The article was originally posted on CineClub 18 with 340 views.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/eE0RdjtoUj-cRvsIGisIYw
2019.05.03 Created by Jiexiao Ying
2019.06.12 Translated by Mei Liu 

Contributors: Hu Lejing, Jing, Caroline, Yang Yuwen, Ying Jiexiao

Tribeca Immersive has two units — Virtual Arcade (where the VR is, and very few AR works) and Tribeca Cinema 360. Make sure don’t select the wrong one. The exhibition takes place from April 26th to May 4th. It’s said to be the best VR exhibition in the U.S. The tickets are sold out. 

The goal of this article is to give recommendations to people attending the festival this year, to encourage the rest to come next year with a one-month advance reservation and to find and communicate with like-minded VR fans.

STEP 1: One month prior to the festival, log in to the website https://www.tribecafilm.com/immersive . Select Virtual Arcade, and select the time slot you want to participate in. 

*As of now, all the tickets have been sold out. Check out if there are tickets being resold in WeChat group “New York Film Club”.

STEP 2: Go line up at Tribeca Festival Hub (50 Varick Street, NY 10013) at least 30 minutes before the door opens. The staff will check your ticket and give you a green wristband. 

• The earlier you go to line up, the more likely you’ll get into the events of your choice. 
• We recommend wearing contact lenses instead of glasses — they make it easier for you to wear VR glasses and headsets, and reduce weight on the bridge of your nose.

STEP 3: Go line up on the 5th floor, revisit our guide by the rainbow, and pick the VR events you’re interested the most. Be prepared to go straight to the corresponding sites, enter your name and phone number to reserve a time slot. 

* Go first to the most popular ones, the longest ones, and the ones with very few spots. Otherwise, chances are slim for you to reserve a slot. 

The following are some reviews from the WeChat group “New York Film Club”, sorted by the ratings given by the WeChat group members, as a suggestion for people to reserve time slots. 

* Due to time limitation, we did not cover all events. We hope you can add more to the list. 

Wolves in the Wall: It’s All Over
USA | 20 MIN

Strongly recommended. I suggest to go to this first to reserve a spot. @Hu Lejing 

First of all — go line up early! For example, I arrived 30 minutes early to line up, and ended up being the 20th person (roughly) in line. When they opened, I ran straight to Wolves in the Wall to sign in, and I got the last spot. This event only has 1 spot per 20 minutes. I recommend this one the most. The visuals are very three dimensional and the experience is very interactive.   @Yang Minwen

I recommend this with my name! Overall, it takes on a child-like point of view with much sincerity. I appreciate works that keep an open mind and show respect to the fantasies from childhoods. (Spoiler alert) A little girl told me, mysteriously, that she saw wolves behind a wall in the cabin. She used chalks to draw me two hands to interact with her. I became her beloved puppet, taking photos for her, solving riddles with her, and helping her fight monsters. I even signed my own name at the end of the story: Lucy’s good friend ___. The whole experience was conducted in a cabin. The guide lady also acted in the world of the story, searching everywhere in the cabin for the VR headset. The VR experience became one with its setting. In the end, the guide lady even gave me a piece of a ginger cookie with strawberry jam. Why strawberry jam? You’ll know why after this experience.       @Ying Jiexiao

7 Lives
FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG, BELGIUM | 25 MIN

Recommended. Soft horror. Realistic visuals. Interactivity done artfully. @Hu Lejing

Against the backdrop of Tokyo, this work focused on the young people who ended their lives due to workplace harassment, familial pressure, and so on. In every short story, the viewer participated as the protagonist instead of the observer. This made it easy for viewers to empathize with the victims. Another commendable point: not only did it enable viewers to experience it from all 360 degree angles, it also provided equally engaging visual effects from every angle. In addition, viewers got to control their movement in the space by twisting and tilting their own bodies. @Jing

I actually feel like 7 Lives was not a great experience: the sets were very well made, probably the best I’ve seen. The plot felt forced and made with random combinations of sets. I think the experience could be better if they focused on making a good, short story. 25 minutes were too long… @Caroline

