XR in 2016 was a medium without a playbook. Every project was a first — new hardware, no audience expectations, no established rules for what you were even making.
A medium without a playbook.
Here Be Dragons was one of the studios that defined early cinematic VR, working with the New York Times, National Geographic, USC Shoah Foundation, FX, and Oculus. I was part of the studio from 2016 to 2018, moving from production support into development — originating concepts, building pitches, and producing activations for major IP at Sundance, Tribeca, and Comic-Con.
The job was to see what the medium could actually do for real IP and real audiences, and make the case for it before anyone else could see it yet, then hold together the clients, directors, and engineers long enough to prove it.
Featured Work
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Legion: Sessions (2017)
FX brought its critically acclaimed series Legion to San Diego Comic-Con as a HoloLens mixed reality experience, one of the first activations of its kind for a major entertainment IP. Visitors entered a physical installation space, put on a HoloLens, and stepped into the headspace of David Haller, the show's schizophrenic mutant protagonist. Real actors, augmented environments, and branching narrative made it feel less like a demo and more like theater. I originated the concept from the brief, developed the initial idea, pitched it internally, and co-built the winning deck. The experience was directed by Justin Denton, with Weston Gaylor as Creative Technologist. It premiered at FXhibition 2017 to thousands of attendees and was named one of Rolling Stone's 25 Best Things at SDCC.
Read more — The Verge → -
The Protectors (2017)
Kathryn Bigelow's VR documentary for National Geographic followed rangers fighting elephant poaching in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. The film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on Earth Day 2017, with a surprise panel appearance by Hillary Clinton, before being released publicly on National Geographic's Within channel. I production-managed the synchronized premiere alongside Creative Producer Catherine Waage and Creative Technologist Marisa Demarin: 250 Samsung Gear VR headsets deployed and running in sync within 15 minutes for a packed house of journalists and film industry guests. We designed a low-tech fix for a real technical risk, rehearsed the turnover, and delivered to overwhelming praise by the audience and later, the press.
Read more — Deadline →
Other Work
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The Last Goodbye (2017)
A room-scale VR documentary created with the USC Shoah Foundation, MPC VR, OTOY, and LightShed. Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter guides viewers through the Majdanek concentration camp in a densely photogrammetric reconstruction of the site. Directed by Gabo Arora, it combined volumetric capture of live testimony with detailed 3D reconstruction of a real historical location. Premiered at Tribeca 2017. Winner of the Lumiere Award for Best VR Documentary and a Webby Award.
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Tree (2017)
A multisensory installation by New Reality Co.'s Milica Zec and Winslow Porter, produced with Here Be Dragons and Droga5 for the Rainforest Alliance. Viewers embodied a rainforest tree through a combination of VR, haptics, and scent. One of the most talked-about immersive installations of Sundance and Tribeca 2017, Tree demonstrated what the medium could do when every sense was considered part of the design.
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Ghost in the Shell VR (2017)
A branded immersive experience created for Paramount Pictures and Oculus Studios as a tie-in for the live-action Ghost in the Shell film. Built in Unreal Engine in collaboration with REWIND, the experience placed viewers inside an iconic scene from the franchise, blending real-time game engine visuals with cinematic production values.
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Dispatch (2017)
A four-part narrative VR series directed by Edward Robles for Oculus. The story follows a small-town police dispatcher named Ted, voiced by Martin Starr, through the worst night of his life. Shot and edited to leverage VR's specific spatial and acoustic properties, Dispatch was widely covered as one of the most serious attempts to find a native narrative language for the medium. It debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2017.
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