It was certainly one of the most eagerly awaited projects at this 2023 edition of Venice Immersive. The Italian event presented the world premiere of a new experience from Quebec studio Félix & Paul Studios… and their first in augmented reality! JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS is a fantasy tale presented on Magic Leap 2 that opens up a host of possibilities for truly interactive literature. Interview with Chief Innovation Officer, studio co-founder and project co-director Paul Raphaël.
Preamble: The SPACE EXPLORERS adventure and THE INFINITE
Paul Raphaël – The SPACE EXPLORERS documentary project began 7 years ago with the idea of following the space preparation program: the training, the astronauts… But all this eventually took on an unprecedented scope that led us to send a camera into space in 2018 to produce new episodes (in the end, 3 cameras on the ISS including one for the extravehicular sorties). This was the time we needed to forge ties with the various American and international space agencies. Our collaboration resulted in over 300 hours of rush footage, well beyond our expectations. This is certainly the biggest audiovisual project linked to NASA’s space program, covering the lives in space of a dozen astronauts – who are as much the subjects of our episodes as the collaborators in making them.
P. R. – The period of the pandemic was certainly a complex one for us, especially when you consider giving shape to a real traveling (and interactive) exhibition to present our 360 content to a real audience. SPACE EXPLORERS: L’INFINI is back in Montreal in its latest version, after a North American tour that drew over 300,000 spectators. The exhibition is regularly updated and adapted to suit the location. Its launch at the end of 2020 involved several confinements, but we were lucky enough to visit several cities in the USA: Houston, San Francisco… The aim is obviously to be able to duplicate the exhibition and send it to other countries, and continue to acculturate the public to virtual reality. We still have a large percentage of people who have never done VR!
P. R. – This first period of LBE production (in association with Montreal’s PHI Centre, which has been a partner for many years) has taught us a great deal, and we’re going to continue developing “large-scale” exhibition proposals that can accommodate our content. It’s a real opportunity to diversify our revenue possibilities outside platforms – which remain private operators, spaces where we don’t have a great deal of visibility. Today, we have a very satisfactory independent distribution model.
P. R. – The pursuit of all this space adventure obviously put the brakes on several other projects within the studio, but as fate would have it, Magic Leap also made a strategic pivot at the same time to relaunch itself. So when we returned to the development of THE STORYTELLER, they were once again ready to accompany us.
JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS, a first AR project for Félix & Paul Studios
P. R. – We’re interested in digital immersion, whatever the format (VR, AR…). It’s true that our background as filmmakers quickly guided us towards 360 video and the ability of immersion to capture reality. We therefore had a learning curve to arrive at more interactive experiences, with time for study and research to add layers of artificiality, 3D and visual effects to tell new stories. The place of the camera, editing, sound design, the density of the story… We had to understand all these parameters as well as possible to understand the place of reality and the virtual with AR tools. And then to get to the interactivity itself.
P. R. – In 2018, we set up a team within the studio to work on augmented or mixed reality, with JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS as our first project, which I’m making with my co-founder Félix Lajeunesse. It was developed in parallel with the L’INFINI exhibition, which in turn enabled us to explore ideas related to interactivity. For AR, we start from the premise that it’s a proposal close to virtual reality, with “transparent pixels” all around. We had to understand the advantages and shortcomings of these devices. We’re moving from total immersion to an alteration of reality, of our own physical environment. Without controlling everything, how do you create immersion? How can we justify the presence of characters and certain settings?
P. R. – That’s why the book was an ideal portal for THE STORYTELLER. It’s a suspension of disbelief that everyone knows and uses intuitively. With THE STORYTELLER, we designed the whole thing without interfaces or buttons. This is totally inclusive in our approach, enabling us to reach the maximum audience. The book brings the experience to life, not the other way around. And with a real physicality, when you have the work in your hands! It’s a totally different approach to VR and its controllers. Even the size of the book has been calculated to match the headset used, the Magic Leap 2, and its field of view. We also worked on scene contrast and projection brightness.
P. R. – We had to take this AR technology and push it to the limit in terms of what it could represent for us, but without “breaking” it or creating something difficult to use. JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS is as far as the technology could go.
P. R. – Félix and I are big fans of Jim Henson’s work. We were actually discussing another project, which never came to fruition, with his heirs when the idea of an AR project began to emerge. We told them about it, because we needed a short story similar to a fairy tale. Something that would touch as many people as possible, too! THE STORYTELLER was first produced as a TV series in 1988, bringing to life 9 stories in fiction and stop motion. Another project is currently in development with Neil Gaiman – who has become the narrator of our augmented reality version!
P. R. – THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS was therefore developed faithfully to Jim Henson’s work, but also by interviewing the scriptwriters who were writing the new adaptation. We wanted to pay homage to him, even without puppets. The characters are digital, but we worked to give them a bit of the same image – a bit more human.
P. R. – We had to avoid the “miniature animated film” look. Each page was designed as an interactive sculpture. There are elements of the story that move forward, but you can also take the train to really look at everything. Only then can you turn the page… Once again, we’ve taken the book as the starting point for the whole story. The first few pages are hand-drawn, with little depth. Then, gradually, the story takes on depth, and we worked sequence by sequence to find tricks on the scale and dimension of the scenes.
P. R. – We then met Magic Leap with a storyboard version of the project very faithful to the final version. Very little had changed. It’s fascinating to see that the experience that exists is really what we had in mind!
Books as AR distribution platforms
P. R. – JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS is the first augmented reality experience produced by Felix & Paul Studios, and should lead to the creation of an AR platform to offer similar content. We can imagine a gallery of stories, all based on the same medium. Anything is possible, and we’re looking for partners to develop this.
P. R. – We regularly work with brands and celebrities. But Félix & Paul Studios also produces original content, such as MIYUBI. SPACE EXPLORERS is an in-house project, and we’re working on future episodes that could move towards fiction. We’re always thinking about original content, but always with the idea of attracting an audience. That’s why working with well-known brands can often make things easier.
P. R. – Today, the studio rests on 3 pillars: VR cinematic experiences in online stores, augmented reality in AR or MR, and finally immersive exhibitions (LBE). There’s a global market with several branches, and we’re exploring them all. The arrival of Apple (and its premium headset) plus a very dynamic technological market support all the ecosystems linked to immersive – and the certain arrival of new investors to keep the momentum going in content production, but also the idea of more established platforms. It’s a good time for us.
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