Reconstructed perspectives of victims of assaults, moments of falling into subway tracks, single life of an otaku — everything was so realistic. When my eyes looked to a direction, the perspective would follow. Very much like a ghost, floating with pure will. It’s a shame I didn’t study Japanese; I could only make out the dialogues by context, not knowing the actual details.  @Ying Jiexiao

Into the Light
USA | 25 MIN

Recommended! The whole work was accompanied by Ma Youyou’s Bach D minor No. 2 Unaccompanied Cello Suite. With headphones on, you follow a guide in the building of Tribeca Festival Hub, gracefully wandering around, scanning QR codes on handbags and walls, and observing the breathing, virtual statues on smartphone devices with AR technology. In the end, you get to enjoy the last chapter on a balcony outside.  @Ying Jiexiao

Bonfire
USA | 15 MIN

Mediocure. The plot was interesting. Very interactive. But it felt more like a video game instead of a film.  @Hu Lejing

My favorite part was that viewers get to interact with the movie characters with triggers. The experience felt like watching a film and playing a game with the characters at the same time.  @Jing

Gymnasia
CANADA | 6 MIN

Mediocure. Soft horror. The plot was incomplete. I thought Gymnasia had good sets, but it felt just like a stage. It’ll be great if they told a complete story there.  @Hu Lejiang

I like the Gymnasia. They created a small set that’s very interesting. It’s a bit scary. But afterwards, I felt it was actually lovable.   @Caroline

If we’re talking about unexpectedly bad experiences, I personally would say Gymnasia, the “ghost doll” flick. It was very short. I didn’t get some parts of the plot. It was purely visual to me.  @Yang Minwen 

Cave
USA | 6 MIN

Every screening of Cave had 16 slots (the most slots), so no need to reserve it in advance.  @Yang Minwen

The fact that every screening had more viewers was different from the other works. About 20 viewers sat together in front of a fire pit by a cave. The protagonist was a little girl. She searches for mother’s spirit in attempt to gain courage. The visuals of the film were whimsical and beautiful because the story contained elements like fire and spirit.   @Jing

I felt like Cave was mediocre. The sets and the story both were mediocre. I felt like their team was small. The setting of pre-historic humans was ok.  @Caroline

Like Wolves in the Wall, Cave played nicely with the setting it was conducted in. The viewers sat in a cave-like room, decorated with cave paintings. When you have the VR headset on, you get to see in real time the head movements of the other viewers. This challenges the idea that VR divides the viewers, and achieves a collective viewing experience. One of the creators, Ken Perlin, was a Computer Science major professor at NYU, and the other one, Sebastian Herscher, was a Computer Science PhD student at NYU.   @Ying Jiexiao

Drop in the Ocean
UK, FRANCE, USA | 7 MIN

Recommended. Education on seafloor. Promoting environmental protection. @Hu Lejing

After putting on the VR headset, the viewer stands on a huge, jellyfish-like sponge, entering the ocean. The whole experience resembles going into an aquarium. The visuals are fantastical and beautiful.  @Jing

I didn’t get very affected. However, I did get educated.  @Yang Minwen

Unceded Territories
CANADA | 6 MIN

Mediocre. Beautiful visuals, in the style of the Indigenous Indian people. @Hu Lejing

I put on VR glasses, and then the dinosaur headpiece, and fully realized the problem of wearing glasses. The weight was hard to handle for the bridge of my nose. I sprayed and painted with my paint above and under. The fossil kept bubbling up the ground, slowly dying the once colorful world black. The artists hoped to reflect the environmental and indigenous rights issues through the interactivity.  @Ying Jiexiao 

Dr. Who: The Runaway
UK | 13 MIN

Unless you are a fan, I strongly not recommend it. Like Demo, the visuals were good but the plot was bad and childish.   @Hu Lejing

War Remains
USA | 12 MIN

The reservation line was too long, so I didn’t get to see. I heard the artist reconstructed the most brutal fights in the west war line during the WWI. It proves that the most gruesome and suspenseful VR works get to attract people the most.  @Ying Jiexiao

Another Dream

It tells the story of a lesbian couple in Africa, like Wolves in the Wall, there are plot points unraveling constantly. There’s viewer interaction too. It was easier for viewers to feel viscerally present in the story because of the unraveling nature of the work. To be honest, VR works with only one set are weaker in that regard. Although in that one set, people or objects can come and go, the audience can still easily get tired and bored of the situation. It’s easier to capture the viewers’ attention if the situations or sets keep changing.  @Yang Minwen

