Venice : The power of VR unleashed

Lazzaretto Vecchio Island in Venice became the heart of VR for 2 weeks.

 His heart? Yes, but also his lungs, his brain, his guts.

The story of the island itself worth the trip (Thank you Wikipedia). You had to take a boat to join (yeah, I mean, it’s an island). A communitarian dimension ideal to forge links, exchange, discover, feed. A logistics to go there certainly, but that gave rise to real exchanges and qualified visitors. A parenthesis in time that will forever remain etched in me, a special feeling that I think is shared by plentiful participants.

What did I see there? Some good, some very very good stuff! Let me tell you what I discovered (I won’t hang about the winners they’ll probably benefit from their awards) but rather on the contents that were not rewarded but still deserve your special attention.

Oh, and I will focus on Real Time VR there, but I wish to make a special mention to the Diversion team that managed the whole set ups, including the VR theater showcasing 360 contents (Many great pieces were to be seen there). They made a great job while being so kind and friendly.

  VR elevated to the rank of art ... or at its service!

 Let's start with The Isle of the Dead (L’?le des morts) in the Arte collection (wait for our “The Scream” by Munch in the same collection!) thus awarded as the best narrative experience. Not far away was an incredible work, Mindpalace. I could have classified it within the narrative experiences, but it is a great piece of art, a formidable technique at the service edof a universal story, conducive to reflection. Simply bluffing.

 In the corridors of Lazzaretto Vecchio, you could not miss out on VR-I, a collaborative dance experience, a contemporary contemplation that plays on the scales and confuses you. Presented in the installations section, this piece literally transports the visitor who will return ... drowsy.

My crush: Trails of Angels

If you are interested in the subject of art in immersion, turn to Trails of Angels, a tribute to famous Lithuanian painter and composer M.K. ?iurlionis. A work that immerses you in the imagination of the artist and beyond that discovery, immediately gave me the desire to googlelize him! This is also what VR is about.

Installations: Introducing Hyper Reality

When we try to immerse even more our audience, we stimulate other senses: the smell, the touch, the movements... Commonly called the "haptic feedbacks", they are generated by integrated devices in what are called Installations, honored by Venice. The future of entertainment, but not only.

Let's start with DVgroup, who could hardly be missed in Venice, present there with 3 major pieces: The very complete The Horrifcally, the poetically dark Umami (loooooved it) and the musical trip The Roaming Wetlands. The Paris based group shew his ambitions about immersive theaters, clearly leading the way and bringing a crazy inventiveness and a technical ambition that I have never seen elsewhere. Great art, which presages wonders in the future.

Xray Fashion hit hard as a documentary. It presents the impact (even the ravages) of the fashion industry on the world, and the immersion enhanced by the sensations (mainly on the ground, since we walk barefoot) is strengthened. Heart touching and pressing ahead with our thinking.

My crush: Home after war

Hard to describe without spoiling but hell it's efficient! The subject, an Iraqi father who presents us his house after his return once the ended conflicts, is deeply moving. We cannot remain insensible in this piece as the use of the haptic returns is terribly effective there, and photogrammetry brings a feeling of… reality. We get out of it full of anger and reflections. A must experiment.

VR as a vector of empathy

We all know it, and if someone still doubt it, Venice demonstrated it again. My overall crush goes towards this category, which marks, disturbs, makes react, think and especially makes you want to act.

Besides Home After War & Xray Fashion previously quoted, the panel of pieces vectors of emotions, understanding, identification (in a word EMPATHY) was impressive. Let’s start with social empathy with Made this way: How women who have chosen to change their sex tells us about their conception and their feelings about masculinity. Proximity, intimacy, listening to testimonials. Not a subject treated through the editorial prism of a journalist, not sensational, just a testimony, a discussion, certainly one way but an embryo of discussion.

The unknown patient, based on a true story, plunges you into the skin of an amnesic soldier. High level artistic treatment and palpable anxiety. An impressive panel of emotions generated by this unique work. In the same vein, we can cite the poetic Lucid, in which we follow the journey of a girl in the thoughts of her mother in a coma. Heart touching.

My crush: Make Noise

BBC's Make Noise delivers a double message. While testifying the fight of 3 English women for their rights (in original audio recording diffused during the experiment), we are arranged to use our voice during our experience to interact with it, and thus to become aware of the fact that our voices count, and that it is important to use it. Simple but powerful!

Narrative Contents

We can see serious budgets and the ambitions that come with, with the award-winning tryptic Spheres (You want to discover the next thing in narrative VR? Simply follow Atlas V), but also the long-awaited sequel to Penrose's Arden's Wake, The Great C by Secret Location, Battlescars or Crow by Baobab. We're getting closer to the animated classics from Disney or Pixar Studios, with VR-style freedom of action. And these studios, which lead the way on the narrative, put the means (Including voice over from stars such as Jessica Chastain, Millie Bobby Brown, Rosario Dawson, John Legend and Oprah Winfrey).

The medium is maturing, and that’s good news!

Special mention to a very strong project, 1943: Berlin Blitz by the BBC. An animated sequence in which we follow a bombing mission from England to hit Berlin during WW2, whose soundtrack was recorded on the flight by a journalist who comments on the trip. This is the main strength of the project, the soundtrack captured in field conditions. This characteristic that infuses reality, authenticity, is enough for the viewer to be literally captured by the film, just like the excellent Make Noise mentioned above. A simple but effective process to reinforce immersion.

My Favorite (and overall festival crush): Age of Sails

In a nutshell: a bomb. The VR content that comes closest to perfection in terms of rhythm, storytelling, dubbing, animation, artistic direction ... Nothing surprising coming from “Paperman” John Kahrs, but Google’s Spotlight Stories hit hard on this one.

Hybrid contents

Indeed, subjects and treatments mix. Some installations offer interaction as well as pure narration, empathy joins the installations ... Because VR is a subject of hybridization: Hybridization of technologies, uses, methods. Animation films become interactive, like award winning Buddy VR (interactive award) or Fresh Out, which puts you in the shoes of a ... carrot (Also suitable for a WTF category, along with In the Cave)!

Kobold was a great foretaste of horrific experiences with a strong movie dimension. Dayum I was scared when experiencing it! In the same vein, A discovery of Witch is a surprisingly good and scary promotional content for the TV show, which uses volumetric capture to reproduce actors in a real-time 3D environment.

My crush: Tales of the Wedding Ring

Tales of the Wedding Ring by Square Enix literally carry classic manga into VR, for surprisingly effective rendering. Look forward to seeing other classics revisited in this form!

What were we doing there?

Those who know our works in VR (Brand Content & Entertainment) were surprised by our presence down there. Just like some visitors. We were demonstrating our collaborative experience Eclipse and its "FROOM" set up (Froom = Free-roaming in a room-scale / I’ll get back to this in a future article).

Indeed, the selection committee chaired by Michel Reilhac and Liz Rosenthal liked the immersive feeling provided by Eclipse, its graphic quality and the direct references from SiFi movies that inspired us during the creation of the experience. And we will never thank them enough.

Our presence there was a bless and besides the artistic recognition, it allowed us to meet a new typology of people, to tie up with VR creators from all over the world and even to do business! But beyond that, we praise our presence because we had the chance to be part of a (once again) parenthesis in time. These 2 weeks on Lazzaretto Vecchio were unique, magical, inspiring. You just had to land in the chill zone of the island and take a coffee, or a Spritz ?? to feel it. No, to touch it.

You had to be there. And we were.

And believe me, we will do our best to be at the same place next year.