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Shamir Allibhai - Launch Pad - VR Stories (Formerly Choose Your Own (VR) Adventure)

therealvr
Protege
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.
45 REPLIES 45

ic3sixtycarol
Protege
Hi Shamir, this is a great story.  Two VR experiences  come to mind that you may be interested in seeing: the Giant VR experience, which was green screened with actors, though not shot in 360, just with a regular camera and the rest of the VR space created in CGI. I loved the experience for it's haptics (the seats were wired for sound), and this very moving story! But, some people I've talked to were not impressed, perhaps because it was not 360 or stereoscopic footage of the actors? Anyhow, it's worth checking out.  Also 1979 (Iran Revolution), which premiered at Sundance, was game-play based VR, all CGI.  

Looking forward to hearing about how your incorporate video in Choose Your Own Adventure, the story Iran and the world since1953, and on how you develop this. thanks!

therealvr
Protege
I just looked up 1979 Revolution - WOW - looks awesome! Thanks for the suggestion to check it out; will revert back once I have. Giant VR sounds interesting and hope there will be a screening in SF soon.

tricartceline
Protege
Great story Shamir! I remember you told me about it during lunch at the bootcamp, I was amazed! I'd be happy to help if needed! Let me know! Can't wait to read your next post!

Best,

Celine

aleemhossain
Expert Protege
I continue to be excited about this project! I think you're going to explore a really interesting tension... the format of a choose your own adventure really encourages the user to make choices that lead to the successful completion of a mission but the mission, in this case, actually results in some disastrous outcomes. It reminds me a bit of how we often root for bad guys in certain films. We know they are bad but we love seeing them succeed. 

I also think that this format is, as you suggest, a great way to expose people to a part of history that is often overlooked. And there are obviously opportunities for future "episodes" using other events.

therealvr
Protege
Week 2

Been traveling copiously, with infrequent internet access, yet the subject of VR is frequently on my mind and coloring my experiences (for good or for bad! :smile: ). I will try and post the past weeks' updates over the coming days. 

@ic3sixtycarol Thanks - I bought the game - very cool and definitely shares similarities with my ’53 project. Here are a couple of shots and see the end of this post for questions that it generated as it relates to my endeavor:


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re: 1953 story
I spent most of the week researching and reading (the good ole fashioned way - speaking to people and books and libraries), mapping out the key events that lead to the overthrow.

Fun fact:
Did you know the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt Jr, was a key CIA operative in Iran and instrumental in overthrowing the PM there?

Key plot points:
  1. 1951: UK has an oil extraction deal which is imbalanced and tipped in their favor (plus the Iranian king is receiving kickbacks); UK refuses to renegotiate the deal.
  2. April 1951: Iran nationalizes the oil, against the wishes of the Iranian king, at the behest of nationalist Mossadegh; UK is angry and they coax the US into being angry too. Mossadegh becomes PM.
  3. May 1951: UK warns Iran of serious consequences.
  4. Aug 1952: President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill made a "final" offer for oil settlement
  5. Mar 1953: Mossadegh rejects offer.
  6. Mar 1953: CIA determines Mossadegh is not in American interests and begins drafting plans
  7. Apr 4, 1953: CIA Director approves a budget of $1,000,000 which could be used by the Tehran Station in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadeq
  8. May 13, 1953: CIA and MI6 draft plans for a coup, which involve getting pro-Western King of Iran to have full control of country and removing authority of the PM.
  9. July 1953: US President and UK Prime Minister approve plans.
  10. July 1953: CIA intensifies propaganda effort to undermine the gov. incl planting stories in newspapers.
  11. Aug 15, 1953: Coup begins, falters and fails: PM appears to be in complete control. Shah (King) flees Iran.
  12. Aug 18, 1953: CIA pays protesters to pretend to be part of PM’s party and commit violent crimes, thus public is horrified at the PM. Protesters on the other side are also hired to show-off the strength in numbers of those demonstrating against the PM. Almost everyone is being manipulated and no one knows the CIA is behind it all. 
  13. Aug 19, 1953: Climate of anger and distrust of the PM is set. Another coup begins and this time succeeds. CIA releases $5M to new gov. Mossadegh is arrested.
For my story, I suspect I will start at #5 and give #1-4 as backgrounder to the viewer such as in some conversation between CIA agents.


True agency or the Illusion of it?

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The 1979 Revolutions game allows you to choose responses and certain actions. For example, when you (the photographer) are arrested and sitting in Evin prison, your interrogator asks you questions and you can respond with one of 4 responses. Depending on what you select will lead to if you get beaten (and how hard) or not. But I wondered (and it was raised in a critique of the game) how much influence I really had on shaping the story. I think I actually had less influence on the game’s arc than I originally thought. This is important for my story too: is it 'choose your own adventure' to give you (the viewer) true agency or the illusion of it? If you give people true agency, does this endeavor quickly spiral into a massive project with much too many variables? Can I give the user true agency and yet keep the project scope narrow? Will the overall story and what I am trying to do get lost? How accurately should I veer to the actual sequence of events?

Thoughts welcome. 

aleemhossain
Expert Protege
Great questions about the reality/illusion of agency. Sort of a side thought but: I think the default assumption should NOT be that giving just the illusion of agency is always bad thing. I haven't played the 1979 game... but it seems to me that offering choices that actually have no impact could be an awesome artistic choice if that's part of the point you're making. I sometimes feel like there's a bit of a narrow point of view on what a gaming experience should be...

DrSzilak
Expert Protege
One significant question is how you actually put the historical reality into this. Assume the people playing know nothing. How to get this information across in a way that is not didactic? You might look also at Oscar Raby's Easter Rising which you can watch for free on Gear via BBC. There a good and bad things about it. The presentation of historical information is disruptive for one, but it is aesthetically beautiful and has some great user engagement moments..

therealvr
Protege
@aleemhossain yep agreed. what kind of gaming experiences do you prefer? why? i'm into first person, more prob solving rather than rapid firing with the biggest guns 🙂

@DrSzilak good q - i have been exploring dispensing nuggets of background only when needed without becoming burdensome (in theory, i will only know in practice once i do a hands-on test) and assuming the viewer knows nothing. i am doing this via short dialogue, say, between the CIA agent and his boss in a briefing meeting. Or an actual newsreel (from that time) that plays on TV or a BBC World Service radio broadcast (again, actual clip from the archives if I can find/they still have). 

will check out Oscar Raby's Easter Rising

therealvr
Protege
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