Category: Eliza McNitt

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The Wonder of the Universe Continues to Amaze in Spheres

Humanity has always had a wonderful fascination with the stars and the universe around us, enamoured with the sheer vastness and danger that lays in wait as we learn and take ever deeper steps into the darkness of space. The subject makes for perfect virtual reality (VR) material, with some of my favourite content taking place in space, whether it’s educational like Overview or purely fictional and entertainment-based such as Downward Spiral: Horus Station. The latest to catch my eye was a VR experience – not a videogame – called Spheres.

SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime screenshotSpheres isn’t one but three VR shorts all written and directed by Eliza McNitt, with each one featuring a different narrator. The first chapter, Chorus of the Cosmos, has the vocal talents of Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), the second chapter, Songs of Spacetime is narrated by Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar) and the third, Pale Blue Dot, features American singer-songwriter Patti Smith.

It was thanks to Sphere’s debut during the Sundance Film Festival that helped to propel it into the spotlight, with CityLights purchasing the VR experience for an undisclosed seven-figure sum, breaking festival records. This was what drew my fascination for Spheres, could a VR short about the cosmos really be worth all that cash, because someone obviously thought so, and to that end is it worth spending $10 on.

I love that fact that VR content isn’t just about videogames. Titles like Allumette are just as enjoyable to sit back and watch as those with interactive elements such as Manifest 99. Spheres certainly falls into the latter category, giving just short moments where you can touch planets or alter sound waves. While these moments help you understand and further connect you to the content, it’s the visual and audible elements that truly amaze and inspire.

SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime screenshotYou don’t have to be a fan of astronomy to appreciate what McNitt and PROTOZOA Pictures have created, as all three pieces employ a viewpoint that unique and barely addressed in other titles, and that’s sound. This gives Spheres a mesmerising soundtrack that doesn’t solely rely on orchestras and traditional musical scores. It’s about the harmonics of life, from the beginning of the Big Bang to the way elements react together to form waves indiscernible by our own senses.

But Spheres is every bit as much a visual feast as it is an audible treat. The designs or the planets, solar system, galaxies, and black holes are a joy to behold. A personal favourite – and likely for many viewers – comes during Songs of Spacetime as part of the black hole sequence. I won’t spoil it too much but it was certainly worth a second watch straight after the first.

While the content isn’t overly long, for the production values and talent on offer I don’t see the price as being unreasonable. If you’re all about VR action then I’d probably give it a miss. Spheres is one of those titles that may entice the casual consumer but I can see it getting a far better reception as an interactive piece in a museum for example. If CityLights could get Spheres into places like the UK’s National Space Centre – which has plenty of school-friendly educational exhibits – then it’ll go down a storm.

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Award-Winning VR Space Experience ‘SPHERES’ Lands on Rift

SPHERES is a three-chapter space experience from Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures and writer/director Eliza McNitt that takes you on a trip through a universe filled with sound. Once featured at film festivals the world over, including Sundance and the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Prize in VR, the experience is now available on Oculus Rift for $10.

You’re taken on a breathtaking journey through the universe where you’ll play with the full gamut of electromagnetic waves, start the big bang with a tap on the center of the universe, and witness a visual feast of the planets as they sing out in a choral reverberation. Simply put, SPHERES is a gorgeous example of attention to visual detail mashed up with poetic voice overs that illustrate how our solar system, while seemingly devoid of life outside the confines of our planet, is not a silent or still place.

Image courtesy Oculus

While not only a visual and audio treat, haptics play a big part too, as your Touch controllers oscillate from different vibrational pithces when you point them towards planets which reveal their magnetospheres, or when you play with the beginnings of the universe’s cosmic microwave background, displayed as undulating red light.

The Oculus Store page for SPHERES rates it as a ‘comfortable’ experience, although that advisory isn’t wholly true for the entire 40-minute duration of the three chapters done all at once. A few times I had to shut my eyes so I could find my footing again, as I was taken close to black holes that whip dying stars into a fast-paced light show, and flew through the universe in a largely black void without a strong point of near-field visual reference to keep me surefooted. Most of the twisty turn bits on your tour through the solar system are fairly slow and deliberate though, so it stands to reason that most people will be fine for a single 10 – 12 minute chapter in a single session. That said, I never felt the dreaded sim sickness sweats, only a slight disorientation from the experience’s sweeping gallivant through space.

