Watcher of the Wheel Genre: Experimental film
The in-game documentary “Watcher of the Wheel” was filmed entirely in the game “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim”. The video work is based on the study of NPCs (Non-player characters) removed from the game. These characters don’t exist in the release version of the game in their original capacity, but their data still remains at the in-game files. NPCs have been “resurrected” with a special modification and returned to their prescribed locations. They follow the script originally created for them without any additional changes. These unused characters have no contact with the surrounding game NPCs and can only interact with the player character. They’re both outside the game world and present in it. This movie focuses on revealing one of these remote characters. Here explores and describes the person’s daily routine, actions, habits and fate. Through this, the work delves into the observation of a human being removed from society. Themes such as loneliness, social isolation, redundancy, alienation of the individual from the results of labor, criticism of the capitalist economic model, monotonous and repetitive work, depression, alcoholism and personal degradation under the pressure of life circumstances are raised. Also social inequality and emigration.