After her estranged uncle is declared dead, a disenchanted young woman arrives in Madrid to empty the apartment that he left behind. Lola is soon compelled to dig into her memories, where she’ll pick up her uncle’s shadowy trail and attempt to piece together the puzzles of the past. Staged as an awe inspiring theatre production, this charming mystery unfolds across a city that lives in the night, a Madrid now lost to time.
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It on January 13th 2018, 1.4m people across Hawai’i received an SMS from the state’s Emergency Management Agency: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
In the minutes that followed, they were forced to confront existential questions that had been unthinkable just moments before: where could they go for shelter? What would remain of their communities if they survived a nuclear blast? How could they explain to their children why we live in a world where such unimaginable destruction was possible? And how could their own Government continue to pursue nuclear policies that threaten the entire global population every day?
By the time FEMA managed to retract the incorrect warning message, it was too late to pretend that normality would resume. Their collective experience had laid bare the growing threat that nuclear weapons pose to the world. In the words of Kauai resident Cynthia Lazaroff, ‘Nothing happened, but everything changed’.
Underneath all the aesthetic choices we have made; the music, the visuals, the performances, and the animation, lies a story that rings true to me and what I believe Virtual Reality to be good at, profoundly connecting the viewer with characters and their stories.
As artists, we were compelled to use this opportunity to dive deep into what makes stories relevant to us. There is a lot of CG wizardry in Madrid Noir, but at its core lies a small, yet universal story of a disconnected family. We pulled from our own experience to develop the character’s personalities and conflicts, creating a young protagonist who struggles to understand her place in her uncle’s life and who is looking for an opportunity to prove herself.
The only way to infuse the project with the heart, humour and suspense that we needed was to use animation’s ability to suspend audiences’ disbelief. Films that are engaging no matter your age, such as the Wallace and Gromit or Pixar films are a particularly key influence on us as they manage to marry adventure and danger with a hysterically funny and charming sense of wit. Since I decided to dedicate my life to creating animation, I have had one goal in mind, to bring a rise to the presence of genre driven narratives in the artform and I believe this project stands as a testament to that.
As a VR enthusiast myself, I know there is room in the medium for fun, lighthearted and theatrical experiences in which players can get directly involved on a physical as well as an emotional level with the characters.
I hope Madrid Noir charms your inner child, infuses your life with wonder and thrills you to no end.
James A. Castillo is a Director and Character Designer hailing from Madrid. His design work has been central to major production companies including Paramount Pictures and Sony Animation, among others. His unique style gives Madrid Noir it’s charming look that marks it out from other VR offerings. His interest in creating VR narratives came while working as an art director on Melita, a VR experience by Oculus Studios which amounted to half a dozen awards and recognitions, including Venice film festival and Sitges.
JORGE TERESO is a director & digital artist from Buenos aires. His work ranges from playful and lysergic animations to realistic VR experiences and interactive installations. He’s a partner at 3dar studios, where he created its first award winning short film, Shave It (2013).
Since then he’s been creating 3dar’s original content, always in search of new ways to expand the possibilities of animation.
Written and directed by
James A. Castillo
Written by
Lawrence Bennett and Lydia Rynne
Produced by
An Atlas V and NO Ghost production in partnership with Oculus
Producers
Craig Skerry, Corentin Lambot, Dash Spiegelman, Kye Dorricott
Executive Producers
Antoine Cayrol, Luke Gibbard, Arnaud Colinart
Co- Executive Producers
Pierre Zandrowicz, Fred Volhuer
Casting
Godeliv Van Der Brandt, Fernando Guillén Cuervo
Key Collaborators
Yelena Rachistky, Oculus & Emmanuel Bernard, Albyon
Animator Director
Aziz Kocanaogullari
CG Supervisor
Thomas Flavelle
Composer
Carlos Rodriguez Rodriguez
Sound Design
GCVRS + The Lobby
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