[Members of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma are using presence-evoking virtual reality to engage audiences in the Easter story of Jesus’ resurrection. The description of the project below comes from the St. Luke’s website, which features 18 more pictures. The local television station KWTV News9 has a 1:36 minute news report, in which director Lance McDaniel says:
“You know, it’s a 2,000-year-old book, and a lot of the time we keep thinking of those people as so different than us, but when you really get into it, they were human just like we are. When you create something in virtual reality it sets you in the location and it makes it really hard to separate yourself, so you realize we are a lot like those people.”
In a 1:51 minute news report from KOCO News5, Church Senior Executive Pastor Wendy Lambert says “We’re kind of looking at the Christmas story as our next project.”
See also the YouTube channel of The Octagon Project for The Easter Story in Virtual Reality (and The Christmas Story in Virtual Reality), filmed in Holy Land sites. –Matthew]
Resurrection in Virtual Reality
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church is moving into the future with a new virtual reality experience of the resurrection of Jesus. Based on the Biblical text from Matthew 28, the five-minute experience uses a mix of live action footage and CGI animation to take viewers back to ancient Israel where the story unfolds. The Resurrection experience will launch during Easter week at St. Luke’s Downtown and Edmond locations April 2-9, 2023.
Resurrection follows Mary, mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene as they go to the tomb to prepare Jesus’s body for burial. Instead of finding the body, they are met with an earthquake, an angel, an empty tomb, and a sighting of Jesus before running to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen.
The idea for the virtual reality film came from a St. Luke’s member whose children were using tablets and VR for gaming and entertainment. She wanted to tell the inspiring stories of the Bible in a new way that would reach younger generations. She brought the idea and funding to the St. Luke’s ministry team, including Dr. Bob Long, Rev. Wendy Lambert, and Rev. Josh Attaway. They immediately recognized the potential of this new medium and chose the resurrection of Jesus as the story to launch St. Luke’s into this new arena.
To lead the project, the team tapped St. Luke’s member Lance McDaniel. McDaniel is the CEO of McDaniel Entertainment and a filmmaker who has worked on 21 movies, including Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby, and written and directed five films, including Finding Carlos and Crazy Enough. McDaniel has worked in the virtual reality space since 2013, launching a a VR program for the deadCenter Film Festival in 2017 and directing his own VR film called The Homecoming Trilogy later that year.
St. Luke’s member Ryan Johnston joined McDaniel to co-write the script. Johnston worked in Hollywood for multiple film studios, including 20th Century Fox, and is a seasoned screenwriter. Together they collaborated with the ministry team to fine tune the story into something brief but honest and impactful.
Due to the special effects involved in the production, McDaniel reached out to Ryan Bellgardt, founder and creative director of Boiling Point Media, to help decide the best way to tell the story in virtual reality technology. Bellgardt directs special effects driven movies like Ghoster and The Adventures of Jurassic Pet, and manages a team of CGI artists year-round.
After vigorous debate, McDaniel and Bellgardt agreed that the best way to transport people to ancient Israel was to recreate that world inside of the “Unreal Engine,” the same technology used for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. They also agreed that the characters in the story should be played by live actors, not CGI animations. So, all of the actors were filmed against Boiling Point Media’s new state-of-the-art LED wall and inserted into the Unreal environment. The process was complicated and the technology is still being fine-tuned, but the combo ultimately proved to be the best way to bring this particular biblical passage to life.
The live action portion of the movie was cast and directed by McDaniel with cinematography by Bellgardt, Costume Design by Valerie Parker, Hair and Make-Up by Sharon Tabb, Production Sound by James Russell, Line Producing by Laron Chapman, and an outstanding, diverse cast of Oklahoma actors bringing the characters to life. The CGI environments and special effects were created in the Unreal engine by Ryan Bellgardt, including the tomb, Jerusalem, the sea of Galilee, the angel’s wings, and everything that isn’t human.
As with any movie, sound and music were critical components to make the experience immersive. David Stone Hamilton created an original score that accents the action but leaves space for contemplation. And, sound mixer and sound designer Rob Derrick worked for weeks to bring glorious sound to a 360 environment that also works on the tiny speakers on a virtual reality headset. Derrick is a professor of sound mixing at ACM/UCO, founder of OK Sounds Good, and an Emmy Award-winning sound designer and editor.
The St. Luke’s team, led by Director of Communications Brent Manning, created a plan for premiering the movie, including purchasing 30 Virtual Reality headsets and providing multiple opportunities to watch the film at events throughout Easter week. Manning worked with Director of Visual Media Doug McAbee to create gorgeous posters and banners that captured the essence of the film. And, Stephen Tyler of Simply Harmless Media, who manages and programs VR films for deadCenter, helped consult, load, and manage the headsets with the St. Luke’s team.
Resurrection VR will be available throughout Easter week at St. Luke’s downtown and Edmond locations. Both locations will also set up virtual reality cinemas for Easter morning, allowing groups of people to experience the Resurrection VR on their way to or from church. Come experience St. Luke’s newest way to share love and bring hope to the world.
|
