‘Madrid Noir’ Brings 1930s Madrid to Life in Virtual Reality (Q&A)
Step into an interactive adventure inspired by theatre
Developed by No Ghost and Produced by Atlas V, the same team behind Battlescar and Gloomy Eyes, Madrid Noir is a unique interactive 45 minute animated VR experience. It puts audiences into world of Lola (Godeliv Van Den Brandt), a woman who is returning to Madrid to empty out the apartment of her estranged uncle Manolo (Fernando Guillén Cuervo) after he’s been declared dead. Except… things aren’t always as they seem here.
The project — which cleverly mashes up elements of first person video games, theatrical staging, and a stylish crime drama — premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to critical acclaim in earlier this year. And we at NoPro were lucky enough to sit down virtually on the eve of its release to the public with director James A. Castillo in order to learn more about the piece’s design, approach to interactivity, and its inspirations.
NP: What does making this an immersive work afford you that another medium — say a traditional film — does not?
James Castillo: In every conversation we have had internally, we always come back to the same idea: “embodiment.”
You are with Lola (the protagonist), in the same room as her, as she is experiencing these events in her life for the first time. With films, there is always the feeling that what you are watching has been recorded, that it is a retelling of the events, so to speak. In virtual reality, because the immersion is so strong, you feel as if you were experiencing the events unfolding in front of you in real time, so you end up feeling much more invested in the story and the characters involved in it.
NP: Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind the theatrical style staging?
JAC: Sure thing, it was one of the first cornerstones of the project. In my first interactions with virtual reality, the pieces that I saw were trying to be very cinematic; moving the player around as if it was a camera, cutting from scene to scene and, essentially, trying to make the jump into VR using the cinematic language. I always felt that there was something that didn’t quite work in the translation from one medium to the other. I thought that the theater language would translate much better into VR, since a lot of the same rules apply. In theaters, as in VR, you are present in the same space as the set, the actors, the technicians and the musicians, so a lot of the concepts that work in theater work really well in VR.
When we started plotting out the idea for the story, we wanted to lean heavily on the language of theater to support the story. Using the lighting, the set design, the acting, etc. as a way to enhance each of the scenes’ purpose. Also, thematically, we found some great references in Zarzuela, a traditional vaudeville-esque type of theater that was very popular in Madrid at the time (1930’s). It also became a great source of inspiration for the music.
NP: The project toggles between having the viewer be Lola’s friend in the present to observing Lola as a child to actually stepping in Lola shoes at times. Could you elaborate on the reason behind these perspective shifts?
JAC: Without spoiling the experience too much… We always liked the idea that, when you first meet Lola, you have very little information to form an opinion about her, but when you come back into the apartment after having seen all she went through in her youth, you instantly have a much deeper understanding of her personality. The idea of allowing you to see Lola from all these different angles, ultimately, tries to help you empathize with her by understanding better the fear, excitement, and sadness she feels.
NP: Why was it important to make sure the participant was active in the experience by asking them to open drawers, pick up objects, use a flashlight, and even be able to answer the phone?
JAC: In order for the audience to feel immersed in the world, they need to feel that they can affect the world around them, so allowing them to pick up props and interact with the stuff around them is important. We also tried to make sure to add small details of world building around the sets, so that when certain things happen, they feel more like payoffs than random occurrences.
When talking about interaction it is important to think about the reason why we are allowing an interaction to happen. If it’s only “for fun” it can feel distracting, so we made sure that the interactions that we allowed the audience to have complimented the story and supported the scene’s underlying emotional core.
NP: Who do you think will enjoy this story?
JAC: I think anyone that likes stories would be able to enjoy it. We wanted to make sure that we crafted a universal story, something that people from all walks of life could relate to. I hope gamers see a satisfying interactive story and that people that might not be so used to the VR medium see a new and original new way of experiencing a story.
Madrid Noir will be available for Oculus Quest devices on July 1.
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