Marta Balaga “Alex Honnold: The Soloist” and “Glimpse” were awarded at Cannes XR x VeeR Future Awards on May 22, named best VR story and best VR interactive experience respectively.
The winners were announced by jurors Zhang Ziyi and Bad Robot’s Hannah Minghella, who judged 18 shortlisted VR works alongside Michel Reilhac, Vicki Dobbs Beck, Kari Skogland and Doug Chiang.The event, marking the third year of the partnership, took place online on a shared metaverse called “Alexandria,” created by Cannes XR and NewImages Festival.Directed by Jonathan Griffith, two-part series “Alex Honnold: The Soloist” follows the famous rock climber and the star of “Free Solo,” using the latest VR panoramic shooting technology. “That’s how I fell in love with VR straight away: it’s the best way to bring people into our alien world of climbing,” Griffith tells Variety about “the absolute passion project” of his career.Also behind “Everest VR: Journey to the Top of the World,” he decided to “go bold” this time, getting rid of superfluous voiceover and music.“In five years, we will all look back and go: ‘Why on earth did we ever use voiceovers in VR?
That was horrible!’,” he jokes.“It creates a disconnect, because that’s how you know that whatever you are seeing has happened already.
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