At the beginning of February, shortly after the Sundance Film Festival took place, we brought you news that ZIKR: A Sufi Revival – which VRFocus reported on several times throughout the first couple of months of 2018 – had been purchased by documentary producer, sales agent and theatrical distributor Dogwoof. Now one of the individual’s behind Dogwoof has secured another deal for an immersive documentary.
The project in question is VESTIGE, a 10-minute-long room-scale VR documentary that take the user into the world of the character Lisa as she reminisces, trapped in memory as she recalls her former partner Erik who has died. Every viewing of VESTIGE takes a slightly different path as Lisa remembers different fragments of their life together, recalling details that unlock yet more memories as she continues down the path to ultimately recalling what led to Erik’s passing.
The purchase is made by UK-based VR distributor and sales agent Other Set, which specialises in director-driven virtual reality (VR) or immersive content from around the world and is also the latest venture of Dogwoof’s Andy Whittaker. VESTIGE is set for a Spring 2019 release and will be available for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Microsoft’s line of Mixed Reality headsets. Coming to PC related platforms like Steam and also Viveport. The purchase is made before the planned world premiere of the project at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
“VESTIGE allows the viewer to experience the healing that can be discovered on the other side of grief and loss. The experience showcases the unique power of the VR medium to connect audiences to Lisa’s very human story on a visceral, emotional level.” Whittaker said, in relation to the purchase.
“As a newly formed company, we’re working to re-focus VR storytelling towards a sustainable indie film production model.” Added Producer of the experience and co-founder of AtlasV Antoine Cayrol, who VRFocus interviewed earlier this year. “With the support of Other Set and our joint mission to share outstanding content we’re thrilled to be able to dive further into the future of distribution and bring the powerful story that is VESTIGE to a wider audience.”AtlasV are not the only production company to be involved in the creation of the project. It also involved NSC Creative, RYOT, the French CNC and Kaleidoscope which helped to fund its creation
“Our studio has been creating immersive experiences across the globe for 18 years but this is our first room-scale VR piece.” Said NSC Creative’s Paul Mowbray. “VESTIGE is really pushing the limits of what can be done with volumetric capture and multi-narrative storytelling right now. Aaron [Bradbury, the Producer]’s success as a leading VR Creator comes from a deep technical knowledge across multiple disciplines combined with a passion to connect with the audience in a profoundly emotional way.”
VRFocus will bring you more news from the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival as we get it.