ANIMATIONWorld — October 20, 2016
Pollen Creates Ambisonic Soundscape for Patrick Osborne’s ‘PEARL’

Patrick Osborne’s short film PEARL, one of the latest installments in the Google Spotlight Stories series, delivers the Oscar-winning director of Disney’s FEAST and Ringling alum’s signature graphic style while breaking the boundaries of both storytelling and technology.

Set inside the beloved hatchback that serves as their home, PEARL follows a girl and her father as they crisscross the country chasing their musical dreams. The animated project — which is available both as a 2D-animated short and as a virtual reality experience — was unveiled in May at the Google I/O Conference, and is available now for viewing in Google Cardboard (or another equivalent) via the Spotlight Stories channel (for Android users) and the Google Spotlight Stories app (iOS).

While the 2D short has been making the rounds on the festival circuit, the 360-degree interactive version of the film has cropped up in only a few places: the 40th anniversary edition of the Ottawa International Animation Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival’s Interactive Playground, the VR Village at SIGGRAPH, and in a specially installed 360-degree Dome at Animaze.

The mobile storytelling project is a true R&D effort for Google’s ATAP group, employing the largest number of shots, sets and characters in any of the Spotlight Stories to date, with custom lighting, effects and interactive surround sound in every shot. Produced with Evil Eye Pictures, the short is anchored by the original song “No Wrong Way Home,” written by Pollen Music Group principals and composers Alexis Harte & JJ Wiesler and performed by Kelley Stoltz and Nicki Bluhm. (Read full story…)