Cirque du Soleil and Felix & Paul Studios released the 13-minute 3D virtual reality experience KÀ The Battle Within and reported that O is in post-production during the Oculus Connect 3 developers conference in San Jose, Calif.
Available now for Samsung VR Gear before expanding to other platforms, KÀ is the second project in a VR production pact between VR studio Felix & Paul, Cirque du Soleil and Samsung. Based on KÀ, the martial arts-themed Cirque du Soliel show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, It was first previewed last month at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The third, based on the water-set O show, was shot last summer in Las Vegas and is currently in post-production (a late-2016 release is expected), while additional Cirque du Soleil-themed VR experiences are being planned.
Also at the annual Oculus developers conference, Felix & Paul will preview a clip from a planned 40-minute VR narrative, Miyubi, which is a collaboration with Funny or Die and part of Felix & Paul’s multi-project production agreement with Oculus. The scripted comedy is set in 1982 and told from the perspective of a toy robot.
Exciting news! We released a new #VirtualReality experience with @felixandpaul: #KA The Battle Within. Here's a glimpse of what you'll see. pic.twitter.com/HqYd0iynl5
— Cirque du Soleil (@Cirque) October 6, 2016
KÀ The Battle Within features horizontal and vertical choreography, performed on what’s billed as the world’s largest-moving hydraulic stage. To film the production, Felix & Paul attached its proprietary VR camera system to the platform in order keep viewers in motion as the action surrounds them, according to directors and company co-founders Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël.
“It’s a gravity-defying experience,” Lajeunesse says, adding that in working on the production “we realized the beauty and power in how to use [VR] to immerse the viewer in a different way. You feel more physically a part of the experience because you are moving in space with them.”
He said the experience includes portions of existing acts in the production, in addition to some new acts that were created with VR in mind.
That’s the same approach that Cirque du Soleil and Felix & Paul took with their previous collaboration, Inside the Box of Kurios, which was released earlier this year and won a Daytime Emmy Award in the outstanding interactive media, original daytime program or series category.
{ SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter, Cirque du Soleil | https://goo.gl/YbcM0l }
