Shamir Allibhai - Launch Pad - VR Stories (Formerly Choose Your Own (VR) Adventure)
Week 1
There is a story that is oft-forgotten in American history and in certain political quarters in DC. It is an event that was covert, well planned, and approved at the highest levels of the US government. A few hundred people died at the time and a government was overthrown. But this pales to the consequences which have reverberated over decades.
When many Americans talk about where their country’s relationship with Iran went astray they inevitably start at 1979, the Iranian hostage crisis where Iranian students overtook the US embassy in Tehran. If you ask Iranians, it begun in 1953.
Back then, a democratically elected prime minister had been elected, Mohamed Mossadegh. He was distraught at the condition of his people and the stagnancy. Hunger, poverty, and lack of education was commonplace. The country had little income and yet one of its key natural resources was being plummeted for pennies by the British. An oil company that came to be known as BP did not allow Iranians access to its books to see how much petroleum it was drawing and it maintained this lopsided deal by buying acquiescence through bribes to the King of Iran and his lackeys. The King and his men became very wealthy as did the oil company and the British government.
Mossadegh, with a nationalistic streak, sought to renegotiate the deal with the Brits. When they staunchly refused to compromise, Mossadegh nationalized the oil company. The King tried to intervene and dismiss him, but the people rose up in mass protests and the King instead lost his own power.
The Brits seethed at the loss. The Americans seethed at losing a pro-Western puppet. And so MI5 and the CIA conspired and orchestrated one of the shrewdest coup d’etats the world has ever seen through bribing Iranian newspapers and creating faux headlines that undermined the Iranian governments legitimacy to infiltrating supporter groups and paying people to counter protest. By the time the coup occurred, the Iranian people had no idea who was actually pulling the strings. It took years for them to unravel the ball of yarn and realize the CIA’s pivotal role in the overthrow of their democratically-elected leader.
That singular event reinstated the corrupt King and led to a 26-year period of corrupt, tyrannical rule. Many human rights abuses occurred and many people were killed by the government’s secret police. In 1979, the people had had enough of the King and his Western backers. This is where America starts its story of its conflict with Iran.
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I am seeking to tell the above story via a choose your own adventure mechanism where the viewer plays the CIA agent and his/her goal is to overthrow the Iranian PM in 1953. The viewer has to make choices to advance to the goal. An example would be “What do you tell the immigration officer when they ask why you are in Iran?” The viewer will then be prompted with three options which will lead to separate and distinct paths.
The story is a mild parody and a critique of US intervention to overthrow foreign governments with its long arc of repercussions.
This week I have written out the key elements of the plot and started to storyboard it.
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1. Firstly, irrespective of medium, this is an exciting and little known story with unique characters, plot and arc.
2. I am passionate to tell this little-known story, one which I believe is important to understanding the USA’s relationship with Iran, how we got here, and maybe, how we fix it.
3. As a director/producer, I can see how VR will be a fantastic medium and the right one for this story.
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Style for this video:
I am considering a film noire style of live action supported by some historical/archival footage. I may also green screen the actors and shoot with volumetric production, import into Unity and design the scenes there.
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360 video experimentation -
This week I tested how 360 video looks using the Samsung Gear 360 camera. One of the videos I shot was at the golf driving range whereby you could see the golfer and follow the ball to the grounds. The following the ball part failed. At the speed of the ball, the lack of contrast (white ball in sunny setting) and low res of camera (apparently it does 4K but still not enough), you can't see the ball within a few feet of the tee. Granted, this is a consumer camera. I'd love to try on a procam.
Also I find the lack of depth of field frustrating at the moment with the 360. I need to explore alternatives in the coming weeks.
