The international premiere of the animated piece FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME) at Venice Immersive 2023 was a success with the Venice crowd, which brought joy and music to Lazzaretto Vecchio. Its director, Marcio Sal, through FINALMENTE EU’s protagonist-the elderly, sad and emotionally engaging Mr. Saul, gives us a universal story told through an LGBTE-themed lens and tells us how liberating it can be to break down the boundaries the world impose on us and finally be ourselves.
It doesn’t matter whether you do it at 15, 35, 50 or even 80 years old: what matters is to be able to sooner or later live who you really are and enjoy yourself and your life, lightheartedly and with enthusiasm.
And from the reactions we could see at the festival – the most disparate of people, with headsets on their heads, indulging in dance and movement inspired by the Brazilian Carnival songs that accompany Mr. Saul’s liberation – we can say that the message definitely got through!
Where it all started: at the origins of FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME)
I have a background as an animator. I worked for 20 years for television and film as an animator and art director, and I have a production company called Ideograph. A few years ago, I discovered Brazilian queer music and fell in love with it-I started working on a documentary describing the queer music scene in my country, which is a big one and is becoming more and more famous in Brazil. I interviewed almost everyone who was part of it! The documentary was there to talk about the idea of liberation through an LGBT story, but making it universal, so that everyone could connect with this message.
But unfortunately, I was not able to finish that work because with Bolsonaro’s government, his hate speeches and the ensuing environment, Brazil went through a very difficult time for democracy and especially for the LGBT community.
Then the COVID pandemic started and things went from bad to worse. When I realized that the message was going to stay there, still, stuck, I decided to go back to my roots as an animator and make a project that I could finish with my own resources, but that would still tell the same message.
At that time I was already studying and researching virtual reality and had created two short works for marketing. In a way, the pandemic scenario was a strong motivation for me to create a personal and artistic project that would allow me to express myself freely. And that’s how Mr. Saul, my character, was born: to send this message.
So, in short, FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME) was born from the message that I wanted to tell and that was important for me to share.
Mr Saul: a character who shows his story in his face
M. S. – I love creating the characters, it’s the part of the process that makes me most excited because you can tell a whole story through the design of the character, through the way they move and are animated. You bring an imaginary person to life, but people will believe that they exist, that they act with their own head, and it’s beautiful!
The first thing I thought about was his feeling of being stuck, being shunned, and not being able to show his authenticity to others. So, the character’s state of mind was already clear in my mind, but at first I was drawing him as a teenager. When I realized, however, that he was an old man, I started drawing him all over again but keeping the same moods. The facial expression was kind of the theme for Mr Saul: I did not know his age, his profession, only his feelings. Because of this, I created a very strong character who can tell a lot of his story even through his design alone.
I actually did the test with some friends by showing them the character and asking them to tell me what they imagined his story to be. People gave me such believable answers! They described not only the sadness of his state of mind, but also the reason behind it: he is alone, he left his family, he lost someone. I really believe that when you have a strong character it becomes much easier to create a strong story.
FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME) was born from the message that I wanted to tell and that was important for me to share […] the idea of liberation through an LGBT story, but making it universal, so that everyone could connect with it
Music as an expression of the narrative and a symbol of liberation
M. S. – This story has many layers and music is one of the main ones.
I am Jewish and I wanted Mr Saul to be Jewish as well. I was listening to klezmer music for inspiration and one day a song started on Spotify that seemed to be talking exactly about my character but depicted him as an old man. The name of the song was actually The Old Man and it was a piece by the French clarinetist Yom. I just fell in love with that song, it was incredibly inspiring… the clarinet itself was the perfect instrument because sometimes it sounds like it’s crying, sometimes like it’s happy, and that was exactly what I was looking for. So I got in touch with Yom who gave permission to use the song, which became the theme song for the animation of FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME).
Besides inspiring the design of the character, though, music accompanies everything else in the story. The song I used, specifically, is Abre Alas, a traditional Brazilian Carnival music composed by a black woman at the beginning of the last century. It says “Oh, abre alas, que eu quero passar!” – open the way, I want to pass – and I just love it. It’s a very intense meaning.
Designing a work for VR: the role of animation and the possibilities for connection between characters and audience
M. S. – My background as an animator helped me a lot. But it was also a very important change for me, because it’s so different to create a plain animation from creating an animation in VR. The production pipeline is different and so are many other aspects… Yet my intention was to create a story to tell specifically through VR. I didn’t want to just use the technology for the sake of technology, but I wanted to use it as a language for storytelling.
I realized that and started from the interactions. For example, I chose that specific profession for Mr. Saul, who works in a bar, to allow the user to use their hands and interact with objects. But Mr. Saul is also a musician and that’s because I wanted the audience to play instruments. All the different layers that make up the characters started to grow through interactivity and so did the main layers of the story.
The story itself, then, was created inside a VR headset with a digital paintbrush that allowed me to draw the space all around: many of my decisions were made at this moment of creation. For example, the one concerning the revelation of Mr. Saul’s secret.
The character has a unicorn horn on his forehead that he hides with his hat. Initially my intention was to create a scene where someone takes his hat off. Then in the virtual space I created a mirror and used the character as a reflection in the mirror.
