#1130: Combing Mythical Metaphors, Environmental Design, & Volumetric Cut Scenes in “Stay Alive, My Son”

The Stay Alive, My Son VR experience is an adaptation of Pin Yathay's memoir of his survival of the Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge. Attorney turned immersive storyteller Victoria Bousis translated this book into a spatial journey that tells a broader mythical story contrasting the different symbolic phases of Yathay's mind and heart as he searches for his son that he had to abandon. It has some light interaction mechanics to gate the linear experience, created a number of exquisite and immaculate environments, and also includes some volumetric captures that are memory flashbacks that help tell the story of how he came to decide to leave his family behind during the genocide. I had a chance to catch up with Bousis at Venice Immersive to talk about her storytelling design process, but also how the invasion of Ukraine impacted their production and Ukrainian developers working on this project.