SXSWORLD

SXSW.COM | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 | SXS W O R L D 2 5  Those creative concerns go hand-in-hand with technical exe- cution. Raphaël says that they weigh factors such as how scale, movement, frame rates and sound behave differently in VR than in traditional filmmaking, and how they affect the viewer's expe- rience and ability to stay in the moment: "Interactivity is a big topic, when and how to do it, and what are the challenges as well. That's one of the things with the most potential, but is also one of the hardest nuts to crack."  Successfully maintaining that experience also means there's a new set of concerns for filmmakers, whose audiences now don't just lose the fourth wall, but also the first, second and third. And that calls for a careful approach to intense material.  "I think that people have gotten used to what it's like to watch a violent scene in a film, but if you push too hard on that button on an unsuspecting viewer, that can have a measurable trauma- tizing effect on someone," says Raphaël. "We haven't done any violence or horror-based content yet, but we do have some stuff in development that's gonna kind of scratch that surface a little bit, and so we're going to be very careful in how we handle the intensity of that."  At SXSW 2017, Lajeunesse and Raphaël, along with Sylwan and Chief Content Officer Ryan Horrigan, will present a "Master Class with Felix & Paul" for VR filmmakers. They plan to go through different projects they've produced and discuss both the challenges they encountered, and the solutions they found.  Central to Felix & Paul's ability to execute has been its man- aging every step of the process, as a full-spectrum studio. Sylwan actually compares the current state of VR to the early studio system, when everything was done in-house.  "We kind of see this as the requirement for doing VR properly, or at the highest quality level at least," he explains. "So what we want to talk about is really this full-spectrum concept in which you have to develop stories that are VR natives, and you have to build the technology to be able to shoot them. And you have to have the technology to post-produce them, and you have to distribute them."  Raphaël says that having close contact with hardware manu- facturers is one of the most important things filmmakers can do to succeed in a medium especially unforgiving of technical flaws. Not every filmmaker will be building their own gear, but they can talk to whoever is: "One of the main takeaways we want people to walk out with is that you need very tight integration at every step of the way," says Raphaël. "If you don't master as many of those pieces as possible, you're going to fall short on some level."  "I don't think we will reveal our trade secrets, but (instead) the principles that guide the development of our trade secrets, or the principles that guide the way we approach projects," says Sylwan. "It's in our own interest that the industry develops as broadly, and as high-quality, as possible." For more information about attending the "Master Class with Felix & Paul," visit schedule.sxsw.com. "Interactivity is a big topic, when and how to do it, and what are the challenges as well. That's one of the things with the most potential, but is also one of the hardest nuts to crack." Paul Raphaël (L) and Félix Lajeunesse, photo courtesy of Felix & Paul Studios

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