What if you can hear the thoughts of strangers?
Directors: Alexander Porter, Yasmin Elayat
- Premiere: Tribeca Film Festival
- Runtime: 10 minutes
- Year: 2017
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Blackout is a virtual reality documentary where New Yorkers share their own stories in their own voice. Blackout is a living document, an ongoing participatory project gathering stories of real people living in this city under today’s heightened political climate. Blackout aims to bridge social differences by illuminating the moments when our lives intersect in a space where those stratifications are most visible – on the New York subway.
Trailer
Blackout is an ongoing participatory, volumetric VR project gathering the reflections of real people living in today’s tense political climate through the lens of the New York subway. By creating a rotating, ‘crowd-sourced’ cast, Blackout addresses the impossible task of representing the extraordinary breadth of human experience in New York City. Each viewing of Blackout is different, surrounding you with a unique group of straphangers taking you to the places their minds go between destinations.
The experience is full room-scale virtual experience with a 1-1 physical installation. We built a train car installation, where a virtual pole matches a pole in the physical installation.
No two rides on Blackout are the same – every user experience is unique with a unique set of passengers.
Credits
Director: Alexander Porter
Co-Director: Yasmin Elayat
Technical Director: James George
Executive Producers: Jeremiah Joseph, James George
Producer: Mei-Ling Wong
Co-Producer: Hannah Jayanti
Story Producers: Cyndee Readdean, Stacey Holman
Design Director: Nik Hill
Branding Design: Michael Cina
Lead VR Artist: Pat Goodwin
Junior VR Artist: Jillian Morrow
Lead Developer: Mark Fingerhut
Graphics Developer: Kevin Watters, Matt Felson
DepthKit: Cory Allen, Kyle Kukshtel
Music & Sound Design: Antfood
Lead Editor / Interviewer: Hannah Jayanti
Editors: Matt Shilts, Giacomo Francia
After Effects Artists: Bil Thompson, John Harrison
Post Production Advisors:Juan Salvo, Ben Federman
Post Production Assistants: Natalie Cabrera, Supreet Mahanti
Watch the Making of Blackout
We had an open production process during Tribeca Film Festival with a volumetric stage set up at Spring Studios. We would capture new characters for the virtual train every day.
Select Awards & Screenings
New Media Fund Awardee
Tribeca Film Institute
2016
World Premiere
Tribeca Film Festival
2017
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