There I suddenly could feel the connection that is formed when you look in the mirror and see the character, and I realized that was the moment when the secret had to be revealed: not with the audience taking Mr. Saul’s hat off, but with the audience taking it off their own head while they are Mr. Saul watching himself in that mirror. A way of connecting with him, his secret and his emotions that I think makes the scene stronger and gives it more potential.
This is the power of virtual reality: it allows you to reach the audience at a deeper level by using immersivity and interactivity.
My intention was to create a story to tell specifically through VR. I didn’t want to just use the technology for the sake of technology, but I wanted to use it as a language for storytelling. […] All the different layers that make up the characters started to grow through interactivity and so did the main layers of the story.
M. S. – There is another scene that is important, talking about the creative process, and that is when Mr. Saul meets his new friend. Nobody till that moment has ever liked Mr. Saul, nobody has ever wanted to be his friend. And then one night a new customer comes in the brothel and he is the first person to talk to Mr. Saul, to interact with him amicably.
At first, this character, who symbolizes the spirit of Carnival, was just a spirit, not an actual person. Then, when I was modeling Saul’s bar and playing with the props, I drew a cup and and a character in front of me to toast with and that’s when I realized that I wanted to do that in the story too!
Interacting with digital characters is a new thing in virtual reality, after all. But it’s also something new for Saul. So, I decided to have this character, who remained a symbol of Carnival, go to Saul, so the audience could interact with him, and as it is magical for Saul so it is a little bit magical for the audience too.
The spirit of Carnival
M. S. – In Brazil it is very common to hear people say that they live for Carnival. I am one of those people! (laughs) I think I spend the whole year waiting for it to come and also preparing for it, because I play saxophone in many street parties that happen during Carnival. Carnival was the place where I found a way to be authentic. It is a time that helps people to be free because there is no stage, everyone is on the same level, rich mixed with poor, young with old, all genders and orientations. It’s a space of liberation! And for that very reason it is a key element in my story as well as the vehicle for Saul’s transformation.
M. S. – You see two different Carnivals in FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME): the 1919 one and the one that followed the isolation from Covid.
During the isolation I was really very sad about the way things were going. None of us knew when the next Carnival would be, when we would be together again. It was during that time that I started studying the history of Carnival, trying to fill this void that I felt inside. I discovered this very strong connection to the 1919 Carnival, which was the first Carnival to be organized after the Spanish flu. It was a very important Carnival in the history of Brazil, the first edition of the Cordão do Bola Preta , the most famous, largest and oldest street festival in Brazil.
That Carnival in FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME) becomes a dream of Mr. Saul, the only happy memory of his childhood and the only good dream he has ever had, which happens right after meeting this new friend. It thus becomes the first motivation for him to find the courage to break free. For this dream scene, I used many historical images of this Carnival precisely as homage.
On the challenges of working with immersive technologies
M. S. – The main challenge was related to the technological resources I had at my disposal. I wanted to create a six dof experience for a standalone device.
I remember that when I started, for example, people were very enthusiastic about Unreal Five because of what it did in terms of real-time rendering, because of how powerful it was. But I quickly realized that I had no way to take full advantage of those resources. My story was deep and very emotional, I didn’t want it to look like the first video games with low poly objects, I wanted a different realism. So I changed the plan and decided to opt for different tools, and I think that was the most challenging part for me to change.
There is a theory that says “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.” Well, I think I made a caipirinha with these limitations! (laughs) I decided to eliminate all the lights and create a hand-painted texture to convey the idea of light. And this choice obviously gave a new artistic direction to the work that makes it a little more original, a little more unique. That’s why I talk about caipirinhas: because with these limitations I was able to do more than what was actually my initial intention!
Carnival was the place where I found a way to be authentic. It is a time that helps people to be free because there is no stage, everyone is on the same level, rich mixed with poor, young with old, all genders and orientations.
In the future of FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME)
M. S. – I know that this kind of media is not so accessible to everyone, but we plan to visit other festivals-we have even already received some invitations right here in Venice. My intention is to reach as many people as possible and to have them know the message of FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME).
I want to do more in the immersive field, which is still so experimental. The exchange of knowledge, of stimulation at the Venice festival was incredible — to know other people’s creative processes, to be able to learn from them… My mind is bubbling with new projects! I have five or six ideas in different areas that I definitely want to work on!
Another interesting thing about the Venice Film Festival is that I almost feel part of a new generation of artists… I still remember when in Brazil, in 2019, I first saw Ricardo Laganaro’s A Linha and listened to his panel shortly after he was awarded the Best Immersive VR Experience at the Venice Film Festival. It changed my life and was an inspiration to create the work I brought here today.
And I am delighted that the audience loved this work. It is amazing to see extremely composed people letting themselves dance in the finale my work… I received a lot of positive feedback, and – the best part – a lot of hugs too!
FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME) is a VR piece by Marcio Sal, produced by IDEOgraph.
To learn more, check out the video presentation on La Biennale’s YouTube page and visit Finalmente Eu’s official website and Instragram page.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.