The Los Angeles-based production company known for their digital and immersive story telling, Clever Fox, has announced that it has released two augmented reality (AR) experiences designed for the Facebook AR scene. Commonly known for their AR and virtual reality (VR) projects in the entertainment and music spaces, these new projects are the companies first steps into the Facebook AR world.
The first project is an immersive Facebook AR Effect for seminal recording artists Devo. This camera effect based on the iconic energy dome headwear allows users the chance to wear it for themselves. Devo has been getting a lot of attention recently with the performance back in June being on of the highlights of Oakland’s Burger Boogaloo event. The influential band were also featured back in a retrospective article published by Vice in August and the team at Clever Fox couldn’t be more proud to create the AR effect for the band.
Music is not the only area that Clever Fox are taking opportunities with Facebook’s AR platform. The team have also announced the soft launch of their apparel label semiFamous which features original designed augmented by Facebook’s AR camera.
“What we do at Clever Fox is always about entertaining people,” says chief creative officer Dekker Dreyer. “Whether it’s seeing something we made being enjoyed by fellow fans of Devo or making clothes we want to wear, it all starts with a sense of fun. We’re not the first artists to put forward augmented apparel, but we have a unique style and voice. Our sensibilities are what makes us different. Right now we’re testing the waters, but we’re running it like a streetwear boutique. It’s design-driven. The AR should be something fun and extra that comes with the product, not the only reason to buy it.”
Clever Fox are also partnering with artists from outside of the immersive media industry to create unique apparel designs at semiFamous. The first released design from an outside collaborator is a pair of colourful legging emblazoned with a yowling cartoon cat. Created by illustrator Emmet Helen, known for the cover art on Oni Press’s Rick and Morty comics, it marks the type of partnerships that Clever Fox wants to grow with the semiFamous brand.
“We couldn’t have done this last year,” says Clever Fox partner Julia Howe. “We’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time, but getting people to download a new app is an uphill battle. With Facebook’s AR platform we’re already installed on most smartphones. As AR continues to grow the experience of sharing content will continue to improve. Each platform has a strength and right now Facebook is the best place for us to launch this kind of experiment.”
The Devo AR Facebook Camera effect is available to download from their official page and the beta site of semiFamous is also live right now. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest from Clever Fox in the future.
The idea was conceived by artist Dekker Dreyer who worked on a number of the projects previously mentioned. “This is such an important project to me. We feel so isolated sometimes. We’re afraid to express ourselves because of what the comments will say or what we imagine our colleagues or friends will think of us. Creating this alternate reality / identity where we can tell our stories in a visually powerful environment is liberating. I’m humbled to be able to help bring this experience to the Slamdance Film Festival. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a project being created during a festival with the participation of both audiences and filmmakers. Slamdance is an incredible creative community and I can’t wait to see how they bring this project to life.”