IN TIMES LIKE THESE… , 2021

COLLABORATION | VR FILM & CINEMATIC FILM

In times like these…
2021
Alex Scollay, Jevon Chandra, Corentin Derbre, and Yanyun Chen
Supported by the National Arts Council Digital Presentation Grant
8 minutes 27 seconds

Two versions: Cinematic & VR MP4 File

In times like these... is an immersive cinematic and VR presentation that extends from a previous collaboration between computer graphics artist Alex Scollay and visual artist Yanyun Chen, on the exhibition False Truths at SEA Focus 2020 held during Singapore Art Week January 2020. The 8 minute visual landscape experiment is paired with sound designed by Singaporean artist Jevon Chandra, bringing the visuals from a temporal exhibition space into virtual reality.

In times like these... speaks to the strange times we live in, where the expressions of our senses are locked in deep isolation, where the abstract pulsates vividly in our cognitive presences, where intricate movements of colour, light and sound turn up their volumes, such that we are inundated by their slowly inching wilt towards death. The VR experience is one of slow-motion aesthetic implosions, that a viewer melts into the virtual at the eye of the cascading storm. VR theatrical experience is accessible by Oculus Quest 2 headsets.

Alex Scollay is a New Zealand born visual effects artist and designer. His career spans 20 years working in Hollywood and advertising, including work on the Star Wars, Marvel, and DC film franchises. He has been based in Singapore since 2014 and has begun to explore the collaborative use of computer graphics in art with Dr Yanyun Chen and other Singapore artists.

Dr. Yanyun Chen (b. 1986, Singapore) is a visual artist, and runs a drawing, new media and installation practice. Her works delve into the aesthetic, cultural and technological inheritances on one’s body, unravelling fictional and philosophical notions of embodiment, and are grounded in the physicality of human and botanical forms.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Linear 360 VIDEO

Codecs H264
Containers mp4
Bitrate max 60Mbs
Frame rate max 60 fps
Frame size max 2880 x 2880
3D One file Top-Bottom
3 Degrees of Freedom
Non interactive
Room scale 2m x 2m minimum
Immersive seated or standing

English language

Designed for Oculus Quest 2

AUDIO

Stereo: 44,1khz at 48khz encapsulated
No spatial sound

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2022 - Singapore International Film Festival Singapore Panorama (Asia Premiere), Singapore

2022 - Beyond the Curve International Film Festival “Best VR + 360 Film” for in times like these…, France

2022 - In times like these…, Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival Online Selection, Berlin, Germany

2022 - FIVARS Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories