Upstander Padlet

 

The 5 P's of making a VR animated short start to finish

Watch it on your VR QUEST. 

First-person POV and 360 YouTube

Upstander Development process using Real-time rendering and Animation to enhance VR.

Howdy 

I am sharing with you my production blog for Upstander, an award-winning VR experience that premiered at Tribeca.  I hope you gain insights into creating a VR film with Unreal, including how to develop workflows that enable faster work, utilize real-time rendering, and maximize the emerging technology.  Although Upstander is a VR experience, the processes and workflow can be adapted to a 2D render movie. 

Please check out the links below for more information:

• Proposal
• Preproduction 
• Production 
• Post Production 
• Promotion 

www.upstanderve.com

Creator's Statement

Filmmaker/Developer: Van Phan 

Upstander is an animated virtual reality experience that explores the trauma caused by social, verbal, physical, and cyberbullying—and asks a critical question: How can we be part of the solution, not the problem?

The narrative unfolds across a child’s school day—recess, class time, and after school—where backpacks represent the children in a school environment. What begins in the gym with subtle acts of social isolation escalates into repeated taunts in the classroom, a phone theft in the hallway, and the devastating experience of being locked inside a school locker. Inside the locker, the point of view shifts, immersing the participant in the overwhelming reality of cyberbullying. The story circles back to the gym, where the bystander must make a choice: stand by, or stand up.

While Upstander begins as a linear story, it quickly surprises the participant through creative use of timing, scale, space, and perspective—defying reality to heighten the emotional impact. Changes in POV, dynamic camera movement, and embodied perspective support the narrative arc while pushing toward a new visual language for immersive storytelling.

This is the first fully animated VR experience developed in partnership with the Oculus VR for Good program and the Diana Award. Its themes are especially urgent in a post-COVID world, where bullying and racial tensions—particularly targeting Asian and Black communities—have intensified. To further its social mission, the filmmaker has pledged to donate future proceeds from distribution of Upstander to anti-bullying charities.

Van is currently developing new VR projects and welcomes collaborations with those who share his passion for using immersive storytelling as a force for empathy, awareness, and change.

Key Image.

LockerEnd

This is the key picture.   Can we please edit it so it has a nice halo outline backlight and does not show the character and just suggest?

Can we combine these two pictures so it has a nice backlight from the edge of the character? We want it to be mysterious. 

Art imitating Life!

Art imitating life
During my last visit, I asked the Diana Award ambassadors to act out some possible bullying scenarios.   Learning about how their experience was invaluable as it helps us to empathize with the audience and grounds the experience.  The performance below by the Diana Award ambassador inspired a scene from the Hallway sequence.   Life influence art and art inspires life. 

Credits

PIVOT

Directed By

Van Phan

"Pivot" is a VR animated experience about bullying, and how we can make a difference. "Pivot," uses scale, time and POV to immerse the audience in the story that defies reality and pushes the boundaries of the medium.   How can we be part of the solution and not be part of the problem?  Pivot, in partnership with The Diana-Award and VR for Good, is aimed at reducing bullying in schools by raising awareness which may lead to action.

Filmmaker/Developer:  Van Phan
Non-profit:  The Diana-Award

FILM BEGIN

FILM END

Directed/Created by: Van Phan

Written by: Van Phan

Executive Producer: Amy Seidenwurm

Producer: Averie Timm

Impact Producer: Paula Cuneo

Impact Producer: Lauren Burmaster

Producer: Van Phan

Producer: Yelena Rachitsky

Producer: Alex Holmes

Associate Producer: Huan Huynh

Narration: Will Poulter

Music: Prashanth Srinivas

Sound Designer: Austin B. Conway

Director of Photography: Van Phan

Visual Designer: Duy Phan

Art Direction: Van Phan

Animation: Van Phan

Technical Director: Huan Huynh

Character TD: Ahmed Shehata, Van Phan

Pipeline Development: Van Phan

Graphic Artist:  Michael Armando

Post Production: Flight School

Powered by AMD

Production support: Radiant Images  

Game Engine:  Unreal Game Engine

Special Thanks:

Debbie Rosenbaum, Eliza Kern, Emil Rodriguez, Loren Austin Hammond, Brandon Oldenburg, Jessica Lau, Johny Ahdout, Courtney Dawn, Johnathan Ellicott, Brandon Boone, Taylor William, Julia Gibson, Jesse Ayala, Nancy Bennett, Ingrid Kopp, Jayisha Patel, Angel Manuel Soto, Ryan Horrigan, Li Goodiffe, Elsa Arnold, Mitchell Axon, Louisa Antoine, Ayrton Cable, Christian Allen, Tyler Hurd, Ebony Peay Ramirez, Leslie Pirritano, Michael Nguyen, Lan Phan

Dedicated to:  Mai Doan

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Previs/Prototype

This is a 2D prototype/previs for the  VR for Good AntiBullying





NO ANIMATION has been completed yet.
Animation Tests HERE

Please Help Stop Bullying

https://back2school.antibullyingpro.com/