Asad Aftab and Logan Wilkinson to Show Groundbreaking VR Film at Venice Film Festival

A groundbreaking virtual reality (VR) film-in-development recently earned Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) Master of Design students Asad Aftab and Logan Wilkinson a coveted spot in the Biennale College Cinema – Immersive (BCC-I) workshop in Venice, Italy.

The producer-director duo was the only North American team selected for the prestigious intensive, where they workshopped their upcoming film The Sound of One Eye Closing.

“We went to Venice for a week for a boot camp on immersive filmmaking where we were tutored by experts in the field,” Logan says. “We got to meet Biennale organizers and other teams from around the world, which was valuable.”

Since returning from Venice, Logan and Asad have begun fundraising toward production. Once completed, The Sound of One Eye Closing will screen in the Venice Immersive section of the Venice International Film Festival, an appearance which opens doors to other marquee festivals such as South by Southwest and Tribeca.

The BCC-I is an initiative of the Venice Biennale. A dozen teams were selected from a global pool of applicants for the week-long workshop. Participants receive mentorship from industry professionals and networking opportunities with an international roster of practitioners. Although the film was created outside of their regular studies, Logan and Asad say the processes and skills they learned from their MDes studies thoroughly informed the project.

The Sound of One Eye Closing tells the story of a young couple. As their relationship ends, the 360-degree video fragments into two — a move Logan and Asad call “split-180.”

“On one side, we see the main character who is heartbroken and suffering. On the other, we see what she imagines her ex is doing — living her best life, happy and better off,” Logan says. “Eventually, our protagonist begins using spiritual rituals and ceremonies to alleviate her pain. These rituals become more elaborate until she experiences a key insight that brings us back to a 360 perspective, symbolizing her healing.”

Viewers decide where to look, meaning each viewing offers a unique narrative experience. For this reason, the pair have carefully shaped their script to ensure the story remains coherent regardless of where a viewer directs their attention. This innovative use of split-180 in narrative cinema represents a first of its kind in immersive filmmaking.

“Everything is purposefully tailored to fit the concept and the experience,” Asad says. “The medium and story complement each other. And this is the first time anyone has publicly tried using these techniques this way.”

Too often, immersive technologies are employed to dazzle viewers without sufficient attention to a cohesive, compelling narrative, the pair say. But Logan and Asad are squarely focused on using VR to enhance an absorbing story.

“It’s a cinematic VR film, which is a relatively new field, and we quite literally are at the forefront of pushing that format,” Asad says. “So, no more games, no more clicking around, no waving your arms. Just experiencing stories.”

“I had a real resistance to VR, which is oftentimes perceived as something used only for gaming or a kind of cinematic gimmick,” Logan adds. “Our concept is interesting because the narrative is directly tied to the medium, expanding the capacity of VR as a tool for non-interactive immersive storytelling.”

Logan notes their approach was inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s 2014 film Goodbye to Language. As two of Godard’s characters walk away from a fight, the 360 view becomes blurry, leaving viewers to discover they can now see one character’s perspective with their left eye and the other’s perspective with their right.

“That was one of the key sparks for my idea to use split-180 to symbolize a relational break — how VR can provide the ability to literally split one’s world in two, a beautiful metaphor for heartbreak and loss,” she says. “It feels exciting to enter into dialogue with these different forms of media. But then to know we have the opportunity to screen our film at Venice and possibly other festivals is amazing. Both of us just love stories. We love movies, we love cinema, so this has been such a meaningful and fun challenge for us.”

Follow The Sound of One Eye Closing on Instagram to keep up with the project.