and even the gameplay from other titles. We've featured the work of one Adam Pinkman quite extensively over the months. Most recently, he created the superb GTA V recreation of the iconic "Say What Again" scene from Pulp Fiction, but he is also responsible for the Halo 5 trailer recreation, the Crash Bandicoot meets GTA V video and various Breaking Bad recreations.
We have had the chance to ask Adam a few questions regarding his craft which he was happy to answer.
Q: What got you into making GTA fan videos?
A: I was just uploading videos of my Crash Bandicoot fan-game, and before GTA V came out on PC, I was thinking of making a Breaking Bad scene inside GTA, and when I heard there's going to be "Rockstar Editor", I thought "that's it, I've got to make it now". On the other hand, I really want to get big on YouTube, that's why I started these Recreation videos, it's kind of original and never been done before, and it's a good potential of getting known on YouTube for something original!
Q: Is GTA V your entry to the series, or have you played previous installments as well?
A: Yes, I did play all the GTA games except the first and the second ones, I never got to play them back in a day...
Q: How do you choose what other franchises or films you recreate in your videos?
A: I just keep reminding my self what were the most amazing scenes from the movies or series that I watched, and I try to choose which is the easiest one to pull off inside GTA V, because it's actually pretty hard to choose, knowing that there might be some shot in a scene that is impossible to make inside GTA V , so I have to skim through the whole scene and see if all the shots are possible to make in the Rockstar Editor.
Q: Typically how much time does it take to put together one of your videos?
A: It depends on the scene that I'm making, my first GTA recreation ever made which was the Breaking Bad one (Hank Vs the two Cousins), took me about 3 months to make (part-time).
Q: Which of your own videos do you like the most? What puts it above the others? Which was the most difficult?
A: I'm going to say the Crash Bandicoot one (Crash Bandicoot meets GTA V), because it was so fun to make, and it's actually somewhat funny. The Breaking Bad (Hank Vs the two Cousins) video was the most difficult one, because it was my first GTA V video and that was my first time using the Rockstar Editor knowing nothing to start with.
Q: How do you like the new features of the Rockstar Editor that were added in the Freemode Events update?
A: I haven't used any of the update features, because I pretty much use the Rockstar Editor just to make clips and export them, I do all the work in a compositing software later (sound effects, cutting clips, color correction).
Q: What kinds of mods do you use for your videos? We don't mean skins or other video-specific mods — more along the lines of Free Camera or Scene Director, which augment the capabilities of the Editor.
A: I use the OpenCamera mod by OpenIV, which gives you a bigger camera range, and I use OpenIV itself to add objects to the game, for instance, the Crash Bandicoot mask and the crates that I used in the Crash Bandicoot video.
Q: What tips have you got for fledgling GTA V fan video creators out there?
A: Be creative and original, and don't forget to "zoom-in" the Rockstar Editor camera all the time, it gives the shot a more dramatic look.
Q: What plans do you have for future GTA V fan videos?
A: I'm not sure really, I'm thinking of a Spiderman scene but I still don't know!
Q: You're also working on a Crash Bandicoot fan game (and have made a GTA x Crash video too). How is that coming along? What skills do you make use of in both film-making and game development?
A: Yes, well I actually didn't touch that Crash Bandicoot game for like 3 months now, because I attend University and don't really have the time for both tasks (Game Development and GTA V videos), but it's still in the works... The only thing that is common between both GTA filmmaking and game development for me, is I have more of a gaming background, and sometimes I can add objects to GTA depending on the video that I'm making.
We've gotten a bit of insight into the process that goes into producing one of those highly entertaining Rockstar Editor videos, and this interview might hopefully either help up and coming GTA V fan video creators, or inspire others to take up the hobby.
Thanks Adam for all your contributions and for our readers, look out for some more GTA 5 remakes coming your way shortly! You can subscribe to Adam's Youtube channel right here.
