Conscious Existence
A Cinematic VR Short Film Experience
This cinematic virtual reality short film experience is another personal project of mine and my second endeavour in the world of 360/VR after Longing for Wilderness.
CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE
You are gifted every moment with life's most precious achievement: A conscious mind, enabling you to sense and hold within, the universe's boundless beauty - a source of infinite inspiration that fuels your inner space.
Our way of thinking about life influences our perception of the world around us. False priorities can act like blinders and make us overlook the ever-present beauty of the universe, which can be our greatest source of energy and inspiration. A positive and grateful mindset enables us to harvest that energy to fuel our inner space and retain well-being.
With this virtual-reality experience I express my own appreciation for and feelings about the gift of life. We need keep our ability to see the world through the wondering eyes of a child.
It is a journey within that hopefully will touch you on an emotional level and make you transcend into a relaxed and appreciative state of mind.
This project is part of the VR NOW Initiative at the Animationsinstitut of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, received some support from Mettle, NVidia and Subpac and is part of the Kaleidoscope VR portfolio. I'm always looking for partners in distribution.
The experience is dedicated to my soulmate Julie Boehm who is living exactly what this piece is about, by seeing the magic in every little thing and embellishing the world with her own creations that are a tribute to the beauty that surrounds us.
CURRENTLY
• Experience it on STEAM (PC-VR) • Sensiks Virtual Reality Pods (on request) • Various Airlines (Iberia, Sun Express, Flixbus via Inflight VR) • VRPlayin' Toronto (Canada)PREVIOUSLY
• Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2019, UK • FNC Montreal 2019, Canada • CPH:DOX 2019 (Copenhagen, Denmark) • Byron Bay FF 2019, Australia • Sitges Cocoon 2019 • 4th ANNY Best of Fest XR Showcase • Maremetraggio ShorTS (Trieste/Italy) • BIFAN - Bucheon In.t Film Festival (Bucheon/South Korea) • VRHAM! Festival (Hamburg, Germany) • We Are Cinema (Zürich/Switzerland) • FMX Conference 2018 (Stuttgart/Germany, Sneak Peak) • Cineplex Münster (Cologne/Germany, powered by evrbit) • Stereopsia 2018 (Brussels/Belgium, BOZAR) • Lichtspiele Kalk (Cologne/Germany, powered by evrbit) • Multikino Złote Tarasy (Warsaw/Poland) • VR NOW Conference 2019 (Berlin/Germany) • VR NOW Conference and VR NOW Summit 2019 (Berlin, Germany) • VR-Kinotour der Telekom (Berlin/Cologne/Munic/Hamburg - Germany, powered by Evrbit) • Laval Virtual2019 - Showcase (Laval/France) • Series Mania 2019 (Lille, France) • Landshut Filmfestival 2019 (Landshut/Germany) • Oxford Int. Film Festival (Berlin, Germany) • Lichter Filmfest 2019 (Frankfurt/Germany) • Sehsüchte Int. Film Festival 2019 (Berlin/Germany) • Harlem Int. Film Festival 2019 (New York/USA) • Brussels Int. Fantasy Filmfestival (Brussels/Belgium) • Isola del Cinema 2019, Italy • TIFF Romania 2019 • Shanghai Int. Film Festival 2019 • 2019 World XR Forum, Switzerland • Guanajuato Film Festival 2019, Mexico • Tacoma Film Festival 2019, Washington USA • Courant 3D 2019, France • 35. Internationales Kurzfilmfestival Berlin 2019 "Virtual Reality meets Full Dome" • VRE Fest 2019, Italy • Screen4all 360 film festival, Satis 2019
• Behind the Scenes Ep.1
• Talk at FMX for MAXON
• Complementary Breakdown Video
• Publication in the DIGITAL PRODUCTION 01/2019
• Publication in the 3D World Magazine #237
Request a pre-screener, press-kit or more infos by contacting me via: marc.zimmermann@epicscapes.de My first priority is to bring this piece to an audience in the highest audio-visual quality possible.