Stealing Ur Feelings
USA | 8 MIN

Recommended! It is installed in a public space, and you can participate anytime. It is the equivalent of a video essay that’s equipped with AR face-recognition technology, to warn you about things like photo apps that collect a huge amount of data, predict your actions and control your consumption behaviors.  @Ying Jiexiao

 

影讯 | 翠贝卡电影节VR推荐&攻略

关注我们，通过电影结识异乡人，文艺活动不错过
贡献者：胡乐景，Jing，Caroline，楊旻雯，应婕晓

Tribeca Immersive分为Virtual Arcade（VR在这里！也有极少数AR作品）和Tribeca Cinema 360两个单元，别选错啦。展览的持续时间是4月26日至5月4日，据说是美国最出色的VR展，票已售罄啦。

本文的目标是给近日去看展的朋友做推荐，鼓励明年再来的伙伴提前一个月预约，寻找喜欢VR的同好继续交流。

第一步：提前一个月登录网站购票https://www.tribecafilm.com/immersive ，记得选择Virtual Arcade，确定参与的3h时间段。
*现在票售罄了，来“纽约观影团”看看有没有群友转票吧。

第二步：至少提前30分钟，在翠贝卡大本营Festival Hub（50 Varick Street，NY 10013）门口排队，工作人员会验票，给你带上绿色的纸手环。
*越早排队越能确保你签上喜欢的项目。
*近视最好能戴隐形眼镜，减少带不进VR眼罩的风险，降低鼻梁需要承受的重量。

第三步：上5楼排队，在幻彩霓虹里复习一下攻略，挑选你最感兴趣的VR项目，准备进门后直奔相关站点，输入姓名和手机号，预约时间。
*先去最热门的，时间长的，位置少的，不然肯定约不上了。

以下是“纽约观影团”群友的评价，按照好评度降序排列，供大家依次报名：
*时间有限，依旧未覆盖全部项目，期待你的补充

Wolves in the Wall: It’s All Over
USA | 20 MIN
强烈建议一进场就去预约。@胡乐景

第一要务！早点到排队。比如我，提前半小时候场，依旧排在第20位左右。准点放人进去后直接杀到wolves in the wall摊位前sign in, And I got the last spot. 因为这个项目只有1个位置，1次20分钟。最推荐的就是这个，画面立体感强+互动性强 @楊旻雯

实名推荐！整体是非常真诚的孩童视角，我喜欢项目对童年幻想保持的开放和尊重。（剧透可略过）小女孩神秘地告诉我她在木屋里观察到墙后有狼，用粉笔为我画出一双手，和她互动。作为最贴心的木偶人，我帮她拍照，和她一起解谜，帮她哥哥打怪兽，还在片尾签上自己的名字：Lucy的好朋友XXX。整个体验是在小木屋里进行的，引导的姐姐在故事世界里表演，为我翻箱倒柜找VR眼罩，戏里戏外融为一体，最后还送出一块蘸了草莓酱的姜味曲奇饼，为什么是草莓酱？去体验就知道了。 @应婕晓

7 Lives
FRANCE, LUCEMBOURG, BELGIUM | 25 MIN

推荐，轻微恐怖，画面真实，交互有艺术性。@胡乐景

以东京为背景展开，分别讲了因职场骚扰，家庭压力等结束生命的年轻人。在每个小故事里观影人都是以第一主人公而非旁观者的角度参与其中，因此观众能很好的代入受害者的感受。另外值得称赞的是这个作品的VR技术：每个场景不仅支持观众360度旋转观看，而且做到每个角度都提供丰富的视觉效果。再比如观众可以通过身体的旋转和倾斜角度来控制自己在空间内的移动等。@Jing

我其实觉得7 lives体验不太好：场景做的非常非常棒, 应该是看过的几个最好的, 剧情上更像是做了几个场景然后刻意拼接起来, 我是觉得更加专注做好一个小故事体验会更棒, 25min太长了……@Caroline

