Reality is a Camera Trick: Film, Bodycams, and the First-Person Shooter

Just moments ago I had no vision at all. | See tons of bonus videos and support more work like this by joining my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/JacobGeller Flashing lights warning: 26:25 - 26:29 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/JacobGeller Social media and merch links at https://jacobgeller.com/ Thanks to ADAMNATOR for additional color correction: https://www.youtube.com/adamnator Sources: Camera Experiments in 'Lady in the Lake', Crowther, 1947, NYT Cinema Verite: The Movement of Truth, Axmaker, 2015, PBS How we made The Blair Witch Project, Hoad, 2018, The Guardian The history of the first-person shooter, Evans-Thirlwell, 2017, PC Gamer Inspecting Video Game Historiography Through Critical Lens: Etymology of the First-Person Shooter Genre, Carl Therrien, 2015, Game Studies Hythe Mk III Gun Camera, Forgotten Weapons: https://www.forgottenweapons.com/accessories/hythe-mk-iii-gun-camera/ RAF CAMERA GUN FOOTAGE: https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/1653 Wearing body cameras increases assaults against officers and does not reduce police use of force: Results from a global multi-site experiment, Ariel et al., 2016, European Journal of Criminology Body-worn cameras associated with increased assaults against police, and increase in use-of-force if officers choose when to activate cameras, 2016, University of Cambridge The Illusion of Accuracy — How Body-Worn Camera Footage Can Distort Evidence, Yu, 2017, Upturn Participatory Policing: Code Blue Cam and the Disciplinary Power of Police Body Camera Videos on YouTube, Clark & Arcy, 2026, Television & New Media Was the 2005 Doom film ‘Doomed from the beginning?’: First-person shooters, subjective cameras and intertextuality in the critical reception of the film adaptation Doom (2005), Ward, 2018, Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance Cinema’s Turing test: Consciousness, digitality, and operability in HARDCORE HENRY, Yu, 2017, NECSUS Origins of the First-Person Shooter, Galloway, 2006, Essays on Algorithmic Culture Body-worn images: Point-of-view and the new aesthetics of policing, McKay & Lee, 2019, Crime, Media, Culture The Searching Camera: First-Person Shooters, Found-Footage Horror Films, and the Documentary Tradition, Hart, 2019, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies How Hardcore Henry’s POV shots were made, Failes, 2016, FXGuide White Supremacist Kills 49 Muslim Worshipers in New Zealand, 2019, PBS via Democracy Now! The teens who attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego were latest to cite prior atrocities, Johnson, 2026, AP News Seeing 'The Blair Witch Project' Opening Nite, 90's Grunge Dreams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR1jzO5TDWY VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi 141, Corridor Crew: https://youtu.be/u2gn2_9mQzc?si=yydb-5SQk86mzxtI Danny Macaskill: The Ridge, Cut Media: https://youtu.be/xQ_IQS3VKjA?si=Wff73D2fL3oqpI-x GoPro: Soul Flyers 33,000 ft Above Mont Blanc, GoPro: https://youtu.be/me6BgmeTH3k?si=V9Jn8sWpD71WdfKt Paris Rooftop Parkour POV, STORROR: https://youtu.be/H6AO-RhaG_4?si=sxUNyNgIPfsVvKwi The Psychic Burden of Being Watched, Lily Alexandre: https://youtu.be/gStjfje6Mq4?si=Youhk6yriK4vumuG Tom Uban plays Maze on 1972 Imlac, Dr. Bruce Damer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbZTzs6te7Q DOOM Deathmatch 1995 Final!, Alexey Usachev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIrTwZjxcQ8 DOOM Tournament 1996, Jonathan Barbara: https://youtu.be/m47fDoFjNh0?si=-CaUlA_ANwXMXFBg Over the Front - original aircraft footage (b&w, silent), Australian War Memorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwrIf_5gEEM Media use cited within video Music (Chronologically): Totalimmortal (Cyberpunk 2077), Rite of Passage (Cyberpunk 2077), Future (Max Payne 3), Winter Hibernation (Magnus Ludvigsson), A Massive Mist (Ethan Sloan), Sunset Drone (Greener Grass Awaits), Alt’s Theme (Cyberpunk 2077), The Facsimile (Citizen Sleeper), One Legged Waltzing (Franz Gordon), Helix Bell (Christophe Gorman), Lemniscate (Ethan Sloan), The Imp’s Song (Doom), At Doom’s Gate (Doom), Dark Halls (Doom), Graydo (Stealth Inc 2), Arena War Track One (Grand Theft Auto V), The Girl (Max Payne 3), Disturbed Lines (Katana Zero), Third District (Katana Zero), Invention No. 4 in D Minor (Bach), Abandoning Sendai (John Barzetti), Quiet When Dark (The Tap Room), Reve D’enfant (Magnus Ludvigsson), Av Jord Till Jord (Silver Maple), Humdrum Days (Franz Gordon), Only Human (Philip Ayers), Floating Kite (Tellsonic) Additional Music by Epidemic Sound Additional Footage by Getty Images Thumbnail and Graphic Design by https://bsky.app/profile/hotcyder.bsky.social Description credit: “Seeing the Light” by Caroline Finkelstein