Revelation Perth International Film Festival, in association with Tura New Music and Co3 Contemporary Dance, continues its commitment to collaborating across media forms and encouraging active film production in Western Australia with its announcement of ambitious 360°VR production FourByFour.
Through funding from Lotterywest’s COVID-19 response grants program, Revelation will be working with local screen artists, composers, musicians, choreographers and dancers, as well as arts facilities and organisations, to produce this unique cross-artform collaboration. Designed to forge new relationships and stimulate employment amongst a sector devastated by the recent effects of CV19, FourByFour will be unlike anything Perth has seen before.
Commissioned and produced by Revelation, FourByFour will consist of four immersive VR short film projects created in collaboration with C03 Contemporary Dance and Tura New Music (who will each assume Executive Producer roles of the project).
The immersive 4-minute short films will be made available free of charge internationally and launched at the XR:WA Conference and Expo; WA’s major annual screen conference for computer gaming, VR and everything in between which takes place from 3-6 December across the Perth Cultural Centre.
Using locations in the Perth Cultural Centre including the WA State Library, Art Gallery of WA and WA State Theatre Centre, FourByFour will be divided into four movements where musicians, choreographers and VR filmmakers will come together to interpret the architecture, collection, site or history of the locations to uncover hidden stories, explore unseen locations or discover unexpected connections.
Revelation Festival Director and project Executive Producer, Richard Sowada, says FourByFour represents a remarkable opportunity for Revelation to continue to develop its reputation as an initiator and facilitator of high-concept screen content, collaboration and employment across the creative sector in WA.
“More than any film festival or screen event in the country, we’re grabbing hold of converging art forms to explore the range and depth of local talent and create new forms,” said Sowada. “More importantly though, this project provides employment and opportunity across the broader arts sector for up to 50 filmmakers, musicians, composers, dancers and choreographers, so it’s very satisfying to plough this grant straight back into WA arts and culture.”
C03 Contemporary Dance Artistic Director, Raewyn Hill, says she is excited about what the dancers and choreographers will create for this series of multi- disciplinary digital works. “The collaboration, exploring physical expression alongside sound and screen technology, has great synergy with our drive in utilising tech in performance.”
Tura New Music Artistic Director, Tos Mahoney, says Tura has a long history of facilitating music and dance collaborations. “This cross-organisational immersive 360° VR project is taking the opportunity of such collaborations into new realms of possibility and experience. We are delighted to be working with Co3 Contemporary Dance and Revelation on a project that celebrates Western Australian place and artists.”
The FourByFour project will be made available through the XR:WA website and other outlets and provide an important plank in the digital strategies of all participating organisations.
Image: FourByFour (supplied)