MPC VR launches HEROES, a duet in mixed reality, at Sundance Film Festival

Melissa Painter (MAP Design Lab) and Helios Dance Company partner with MPC VR to present: HEROES, A Duet in Mixed Reality, at Sundance New Frontier 2017. The project is a 2D, VR and AR dance experience set to the iconic song Heroes by David Bowie. HEROES was made with the support of Oculus, Unity Technologies, Nokia Ozo, AMD Radeon and HP.

The project takes participants inside the world of two dancers performing an athletic and intimate duet at the historic Ace Hotel in Downtown LA. HEROES utilizes traditional 2D film, an Oculus Gear VR experience, a Microsoft HoloLens AR experience and even the users’ voice and body.

“Collaborating with Melissa has been ideal for us,” said Tim Dillon, Head of VR & Immersive Content, MPC. “We are a VR studio looking to push into new areas, creating content inside and outside of headsets. We’ve put everything we know about craft and production to the test here. The piece has many components including 360 production, realtime build, augmented reality and experience design. Our team was involved in all stems of the production from the start.”

“Premiering this piece at Sundance New Frontier is a great way to showcase to a varied audience, both to savvy filmmakers and the indie community too,” Dillon added.

“I think many of us are experimenting in this space because we believe that these new kinds of experiences can and will change culture,” said Melissa Painter, Creative Director of HEROES and Principal at MAP Design Lab. “We have to decide together, as audience and creators, what works? What moves us? And how do we make the most of these incredible new technologies to support the value of story that Sundance has always stood by: to help us see our world from new vantage points.”

Recent press on HEROES includes:
Documentary
TechCrunch
The Verge
Refinery29
LA Times
Wareable