At the last NewImages festival in Paris, the Marketplace’s professional sessions featured the presentation of up-and-coming XR projects. Among these projects was Hsieh Wen-Yee’s LIMBOPHOBIA, the second part of a triptych (and a universe) that opened with its first chapter, LIMBOTOPIA, which was notably noticed at Tribeca 2022. Meeting with its author, and Sebox Hong, producer.
From LIMBOTOPIA to LIMBOPHOBIA
Sebox Hong – After the festival success of his first film LIMBOTOPIA, I wanted to join Hsieh Wen-Yee – an emerging digital artist on the Taiwanese scene – in the production of the second chapter, also a 360 animated film, LIMBOPHOBIA, for which we have already obtained the support of Kaohsiung Film Archive VR FILM LAB.
Hsieh Wen-Yee – I set up my own studio in Taiwan, for my own projects but also with other artists or studios. I’m very interested in dreamlike and science-fiction worlds. LIMBOPHOBIA is the extended chapter of the first chapter – LIMBOTOPIA, where the central character was trying to avoid the surrounding chaos. He was protecting himself from the outside world by staying locked up. Here, we will explore the outside world, and understand how to apprehend what is going on there. Dust, smoke, storms… will be the key elements, to form a overlapping world between virtuality and reality.
Sebox Hong – The creative process on the 360 films is different from the current trend in the XR industry. Wen-Yee works with animation software, and a frame by frame rendering, as opposed to real time engines. It is a will to go towards a maximum visual quality, in the purest tradition of the animation cinema.
H. W.-Y. – The two films are relatively independent, although they share the same universe and visual intentions. You can nevertheless experience the stories independently. There are some surprises for the viewer depending on the chapters (4 in LIMBOPHOBIA), with characters in the form of energy in particular, who can be revealed over the course of the films. The main antagonist of the story in LIMBOPHOBIA is a collective energy created by the society as a group of individuals. The exploration here is less linear than in the first chapter, playing notably on gravity.
Empowering the weakness
H. W.-Y. – We play on the audience’s feelings, in a very pessimistic science fiction setting. The sets are built around a volumetric intention produced by light and fog. It is a sensory experience above all! I wanted to reinforce the feeling of a city and a society that is falling apart. We go from a known and visible environment to less discernible spaces, which will push the spectator to question himself inside the emptiness. What destroys the city? Etc.
S. H. – It is a film where we discover the power to change things. Even when the surrounding world disappears. It’s a project about the self-conciousness of every vulnerbale soul in our societies, and the accumulated force from them that might cause an outbreak of destruction or self-destruction.. In the context of the recent news, it is a desire to embody hope – to show that we can regain control over what is happening in the world. And that every individual counts.
H.W.-Y. – Using the collective conciousness and individual one as the metaphor, this project can also referred to the disregard of 360 video when 6DOF, live performance, multiplayer experiences are considered the trend or even the future of VR content. However, when we talk about VR 360, especially animation, it has its long history echoed with the cinema history, and also the quality and finess are nonnegligible. It’s just an example from the industry, but the conflict between the strong force and the minority what I concent. Furthermoe, the blindness of following the trends brings the depravation and corruption, and could unfortunately leads to the doomed destruction of the future.
S. H. – Thus, those who don’t follow trends are considered as the outsiders, and LIMBOPHOBIA is a call-up for them, letting them know it’s time to act against the collectives for a possbile change of the status quo.
H. W.-Y. – Our main work is obviously in the design of the environment, mainly on light and sound. In mid-production today, we hope to finalise the film this year for a world premiere after the summer.
S. H. – We want to build a collection of experiences around these two projects, as well as two others (in 6DOF, multiplayer… this time) to be produced in 2024 and 2025, to propose events, exhibitions…
