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    CBS Interactive Rolls Out Short At Cannes To Showcase VR’s Comedy Potential

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2163 Views
    Kenan Thompson in "Our Reality is Virtual."

    Kenan Thompson of "SNL" stars in "Our Reality is Virtual" produced by Studio 61 in tandem with The Uprising Creative, WEVR

    CANNES, France --

    One doesn’t normally associate virtual reality with comedy but CBS Interactive is looking to alter that perception by showcasing how VR can facilitate and enhance humor. The means towards that end is an original comedy short, Our Reality is Virtual, set to debut at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this evening as part of CBS Interactive’s annual partner presentation.

    Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson appears in multiple roles in the scripted short, using humor to showcase the fundamentals of virtual reality. Conceived in late April and shot in New York in May, it was produced by CBS Interactive’s Studio 61 brand (led by CBSi Media Group’s Christy Tanner) in partnership with integrated creative and production company The Uprising Creative and WEVR (led by Anthony Batt), with support from Kendall Ostrow from UTA.

    “We wanted to showcase for our clients how we can use virtual reality to combine creativity and tech for fresh, compelling storytelling,” explained Tanner. “The results exceeded our expectations. We’ve seen people shocked, scared and excited wearing VR goggles, but we’ve never before seen them laugh like they did watching Kenan.”

    “We’ve been producing and directing a lot of different VR projects recently, and having a chance to attend Cannes with this group of partners and present original work really represents a dream-team in action,” said Uprising co-founder Jeff Nicholas, who directed Our Reality is Virtual along with Jonathan Craven. “Together with Kenan, everyone at WEVR, and everyone from Studio 61, we created something that’s not only funny, but it’s also helping a lot of people better understand VR storytelling. We’re demystifying it a little bit.”

    Uprising has had other original VR content debut this week. On Monday, Fort Minor’s 360-degree VR “Welcome” music video premiered, and that also was directed by Nicholas. Both projects used similar production and postproduction workflows, featuring a custom 4-camera GoPro rig for capturing in 360-degrees. For the shoot with SNL’s Thompson in NYC, the directors also used a Sony A7S camera for principal photography, shooting in 180-degrees to capture two plates of talent and crew that were then stitched together for comic effect.

    Category:News
    Tags:CannesCBS InteractiveThe Uprising CreativeVirtual Reality



    Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta

    Friday, November 22, 2024

    The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.

    The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.

    The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.

    Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.

    Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.

    Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.

    Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.

    Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.

    The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More

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