The Walt Disney Animation Studio has given us delightful short films such as La Luna, John Henry, and The Blue Umbrella. In fact, you could argue that some of these shorts are actually better than their full-length films.
So, it makes sense that Disney’s first foray into the VR world is with a short called Cycles. The film will hopefully impress viewers this August as it’s headlining the Association for Computing Machinery’s computer graphics conference (SIGGRAPH) in Vancouver.
This is the first VR film for both Disney and director Jeff Gipson who explains: “What’s cool for VR is that we are really on the edge of trying to figure out what it is and how to tell stories in this new medium… In VR, you can look anywhere and really be transported to a different world, experience it from different angles, and see every detail. We want people watching to feel alive and feel emotion, and give them a true cinematic experience.”
Cycles is inspired by Gipson’s personal memories of spending time and creating memories at his grandparent’s home and later having to move them to assisted living. The short focuses on the true meaning of creating a home and the life it contains.
Cycles – Coming to a VR Headset Near You
Gipson joined the animation team back in 2013 and has worked on films such as Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana as a lighting artist. Cycles was completed as part of a professional development program at the studio.
When working with VR, the whole team had to completely change their normal process. For example, when creating a 3D film, even storyboarding becomes difficult.
In the end, the Cycles team used Quill VR animations and motion capture with the help of artists who would generate sculptures or 3D models of characters. The short took around four months to create with the help of 50 collaborators.
To attract a viewer’s attention and guide their eye, the team got creative with the use of color saturation and light. Gipson adds: “VR is an amazing technology and a lot of times the technology is what is really celebrated. We hope more and more people begin to see the emotional weight of VR films, and with Cycles in particular, we hope they will feel the emotions we aimed to convey with our story.”
If you’re attending SIGGRAPH, make sure not to miss Cycles. It will join other films in the form of VR, AR and MR at the conference’s designated Immersive Pavilion. To register, visit the SIGGRAPH page.
Source: Press Release
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