Hit horror television show gets the virtual reality treatment

Background:

Creative media label Monochromatic approached Vostok VR to collaborate on adding an immersive angle to their already successful television drama, Avenue 13. Together, Monochromatic and Vostok VR made a joint proposal for the 2018 Content Development Fund, a Mediacorp award that provides capital to Singapore-based companies interested in developing cutting-edge media technologies.

Monochromatic’s Avenue 14: Underworld is a sequel to Avenue 13, a program that was launched on Channel 5 Mediacorp and later sold to Hulu. Vostok VR and Monochratic’s joint application was one of the seven selected by Mediacorp to receive the award. The project became the first VR horror film in Asia.

Innovation:

Avenue 14: Underworld tells the story of Thursday Adams search for her estranged mother. Along the way she finds herself tumbling down a rabbit hole of Singaporean urban myths and mysteries. The series was possibly the most ambitious VR project completed to date for Vostok VR in 2018. The production included more than 50 talents and crew members and was shot in over ten unique locations including an old bomb shelter, a colonial house and a Chinese Cemetery. The vast amount of data collected captured over 40 minutes of VR content.

Production:

Production and post-production took almost five months to complete. The Vostok VR team worked closely with Monochromatic pictures to create unique experiences for each of the episodes. The virtual reality production team monitored the action shot through a tablet and provided a live feed to a media village where stakeholders could see the product in the making.

Results:

The virtual reality movies portion of the series included a behind the scenes sneak peek of the VR production and eight short video extensions focusing on different plotlines, such as a character’s background story or an amplification of an event not in the TV series.

Avenue 14: Underworld’s 360-degree videos experience was published on Toggle 360, as companion content to a twenty episode series. The project was also submitted to Webby Awards 2019 under the “Best VR series” category.