Cerebellum Studios: Using VR to tell BIG Stories
Cerebellum Studios was founded in 2011, but they did not begin creating until 2017. What does Cerebellum mean? Well… It is a secret. “While we will not discuss the origins of the actual name, for us it means creating content from the minds of what almost dreams are made from”, said Cerebellum Studios.
Lost Coast Logo (Photo by Cerebellum Studios)
Cerebellum Studios’s Lost Coast has been a big hit on VeeR. As far as inspiration, the Cerebellum team built a foundation of the story around the characters—starting from the root of their motivations that continues to build the external forces around the story itself. The team was immediately thrilled at doing a dystopian piece for their first release. “The concept isn’t based on one inspiration; it’s truly many minds and stories together”, said Cerebellum Studios. During the production process, the team would gather together in a room, brainstorm and share all their ideas till they merge together. Back to the film itself, it is the first piece to something much larger and the feeling leaves the viewers with strong curiosity to follow Keegan forward with his journey. “The audience must follow Keegan into this dystopian world. We wanted them to feel the love, longing, and determination that the character has.”
As a viewer, you might wonder where the movie was filmed. “Point Reyes coast line location was finally decided based off our deep appreciation for the area we all live in—we’re all grateful to live in Northern California.” The team has a deep understanding of this type of storytelling: In 360, the location speaks as loud as its characters. Because the story and the location are immersed with each other, you need a location where every angle meets the story in the same place. “We needed an area where the environment was infinite but also not too distracting”, and Point Reyes was perfect. Everyone including cast and crew was instantly taken away by the beauty. The shooting process felt very real for the team members just like they were truly immersed in the story. “That’s how you know that the story will relate best to the audience”, said Cerebellum Studios. “We were living Lost Coast that day.”
Production Scene of Lost Coast (Photo by Cerebellum Studios)
“ We’re nerds, we’re technologists, and we’re storytellers—this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for and the time is now to tell stories that are BIG.” Though traditional storytelling is still important to them, members from Cerebellum Studios chose virtual reality for Lost Coast because they were ecstatic over this medium. As they described, this is one of the most exciting moments in art right now. The studio is dedicated to making strong, cinematic, impactful stories and they all believe that 360/Virtual Reality/and Augmented Reality are big pieces of storytelling. “We agree that storytelling needs to grow along with the technology and we’re ready now for that to happen.”
Production Scene of Lost Coast (Photo by Cerebellum Studios)
For the production team, Lost Coast was chosen to be a 360 piece first and it was the 360 aspect that created the rest of the story: there is a marriage between the technical shooting and the story that morph each other. Lost Coast will be coming out as a 360 episodic series. The plan of filming is to focus on several different stories within the same relative area. The team hopes to start filming again in late summer or early fall. Cerebellum’s expectation is to be able to tell compelling stories in a deep and immersive way that would not be possible with traditional point and shoot.
Production Scene of Lost Coast (Photo by Cerebellum Studios)
Advice and Experience shared by Cerebellum on creating VR content:
Tell a story—tell a story from your heart and your world. From there all the technical aspects will fall into place. Practice. Learn from everything and everyone around you. Invite the audience to enter your world but make it meaningful. Share the best piece of your world you can, you’re taking everybody there with you.
There’s many different types of filmmaking, and even more aspects. Not everybody can make a film, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be a filmmaker. Every role in filmmaking is important. As VR and 360 films begin to grow, more people are going to be needed for everything from directing, producing, and acting, to even making sets, getting wardrobes done, or even just making sure people have food and coffee. The world is hungry for 360 and VR content, so now is the time to start. Get out there with whatever camera you can get, and go experiment. It doesn’t have to look the best, as long as you keep looking back and building off of what you have. Some of the best filmmakers in the world started off in their backyards with little cameras, or getting coffee for directors on late night schools. Most importantly, don’t get discouraged. Just keep pushing through, and be proud of the work you do.
For more info, click on their VeeR Page, Official Website, and Facebook Page 🙂
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