I have never dropped acid and gone to Disneyland but I imagine that the experience would not be too dissimilar from watching the following 360 video inside a virtual reality headset. The odd, performance-art style production combined with the Disney-fied fairy tale visuals adds up to a truly memorable immersive production.
I’ll give you a moment to emerge from all of that wonderful strangeness. Ready to continue? Okay lets go.
If you need a guide to the artsy display you just witnessed then perhaps the film’s official description will be of use:
“[Welcome to The Tea Party] surrounds you with the iconic characters from Alice In Wonderland mythology dancing in full swing as Alice navigates the chaotic, stimulating, manic environment attending her first tea party thrown by the Queen of Hearts in 360, featuring acrobats, dancers, stilt walkers, and more.”
The film was shot on the recently announced Kodak Pix Pro 360 camera and is cited by the creators as being an “early example” of the camera’s capabilities. These early capabilities do not look all that impressive, however. Resolution limitations and overall fidelity has been a concern of 360 filmmaking since its inception. The choreography, colors and costumes are all engaging, but the weak resolution hurts the overall experience. Streaming at HD, and even 4K, resolution options did little to mitigate this problem.
Tea Party‘s actual production quality, however, can be credited in large part to its creative team. The film was produced by Filmatics VR — an immersive film company known for emphasizing artful content over action or vlog style pieces. This particular video was directed by David Ley, adapted from his immersive Wonderland-themed experience, “Alice: Curiouser & Curiouser” which ran at The Act in Dubai. The show is currently Dubai’s longest-running theatrical production ever.
Right now, 360-degree cameras and hardware are often targeting the action sports set that GoPro segmented years ago. However, films like Tea Party are proof that immersive media can, and should, feel free to get weird every now again.
