Main Creator, team leader, production and pitch presentation
Cannes XR Challenge by Garage Stories 2020
Garage Stories and Cannes XR presented a competition to find innovative entertainment ideas that would respond to the post-COVID world and help foster new forms of audience engagement using emerging technology (VR / AR / AI / 5G). 20 ideas were selected to be part of the CANNES XR Challenge, where idea creators were paired with other professionals searching for new and exciting projects to participate in between May and June 2020.
The selected ideas were introduced in an incubation process, mentored by industry professionals such as Lou Doye, Rafael Pavón, and Samantha G. Wolfe, which would be presented to the hackathon jury, with professionals from companies such as Microsoft, Intel Studios, Atlas V, or Dreamscape Immersive. The 3 selected teams would have the opportunity to present their idea at the Cannes Awards Ceremony at the MOR (Museum of Other Realities) during the CANNES XR Festival and be selected to participate in the Cannes XR Festival in June 2020.
One of the main selection criteria was that these ideas respond to the challenges that the entertainment industry was facing in the COVID era and would continue to face for some time to come. Thus, I focused my thoughts on an industry I loved, the theater industry, which had been hit hard by the pandemic, given its physical, face-to-face, real-time nature.
The idea presented by PLAYFORMANX was one of the 20 selected among more than 100 proposals from different creators from all around the world to participate in the Cannes XR Challenge.
PLAYFORMANX- A TOOL AND PLATFORM FOR VIRTUAL THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES
WHAT IS PLAYFORMANX
PLAYFORMANX is a social VR tool meant to become a platform intended for actors and small theater groups, and their audiences. It will allow them to rehearse and set a stage to perform live as digital avatars. The show can be streamed to YouTube or Facebook Live or be experienced in VR.
PLAYFORMANX: A TOOL FOR TRAINING & THEATER PRACTICE
A fun tool to practice acting, improvisation exercises, and rehearsals. Useful for individuals but also universities and theater academies.
For individual use, PLAYFORMANX is a virtual reality-based tool to develop acting skills, allowing you to rehearse, practice improvisation and further develop your theatrical skills. Collectively, thanks to its approach as a remote collaborative and social environment, PLAYFORMANX can be used to work together remotely, co-create, do improvisation exercises, or even teach classes on theater skills.
PLAYFORMANX: A NEW TYPE OF AUDIOVISUAL FORMAT
PLAYFORMANX allows users to organize a performance in the online digital environment, allowing audiovisual effects to be added to the performance starring avatar actors in real time.
Different roles and features would be available for producers, directors, and performers to create a new kind of story and experience for both the audience and the creators.
For the second phase of the project, some outstanding creators would also be selected to work with them to create a play within the PLAYFORMANX tool and platform. In this phase, there would also be some beta testing by the users as the audience.
PLAYFORMANX: THE PLACE WHERE NEW STORIES COME TO LIFE
Finally, PLAYFORMANX will be the place for a new kind of storytelling to come to life on a virtual stage. These works will be experienced from virtual reality devices or a 2D flat screen and will have options for both interactive audiences and traditional passive viewers.
The shows will also have the option to be recorded and live-streamed to platforms such as Facebook 360 or Youtube.
Audiences will experience a unique show in a circular theater designed to break the fourth wall and all others.
PLAYFORMANX aims to become the largest online virtual stage for immersive theater-related performances.
CONTEXT, THEATER & COVID-19
Playformanx was born out of the theater industry’s need to find a new space in which to connect with audiences. Beyond a form of entertainment, theater connects us with our humanity, and thousands of professionals draw from this art to bring stories to the stage. Sadly, this stage has had to close its curtain due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19.
VALUE PROPOSITION: IMMERSIVE THEATER
VALUE PROPOSITION: IMMERSIVE THEATER
The art of theater can teach us much about ourselves since it studies and represents human behavior.
Theater deals with the social dimension of the human being, and therefore, it is elaborated collectively, co-creation being at its essence. It is the result of collaborative production and collective reception.
Our stage is circular because we believe in inclusion, in unity. We don’t want to be a window, we want to be a portal where people enter an immersive space where magic happens around them. We will break the fourth wall and all the others because we don’t want walls: we want participation, engagement, and inclusion.
TRAILER DE PLAYFORMANX
Playformanx was the collective work of several multidisciplinary minds that I had the pleasure of connecting with for the presentation of the project in just two weeks of work, including a small demo in VR.
It is a time for creative collaboration, communication, and connection, and through PlayformanX, technology, people, and arts will meet in a new way of living and creating the theatrical experience.
Verónica A. Rodríguez Pérez
PLAYFORMANX TEAM
Playformanx pitch deck is available upon demand
