Founded in 2015 and led by Eric Darnell, writer and director of Antz and all Madagascar films, Baobab Studios is considered to be the world’s leading independent interactive animation studio. They have even won an Emmy Award for Best Interactive Media for every qualifying project the studio has ever created and were named Most Innovative Company for 2018 by Fast Company.
Baobab Studios’ recent movie Baba Yaga is a family-friendly, entertaining, and immersive virtual reality animation experience available for the Oculus Quest. As they were preparing for their red carpet premiere, COVID-19 restrictions shut down events across the world and froze their plans. The studio quickly realized the potential of pivoting to virtual and decided to innovate yet again to create the world’s first virtual reality red carpet movie premiere! This is where we came in.
We were connected with Baobab Studios through Leila Amirsadeghi of MESH Connects, the producer of their premiere event. We had previously worked along side Leila for the 2020 BRCvr project so she was familiar with our style and attention to detail, which this job absolutely demanded. We worked closely with the studio’s designers to create an event space inspired right out of the movie itself!
Baba Yaga’s Forbidden Forest
You start in a classic Hollywood theater lobby entrance. Walk up the stairs and down the hall into a small hut which then opens up into a deep and wild forest setting complete with characters, interactive props, and glowing eyes that watch you from the thickets! There are grabbable set pieces, selfie moments with the main characters, and artwork from the film to be examined up close and admired. We’re incredibly proud of the four months of hard work that went into crafting this beautiful experience and we hope you get to see it yourself! It’s free and open to the public in AltspaceVR.
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