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2 4 SXS W O R L D | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 | SXSW.COM his or her devices. The duo recently entered into a deal with Fox to create experiences based on films. Their nonfiction, documenta- ry-oriented work includes capturing Cirque du Soleil performances and working with U.S. Presidents Obama and Clinton.  The three films in their Nomads series document nomadic people from different parts of the world: the Maasai in Kenya, the sea- living Sama-Bajau on the Borneo coast and Mongolian yak herders. In the films, the viewer is situated in moments in everyday life, the traditional documentary voiceover traded in for simply being there with the subjects. The series had high-tech and high-risk accomplishments, like underwater scenes and the placement of a camera in a herd of wild horses, but it also employed the lower-tech creative choice to simply fade in and out to gently move the viewer from scene to scene.  Sustaining the viewer's experience is one of the creative prin- ciples that has guided both Félix & Paul's technical innovations and creative decisions. "What to avoid in breaking presence, and what are the things that can break presence, all of those are extremely important to disseminate as widely as possible," says Chief Technical Officer, Sebastian Sylwan. F élix & Paul Studios, the most acclaimed partnership in vir- tual reality filmmaking, actually began with its principals competing with each other. A decade ago, Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël were vying for the same directing gig in Montréal when they decided, instead, to collaborate on the project. The two have worked together ever since.  Though they both began their careers in traditional filmmaking with music videos and commercials, even in the beginning of their partnership, they created immersive experiences by using 3D pro- jections in their own video installations. This resulted in "VR with a more narrow field of view," Raphaël says.  Several years later, when consumers seemed poised for VR, the studio was ready. "Once the very first signs virtual reality might be becoming more of a consumer medium, and not so much of a research and military application … as soon as we saw that coming, we shifted all our resources to developing what ended up being that first VR camera," says Raphaël.  Their early adaptation paid off, and in just a few years, Félix & Paul Studios has produced award-winning VR experiences, including content that every Oculus or Gear purchaser receives on By susaN elizaBeth shePaRD Early Adoption Guides Félix & Paul to VR's Forefront Scene from the Nomads series, photo courtesy of Félix & Paul Studios

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