Alteration

OCULUS RIFT EXPERIENCE

Software
360 VR Film

Company
Arte

Timing
Film length 20 minutes

Narration
It is not narrated, it is a bit like an immersive theatre and you are sometimes a “character” in it, sometimes you are the protagonist and questioned about something or at other times staring over the main character a bit like Elsa the AI system. It is hard to piece together at times because you fall into different parts of the protagonist’s subconscious and watch it fall apart, disappear or die…

Subtitles
There are no subtitles

Story Arch
Alexandro volunteers for an experiment on the study of dreams. He does not suspect that he will undergo the intrusion of Elsa, an Artificial Intelligence that will digitize and assimilate his unconscious to humanize himself.

Cinematography
State of the art 360 Film original (made for VR). What is incredible is the way they texturise and warp the footage at points. I also thought at moments that depending on where I looked, the footage warped with my view/ like I was causing the digitisation or distortion. This effect alone was incredibly interesting. 

Framing
You have a full shot of all the rooms, as if you are in there in his subconscious. You are always placed in consideration to the story and since you are turned on or off (or die from battery), you are addressed immediately at the entrance of every scene and there is a reason for your location based on the story.

Color Palette
It is in full colour, as real as the technology gets. 

Composition
You are placed in areas with a large view, but most importantly probably where the character would be placed for playtime in the story. 

Point of View
You are sometimes the character, sometimes the system and sometimes a bystander. It’s a bit disorienting, but conceptually works well to give an idea of the space. One scene you are sideways on the ground which was very effective, another a bird’s eye directly on top of the character which was also shocking, but effective.. you were clearly in his personal space.

Looking Around
I was looking around a lot, partially because you get to physically move your head to visibly clear the darkness away from the screen in certain scenes, and question what is real in others.

Storytelling
It is a linear story, you can’t fast forward in the paused setting, but it is designed and meant to be consumed in a linear manner. 

Sound
There is music and a soundtrack under the whole thing, which is mixed with sound effects. Once the scene begins, there is new soundtrack, but it is as if you were in the space and all the sounds, dialogues, etc. that would happen in that scene. It is a 360 sound experience.

 

Making of