IDEATION
Upstander was made in partnership with youth charity The Diana Award and the Oculus VR for Good creator's lab, I was partnered with the Diana Award to make a 360 video experience to champion their anti-bullying message.
Oculus Creators Lab 3.0
Presenting our pitch at the Creators Lab summit 3.0 .
EMPATHIZE
The Diana Award Visit
During my visit to the Diana Award, the ambassador act out some possible bullying scenarios. Learning about their experience was invaluable and inspired several scenes in Upstander, helping to make it more authentic.
Art imitating life
The experience shared on the whiteboard inspired the pivotal locker sequence.
Making of….
Creator's Statement
Filmmaker/Developer: Van Phan
"Upstander" touches on the trauma caused by social, verbal, physical, and cyberbullying. How can we be part of the solution and not the problem? "Upstander" revolves around the periods of a child's school day, recess, class time, and after school and uses backpacks to represent children in a school environment. The bullying begins in a gym where the story unfolds with social isolation. The bullying persists in the classroom with repeated taunts from multiple perpetrators. It escalates into the hallway where the person bullied gets his phone stolen and gets trap in a school locker. In the school locker, the POV shifts, and the participant experience how overwhelming and relentless cyberbullying can feel. It concludes in the gym again, where the bystander has a choice to make. Will they be part of the solutions or part of the problem?
Upstander starts as a conventional linear narrative with extraordinary characters as it uses backpacks to represent characters. Upstander surprise and delight the participant with exploration in timing, scale, space and perspective to take advantage of the medium and defy reality. Changes in POV, camera movement and embodiment support the narrative arc of the experience as well as to explore a new visual language."Upstander" is the first fully animated experience in partnership with the Oculus VR for Good Program and the Diana Award. Bullying is more relevant now then every during COVID-19, as racial issues among Asians and Blacks has risen. To help create impact and be part of the change, the filmmaker will donate future proceeds from the distribution of Upstander to charity.
Van is currently in development a couple VR projects and would love to partner with anyone that shares his passion for immersive storytelling.