VR Project
2024
"The Elephant" is a VR short film.
At the age of 25, I underwent my first ultrasound scan, a moment that inspired the creation of this film.
As the doctor applied a cold, sticky gel and pressed the ultrasound transducer against me, I saw my body in a completely new light.
This experience sparked a journey to explore my relationship with my body, delving into questions about pregnancy, bodily changes, and personal agency.
Through "The Elephant," I aimed to visually and emotionally confront these inquiries, inviting viewers to contemplate their own connections to their bodies. Additionally, I sought to advocate for regular health screenings, particularly for breast cancer, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing self-care despite any discomfort associated with medical procedures.
Collaborating with Shaool Levy, who oversaw animation and storyboard development, was a pleasure. Together, we had the opportunity to refine the film through the "NEXT LAB" workshop in Madrid. Furthermore, we were fortunate to receive a grant from the "Gesher Film Fund" & "Keren Makor" to expand the project into a comprehensive 2D and VR experience. co-created with Shaool Levy.
When Gali goes for her first breast ultrasound, she feels uncomfortable.
She literally detaches herself from her breast, hoping to escape the exam.
To her surprise, she and her breasts are swallowed into a fantasy world.
In this world, she is trying to escape her breasts as well as the exam but finds out she cannot leave until she becomes whole again.
Style exploration
while creating this film I had in mind the conflict of the character, the scary ultrasound room and the imaginary world.
This conflict gave me an idea of creating the room as as cold space using geometric shapes.
The imagination world is colorful and built with round shapes and breast like shapes.
Main Character
Pregnancy scene
This scene is really special for me, and was created in a different process than the rest of the scenes.
The other ones were created straight up in VR, but this scene was first animated in 2D, searching for the right imagery and tone.
Reference & Animation
We created short video clip to use as reference for the animation,
You can see me (Daniel) here playing as Gali in a variety of scenes.
From 2D to VR
I'm happy to share with you our work process,
We went into the process without any knowledge in VR, and had to work really hard to create our own creative workflow.
This is part of the scenes design process after having a full storyboard.
1
First, Shaool created sketchy lines in Quill, a VR program. The idea was to test people's attention in the 360 space,
see where they are looking at and how we can get them to notice whatever we need for the story.
2
Then, I Took a screenshot of the main space of the scenes, and drew it in Procreate (a 2D software in iPad).
I kept a constant stream of consistency of colors at each scene, making sure they feel connected.
3
Eventually, I took the Procreate illustration back to Quill as reference.
We could check the framing at each point in time and adjust the colors easily.