From the forest floor to screen

Park your human perceptions and tune your brain to an animal’s senses. Buzz through the world of a dragonfly or swoop through the nighttime colour world of an owl. In the Eyes of the Animal is an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience that allows you to explore the forest and it’s occupants in a completely new way.

Pushing the web technology WebGL to it’s limit we created a world to accompany an experimental digital arts commission, it used Oculus Rift VR headsets to transport viewers into the sensory universe of a dragonfly, frog or owl.

ITEOTA 360 Experience

A.N.D. now for something completely different

Abandon Normal Devices (AND) are known for commissioning projects that, in their words, “challenge the definitions of art and moving image”. They encourage “new approaches to art-making and digital invention”, helping artists play with the possibilities of new technology. In 2015, they commissioned Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) to create In the Eyes of the Animal.

Working with Forestry Commission England (FCE), they put together a VR experience that takes place in the wilderness. It was premiered in Grizedale Forest and toured internationally at the Sundance Frontiers Festival, SONAR and the Blue Dot festival at Jodrell Bank. The Verge got it about right when they said, "It's like a slice of some hidden world where everything is beautiful and our senses don't work the same."

Supporting, not repeating

Few things excite us quite like experimental technologies, so when we were asked to provide a website to accompany the project, we pushed WebGL to it's absolute limit and produced a one of a kind immersive, multi-device experience.

Alongside creating a custom VR video player we also used the projects LiDAR scan data (for the non tech-geeks, that’s an ultra high-fidelity laser and radar scan) and created a series of bespoke 360-degree environments that made any laptop or mobile become a portal into a wild world of the animal’s. On top of this and in a more practically sense the site allowed anyone to find out about the project, the concepts that drive it, upcoming installations of the experience and view behind the scenes footage.