Signal Space Lab isn’t too popular in the circles of virtual reality users, but they should be. They helped create the Uncle Jack Live VR with Compulsion Games and Gearbox. The two are regulars inside of developer groups and are well known, but Signal Space Lab has often been left out of the conversation, even though they put in the most work. That experience they made was a fun balance between real-life footage and CGI.
Now, with their own interactive VR movie, they are keeping it 100% full of real footage. You can check out the trailer below.
You can see that this whole experience is a full 360° experience full of real people. The spatial audio is going to be real in this, taking up two of your most important senses. UploadVR spoke with the interactive director, Etienne Archambault, as got some good insight. He says that “the challenge of a new way to both immerse the audience in the piece, and also to adapt it to the attention of the user. They are fully in the space.”
“It was very challenging to use the space properly,” says Archambault, “to make sure that everything was right.” The story is not like any other real-person VR experience. The headset wearer is not just a fly in the wall. They are going to be fully immersed and thrown into the story itself. You are a part of a family that just experienced the loss of a young child in a tragic accident. This is a touching story and really hits you in your feelers instantly. Your actions will have some real impact on the story as it prowesses as well, making you more immersed than ever.
The story is branched. Each decision the headset user makes, you will be tossed into different scenarios. There isn’t a moment of the interactive story that you won’t feel like you matter inside of this story. Afterlife is not your typical VR film.
“We really wanted it to disappear,” says Archambault. “At specific moments, in specific areas, we made sure that these were right for the story […] we didn’t want you to make a choice except when it made sense.” You are only going to make choices at pivotal parts of the story, and you might not even know that you are making then. Because you will be the spirit of the child, you will be in some sticky situations.
“We had to kind of scale it back,” says Archambault. “We needed to find this balance where it’s still got that punch […] we wanted to make sure that the viewer was really involved from the get-go.” This is why the event happens at the start of the movie, not 20 minutes into it. “It’s such a strong moment. I think that the fact you are blinded afterwards makes you feel bound to this sense of loss, that you’re involved with the child, as you become him.”
Ana Cardenas, a marketing consultant for Afterlife said that “When Raindance’s team first contacted us to let us know that Afterlife was in consideration to be nominated for Best Cinematic Experience, we were truly honored and happy. Then just a few days before launch, we received news that we were also nominated for the Discovery Award: Best Debut Experience. With Afterlife, we took the risk of creating something with a new angle. We couldn’t be happier that Raindance is giving us this opportunity to showcase our work and to reach more people who love storytelling and innovation.”
