Category: Deep Dive

BEHIND THE SCENES: Deep Dive – production

The production of an experience realized through the use of virtual reality technology functions on the principles of production stages, appropriate for the realization of a classic film work. However, the properties of VR force the filmmakers to use non-trivial artistic solutions.

Three days spent in the mud and bushes on the banks of the Vistula River acquired a taste for adventure. Thanks to their commitment and passion, the team succeeded in their plan. The production was fully realized in the open air, so the weather conditions were crucial for recording the individual sequences in natural light. Working in this mode was a huge challenge, especially for an experience like this where the atmosphere of the location plays such a big role.

Time and budget conditions forced the crew to cancel two out of three planned shots in motion. For the same reason, on the last day of shooting, director Mi?osz Hermanowicz was forced to quickly change the staging of one scene, which had a great impact on testing all the narrative possibilities.

The physicality of the set (mud, bushes, no possibility to use vehicles), the difficulty of using power supply (limited to batteries and powerbanks), the uncertain weather conditions, all contributed to generating an appropriate world presented, creating great predispositions for an immersive experience. Production was the most intensive period, but also the shortest period of the entire project.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Deep Dive – post-production

Postproduction of VR experience, despite its small differences in relation to the final work on the classic film work, is much more demanding in terms of selecting the appropriate tools for the final treatment of the material. Productions created in virtual reality technique enforce the implementation of advanced methods, structuring individual elements into a complete work.

In its general assumptions, post-production is similar to classical film post-production. The size and weight of files recorded on the Insta Titan camera required much more disk space than in the case of a cinema production of similar size. Of all the operations involving this stage, the editing itself was the fastest. There were few changes in relation to the planned workflow.

The challenge was the rhythmization of each shot – the appropriate length of the shots was a condition for the proper reception of the work. The complexity of the presented world had a great impact on the length of the stitching process – a specific combination of images in the experience of virtual reality. The balanced musical composition was intended to emphasize the qualities of the story itself. During the sound post-production it was necessary to use post-synchrones – the audio part of the experience needed to be cleared of urban noise.

The cinematographer, together with director Mi?osz Hermanowicz, originally intended to make the image colouristically unreal while working on the final edit. However, the specific sequences introduced a sufficient sense of fictionality and the process did not require far-reaching changes. On the other hand, the lack of color standardization for VR goggle screens proved to be heavily impacted. The final image was calibrated image for the Oculus Quest 1 goggles.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Deep Dive – pre-production

The VR/AR Lab is an innovative initiative that, as part of the Visual Narratives Lab program, enables artists to cross boundaries in the realm of audiovisual language and thus contribute to the creation of original qualities in the field of new media. Deep Dive is an experimental experience at the crossroads of cinema fiction and immersive solutions inherent in virtual reality.

The aim of the project was to create a work that combines narration derived from feature cinema with the unique feature of virtual reality – the illusion of existence inside the world of fiction. Director Mi?osz Hermanowicz decided to verify his own concepts of narrative fiction against the VR experience. Together with screenwriter Marcin Grembowicz they created a story that assumed the presence of the future viewer at the side of the heroines. For this reason, physical surroundings and specific locations gained colossal importance. The director together with the second director, Artur Marchlewski, spent a lot of time documenting the so-called wild side of the Vistula River in Warsaw in search of the best spaces for shooting.

In parallel to the conceptual work, with the help of producer Joanna Banach, a casting call was organized, in which two actresses – Helena Gandjalyan and Magdalena Kuta – were selected to play the main characters. In collaboration with Yann Seweryn, a moodbook of the experience was also created. Then, the director and choreographer Eliza Rudzinska made progress on the concept of camera staging – the position of the future viewer. Mi?osz Hermanowicz – the originator of the project – created the idea of describing these assumptions in order to communicate with the production team under the form of a document called Presence List.

Progress on these elements (script, locations, moodbook, Presence List, actresses) were discussed and clarified at subsequent conventions organized by the VR/AR Studio.

Joanna Banach proceeded to organize a 3-day shooting schedule. She hired, among others, a make-up artist and a costume designer, with whom the look of the characters was refined. The biggest challenge for the whole team was the proper organization of the transport from one location to another, because the realization of each sequence required constant power supply.

In order for the director’s idea to be fully realized, qualities different from those characteristic of cinema or theater had to be extracted from the concept.