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While it’s an awesome feat of sound engineering and VR development prowess, I found it wasn’t entirely adapted to the home user. Each chapter comes with a lengthy intro and credits roll that seem more at home in an expo demo space rather than in your living room or home office. At moments I just wanted to stop, sit and listen to the universe sing, but SPHERES pushes you along at its own pace, presumably to get you in and out of each chapter under the 15 minute mark. That’s ultimately my only gripe with SPHERES.

Here’s a quick summary of each chapter:

  • Chapter I: Chorus of the Cosmos – Planet Earth sings. Our solar system becomes a musical instrument as we discover the Universe through sound. Narrated by Millie Bobby Brown.
  • Chapter II: Songs of Spacetime – Dive into the heart of a black hole to uncover the breakthrough discovery of gravitational waves. Fall into the darkness, and you will find the light. Narrated by Jessica Chastain.
  • Chapter III: Pale Blue Dot – The Big Bang was silent. Then came sound. Travel from the edge of the cosmos to uncover the strangest song of all. Narrated by Patti Smith.

SPHERES was one of five Oculus-funded experiences to debut at Sundance this year, and while it celebrated success there among festival-goers, the experience was ultimately purchased in a staggering “seven-figure deal” by distribution firm CityLights.

The experience is said to launch on other platforms besides Rift at some point. Check out the trailer below from the second chapter, Songs of Spacetime.

The post Award-Winning VR Space Experience ‘SPHERES’ Lands on Rift appeared first on Road to VR.

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VR Series Spheres Takes Oculus Rift Viewers on a Cosmic Journey

During the Sundance Film Festival in January, virtual reality (VR) series Spheres broke festival records when it was purchased for an undisclosed seven-figure deal by CityLights. Now Oculus Rift users can see what all the fuss was about, with Spheres now available for purchase through Oculus Store.

SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime screenshot

Directed and written by Eliza McNitt, executive produced by PROTOZOA PICTURES’ Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel and produced by Jess Engel, Arnaud Colinart, and Dylan Golden, “Spheres is inspired by the idea that space is not silent—in fact, it’s actually full of sound,” McNitt states.

The three-part series world premiered at the Venice Film Festival with the debut of the first chapter, Chorus of the Cosmos, narrated by Millie Bobby Brown. The second chapter, Songs of Spacetime, world premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, takes viewers into the heart of a black hole and was narrated by Jessica Chastain. The third chapter, Pale Blue Dot, journey’s from the edge of the cosmos, premiering at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was narrated by Patti Smith.

“It’s been a dream to collaborate with this team to bring Spheres to life,” said writer and director Eliza McNitt. “This experience makes the invisible Universe visible as you become the cosmos. I’m thrilled to release Spheres on the Oculus Rift and transport you to worlds beyond our own.”

SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime screenshot

“We at CityLights are excited to share SPHERES on the Oculus Rift platform after the amazing feedback it’s received since it first premiered at Sundance,” said Joel Newton with CityLights. “It’s just the beginning and we’re now looking forward to what’s to come in NYC this coming January at its first residency.”

The complete series of Spheres can be purchased through Oculus Store for $9.99 USD. For further updates on the project, keep reading VRFocus.

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Inside Sundance Hit ‘SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime’ with Director Eliza McNitt

eliza-mcnittSundance New Frontier had a solid line-up of VR experiences this year with a number of immersive storytelling innovations including SPHERES: Songs of Spacetime, which takes you on a journey into the center of a black hole. It’s a hero’s journey that provides an embodied experience of the evolution of a star from birth to death with a poetic story written and directed by Eliza McNitt, narrated by Jessica Chastain, and produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures.

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SPHERES made news for being acquired for a 7-figure deal, and it represents a unique collaboration between science and art. There were a number of scientific collaborators including the National Academy of Sciences and physicists who study black holes, and so the VR producers had to come up with creative interpretations of mathematical descriptions of the edges of spacetime that push the frontiers of our scientific knowledge.

