Memoir II, 2016
VR narrative
Transcribed journal entries written by a father observing his son in the ICU served as lattice for this cinematic short film for Virtual Reality. We enter the experience in hallways, patient rooms seen through cracked doors and walls. Audience members can control their movement forward and backward - we suddenly cut to a hospital wing, moving through the tight spaces, empty but something has happened. The narrator guides us with the journal readings as we move into both literal and hallucinatory spaces in the VR experience.
Screen shot from scene in patient room
Top view of hospital wing model
Audience experiencing Memoir II in HTC Vive headset
Screen shot from scene in patient room
The piece combines stereoscopic-3D video, synthetic modeled spaces, and stereo-360 spherical images. Photographed and filmed content was shot using both DSLR and UHD video acquired with a beam-splitter camera rig for true stereoscopic-3D. 360 image spheres shot with stereo-rig then stitched. Audio, image, video, and modeled materials are assembled in game-engine with custom scripts for game-control and scene transitioning.
Credits: Andrew Theisen (technical design / programmer)
Shane Morris (voice): www.shanemorrisvoiceovers.com
Ben Mentzer (patient)
Image slide-show