Clever Fox’s Latest Project Coming To Slamdance Film Festival
Throughout 2017 we saw an increase once again in the use of immersive technology being used to tell a story. After a 2016 which saw a combination of both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) – but mostly VR in this instance – being incorporated into various festivals as special attractions, 2017 saw the technology much more firmly entrenched in proceedings. With a number of festivals dishing out specific awards for VR related projects and elsewhere VR projects gaining critical acclaim and recognition with a number of high profile awards for storytelling and more.
And while it is still only mid-January. the march towards a number of film festivals has already begun with the likes of the Raindance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival and more already coming into view on the horizon. One of the first film festivals of the year is the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival. Which this year will run from January 19th to January 25th in Park City, Utah. It just so happens that one of the studios involved in the first time Slamdance hosted submissions for immersive film that has announced a submission for this week’s event.
Immersive entertainment studio Clever Fox was one of the studios, along with the likes of Littlstar, that encouraged production houses in 2016 to submit in the immersive category. Over the years on VRFocus we’ve covered a number of their projects including last year’s The Summoning, 2016’s Broadcast and 2015’s Warp Chase. This time they’ve teamed up with ARwall to present a new AR experience called What We Leave Behind.
An exercise in curating social experiences, What We Leave Behind takes people into a fantastical other world and, using AR to conceal their identities, encourages them to tell personal stories, thoughts and opinions which they would not neccessarily do if their identity was known.
As Clever Fox explains – “We curate our digital life and hide behind it like a mask; a wall that separate us from each other. As we balance on the edge of a tipping point between a brave new world and social, economic and environmental disaster we invite you to enter an alternate reality where you’re free to share your hopes and fears for the future. We give you a new face and the freedom to say the things you can’t. What We Leave Behind is a collaborative storytelling experience using AR technology. Your story is collected online to inspire others.”
“ARwall is thrilled to participate in this ground breaking project at Slamdance. We are always looking for new collaborations that blur the lines between filmmaking, VFX, and augmented reality.” Says Eric Navarrette, CEO of ARwall. “What We Leave Behind will show festival goers first-hand how AR can be used by filmmakers to create visually stunning content in ways that have never before been attempted. We truly believe AR will play a strong part in the future of filmmaking and we’re immensely proud that Slamdance attendees will be among the first group of people to see our pioneering new technology.”
The idea was conceived by artist Dekker Dreyer who worked on a number of the projects previously mentioned. “This is such an important project to me. We feel so isolated sometimes. We’re afraid to express ourselves because of what the comments will say or what we imagine our colleagues or friends will think of us. Creating this alternate reality / identity where we can tell our stories in a visually powerful environment is liberating. I’m humbled to be able to help bring this experience to the Slamdance Film Festival. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a project being created during a festival with the participation of both audiences and filmmakers. Slamdance is an incredible creative community and I can’t wait to see how they bring this project to life.”
What We Leave Behind will be featured daily at the festival and VRFocus will bring you more news from it as we get it.
See full article here: https://www.vrfocus.com/2018/01/clever-foxs-latest-project-coming-to-slamdance-film-festival/
