For Comic Con 2016, Within and Here Be Dragons partnered with Sam Esmail to bring his show Mr. Robot into virtual reality. Andrew Cochrane supervised post production stitching/cleanup, CG ceiling replacements, and a stylized dream sequence montage for Mirada’s portions of the 13-minute 360º video. The experience was ‘simulcast‘ in a specific synchronized time window across Within’s VR apps and at a live event at Comic Con, then shown exclusively at the convention in a recreation of Elliott’s apartment. The full video can be seen above, or click here to get options for seeing it on Cardboard, GearVR, Oculus, or Vive. There’s a ton of press on this piece available online, but here are a few notable articles:
- The Mr. Robot VR experience isn’t a gimmick — it’s true storytelling
- How the ‘Mr. Robot’ VR experience tells a tale that wouldn’t work on TV
- The Mr. Robot VR Experience, Storytelling, and the Future of Immersive Media
- Mr. Robot’s VR Simulcast Gets in Your Head
- Mr. Robot VR Experience Now Available
This was an ambitious project with a tight deadline, extensive photo-real VFX work, and complex motion graphics in stereo 360º video. Few VR videos are this length, and none to date have featured VFX at this scale. Mr. Robot VR builds on a progression of VR projects Andrew directed and supervised at Mirada, taking the CG set extensions of the Google Shop and adding techniques for handling moving cameras developed during The Strain VR and Michigan Football VR. While this experience is not interactive, many of the design approaches developed for GE, Jump, and USA Today came into play in creating the dream sequence for Mr. Robot.