New frontiers in immersive storytelling - AtlasV

Lecturer: Arnaud Colinart, ATLASV

Immersive VR productions, like punk rock, are far from dead. The 2018 Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier: Crossroads of Film, Art, and Technology presented not one but two productions by ATLASV, a brand new company in VR and immersive media productions. Making headlines in Rolling Stone magazine, their recently released VR experience, Spheres was just sold in the seven digits – a first in VR media – and their other project BattleScar was labeled a breakthrough in indy VR.

Arnaud Colinart, director of Notes on Blindness and Producer at ATLASV, offers a walk through of his groundbreaking award-winning projects, exploring new challenges in ideation, production, post-production and distribution.

Whose Story?

Lecturer: Hyphen-Labs, Ida Ely Rubin Artists in Residence at MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology

VR/AR/XR are always presented as extending and augmenting the way we perceive the world. From the empathy machine narrative to the “portal to somewhere else” promises, storytellers are also redefining culture through innovative approaches to stories, images and narratives. As reality medium expand, diversity is still needed and sought for by immersive media makers. How can we ensure this diversity shines through in new platforms, tools, and storytelling? Hyphen-labs is an international team of women of color, working at the intersection of technology, art, science and the future. Their recent project, Neurospeculative AfroFeminism, utilizes product design, VR, and neuroscience, and has been exhibited at Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca Film Festival.

Sound, the first rule of immersion

Lecturer: Viktor Phoenix, HeadSpace Studio

Some say sound is 50% of immersion in VR but also AR and XR. How does it translate to new platforms? How should we think of music, sound, audio and texture in immersive media productions? With it’s patented sound design, HeadSpace Studio has been designing sound spaces and 360 environments for the pioneering experiences of Felix&Paul.

Sensory Storytelling – Filmmaker from the Future

Lecturer: Karen Palmer

How is one immersed in the “real”? What can the documentary art form tell us about real world, people and situations representations? Exploring new venues in interactive, immersive, storytelling the experience RIOT asks: how would you fare if you were inadvertently caught up in a riot and couldn’t get away? Would you panic? Would you be able to remain calm and maneuver through a fraught situation? Karen Palmer’s interactive film is a cop in full riot gear who demands to know where you’re going. The same facial recognition technology that powers Riot has been put to use by governments in Berlin and China to track individuals suspected of terrorism, and was enlisted in a recent controversial attempt to label people as gay or straight based on their facial features. Karen Palmer explores the intersections of storytelling, filmmaking and ensuring emerging technology becomes widely available to ordinary people.

Extending Reality - Marshmallow Laser Feast

Lecturers:

ELEANOR WHITLEY
Executive Producer, Marshmallow Laser Feast

ERSIN HAN ERSIN
Creative Director, Marshmallow Laser Feast

Extending senses for Human Centered Design – Creating with immersive and interactive tools invites us to rethink the rules of immersive storytelling. Meet one of the leading group in innovation, interactive medium and digital artwork. What if you could see through the eyes of an insect? What if you could be a tree? What if you feel, touch, smell in immersive experiences? What if your voice could be used to create VR sea creatures in real-time? Imagination has no limitation. These are some of the unusual and creative approaches of extending reality made by the inimitable Marshmallow Laser Feast.

Marshmallow Laser Feast is a London-based design studio of Visual and Immersive Artists, that create innovative ways to augment reality experiences that involve the whole body, not just the eyes. Recent projects include In the Eyes of the Animal, A Colossal Wave, Memex, Laser Face and more.

New Challenges in Distribution

Lecturer: Fred Volhuer

VR is still in its infancy, but it’s taking flight quickly. What should pioneers think of when exploring, producing and distributing this new medium? This year has been a game changer in distribution of immersive content. From the popularization of VR cinemas and the creation of new distribution models, discover the development of immersive distribution with Fred Volhuer, producer of the first VR project to be acquired in the seven digits!