yondr academy podcasts

Today’s podcast is a fifteen-minute talk with Siqi Chen, CPO of Sandbox VR. Sandbox VR has recently received 16 million dollar funding, which is the largest amount of fundraising that’s been into VR since the original Oculus company. Listen to what Siqi Chen has to say about the expansion of the company, why China has taken a big leap in terms of retail experiences in shopping malls and why narrative is becoming more and more important in the experiences they offer.

Canaan Rubin, currently with Iconic Engine, but most recently Executive Producer with Jaunt VR in London, shares his path from broadcast television to immersive. Despite the differences between the two mediums, Canaan reveals the important common requirement to getting good work produced.

Kaleidoscope’s René Pinnell is a humble man, but he gets positively animated when it comes to talking about getting VR made. After significant time looking at other funding mechanisms, and holding a lot of conversations, René gave a talk at SXSW 2019 describing alternative ways for creators to get VR projects made. We were pleased that René joined us for a podcast at VRTL going more into detail on how and why.

To give a sample of this year’s programming, VRTL spoke with three teams behind projects exhibited at Virtual Cinema during SXSW 2019. Wiebe van den Ende (the Netherlands) directed Incitement which uses virtual reality to explore both “outer” and inner dialogue between a two young lovers. Next, Zillah Watson (UK), from BBC VR Hub, commissioned Nothing to be Written, an artistic look at soldiers during WWI and the limited communication they were allowed. The piece features beautiful music to intensify the emotive aspect. Finally, we speak with Maria Bellen Poncio and Ezequiel Lenardón (Argentina), respectively the director and producer behind Metro Veinte: Cita Ciega (Four Feet: Blind Date) who give a provocative look behind a eighteen year-old in a wheelchair and her growing sexuality in a well-acted narrative piece.

While Incitement is performing well and getting traction in a lot of festivals, its makers, a Dutch-French duo, is hot on the trails of new work. Their new transmersive VR series is part of the Kaleidoscope Development Showcase and will consist of five thrilling chapters of two episodes told in non-chronological order.