In this project we collaborated with the Institute for the Future to create a series of videos for Meta to explore the potential pros and cons that may be brought upon our daily lives through the introduction of the Metaverse.
We are first introduced to Hannah and how her daily life is directly impacted by the technology she interacts with.
Hannah is quiet proficient with the technology around her and it doesn’t take her a long time to create her own digital avatar: Hannah II
Throughout the course of the 1-6 video series we explore how Hannah manages to balance her Real and Virtual lives, and where they merge.
Below we explore the process of creating such content and my thought process throughout this project as I try and explain how we set and achieved our design goals.
Adding animations to the videos were quite critical to keep the fluidity of the storytelling to a maximum. Still images can get tiresome to look at after a while and adding motion where it is needed in thought-out intervals is key to keeping the attention of the viewer refreshed. Due to time constraints considerable decision-making went into making sure that the animations were placed purposefully throughout and to still be able to have a positive effect without having to spend excessive amounts of time animating.
We found ways to portray currently existing technology and their uses…
… as well as how new and upcoming technology could be merged with more familiar, existing concepts that are not too foreign to the viewer.
*e.g. Pokemon Go + Virtual Dating App
Throughout the project we find Hannah taking on many types of new roles, trying and using new technologies so it was crucial to keep Hannah herself consistent through the series. Making sure the portrayal of her use of these tools are relevant to her character.
Here we can see the initial stages of finding out who Hannah is. Before the script evolved we quickly explored body silhouettes to explore shape design and hair-styles to portray character and relate to her ethnicity. This later became very important to distinguish Hannah from her avatar, Hannah II.
You can see the evolution of the first set of thumbnails for the series as the script gets developed and added in to the storyboard. Working directly with the Art Director we collaborated to make sure each frame was properly composed, paying attention to continuity and accurate portrayal of the script.
Determining a visual language for the Metaverse was an important step. The viewers had to immediately know whether they were looking at an image from the real world or from the Metaverse. My main influences were movies like Tron, where a neon-grid & outline would indicate the transition between the real and the virtual.
This was a wonderful opportunity to learn how the Metaverse can truly change our lives and how we can learn to balance the two worlds to create a better future!