Contrast - VR, alternative documentary

Contrast, 2017, is an animated, virtual reality documentary where the viewer is brought into the worlds of two color-blind artists. 

Gabe and Jake experience the world from a limited color perspective yet are able to create powerful and beautiful art. 

Contrast addresses the idea of turning something that others may consider a handicap into something that differentiates these artists from others, giving the viewer a unique way of seeing the world.

Jake Wasserman

Colorblind Film Director and Producer

Gabe barcia-colombo

Colorblind Mixed Media Artist

Story board for the experiences of the viewer

Interactive Nonfiction Canon

Even before taking this class, I used this interactive, web-based documentary, The Space We Hold created by the National Film Board of Canada, as inspiration for the 360/VR film work I created this summer at Adobe. I was looking for web-based stories that did a really good job using interaction in their story and this is one that stuck with me.

The Space We Hold bears the audience witness to the testimonies of three former “comfort women” who were among the 200,000 girls and young women kidnapped and forced into military sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII.

Without having to mention it, these stories are difficult to hear and the  strength these women have to share their stories is truly incredible.

The story introduces some of the victims of militarized sexual assault in the traditional documentary style at the beginning documentary. As we continue into each individuals story, which they warn are difficult to listen to, the filmmakers ask for consent as to whether or not you feel comfortable hearing the tales:

I appreciate this approach because it wants each viewer to feel safe in this experience.

As the stories are told, you have to hold the spacebar down continuously so that the story will continue.  This really enforces the viewer to be attentive and focused on the story --- I believe this was very well done.

If you ever release the spacebar the story pauses:

Some moments were very hard to hear and internalize, but having the ability to remove my finger from the spacebar, at any point, to have a moment of pause, to reflect that I was hearing was an amazing opportunity to offer.

If the stories were too hard to hear, the creators gave the viewer the choice to stop listening. If the "I choose to stop" button was pushed, you were brought to a screen that reassured you that it was alright to stop, and that others have done the same.

Additionally, the creators offered some of the reasons provided by the viewers that couldn't continue to ease the mind of the viewer that has chosen to stop watching

I think this is very powerful that the creators give the agency to the viewers to not continue to watch if the content is too tough for them.

At the end of the documentary, the creators encourage the viewers to post a response to the documentary, which are populated in a point cloud that the viewer can hover and see what others commented.

I feel that The Space We Hold is an exceptional example of an alternative documentary that not only addresses a difficult and extremely important story to tell, but also supports the viewer by not forcing them into an experience that may not feel ready to be a part of.

I appreciate that there is compassion for the story tellers and for the story receivers.

The Fall of the Circus (Working Title)

Title: The Fall of the Circus (Working Title) Team: Ji Young Chun, Chris Hall

Concept:  We are creating an immersive experience that approaches some of the history and the ultimate downfall of the circus.  The viewer will enter the circus and be shown some of the most compelling illusions that drove crowds to view these showcases.  Our goal for this piece will be for the viewer to experience an inviting time capsule that attempts challenge the way they think about the circus by providing a different perspective on its once showy demeanor.

Storyboard:

We will have four circus tents that the viewer can roam freely within. We will use lighting, sound and smoke queues to attempt to guide the viewer, however. Each tent has a different story and illusion to explore spatially in both a visual and an audible sense.

Below are the ideas for each tent:

Wireframe + Interaction

Ji create a rough example of what the layout will look like in Unity:

The elephant was captured at Hubert's Dime Museum & Flea Circus in NYC and was turned into a 3D model with the software called PhotoScan (now called Metashape).

AltDocs - Photogrammetry

Amethyst - Chris Hall by schneiderz on Sketchfab

We were asked to capture an item with a volumetric capture and I decided to try photogrammetry:

The model is above and the process below:

The subject needs to be well lit:

The software used to create the 3D model was done in PhotoScan (now called Metashape).

This uniform light made it successful to use every image captured.  This was not the case with my first attempt

I tried to capture this amethyst on my balcony with natural light, and was not successful because the light varied on different side of the object:

Only 8 of 19 images were able to be tracked:

The non uniformity of the light outside made the item not able to be constructed into 3D. I only ended up with creating a flat image with in the 3D software;

Instructions on how to make it work can be found here.

Found Object

Anna-Michelle and I were tasked to create a non-fiction narrative about 18 film negatives that were found on the street.

After getting them all printed. we took some time to see if we could come up with the story of the roll of film.

It appears that the photos were taken at an event, possibly a wedding.

With this in mind, We decided to tell this one woman's story since it seems like the camera could have been hers, we call her Andrea:

We decided to do a live performance/skit where two detectives are tasked with finding the missing persons case of Andrea Leandro.  She was last scene at this wedding and in the skit we go through the images and slide, and through her life to try to determine what happened to her.  We developed her relationships with the individuals in the photos and added some more background information to portray the complete picture of Andrea.

Here are our analysis of the photos and the stories we developed around them.

Here is the script of the detective and how they portray Andrea's life by trying to figure out what happened to her.