News | BRENDAN GIBBONS | CREATIVITY EDITOR'S PICK

Mr. Gibbons, responsible for the muscly-guy-in-the-cow-costume Applegate Farms spots and the divisive Sofy “Be Fresh” spot making headlines, told Creativity there’s a lot of demand from brands who want to make commercials using virtual reality; after all, it’s newly accessible on YouTube and with cheaper, mass-produced goggles. Station Film editor and vault manager Anthony Rescigno said the comedy film and other virtual reality projects in the works are creating buzz from marketers.

“There’s a huge desire for content, so we’re showing this is possible,” Mr. Gibbons added. “Red Velvet” is something like a tester comedy VR film — giving brands a taste of genres outside of what’s been done.

Featuring trained improv actors, the three-minute film is about a job interview gone wrong: An employee takes revenge on officemates with a tainted birthday cake containing a drug similar to bath salts. There are a few audio cues — a noise makes you turn your head to someone taking off his clothes, someone at the table beside you says, “now, look here” — so the viewer’s experience is somewhat guided. There were cues for the actors to deliver lines, too. In this way, Mr. Gibbons said, the project resembled a stage play in its setup. As with a stage, a 360 VR film requires the crew and director to remain hidden.

With Silence of the Lambs references and actors disrobing in virtual space, there’s a lot going on in the film, which was shot in one take (it took about 20 rehearsals and seven takes) using an H3PRO7 from GoPro with seven Hero4 Black 4k Cameras. See the Behind the Scenes film for more on how it was done. Red Velvet is available to view on YouTube using Google Chrome on a desktop, on iOS devices using the YouTube app or Android devices via the YouTube app or Chrome.

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