性侵事件受害人视角的还原，跌入地铁轨道的瞬间，宅男的独身世界，都太逼真了。眼睛盯着一个方向，就会往一个方向趋近，真是很有鬼魂的飘荡感，用意念行动。可惜没有学日语，对话部分只能感受情境，具体内容是个迷。@应婕晓

Into the Light
USA | 25 MIN
推荐！整个作品随着马友友演奏的巴赫《D小调第2号无伴奏大提琴组曲》展开，带上耳机，跟随着引导员在翠贝卡Festival Hub的大楼里优雅地行走，扫描手袋、白墙的二维码，通过AR技术在临时手机上观察呼吸起伏的虚拟雕塑，最后在露天阳台上欣赏最终乐章。

@应婕晓

Bonfire
USA | 15 MIN

中等，情节有趣，互动性强，但比较像游戏而非电影。@胡乐景

我最喜欢的是观众可以通过trigger和电影中的人物互动，整个体验更像是一边看电影一边和电影里的人物玩游戏。@Jing

Gymnasia
CANADA | 6 MIN
中等，轻微恐怖，剧情缺失。我觉得Gymnasia场景是不错，但是现在像是搭了个舞台，要是能在上面讲一个完整故事的话就更好了。@胡乐景

Gymniasia我蛮喜欢的, 创造了一个小的场景, 很有意思, 有点恐怖, 但是看完想想其实非常可爱。@Caroline

如果说“踩雷”，我个人不太喜欢那个“鬼娃娃”片子gymnasia，很短，有些情节I don’t get it，于我是纯视觉的东西。@楊旻雯

Cave
USA | 6 MIN
Cave的一次可以供16个人看（座位最多），不需要提前预约。 @楊旻雯

不同于其他作品的地方是每一场电影都有更多的观众。大约20个观众一起坐在山洞的火堆前，主人公是一个小女孩，她试图通过寻找妈妈的灵魂来获得勇气。由于故事中有火，灵魂这样的元素，电影本身画面做的非常灵动漂亮。@Jing

Cave给我的感觉是很一般啊…场景跟故事都比较一般…感觉团队人比较少, 史前人类这个设定还可以。@Caroline

和Wolves in the Wall一样，做到了内外场景的配合，观众们一起坐在装饰成洞穴绘有壁画的房间里，戴上眼罩可以实时看到其他观众的头部动作。这一点挑战了VR分割观众的说法，实现了集体观影。其中一位主创Ken Perlin是NYU CS专业的教授，Sebastian Herscher是NYU CS专业的博士生。@应婕晓

Drop in the Ocean
UK, FRANCE, USA | 7 MIN
推荐，海底科普，提倡环保。@胡乐景

观影者站在一个仿水母的大块海绵上戴上VR设备进入海洋。整个体验像是切身进入了海洋馆，画面很梦幻也很美。@Jing

我没有被效果震撼到，虽然有被教育到。@楊旻雯

Unceded Territories
CANADA 6 MIN
中等，画面美，本土印第安人风格 @胡乐景

带上VR眼罩，还带上恐龙头套，充分暴露了戴眼镜的弊端，真真鼻梁不能承受之重。天上地下，我挥洒喷射我的颜料，地面上石油直冒，渐渐染黑了原本彩色的世界。艺术家希望大家通过互动，反思环境问题和原住民的权益。@应婕晓

Dr. Who: The Runaway
UK | 13 MIN
强烈不推荐，除非是粉丝。类Demo, 画面精良但情节低幼@胡乐景

War Remains
USA | 12 MIN

排长队预约的地方，没看着。听说艺术家重现了一战西线最残酷的斗争情境，到底是最血腥最悬疑的VR吸引人。@应婕晓

Another Dream

讲一对非洲拉拉故事，跟wolves in the wall一样，有不断展开的故事情节，有观众互动，画面不断延伸所以观众比较容易有代入感。只有一个场景的VR电影坦白说代入感差一些，虽然那个场景里人物或者物件come and go，观众比较容易视觉审美疲劳。变换场景或者场景不断延伸更容易抓住观众注意力@楊旻雯

Stealing Ur Feelings
USA | 8 MIN
推荐！装置在公共区域，随时可以参与。它相当于一篇带有AR人脸识别技术的video-essay，警告你照相软件等人脸识别技术是如何收集大量信息，预测你的行为，控制你的购买的。@应婕晓