This is, as the title should indicate, a big important post. Don’t worry. It’s not a “we need to talk” post, or an “I just spoke to the Doctor” post. It’s a cool one. An exciting one. It’s also one that is a little difficult to know where to begin. Firstly, you need to know about a person and you need to know about a thing. The person is this guy:
That guy is Doctor Abraham Campbell (Abey to his friends). Abey is a computer scientist currently lecturing in University College Dublin’s Chinese school in Beijing (UCD has a big campus) and probably Ireland’s foremost mind in the field of virtual reality. He’s also a buddy of mine. That’s the person. The thing is this:
In case you haven’t heard of it, that’s the Oculus Rift, the first real, high-quality, no-fooling, virtual-reality headset that is going to be commercially available for sale in early 2016. Now, there’s no way of knowing whether Virtual Reality is going to be just a weird little technological gimmick or a game changer like the smartphone. But we’re going to find out. Soon. This is happening. Abey, who incidentally is the smartest human I know by a significant margin, is betting on the latter. His goal, as he’s told me before, is that one day he’ll be able to hand a headset to someone in Sub-Saharan Africa that will contain an entire third level education. He’s also working on a holographic version of himself that he can broadcast to China so that he doesn’t have to leave home to teach his classes and yeah, I’m just going to play the music now.
So, why am I telling you all this? Well, because there’s no point in buying a SNES if there’s no Super Mario to play on it. The platform needs media.
Last year, the readers of this blog helped to fund Joanna, my play about a vigilante who savagely murders rapists as an avatar of the breakdown of civilized society caused by the betrayal of the social contract inherent in the justice system’s complete impotence in dealing with the crime of rape (It’s a comedy). One of the people who saw that play was Abey, and he approached me with an extremely exciting idea. Short version:
We’re turning Joanna into the world’s first full-length, mature virtual reality film.
This is potentially historic. This could, quite literally, be The Jazz Singer of the Virtual Reality era.
…
This could, quite literally, be the Steamboat Willy of the Virtual Reality era.
Much better.
Throughout the summer Abey, myself, our extremely talented cast and crew and our director Jeda De Brí have been shooting tests scenes and experimenting with how this whole thing works. I’ll be doing follow up posts where I talk about the challenges of filming in 360 degrees and what we’ve learnt but the short version is this; we are now ready to create something that is thrilling, terrifying, and totally unlike anything else you’ve ever seen. And what’s more, you won’t need an Oculus Rift to view it (although that will certainly give you the best experience). With a decent smartphone and headset you will be able to experience Joanna for yourself. How do you get a headset? I’m getting to it (told you this was a long post). Below you can see our Kickstarter video. The Kickstarter page hasn’t gone live yet so you guys are actually the first outside of the production to see this. (Oh, and there’s some guy we hired to stand in for me because Abey thought that anti-rodent prejudice might affect our ability to raise money and like a coward I listened).
Abey, Jeda, myself and our associated henchpersons have set up a Kickstarter page so that you can give us your money to fund this exciting endeavour. For as the Bible says, is money not the root of all evil? Better off without it, I say, we’ll take care of it for ya. And, as is customary, we will be offering rewards for donations. These are cumulative, with a new reward added to each level which I’ve put in bold. They are as follows:
Summit like this.
Snazzy. As. Bejaysus.
***
So yes. I’m asking you for money. And as usual, that can only mean one thing:
MOVIE DEATHMATCH!
On November 23 when the Kickstarter page goes up, I will post the 12 movies and TV series that have been selected to compete this year, along with a guide as to how voting will work this year so be sure to check in for that.
So. Yeah. I know it’s all a lot to take in. Also, please share this far and wide. Know somebody who’s interested in VR? This is a really inexpensive way to get their hands on some cutting edge tech, so let them know. Know someone who’s big into gritty female-led drama? This might be for them. Please help us get the word out make this as big as it can be. Any questions, let me know.
Thanks guys, Mouse out.
unshavedmouse 
Wow, this is really exciting! I feel as if I’m being made privy to the next best thing in technological innovation! Congrats!
Thanks man. Hopefully it takes off.
This really reminds me of the stuff Vi Hart has been working on for the past few years. I can’t wait to see where this takes you!
Thanks!
Awesome stuff, Mouse! Unluckily, I can’t support the project via money as I have none, but I wish you the best of lucks and I send you all of my good vibes plus some flying kisses (catch them before they escape). 😀
Grabs wildly.
