Michael O’Callaghan of the University of Ulster has developed a VR experience and short film, created from a single pipeline, exploring the possibilities of VR and game engine technology for animation studios. The Future Screens NI R&D-funded project looks at the different considerations, benefits and downsides of the joint approach in the case of a small film and a small studio. As a film, Shell hopes to explore themes of grief and bereavement through a surrealist lens as a dark dream like journey into a stricken mind.
Shell is a story written by O’Callaghan (previously of Oaken Studios) and produced both as a short animated film and as a Virtual Reality narrative experience. The project delves into the various benefits, downsides, costs and considerations of implementing game engine technology into an animated film pipeline (Unreal Engine in this case). Beyond this, the project sought to understand the process of developing VR narrative and consider how easily this can be done alongside the production of an animated film to potentially create two products from a shared pipeline.
As a film, Shell explores themes of grief and bereavement in a surrealist manner by delving into a dark nightmarish visualisation of the mind of a recently bereaved character. Here O’Callaghan and his team explored how the grief has punctured a hole in the characters mind and see the darkness that resides there. Rich with metaphor and subjective meaning, Shell illustrates the internal damage and change suffered by the bereaved and examines how this impacts their manner and how it may affect those around them. By exploring this kind of world and subject in VR, the project hopes to determine if VR as a medium can help to truly better immerse viewers in its narratives and incite a greater emotional response relative to the film equivalent.