LUMIERE AWARD
Winner - 'Best Visual VR Content' | Stereopsia 2018, BrusselsGRAND PRIX VR AWARD
Winner - Courant 3D 2019, FranceSACEM AWARD
Winner - De la composition musicale immersive - Courant 3D 2019, FranceSPECIAL MENTION
VR Experience - BIFFF 2019, BrusselsVRAHMMY! AWARD
Nominee - VRHAM! 2019, HamburgANIMAGO AWARD
Nominee - 'Best AR/VR/360° Production' | Animago Award and Conference 2018, MunichVR STORYRELLING AWARD
Nominee - Lichter Filmfest 2019, FrankfurtBEST 360° FILM
Nominee - Sehsüchte Int. Film Festival, BerlinVR AWARD
Nominee - Landshuter Kurzfilmfestival 2019, LandshutJames Hedley (Director) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"Thank you for taking me on this journey – it was hypnotic, mesmerising and emotional. I knew I was going to be in for a ride of a lifetime, it being your work, but wasn’t expecting that - came out of watching it and wanted to return to that state of mind. What I like about your work, Conscious Existence, is that you give the viewer the agency and the space to feel for themselves, rather than be told how to feel. It’s very special."Juan Bossicard (Co-Founder New Digital Reality) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"It really touched me on a very high level."Philipp Verschüren (Hobby-Filmkritiker) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"[...] Ihr Film ist ein Meisterwerk. [...] Die Raffinesse, mit der Sie die Existenz abbilden, sucht im Kino seinesgleichen. Gäbe es mehr Filmschaffende in Deutschland wie Sie, dann wäre das wunderbar. Wie Sie den kleinsten und größten Nenner des Seins bildlich verknüpfen ist brilliant. Wegen Ihres Werkes habe ich die VR-Brille vollgeheult, danke dafür, wirklich."René Pinell (CEO Kaleidoscope) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"It's beautiful. There is no one else I know who can create such beautiful environments and tell a story with those environments."Dan Tucker (Curator Sheffield Doc/Fest) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"One of the most beautiful VR pieces that I've seen in a long time."Fred Galstun (CEO Sensiks) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"These kind of creations can only come from divine inspiration. The only thing I am trying to sort out now is whether to call it beyond art or beyond EPIC. [...] your creations are touching something deep inside my soul [...} and it brings me right back to the right place and the right state of mind. Like somehow it resets the focus to the things that really matter, like mother nature is speaking through you."CPH:DOX about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"The artist behind the VR-hit 'Longing for Wilderness' (CPH:DOX, 2017), Marc Zimmermann, is back with another visually stunning exploration of the Virtual Reality-medium, and our conscious mind."Lichter Filmfest about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"Ein Feuerwerk aus Farben und Formen, Klängen und Musik generiert einen Bilderrausch, der vor allem eines feiern soll: die unendlichen Möglichkeiten eines entfesselten Geistes, das Geschenk des menschlichen Selbstbewusstseins. Mit großem Aufwand und technischer, sowie künstlerischer Finesse werden hier Bildwelten geschaffen, die noch lange im Gedächtnis nachhängen. Eine VR-Erfahrung, die nur im 360°-Raum ihre volle Wirkung entfalten kann und einlädt den Blick schweifen und den eigenen Gedanken, Gefühlen und Assoziationen freien Lauf zu lassen."Fuad Abdi (Designer) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"The day I experienced this master piece at CPH:DOX I was actually getting over a hangover, and this literally cured it. It was incredible. Thank you."Yingran Zhao (Head of Clobal Content Acquisition, VeeR VR) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"It was TRULY AMAZING. [...] I'm very impressed by your talent and I'm happy to see amazing talent in VR."Ulrich Schrauth (Creative Director, VRHAM!) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"Was für eine wundervolle Arbeit!! Ich bin absolut begeistert…"Pola Weiß (VRgeschichten.de) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"[...] Eine poetische Reise in wunderschöne Naturszenen, computeranimiert und befremdend real zugleich. [...] Die bildgewaltigen Welten von Marc Zimmermann berühren – und das kann eben nur VR auf einer ganz besonderen und viel direkteren Ebene. [...]"Maxime Montagne (WIDE Management) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"I watched it and I must say that I had a terrific experience. Something like experiencing Tree of Life in VR, there is something magical and poetical about it."SIGGRAPH Conference Submission Jury about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"There are so many good things to say about this project. It's an amazing introspective experience that is one stunning visual after another. Some scenes I had difficulty discriminating between CG and reality. I liked the continuous camera motion forward. My favorite scene is the Aurora Borealis with the ocean reflecting it. I loved the organic particle simulations that swirled together and burst into colorful smoke.""An extremely visually and conscience raising piece. I would put this over standard filmed 360 experiences due to all of the CG used to produce the imagery."
Paul Bouchard (Diversion Cinema) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"[...] the team Diversion cinema has been really moved by this sensitive and spiritual journey. It is really well done and touching"Axel Steinkuhle (CEO Evrbit) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"Ein absolutes Highlight."Michel Reilhac (Head of Studies at Venice Biennale College) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"A beautiful piece."Nancy Eperjesy (Co-Founder Mettle) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"I love this project - really well done!"Thomas Hoffmann (3D Content Hub) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"Your visual language and animation skills are really outstanding."David HJ. Lindberg (Filmmaker) about CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE:
"It was by far the best I've seen so far in VR when it comes to visuals and audio combined. But I also enjoy the subtle storytelling that lays behind the video that guide towards a spiritual experience but leave room for the audience to fill in some gaps of what it all means."Sneak Peek presentations of CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE at FMX 2018:
