Let's Play (short film)

Let's Play is a short film directed by and stars Michael Sawyer and Ben Whitfield (the two commonly known for their "Retsupurae" youtube channel). The plot follows two big-shot "Lets Players" playing a game when they are suddenly "swatted".

The film is seen primarily through a "face cam" on the lower left corner of the screen, with the game being the bigger picture. The games in seen the short film are Minecraft, Crimzon Clover, and ActRaiser.

Synopsis
Two big-shot "Lets Players" host a 24 hour gaming stream when they are suddenly "swatted".

Plot
The film begins with the two main characters Mike and Xander beginning a 24 hour gaming stream in their office building, beginning with them taking turns playing ActRaiser. During their conversation while playing the game, they reveal the stream is for generating charity, asking viewers to donate during the stream to help pick games to play during the charity. Xander seems to have difficulty with the game, handing the controller fairly frequently to Mike.

While playing the simulation side of ActRaiser, Mike hears a violent sounding noise but shakes it off. As more violent sounding noises appear, the two keep wondering if something is amiss when suddenly the door falls off it's hinges and a SWAT team points their guns at them. As Mike attempts to defuse the situation, Xander is shot, causing Mike to run off with the laptop, narrowly escaping gunfire.

Mike manages to find a safe spot in the building's basement, stating it's strange familiarity to him. He plays ActRaiser for a couple of minutes before being unable to press onward with it, coming to the realization that Xander is really gone. Mike sobs for a couple minutes and attempts to keep pressing forward with the livestream as he believes it's his job to entertain the people watching it.

Mike boots up Crimzon Clover for a minute or so and plays it while trying to come to terms with the situation. He plays fairly badly while doing so, getting upset as he continues to lose. Mike breaks down on his fifth life lost. After his breakdown, he gets the suggestion to play Minecraft and does so.

During his session of Minecraft, Mike begins to realize how pathetic his situation looks and begins wondering why he plays video games in such a dire time like this. Mike begins to remember why: his father abused him and video games were escape from that world. He begins to wonder why then, why watching people playing video games is such a huge industry, coming to the conclusion that it's something so many people can relate to.

Mike then begins to tell the viewers about a dream he had last night, and one that has recurred so many times in his life. The dream is one where Mike is an astronaut drifting into the infinite abyss that is space, with no way to get back to Earth and that he will, more likely than not, die out there. Mike explains that this isn't a nightmare he has, it's a dream because he finally feels like he's at peace in it.

The SWAT team comes down to the basement but capture him more peacefully. He is loaded into the back of a SWAT van with his laptop on his right side. The ending shot of the movie shows Mike exiting from the back of the vehicle with a astronaut helmet on his left side.

Cast

 * Michael Sawyer as Mike
 * Ben Whitfield as Xander

Development
The original idea for the film was two lets players playing during a terrorist attack, with the idea that the action would be mostly from trying to continue playing the game while hiding from terrorists. From the get-go Exotoro stated that the "Retsupurae" guys were the only people she had in mind to play the characters she envisioned as hiding from said terrorists.

The idea eventually transformed into a livestream being interrupted by a SWAT team due to the scary prevalence of "Swatting", a term coined for livestreams that were suddenly interrupted by SWAT teams falsely called to investigate.

Originally the movie would have featured some of Exotoro and her friends' games like MASSES, Fantendo Sports Resort, Strafe: Lethal Seven before getting to more retro games. However this was scrapped due to it feeling "too egotistical" and not adhering the movie's themes.

Reception
TBA

Trivia

 * The concept had been around for a couple months but was never started due to a lack of idea of what most of the movie would be about. Due to a dream on 5/12/16, the plot synopsis was finally completed as it finally gave Exotoro the vision for the movie she was looking for.