Satore Studio – Cosmos Within Us
Digital Characters
CAMERA was proud to contribute digital characters, using our proprietary animation technology, to Satore Studios’ Raindance award-winning VR production Cosmos Within Us directed by Tupac Martir. Martir’s team, who’s production won the Best Immersive Experience of the Festival this month, visited the CAMERA studio where actors wore a Vicon Cara headset with 4 video cameras. These were used to track markers strategically placed on their faces. The team at CAMERA used an in-house facial motion capture solver algorithm to match and blend a library of face shapes to fit the changing marker positions. Rubin Shah at Satore noted that “we worked with CAMERA as we knew they could deliver the motion capture that was required for the production to be delivered in the vision we required.”
This story draws us inside the mind of Aiken, a 60-year-old man desperately trying to hold on to his childhood memories. Aiken suffers from Alzheimer’s – and his struggle is one against a dwindling mind, against time, against final loss. Cosmos Within Us is a unique technological story-telling experiment which blurs the boundaries between VR and performance. Through a combination of state-of-the-art tech, immersive soundscapes, scent and touch, the piece explores the intricate connection between memory and the senses.
As Aiken wanders through the spaces of his past, they shape-shift as if in a state of constant re-construction inside his fragmented brain. He re-lives time spent during summer holidays with his beloved little sister, Lily, and meaningful family moments – but those fond memories feel tainted. There is something at the very back of his consciousness, concealed in oblivion, waiting to be re-lived and re-felt. This is the one memory he’s trying to forget.
Alzheimer’s does not discriminate. This piece was created to deliver a sense of hope and understanding to anyone affected by this very common and devastating disease. With advancements in VR, we strive to remember the forgotten. After all, Memory is all We Are.
During an interview with xrmust Martir described the drive to “create Cosmos Within Us because we wanted to direct and produce an ever-encompassing performance. Without giving too much away, it gives us a freedom that wouldn’t exist if we did it any other way. This project it is the closest thing to a theatrical VR performance… something we don’t believe has been done before.”
Cosmos Within Us is an a_BAHN and Satore Studio production, with the support of Film Fund Luxembourg.
With thanks to Satore Studio for use of images.