Company
Penrose Studio
Software
Unreal Engine
Timing
20 minutes? Not sure, it was captivating
Narration
No narration, just music, sound effects and “hmms ” and “humms” anyone can understand the story based on the visuals and choreography.
Subtitles
The is a beautiful title and text which is typographic and magical, the credit text is 2d and flat in the immersive world, but subdued lighting, so the focus is clearly on the text. When they say “One year Ago” in flashback, it is in the typography and the only moving thing in the scene, such as in the clouds so you perceive the text well.
Story Arch
The Socrates Method, like the story from a little match girl. It happens mostly in one view of the town where you can see everything. At times, the characters go inside the ship and we are revealed this from our point of view so we can easily understand what is going on without having a scene change and we have to reorient ourself.
Cinematography
This was all Gaming environments with a bit of CGI animation. It was highly illustrative in the looks/the clouds looked real and the color palette was refined as it would be in a beautiful story. The lighting was incredible and the contrast of night and day scenes were so well done and highly effective. The use of particles as snow and debris was also incredible for this
Framing
They were all very full shots, you saw the entire world, the characters were quite small and moved about the scenes. It was as if you were standing in a diorama as a giant. It was refreshing to play with scale like that because you were in the clouds or were on your own ship but further away. What was a bit remarkable was that the characters appeared very clearly, despite their small size. This is an issue for VR in general because of the pixel ratio, but because the lighting and illustrative qualities of the materials / like a diorama or a stop motion film, I didn’t realise it.
Color Palette
Full colour, but selective in the illustrative art direction and lighting. It was like a stop motion film, such as the Boxcars film.
Composition
It was a full scenography, like a theatre set, designed with 360 environments and also above and below. It was unique in that there was no direct horizon line, but like a diorama with layers, the action happened all around above and below.
Point of View
The user is a bystander or is looking through a portal as if you look into the windows of people at home/ the opening scene.
Looking Around
The user can deeply interact with the scene moving in a real space to explore all the parts of the scene and watch the story from different point of views. there is a suggestion at the beginning of the story to experience this application stand up in a large space. Story happens mostly in front, but the characters move around the world and you are easily moving with them. When they move, they are the only moving objects so you easily follow them.
Storytelling
It’s a linear story and you don’t have a role in how you experience it. When you go back in time, it is day and you have a new scene start, when you go back in the present it is night, this helps to show time difference, but you aren’t lost by this because a text notifies you of this.
Sound
Sound is 3d with a soundtrack and sound effects, the music was composed for the story and works incredibly well because there is a well developed soundtrack.
EEL VR Storytelling Research 