The Virtual Melds With the Real in Chained: A Victorian Nightmare
Creative companies are exploring new innovative ways of combining virtual reality (VR) with real-world effects, such as Jeff Wayne’s The Musical Version of ‘The War of The Worlds’: The Immersive Experience which is set to open in London, UK next year. If you happen to live in Los Angeles however, then you may want to head down to MWM Immersive’s (Gnomes & Goblins) new experience, Chained: A Victorian Nightmare, which opens today.
Using both VR and real-world elements, Chained: A Victorian Nightmare a spine-tingling version of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, where guests find themselves at the centre of the story.
Presented inside a fully detailed Victorian-era set, the single-guest experience has one audience member at a time enter and fitted with a VR headset by a professional actor. They’ll interact the entire time with live actors (utilizing motion capture) and other tactile objects, confronting their own past, present, and future through a harrowing journey.
Chained: A Victorian Nightmare is the brainchild of Justin Denton creator of the immersive Legion experience at San Diego Comic Con 2017. To help bring the project to life it was executive produced by MWM Immersive’s Ethan Stearns, producer of the Academy Award-winning VR project, Carne y Arena, and co-produced by Here Be Dragons.
“By combining the best of VR and immersive theater, Chained surpasses the limitations of each medium and lets the audience see, converse with, and even touch the impossible,” said Denton in a statement. “I grew up with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol but in my mind’s eye I always imagined the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future as much darker and more intense than most adaptations. Audiences will walk away from Chained as though they have just awoken from a dark and beautiful fever dream full of self-discovery, fascination, fear, and wonder.”
“Chained embodies the creative drive and spirit of everyone at MWM Immersive,” MWM Immersive’s Executive Producer Ethan Stearns said. “It’s an experience that uses technology in the service of telling and experiencing a compelling story, not as a gimmick. At MWM Immersive we empower directors and writers to use whatever mediums are necessary to create the narrative experience they want to create and leave audiences delighted and awed.”
The experience is being held at experiential studio GreatCo (1655 Beverly Blvd), beginning today and running through to 6th January 2019. Tickets and further information can be found on the official Eventbrite page. For further events utilising VR, keep reading VRFocus.
https://www.vrfocus.com/2018/11/the-virtual-melds-with-the-real-in-chained-a-victorian-nightmare/
