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Beyond Novelty and Nostalgia

Published on April 16, 2008

The beauty of this film exists in the emotional space between longing for the past, reliving the joyful feelings evoked by the 4-bit and 8-bit video game tones of my childhood, and the excitement of experiencing the unusual; the fleeting amusement of watching people doing something totally unique.

Reformat the Planet is a feature length documentary that premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. The documentary explores the movement known as chiptunes or sometimes, erroneously, called 8-bit music. The burgeoning scene is based around creating original music using old video game hardware like the famed Nintendo Gameboy.

Paul Owens, Director of Reformat the Planet.

Paul Owens, Director and Asif Siddiky, Director of Photography decided to make this film simply because no one was documenting what was going on. "We never knew if it would be a movie," says Paul, "the idea was to just follow the scene because no one was covering it. After BlipFest we said 'hey we have a movie.'"

They were attracted to the world of chiptunes, initially, because of the video game connection and how the musicians were taking technology elsewhere. "I was fascinated by the hidden potential in technology and examining what is possible, what is worthwhile," says Asif, "it is interesting to see how advanced technology destroys, augments or limits creativity."

Asif Siddiky, Director of Photography of Reformat the Planet.

However, they were ultimately drawn into the world, like the growing numbers who pack the Tank every month in New York City, by the music. "It is a very unorthodox way to get sound, the music is amazing and not the type of stuff that you will hear everyday," says Paul.

"Also," says Asif, "every single artist has a slight tweak to why and how they construct their music. Some love video games, some just love the sounds that the Nintendo Game Boy creates." "There are not many different types of machines that can be used to make this music," adds Paul. "BubbleFish and Glomag, [two musicians highlighted in the film], they never played video games," says Asif, "I think they are simply attracted to the sound."

I was interested in knowing, as first time filmmakers, if Paul and Asif found it difficult to document a community that exists primarily online. "We got a lot of support from the musicians in the scene," says Paul. "They helped by connecting us with different people. But we're also a part of the scene, we make [chiptune] music too, so it was not difficult to gain the trust of our subjects. They were open, I think, because they knew we weren't going to simply treat them as some sort of novelty act."

"What was challenging," continued Paul, "was editing the entire project. Shooting footage before deciding to make a film forced us to learn a lot about editing. We may have learned backwards by making this film." "But it is cool to know that we can do it," adds Asif, "that we are now on the professional route of filmmaking."

There are a number of references in Reformat the Planet to the DIY and repurposing aesthetics of Punk and Hip Hop. I asked Paul if he thought the chiptune scene would spawn a fashion aesthetic and or other cultural forms or even develop a commercial identity like Hip Hop and Punk Rock. Paul, quick to answer, was emphatically shaking his head no. "Hopefully not. There is purity in the scene right now, it kind of seems it could be anyone in the world who can take part and make this music. I hope it stays this way."

As we progress into a world where people are content with the "Simon Says" of Guitar Hero as opposed to the labor of picking up a real guitar and thumbing through tablature books or replaying a passage of a song ad infinitum to learn how to chord a favorite riff — it is exciting to know that there are people who are not "great pretenders" playing with toys but who instead toy with technology creating something great, something new; something worth listening to.