Google presents two new virtual reality films

The Festival d'Animation Annecy, the world's largest festival for animated films, is currently running in France. Google's VR film team from Spotlight Stories is showing two new productions there.

Piggy the jogging pig

The interactive VR experiment is about a jogging pig that wants to steal a cake. What is special about the VR film is that viewers influence what happens with their gaze. Depending on where they look, they trigger different reactions in Piggy, such as amazement, anger, shame and hope. Because the piggy only dares to approach the cake when the viewer is not looking.

"Piggy consists of a series of classic cartoon gags, with the difference that the audience controls the timing," says co-director Jan Pinkava.

The VR film lasts about 3 minutes and is free of charge for iOS and Android and with Steam available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The following video shows how Piggy was produced.

Age of Sail

Age of Sail is the Spotlight team's longest and most ambitious VR film project to date. Set in 1900, the film tells the story of William Avery, an old sailor adrift alone in the North Atlantic. After fishing a mysterious young woman out of the sea, he finds new hope.

"This film is less stylised than Piggy. The audience should believe that the world is real and feel the dangers of a storm at sea and the excitement and vulnerability," says director John Kahrs. Kahrs won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2013 for his animated film "Paperman".

Only a short preview of the film was shown at the animation film festival. The finished film is expected to last ten to twelve minutes. The release date is not known.

More Google Spotlight Stories films are available at the official website linked. We have already reported on Back to the moon.

Source: Vrodo / Youtube