The Moment – Project update

The MOMENT, a brain controlled film, Funded by EPRSC – My Life in Data, The Arts Council and in partnership with The University of Nottingham’s Mixed Reality Lab, FACT and B3 Media.

The MOMENT is an interactive film with an adaptive narrative structure of over 101 trillion combinations which changes in real time to the viewers brain data. Set in a near future world of a global network of brains it tells the story of a girl on the run from a thought militia and her relationship with an emergent intelligence. Commenting on the technologically facilitated rise of the far right.

We wrapped principal photography on the 7^th of October. We had 4 night shoots and really lucked out with the weather on the 2 external locations. The cast and crew really stepped up to the ambitious schedule and we managed to get all the footage planned for. It was an honour to work with such a talented, dedicated and committed team.

Next steps

It’s a major milestone getting the footage in the bag but there is still a fair way to go before we get it onto the screen. The MOMENT consists of 3 narrative threads, 2 of which is set in the real world, and the last is set in the Massive Online Multiuser, Emotional NeTwork, a virtual space. I will be collaborating with the CG team led by Luke Dewhirst over the next few months to create that world in CGI, Photo-telemetry and performance capture.

In parallel with this I will be building the ‘edit’ and working with the composer and sound designer. Editing a film such as this is quite different from editing a linier film.

We will be picking up cutaways, landscapes and inserts over the next few months and we have already completed some drone photography near Leeds.

The interactive programming and application design will be created in MAX/MSP early next year. I will be exploring new ways to interact with the film via a Brain Computer Interface based on my own and current research in the areas of Neuroscience, Human Computer Interaction and Film Studies.

And while all of this is going on Arciform will be adapting the caravan we used as a set into a 6 seater cinema.