Created by Brad Whittam
A CLOSER LOOK: VIDEOGRAPHIC CRITICISM 2025 – Young video essayists comment on popular audio-visual culture. Produced as part of the BA (Hons) Film and Television degree at Southampton Solent University and brought to you by Making Waves Film Festival.
What makes a good video game adaptation? It’s a question Hollywood has struggled with more than once. This video essay takes a measured look at the 2018 Uncharted fan film and explores how it manages to capture the spirit of the games without relying on a direct remake.
Produced as part of the BA (Hons) Film and Television course at Southampton Solent University, the essay examines how the film adapts the tone, structure, and aesthetic of the source material while making smart decisions about what to change. Drawing on ideas from adaptation theory and Edgar Allan Poe’s concept of “unity of effect,” it shows how the short form can be used to distil the experience of a game into something coherent and engaging.
The video also considers the challenges of adapting an interactive medium into a non-interactive one, and how the filmmakers chose to work around those limits—through tightly edited action sequences, familiar character references, and visual choices that echo the game’s third-person camera style.
This essay is part of A Closer Look, a series of video essays created in collaboration with Southampton Solent University and hosted by Making Waves Film Festival. Each one offers a thoughtful perspective on a piece of moving image culture, seen through the lens of emerging critical voices.