I had a chance to sit down with McNitt at Sundance in order to talk about the inspiration for this project, her journey into creative explorations of science, the challenges of depicting gravitational lensing in Unity, what’s known and not known about black holes, how listening to gravitational waves for the first time inspired the sound design, and crafting an embodied hero’s journey story in collaboration with Protozoa Pictures. The acquisition deal by CityLights was secured on Kaleidoscope’s funding platform, and includes this first chapter shown at Sundance as well as two additional chapters yet to be produced, and will be released later this year by Oculus.

Here’s a promo for SPHERES produced by Sundance:

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Oculus-funded VR Experience ‘SPHERES’ Sold at Sundance in “Seven-Figure Deal”

SPHERES, a three-chapter space experience from Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures, was just bought by VR finance and distribution firm CityLights in what Variety describes as a “seven-figure deal.”

While the respective companies are remaining mum on the exact price of the acquisition, the Variety report maintains the deal was in “the low- to mid-seven figures.”

Songs Of Spacetime, the first chapter of Spheres, debuted at Sundance as a part of Oculus’ five funded experiences.

Written and directed by Eliza McNitt, Spheres is an experience that explores sound while taking you to the heart of a black hole. Speaking to Oculus in a recent ‘VR Visionaries’ profile, McNitt called Spheres a story about “the human connection to the cosmos,” and how we relate to the sound of the universe—gravitational waves.

“…as I dove into research and the science behind the project, I learned that the discovery of gravitational waves won the Nobel in physics, so that was a huge part of the development of this project. I wanted to capture the most cutting-edge scientific discovery, and, in fact, that was this idea of sound. The title is inspired by the ancient philosophical theory called the Music of the Spheres, that predicted that celestial bodies created a form of music—and we truly did prove that with the discovery of gravitational waves.

Spheres is also packed with talent, with narration by Jessica Chastain (The Martian, Interstellar, The Zookeeper’s Wife) and music by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of electronica band Survive (The Stranger Things theme song).

“We’re incredibly excited to work with Eliza and the entire team on Spheres,” CityLights co-founder Joel Newton told Variety. “The ambition and generative nature of the vision for Spheres perfectly fits with our mission to bring content to broader audiences and showcase the types of experiences only VR can deliver.”

Spheres is slated to arrive on Rift in the coming months, with a launch on other VR platforms to follow.

The post Oculus-funded VR Experience ‘SPHERES’ Sold at Sundance in “Seven-Figure Deal” appeared first on Road to VR.

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Explore The Pale Blue Dot With Upcoming VR Experience

Sharing its name with a famous speech by scientist Carl Sagan, which in itself was inspired by an iconic image recorded by the Voyager 1 space probe, Pale Blue Dot is an upcoming virtual reality (VR) experience created by Eliza McNitt, and is designed to help people gain a new understanding of the universe and Earth’s place in it.

McNitt previously produced a VR experience set amongst the stars, releasing Fistful of Stars in 2016, a VR experience that let users on Google Cardboard experience the life cycle of a star in the distant Orion nebula. The new experience goes even further, taking users on a grand journey from our solar system out into the vast reaches of the universe.

“Pale Blue Dot is a journey of home: Viewers begin in our solar system and go deeper and deeper in interstellar space to the edges of the cosmic horizon, but ultimately, they look back at our pale blue dot and realize how small we are in the grand scheme of things,” McNitt said, “It also shows us how important it is to take care of this place and each other because this is the only home we have.”

McNitt says she wants to encourage the wonder of exploration, allowing VR users to explore the virtual world with only a little bit of guidance: “Sound design is a really critical piece of the experience because it shows you different parts of the world that you wouldn’t otherwise discover,” McNitt explained, “For example, if you have something visual over here but then suddenly the sound of something magical comes in over there, it draws your attention away, and you’re captivated by this new part of the story.”

McNitt and her team are also incorporating an unusual interactive element where users help develop the music score: “Even though there’s no sound in space, each planet has a very unique plasma wave that emits its own song. We wanted to bring that to life,” she said. “Through Pale Blue Dot, we wanted to craft an experience that gives you the opportunity to take the song of each planet and craft a chorus of the cosmos.”

A firm release date for Pale Blue Dot has not been established, but it is expected to be released some time in 2018.

VRFocus will bring you further information on Pale Blue Dot as it becomes available.