Upstander

Synopsis

UPSTANDER is a 360 animated experience about bullying, and how we can make a difference if we step in. It was created in partnership with the Oculus VR for Good Program and youth charity The Diana Award. The experience uses scale, embodiment, and space to push the boundaries of the medium. UPSTANDER uses backpacks to represent children in a school environment to immerse the audience in the story that defies reality and challenges the participant to think and aspire them take action. How can we be part of the solution and not be part of the problem?

Director

Directors

Biography

Van Phan is an award-winning filmmaker, designer, animator, and educator, who as worked on projects which went on to win the best of the show at the Venice film festival, and SIGGRAPH. As a refugee escaping from Vietnam, Van's childhood dream job was to become a storyteller through comic books; however, his parents wanted him to pursue a more stable career, so off he went to UCLA. Upon graduating with cum laude honors in Psychology and Business, he worked for Ernst and Young. As Van was crunching numbers as an accountant, he yearned to doodle instead. Fortunately, a chance screening of the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater changed his life. After seeing a computer-animated short created just by one person, Van was inspired and transformed and had an aha moment. He realized he could tell his own stories if he learned emerging technology which was computer animation at the time. He enrolled at USC and created two award-winning animated shorts. Two decades later, Van is still passionate about using emerging technology, and this time it is XR and real-time rendering that is allowing him to push the boundaries of storytelling. He will premiere his new 360 films Upstander at the Tribeca Film Festival 2020. To help create maximum impact for the social cause, the Filmmaker will donate funds from licensing or distribution of Upstander to the youth charity the Diana Award. In addition to storytelling, Van also finds purpose as an educator by helping the next generation of storytellers create their own WOW moments. He teaches at various colleges in the San Francisco Bay area.

More Info

Van PHAN

Credits

•
Impact Producer: Paula CUNEO, Lauren BURMASTER
•
Associate Producer: Huan HUYNH
•
Technical Director: Huan HUYNH, Ahmed SHEHATA
•
Executive Producer: Amy SEIDENWURM
•
Sound: VIO AUDIO
•
Music: Prashanth SRINIVAS
•
Visual Designer: Duy PHAN
•
Narration: Will POULTER
•
Spatial Sound Designer: James POWELL

More

XR contents at Beyond Reality
Vast Body
Upstander
Under the Pillow
The Line
The Holy City
The Book of Distance
The Abandoned Deity
Swing
Step by Step
SPACE BUDDIES
Load more