West LA Times

In the year 2050, the Los Angeles River meanders peacefully, glistening under the sun's rays as the murmur of freeway traffic intertwines with the serene surroundings. On its banks, teenagers Kerstin and Yolanda form a pact to locate a missing electronic toy. Their mission and friendship are tested by their contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds.

These characters are not portrayed by actors but are computer-generated avatars in a short film produced by UCLA faculty, students, and alumni. The settings they navigate are not contemporary Los Angeles landscapes but environments created using a modified version of the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

This innovative endeavor is part of "Grand Theft Eco," a series of three short films developed over five years by a team led by English professors Ursula Heise and Danny Snelson under UCLA’s Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS). The inaugural episode will premiere on May 20 at Kaplan Hall room 193.

Nearly two dozen undergraduates and graduate students collaborated on this project—writing scripts, voicing characters, and reprogramming the video game's infrastructure to serve as their story's backdrop. The series delves into questions about Los Angeles' environmental future, economic and social justice issues, with each episode focusing on a unique theme: revitalizing the Los Angeles River, private-public competition over electric power, and urban wildlife.

The production of "Grand Theft Eco" was both cinematic and world-building in nature. Before filming commenced, the team meticulously modified Grand Theft Auto's environments to visualize a new interpretation of Los Angeles' environmental future. The game traditionally features players competing as criminals in a fictional city called Los Santos—modeled after Los Angeles—known for its violent content.

However, the UCLA team had different intentions for their version. They manipulated the video game’s code to revamp parts of Los Santos based on actual plans outlined for Los Angeles.

Snelson said that by using GTA V, they were "defamiliarizing scenes from the game." He questioned how far they could push a game designed for violence and high-speed chases to narrate poignant narratives towards a better real-world Los Angeles.

Using a modified video game as a platform for narrative storytelling is not entirely new but is uncommon for a project of this magnitude. The technique, known as "machinima," has been in use since 1998.

Heise noted that both films and video games offer vital tools for environmental narratives. She emphasized that no single story can encompass the planet's concurrent crises or capture the diverse audiences that environmental communication needs to reach.

The students' contributions extended beyond writing, programming, and acting—they also incorporated knowledge from their academic work. For instance, Chase Niesner, who recently completed his doctorate at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, contributed research that shaped the third episode.

Angel Tolentino, a former UCLA undergraduate and current LENS affiliate who modified the game, said creative thinking required to create machinima also encourages innovative thinking about the city’s environmental future.

The project does not evade questions about injustice and inequality. However, Heise said it does convey some sense of “optopia”—a term coined by science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson that signifies the best world possible given existing circumstances.