Category: Bro Bots

Posted on

Gloomy Eyes, Bro Bots & More Part of Free Mitcham VR Festival

Over the past year, a project called FilmMerton has been running in the south-west London, UK borough of Merton as a community arts outreach, creating pop-up cinemas and short films curated by the community and guest curators. Closing the event will be the Mitcham VR Festival, a free one-day event with virtual reality (VR) content and 360-degree films.

Gloomy Eyes

Visitors will be able to engage with a range of immersive experiences covering a wide range of genres, from sci-fi thrillers to romantic dramas and more.

To celebrate the area’s history, an augmented reality (AR) installation called All the Fun of the Fair will provide a unique soundscape and images, all springing to life on iPads. Audiences will be transported back in time to the Mitcham Fair, rumoured to be the oldest fair in England.

As for the rest of the selection, this includes:

  • Gloomy Eyes – Starring Colin Farrell, this is the impossible love story of a zombie boy and a human girl
    and a reflection on populism as an outlandish preacher oppresses the zombie community.
  • Memoria: Stories of La Garma – Viewers to explore the memories of a 16,500-year-old cave, once occupied by humans, which has been untouched and preserved for thousands of years.
  • The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets – A VR videogame where guests have to solve its mystery by exploring wonderful miniature worlds.
  • Judi Dench: My Oak Tree VR – Viewers get to fly around and through the most impressive oak tree in her garden.
  • Anonymous – A documentary by Samantha Kingston and her personal story of living with an alcohol dependent parent, hiding the secret and dealing with the death of that parent.
  • Crackle Pop – By Mitcham resident and emerging VR director, John Lynch, Crackle Pop is part documentary, part music VR experience which explores the phenomenon of sound to colour synaesthesia.
  • Kinch and the Double World – Set in Victorian London, this brings the fantasy adventure to cinematic VR.
  • Bro Bots – A VR comedy series involving two British robots – Otis and Roberto – as they arrive in New York to join the NYPD.

The Mitcham VR Festival takes place on Saturday, 7th March from 10am – 5pm GMT. While the event is free to attend and walk-ins accepted, capacity will be limited so it’s advisable to book time slots for the VR experiences you want to see. To book tickets head to the official festival website which has the relevant Eventbrite links.

For all the latest VR event news, keep reading VRFocus.

Posted on

VR Sci-Fi Comedy Bro Bots Premiers At Tribeca

British-based virtual reality (VR) content studio Breaking Fourth have launched a new scripted sci-fi comedy series called Bro Bots at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, with the first episode forming part of Samsung’s VR Video Pilot Season.

Bro Bots takes place in a futuristic vision of New York City where robots have become sophisticated, working and living alongside humanity with their own personalities and problems. Two bots called Otis and Roberto move to New York with the goal of joining the New York Police Department.

The series has a comedic, slapstick edge, with the two robots having highly contrasting personalities that can cause friction as they try to solve crimes for the NYPD.

The first six-minute episode, titled Bro Bots Go Sky High was screened for attendees at the Tribeca Film Festival, and also launched on Samsung VR Video as part of the ‘Pilot Season’ programme. The Pilot Season is designed to help create original new VR content and drive growth in the independent VR filmmaker community.

Bro Bots creators and directors David Kaskel and Nathan Miller said: “We’re thrilled to be part of Samsung’s VR Video Pilot Season. VR continues to push the boundaries of the way viewers can engage with content and we’re proud to be at the forefront of this medium.”

Kaskel, who is also the CEO and Founder of Breaking Fourth added: “Consumers today not only want to watch but also engage with content. Bro Bots is an innovative and hilarious VR series that will allow everyone to do just that.”

Three more episodes of Bro Bots are currently in production and will be released on the Samsung VR Video service in future months.

Attendees at Tribeca Film Festival can find Bro Bots being screened until 28th April at the Immersive Hob and at Samsung 837 in New York City. The first episode can also be viewed on Breaking Fourth’s Samsung VR channel by Samsung Gear VR users.

Further news on Bro Bots and other VR content from Breaking Fourth will continue to be covered here on VRFocus.

Posted on

Animated VR Comedy Bro Bots Comes To Oculus Rift

UK-based virtual reality (VR) content creation studio Breaking Fourth has been responsible for the creation of a number of theatrical VR movies, such as the E-sports inspired dark drama Ctrl, or the dystopian sci-fi story Utopia 6. The studio is now bringing lighthearted animation Bro Bots to Oculus Rift.

Oddball buddy comedies are a mainstay of cinema, and Breaking Fourth is exploring this genre in lighthearted animated comedy inspired by classic old-school cartoon adventures. The story of Bro Bots borrows from sci-fi as well, with a story that involves a pair of British robots called Otis and Roberto, who have travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to New York in order to join the New York Police Department. There, they begin investigating a possible bomb threat on the subway, and subsequently find themselves pulled into a murky world involving organised crime, vengeful bad guys as well as some madcap situations and a strange, sinister teddy bear.

Bro Bots was previously released on Samsung Gear VR, alongside musical satire Opinions, which uses the framing device of a musical comedy duo to poke fun and current popular trends such as social media, and dark sci-fi drama Utopia 6 where a tour through a seemingly idyllic city begins to reveal dark secrets.

Breaking Fourth was founded in 2015, growing alongside modern VR to become of the most well-respected creators of theatrical VR titles, with Ctrl and Utopia 6 receiving much acclaim from critics and audiences. The company has previously stated its intent to use the immersion and presence of VR to push storytelling in new directions.

Bro Bots is available for free download from the Oculus Store. The trailer is available to view below.

VRFocus will bring you further news on Breaking Fourth’s VR projects as it becomes available.