GATE-D

The GATE-D software being developed is a first person choose-your-own-adventure interactive narrative “Application/Experience” based classic cyberpunk novels and films from Japan and US. This collaboration is a “Team” effort between producers/programmers from Japan and visual artist/filmmakers from the US.

The concept is an abstract homage to film-noir cyberpunk history, a “mash-up” of pop cultural references with characters based on Ryu Murakami’s novel Coin Locker Babies, classic sci-fi anime AKIRA, Tetsuo the Ironman, underscored with quotes and themes from influential writers like William Burroughs, Jean Baudrillard, Philip K Dick, and other sci-fi writers.

The process is to film the narrative using live action 360-degree video with Japanese actors (dubbed in English) within the backdrop of surrealistic modern Japan. “Unity Engine” will be used to develop the software for interactive capabilities, to "choose your own adventure" and compositing visual effects using Adobe After Effects. Some of the characters are played by professional cosplay actors.

CONTROLS: This software uses 360 degree multi-directional audio to guide the users attention with multi-stream narrative choice control using crosshair tracker(eye raycast) to “choose your own path”, indicated by flash light particles in the direction of the portal. It is recommened that viewers use headphones for better sound experience.

MECHANICS: Inspired by Japanese cyberpunk genre, American film-noir movies, sci-fiction writers, and contemporary art. GATE-D is a first-person perspective interactive experience story of KIKU, a High-Tech, Low-Life Salary Man who visits DREAM LAB, a underground virtual reality space to escape the mundane reality of everyday in modern Japan. KIKU meets MASTER D, a mad scientist who attaches a VR HMD on KIKU and journey begins. MASTER D presents KIKU with a mission to find DATURA, a chemical compound that can ease suffering and pain or destroy the world. Along the way, KIKU finds himself in compromising situations, and meets mystical characters that give guidance and advice. He is presented with various choices along his journey. It is up to you to decide the outcome of his destiny.

INNOVATION: This VR experience is filmed in 360Video and placed into Unity to take the user on a interactive "choose your own path" adventure enhanced with Adobe AfterEffects VFX. The method of production, storytelling techniques, and some of the visual effects are innovative and experimental.

THE COLLABORATION: This collaborative project was filmed in Los Angeles, USA and Nagoya, Japan. Produced by Mike Saijo/Jimmie Rhee, (creative directors) supported by voice over actors, and visual effects artists from Los Angeles. From Japan, Takashi Horinouchi (producer) and Makoto Kani (technical director) was supported by a team of programmers, actors, makeup, sound engineer and visual effects artists from Nagoya, Japan. The original musical soundtrack composed by DJ Philippe Autuori and Qu Izz in Berlin, Germany.

This film is dedicated to the hackers and survivors of nuclear radiation.

We are unable to get the link from global signing even we success uploading. So we decided to upload our apk to the third party online storage(expired by one week) FILE: Gate-d_StreamingAssets0.10submit.apk URL: http://19.gigafile.nu/e8684197faf7d0be78a4de5904951d6d5-0519

Built With

360hero
aftereffects
autopano
c#
cinema4d
customoculusplugin
finalcut
freedom360
gopro
kolor
logicaudio
nativejavavideodecoding
pro-tools
unity

Submitted to

Oculus' Mobile VR Jam 2015

Created by

I was responsible for 360 ° shooting and stitch in Japan.

We had the challenge Erasing the stitch line.

We, choosing carefully photographic point or standing position, adjustment in the stitching software, by performing the synthesis in after effects, has succeeded in eliminating the stitch line.

And I that I was able to meet a lot of new fellow, tells the greatest gratitude.

Kei Kamito
I was responsible for overall visual production such as visual effects, composite, and video editing (co-production with Jimmie Rhee).

There were also specific processes required to achieve 360 panoramic filming, including removing minute stitch errors and optimizing the video files for better integration with Unity.

As panoramic images are converted to 360 degree vision at the end, it was challenging to manipulate the images without causing unexpected stretches, lines, and motions, and the work often required me to estimate the final outcome seen in Oculus Rift.

This project gave me great insights in similarities and differences between conventional filming and 360 virtual reality.

Naohiro Hayakawa
I contributed this project as a leading Unity programmer.
I mainly worked on rearranging technical workflow, writing scripts, creating several Unity extensions(e.g ffmpeg front-end-GUI for Unity),and performance tuning on thermal throttling for stable/durable video playing.
I described the details on my blog in Japanese

http://izm-11.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/05/02/141139

izm izm
I learned a lot about the social, cultural, technological process of capturing live action VR in 360 degree video in actual space. Discovering What works, what doesn't work. It's experimental.

Mike Saijo
This is a collaboration between NAGOYA VR from Japan and a VR Production team in Los Angeles.
I mainly worked as a VR experiences director, who directs how effectively vision, audio and interaction can attract viewers. I learned about technological process how to shoot with 360 cameras and integrate videos with Unity game engine for producing 360 video experiences, and what we need for technical improvement and better experiences.
Working in cultural diversity made this project unique and learned a lot from such production style.

Takashi Horinouchi
I am a creator/producer for VR experiences contents in Nagoya, Japan.
yui onizuka
Tatsuya Kamada
kimiaki suzuki
Miharu K
Philippe Autuori
Yasuhiro Takagi
Makoto Kanie
Hyper NEET Creator
Jimmie Rhee
Seoul-born, Los Angeles-raised, UCLA-educated in film, TV and digital media. 10 + years experience in all things production/post.