Holy balls this is one of the coolest things I have ever heard of. This is an absolutely astonishing project and I am so excited to see the results. This could be really, really huge. I’ll be sharing this with as many people as I can once the Kickstarter goes live, best of luck to all involved in the project!
Glad to hear it!
This is quite the exciting news! Some real groundbreaking stuff being developed here. Congrats, man!
Thanks!
Aaaaaah! Congratulations Neil, how very exciting! It sounds like an amazing project! I’ll be sure to spread the word.
Much obliged!
Whether I would be interested in seeing Joanna depends on whether the protagonist is seen as justified in her actions or not. If the former, I can only despise it on principle.
I don’t know if telling you this is likely to affect how you feel: the story much more closely focuses on the best friend and sister of an assault victim who hire Joanna to go after the deceased’s attacker. But it comes with a price.
No. The movie doesn’t advocate for her methods any more than An Inconvenient Truth advocates for Global Warming. It says “This is the logical culmination of the path we are on. We need to do something before we get to this point.”
Wow. Just a couple of weeks ago I finally got myself a Google Cardboard to play around with, and now this. Serendipity!
I’m really hoping VR turns out to be as big a thing as it has the potential to be. We need more projects like this, just keep throwing ideas against the wall until something sticks and the tech enters the popular consciousness.
Who knows, maybe Joanna will be the thing to do it. And someday I’ll be watching The Cheesies (the VR equivalent of an Oscar, in honor of its first recipient being a mouse) on my hologramatic TV, and I’ll be able to say “I used to comment on that guy’s blog, back when he talked to maps and fought the Horned King”.
Seriously though, this is very cool.
The Cheesies. Classiest of all the awards
Step 1: Stick my grubby fingers into every aspect of your work and life.
Step 2: ?????????
Step 3: Profit!
Congratulations. As for me, I hope VR can help change education for kids who can’t read good and want to learn to do other stuff good too. Over the years I’ve tutored a few and this could really level the playing field for the bright-but-dyslexic among us.
Seconded. VR strictly for entertainment I have no interest in; however, if the tech can be leveraged to help educate people that “traditional” education doesn’t work for? That’s a cool concept.
…by the by, you really should learn voluntary shapeshifting, Mouse. Almost all the cursed beings I know practice it. And then you won’t have to worry about common anti-rodent prejudice.
Because I shouldn’t need to.
Don’t worry Mouse. No one will be using the “m” word so long as I’m around. Aside from Mouse that is.
Hi!
This is simply mind boggling! How big is this project going to be? Do you’ll have international backing?
Besides are there any videos of Joanna the play? and will the eventual movie have a theatrical release?
I will be releasing actual footage of the movie for you to view probably tomorrow. Theatrical release, no. It would literally be impossible to view in a conventional cinema. The screen would have to be a massive ball. How really depends on how the fundraising goes. International backers? Well, I’m Irish so any backers not from Ireland are international to me.
Isn’t that like 90% of the people who read this?
Holey crap, that’ amazing, man! I’ve actually paid off most of my student debt and have a decently paying job now, so I’ll actually be able to participate in the deathmatch this time around. It’d be awesome to see one of your works, and while I don’t think I’ll be able to afford an Occulus Rift anytime in the near future, I’d definitely love to support this step forward in technology. I dunno if I’d be able to handle Joanna though… I don’t handle violence well, whether it be movie, book, or videogame (there’s a reason all my favorite games are turnbased RPGs)
Is Joanna live-action or animated?
Live action. None of my friends are cartoons
Well that’s mean! *walks away slowly while playing Little Black Cube of Darkness*
I had to look that up. Man that poor cube.
You really should watch Wander over Yonder. It’s not like Gravity Falls in that it really is clearly just for kids… but it’s like Powerpuff Girls in that IT’S SO FUNNY AND PRETTY ERMYGOD.
I will check it out
We (by which I mean you and your pal) may well be standing on a watershed of history. My heartiest congratulations.
On an unrelated note, I remember Cracked doing an awfully hilarious photomanip of Steamboat Willie back in the day. Short version: imagine it mashed up with The Jazz Singer. Kinda.
Wow, I’m quite amazed! That’s about all I can say, I am amazed and super impressed and excited for you! Dunno if I’ll ever manage to dust off my wallet and send you some stuff (the local moths dislike clutter, so it tends to be on the empty side), but I’ll be sure to try getting the word out once momentum picks up! Contrats for the big break, this sounds stupendous!