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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.

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We pursued an opportunity to pitch to FOX,

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

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

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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…

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

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

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Content Studio for Emerging Platforms

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Image credit goes here
We had our emerging platform, but…

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

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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.

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

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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 Action
Crow caws loudly and flies
towards Ichabod’s entrance.

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Acclimation is essential to let new audiences get grounded.

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Kristine Dinglasan
How do we bring the audience back to the story?

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Cinematography tends to
break in a frameless format.

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A lot of our visual
language depends on a
defined screen edge

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

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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.

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

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SECONDARY
POINTS OF INTEREST
Everything helps to tell the story.

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

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360
Storyboard
o
We developed a way to plan a frameless narrative,

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placing points-of-interest outside the main story area.
360
Storyboard
o

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Make the environment relevant and rewarding.

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

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DYNAMICALLY
GENERATED CONTENT
Leveraging real-time VR.

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SORRY, SPOILERS!

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

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SORRY AGAIN,
SPOILERS!

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Image credit goes here

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Actor Tom Mison was shot stereoscopically

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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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Image credit goes hereImage credit goes here
Our environment and horseman were real-time rendered.

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

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

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IMMERSION!

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Presence
Interaction
Narrative
VR
Virtual reality delivers on three vectors.

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PRESENCETransporting the audience to a credible environment.

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

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This is a frameless, 360o
experience.

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

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Image credit goes here
Look familiar?

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“Twin Peaks” (1990)

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Image credit goes here
Surround sound is a 360o
experience.

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Presence can help build story by providing
CONTEXTfor the primary narrative.

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INTERACTIONAllowing the audience to impact their experience.

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Sometimes
“being there” isn’t enough.
Not having your presence acknowledged
can be unnerving.

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“Ghost” (1990)
Oculus Story Studio calls this the “Swayze Effect.”

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

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“House of Cards” (2014)
Well, sometimes we are.

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Sleep No More has the audience surround and follow the story as
ghost-like witnesses - there, but not acknowledged.
“Sleep No More” (2011, NYC)

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Interaction can add to the story by
giving the audience
AGENCYin the environment.

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Some levels of agency
• Directional tracking
• Positional tracking
• Improvised theatre
• Games
• Collaborative storytelling

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Canadian Improv Games (2013)

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

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• Collaborative storytelling between author and user.
• Infinite possibilities collapse into a single, linear narrative.
• Author/user roles can be asymmetrical.
EMERGENT NARRATIVE

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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.

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NARRATIVEGiving the audience a reason to care.

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

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Tell a good story.

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Books Film
TV Radio

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RESONANCE
The outcome matters to the audience

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“Psycho” (1960)
Characters can emote; we can intuit how they feel.

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“Psycho” (1960)
In 1st person PoV, we have less emotional cues.

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REASONABLE
FACSIMILES
Capturing performances

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Kevin Spacey
“House of Cards” (2014)

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

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

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Spacey-ish?

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Stylized characters like those found in Journey can still
elicit powerful emotional reactions from an audience.
“Journey” (2012)

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

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Nightmare fuel
Avoid
The
Uncanny
Valley

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

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

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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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Image credit goes here
Constantly pushing the limits of our performance capture.

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

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“There seems to be a lot of
excitement around
something that, to me, is a
yawn, frankly.”
- James Cameron
Filmmaker
“Avatar” (2009)

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“It’s good, but it’s not
storytelling.”
- Ed Catmull
President, Pixar
“Up” (2009)

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The medium is too nascent
for sweeping statements.
(don’t listen to them)

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

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

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Early film and VR have a lot
in common.

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

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

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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)

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VR breaks that language,
and we’ll need to discover
it all over again.

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“VR is a new medium,
we need new ideas.”
- Nick Pittom
Director, Fire Panda
“Colosse” (2015)

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“Challenge accepted.”
- Me
and my big mouth

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Stefan Grambart
Creative Director
email
stefan@thesecretlocation.com
twitter
@stefangrambart
Any Questions?
THANKS!