Immersive Cocoon and The Making Of
Posted by Charles
Keir Dullea encounters a mysterious object, in a scenario reminiscent of the penultimate scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey that he appeared in over forty years ago.
For the 2001 : A Space Odessey fans that we probably all are, the faux trailer or commercial, Immersive Cocoon. This piece has been out for a while, but I recently came across the Making Of video. It really gives great perspective on not only how this was made, but the large amount of CG work that was done in the piece. Have a watch of Immersive Cocoon above, then the Making Of below.
12 Comments Leave A Comment
Cornelius says:
March 29, 2012 at 7:10 amI’m having trouble ‘getting’ this. I don’t really get what it’s trying to convey or simulate? And why did it take 2 years to make?
Huge fan of 2001:A Space Odyssey btw, but other than a very average exercise in motion tracking and compositing I’m not sure why this was made or what the big deal is.
Can someone enlighten me?
Jakub says:
March 29, 2012 at 8:13 pmWhat chair is he sitting at the beginning, the swivel?
Jonathan says:
March 29, 2012 at 9:01 pm@Cornelius,… my thoughts exactly! The compositing was just not convincing me at all. I don’t know if it was the lighting, the keying, or the footage was not color corrected properly (lighting on footage just looks really different to me than CG), but something was really off. There was nothing brilliant about the concept. It just felt like a student exercise inspired by Kubrick’s work. I don’t get it.
Jonathan says:
March 29, 2012 at 9:14 pm…the execution on the CG was pretty good though. Sorry if my comment above sounded like I was ripping the work. I’m just confused my this post.
oz says:
March 30, 2012 at 12:52 amThanks for the post Charles, stumbled across your blog a couple of years back, nice to see it posted.
oz says:
March 30, 2012 at 12:53 amCornelius, regarding your query…
It’s a faux commercial, a teaser enticing one to (hopefully) discover more about the Immersive Cocoon future concept. The Immersive Cocoon offers a different way of interacting with computers, a surround visual/aural space in which your entire body becomes the interface, providing unique applications.
As to the 2001 connection – I saw the cocoon representing an evolutionary jump in how we could at times interact with computers; symbolically equivalent to the black monolith’s instigating evolutionary jumps in humanity. The museum style uplit baroque room from the film seemed ideally suited to showcase this design with its fusion of baroque and futurism, old and new. And when I first saw the Cocoon design it reminded me of the space pod in form crossed with the mysterious black monolith in texture.
oz says:
March 30, 2012 at 1:05 amRegarding the time involved:
Despite the lengthy credits and invaluable contributions from others, outside of the shoot itself, I personally handled the lion’s share of the work.
From modeling through rendering, previsualizing, editing, writing contracts, becoming a SAG signatory production once Keir was onboard, insuring the production, dealing with rights clearances, attaining equipment & building props, and so on. All on a limited budget that was not conducive for this type of production and required a lot of workarounds. The shoot was also rushed (had to film another actor last minute with Keir due to clearance issues) and the setup did not make for an ideal post situation involving digital sets.
If you check out the video descripton on Vimeo, there’s a link to a making of interview PDF. Plus there’s a VFX making of section in film stills at i-cocoon.com.
oz says:
March 30, 2012 at 1:09 am@Jakub: The chair is the Auckland from Cassina, designed by Jean-Marie Massaud.
Jonathan says:
March 30, 2012 at 8:39 amThanks for clarifying OZ. I think reading “trailer” on the post threw me off. I was expecting it to me more about the character than the product. Now that I know that its about a product idea it actually makes this post fascinating.
Anon says:
March 31, 2012 at 9:21 amIt’s cool. I suppose it doesn’t need to be meaningful or anything. I’m looking forward to actual immersive technology like this, too.
Anon says:
March 31, 2012 at 9:24 amReminds me, I need to watch 2001 sometime…
Treresa says:
July 25, 2012 at 5:12 amCiao sono nuovo mi sono registrato 2 min fa.Mi sono letto i cnetmomi di vari argomenti . Che dire alcuni sono un p sempre troppi ottimisti.prima di dire bello o brutto aspettiamo di giocarci