VR Installation for Comic-Con

CASE STUDY

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Los Angeles+Toronto

In late 2013, we had opened an office in L.A.

We pursued an opportunity to pitch to FOX,

who were looking to promote season 2 of their hit show.

We pitched them VR, which was still a nascent technology.

How nascent? • Many Kickstarter backers still waiting for DK1s.

• Eight months away from the release of the DK2.

• A year out from the launch of the first GearVR.

• Facebook & Google not even mentioned yet.

• And…

Mentioning VR just confused most people.“The Happening” (2008)

“Oculus Rift? The Transformer?”“Transformers: Dark Of The Moon” (2011)

Content Studio for Emerging Platforms

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We had our emerging platform, but…

What’s the secret to telling a good story in VR?We had to figure that out for ourselves.

Our Approach • Implement sound & action cues to direct the user’s attention towards the primary story area.

• Place points of interest outside the focal area that add context to the active narrative.

• Develop dynamically generated content that can be delivered to the user in a predictable way.

ACCLIMATION & LEADING ACTION Orientation & the subtle prompts that guide the audience.

We had to account for lineups, acclimation, and narrative.

Pacing the Story

The audience orients themselves within the scene, get familiar with VR and the space they are in.

Ichabod Crane appears and addresses the audience with a warning. Ichabod leaves, and the sound of the approaching Horseman fill the scene.

The Horseman appears to cut off the audience’s head.

The Horseman lifts the audience’s head like a trophy, giving them a good view of the Horseman CG model, ending on a title card.

Leading ActionCrow caws loudly and flies towards Ichabod’s entrance.

Acclimation is essential to let new audiences get grounded.

Kristine Dinglasan

How do we bring the audience back to the story?

Cinematography tends to break in a frameless format.

A lot of our visual language depends on a

defined screen edge

Our crow drew the audience’s attention to the primary story area.

3D Spatial Audio Audio direction doesn’t rely on line-of-sight.

Sound effects positioned in the 3D space are an effective means of grabbing the audience’s attention.

Leading action can’t be employed with a heavy hand. “Lost” (2015)

SECONDARY POINTS OF INTEREST Everything helps to tell the story.

360o of freedom. The audience can ignore your story.

360 Storyboard

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We developed a way to plan a frameless narrative,

placing points-of-interest outside the main story area.

360 Storyboard

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Make the environment relevant and rewarding.

Ichabod is never out of earshot, the story isn’t missed.

DYNAMICALLY GENERATED CONTENT Leveraging real-time VR.

SORRY, SPOILERS!

We wanted to ensure that the horseman’s approach wasn’t missed.

SORRY AGAIN, SPOILERS!

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Actor Tom Mison was shot stereoscopically

Stereoscopic Camera Rig At the time, 3D cameras were designed for widescreen formats, not suitable for our needs in virtual reality; we had to invent our own.

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Our environment and horseman were real-time rendered.

The Horseman was generated in the scene based on the audience’s sightline.

After SDCC, we continued to develop how we tell stories in VR.

IMMERSION!

Pres

ence

Interaction

Narrative

VR

Virtual reality delivers on three vectors.

PRESENCE Transporting the audience to a credible environment.

360o of freedom. The audience can ignore your story.

This is a frameless, 360o experience.

A 360o experience to deliver flat content?!!Netflix VR Theatre

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Look familiar?

“Twin Peaks” (1990)

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Surround sound is a 360o experience.

Presence can help build story by providing

CONTEXT for the primary narrative.

INTERACTION Allowing the audience to impact their experience.

Sometimes

“being there” isn’t enough. Not having your presence acknowledged

can be unnerving.

“Ghost” (1990)

Oculus Story Studio calls this the “Swayze Effect.”

We’re not acknowledged by our favourite shows, but still get immersed in the stories.

“House of Cards” (2014)

Well, sometimes we are.

Sleep No More has the audience surround and follow the story as ghost-like witnesses - there, but not acknowledged.

“Sleep No More” (2011, NYC)

Interaction can add to the story by giving the audience

AGENCY in the environment.

Some levels of agency • Directional tracking

• Positional tracking

• Improvised theatre

• Games

• Collaborative storytelling

Canadian Improv Games (2013)

The interaction in games make them a perfect fit for virtual reality.World War ToonsLucky’s Tale

Land’s EndEVE Valkyrie

• Collaborative storytelling between author and user.

• Infinite possibilities collapse into a single, linear narrative.

• Author/user roles can be asymmetrical.

EMERGENT NARRATIVE

Rivalry Of Kin the Preferred Kinsman; the Rejected Kinsman; the Object of Rivalry

The Object of Rivalry chooses the Preferred Kinsman over the Rejected Kinsman.

NARRATIVE Giving the audience a reason to care.

What’s the secret to telling a good story in VR?

Tell a good story.

Books Film

TV Radio

RESONANCE The outcome matters to the audience

“Psycho” (1960)

Characters can emote; we can intuit how they feel.

“Psycho” (1960)

In 1st person PoV, we have less emotional cues.

REASONABLE FACSIMILES Capturing performances

Kevin Spacey“House of Cards” (2014)

Not Kevin Spacey“Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” (2014)

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A simulated approximation of reality.House of Duty: Advanced Cards

Spacey-ish?

Stylized characters like those found in Journey can still elicit powerful emotional reactions from an audience.

“Journey” (2012)

Fantastic story & art can be created with the right style.“Colosse” (2015)

Nightmare fuel

Avoid The Uncanny Valley

Skirt the edge of the valley by using an animated style,“Inside Out” (2015)

Be careful not to fall in; cute & creepy aren’t too far apart.“Tin Toy” (1988)

Performance Capture During Sleepy we worked with stereoscopic capture on green screen, and we learned a few things:

•Actors need to be close to the camera to capture emotion.

•Shoot at the distance you’ll display. •Our project manager isn’t a great actor (sorry Luke).

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Constantly pushing the limits of our performance capture.

There’s some naysayers who think VR is for games.

“There seems to be a lot of excitement around

something that, to me, is a yawn, frankly.”

- James CameronFilmmaker

“Avatar” (2009)

“It’s good, but it’s not storytelling.”

- Ed CatmullPresident, Pixar

“Up” (2009)

The medium is too nascent for sweeping statements.

(don’t listen to them)

That’s like comparing the Lumière brothers’ films… “Workers Leaving The Factory” (1895)

To Star Wars.“The Empire Strikes Back” (1980)

Early film and VR have a lot in common.

Documentary or journalistic shorts.“Train Pulling Into a Station” (1895)

Documentary or journalistic shorts.“Walking New York” (2015)

The First Cut It wasn’t until we developed cinematography that we had a language capable of telling a story on film.

“A Trip to the Moon” (1902)

VR breaks that language, and we’ll need to discover

it all over again.

“VR is a new medium, we need new ideas.”

- Nick PittomDirector, Fire Panda

“Colosse” (2015)

“Challenge accepted.”

- Meand my big mouth

Stefan Grambart Creative Director

email stefan@thesecretlocation.com

twitter@stefangrambart

Any Questions?THANKS!