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Annecy Festival
Experiencing the World of Tomorrow, Today
Wallace & Gromit: The Grand Getaway
Eclectic VR projects are ready for in-person experiences at Annecy. By Ellen Wolff
T
he Annecy International Animation Film Festival has long strived to be forward looking — not only by highlighting ‘Works in Progress’ on upcoming feature films, but also by embracing emerging technologies like virtual reality. This year, commercial VR will get a high-profile boost at Annecy when Aardman Animations’ famed Wallace & Gromit franchise unveils its VR bona fides with The Grand Getaway. Co-produced by Aardman and the virtual reality pros at Atlas V, the piece was funded by Meta to run on that company’s Quest 2 VR headsets. It may signal what VR productions could become when made with beloved characters… and big budgets. But, Annecy’s VR selections this year also highlight production approaches that sit squarely in a more experimental realm. They have not been spun off of movies or game franchises, and their creators have both the desire — and often the necessity — to invent new characters designed specifically for presentation in VR.
Glimpse Character animation still lies at the heart of many VR projects — especially those that tell relationship stories like Glimpse. This 23-minute animated experience follows an unusual love affair backwards in time. The anthropoGlimpse
morphized stars are a well-spoken bear and his deer girlfriend, and their conversations are voiced by actors Taron Egerton (Rocketman) and Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody). As VR viewers let their gaze wander around the intricate sets in Glimpse, the narrative unfolds through poignant dialogue. Co-directors Benjamin Cleary (who wrote the Oscar-winning short Stutterer) collaborated with experienced game creator Michael O’Connor to blend traditional story arcs with interactive design. As Glimpse producer Lee Harris observes, “Drawing people from different industries is required when constructing a VR experience. Many had some VR experience under their belts but originally came from more traditional media such as film, animation, games and VFX.” Cleary and O’Connor oversaw Glimpse through their Dublin-based company Mr. Kite, and worked with the BAFTA-winning London studio Blue Zoo on the animation. “Blue Zoo had some experience with the Unreal Engine, which was very advantageous,” notes Harris. The Glimpse team customized Unreal for this project, creating unique workflows and pipelines as needed. “We also created a multiplayer-style layout tool, which enabled us to design and iterate quickly on virtual environments.” The 3D character animation in Glimpse was created with Maya, and not motion capture. As Harris explains, “That allowed us to be more flexible in the types of performances we gave to the characters, depending on their scale and position within the 3D world. How things played out was dictated by
the language of VR — the ‘physical’ space, the interactions, pacing, transitions and the environment itself.” If it sounds like it took a lot of wrangling to align all the elements behind the project, it did. Harris’ company, Electric Skies, collaborated not only with Mr.Kite, Blue Zoo and Unreal, but also with Viveport, DN Pictures, Albyon and the BFI. Working with Viveport — where the VR experience of Glimpse is initially available — was key to the project. As Harris explains, “Having their support at an early stage helped us to springboard the entire production and allow us to raise financing. We’re also looking to bring it to other audiences on standalone headsets.” In the end, the production country credits for Glimpse — France, U.K. and Ireland — reflect how indie VR production is often a global ‘pay as you go’ proposition. And festival exposure at Annecy is a vital step towards payback.
Marco & Polo Go Round The creators of Marco & Polo Go Round describe their 12-minute VR experience as a love story with a surreal twist. While the viewers witness a young couple having an argument in their kitchen, things start falling apart around them — literally. Knives and plates and curtains fly around as the couple’s interactions unravel. As director Benjamin Steiger Levine explains, “I’ve always been drawn to stories that transport audiences to dreamed realities.” Levine, who also co-wrote the script, recalls, “When I first experienced VR, I instantly knew it was the right medium for Marco & Polo Go Round. I wanted the emotional and visceral experience of the story to be lived.” The actors who play Marco (Emmanuel Schwartz) and Polo (Léane Labrèche-Dor) brought extensive acting experience to performing Levine’s dialogue. Translating their movements into VR was the challenge that faced the motion-capture experts at Studio du Château in Montreal, Canada.
www.animationmagazine.net 114
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jun|jul 22
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