Check out work from my archive over on my Tumblr here: https://samwolson.tumblr.com/
After The Fallout at Sundance 2020
Thrilled to announce that After The Fallout an immersive documentary project I have been working on since 2017 will premiere at Sundance in 2020.
For more check out the website! www.AfterTheFallout.org
After The Fallout is a immersive documentary that attempts to push past traditional documentary tropes to evoke the reality and emotional gravity of life in Fukushima, ten years after the 2011 nuclear disaster. After the Fallout is an immersive mosaic that takes us through surreal environments in the exclusion zone, relives the struggle of the heroes who worked to prevent the meltdown, and explores the lives of families as they navigate a new world which they have had to adapt to.
Episode 4: The Return
A bittersweet conclusion to an incredible project and experience. Episode 4 brings us back from the wild.
Episode 3: The Okavango After Dark
The setting sun opened up an entirely new world in Okavango each night. Unknown footsteps around your tent, rustling of leaves in the distance, glowing eyes like lights from a distant star, humms, croaks, buzzing, all coming together to create a soaring symphony of the unknown. Episode three takes you to this unknown place. Watch with headphones and headset!
Episode 2: Elephant Encounters
Its strange reliving fearful moments from an out of body perspective. Particularly when that perspective is not a photograph or video, or dream, but rather an immersive 360 video. Episode 2 of the Okavango Experience takes you face to face with various elephants we encountered on the expedition.
On one occasion we showed up to an island to stop for lunch not realising an entire herd of elephants was still foraging. As the elephants came out of the forest one by one, each evaluating if we were a threat, we sat motionless like statues waiting for them to pass. At one point the matriarch of the herd crossed our path. She stood eye to eye with us for what seemed like an eternity, but according to the video was about 30 seconds, until she decided to pass as well. It’s a great example of how we dealt with animal encounters in the delta. We had no weapons or no motors, nothing that put us above the animals. It was a constant act of negotiation. A conversation.
Episode 1: The Okavango Experience
Over the course of three weeks I had the incredible privilege to join a group of conservationist on an expedition across the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It was an incredibly challenging and rewarding journey that culminated in a 4 part VR series shot for National Geographic. You can find episode one below. I’ll share more about my time as they come out over the course of the month.
J360 Winner Challenge Winner: Volumetric Video
Excited to be one of eleven projects to receive a J360 grant for 2018! Our team will work on a modular tool kit designed to make volumetric video accessible and affordable for creators and technologists around the world. This project will develop an open source kit of best practices by building and deploying a prototype in collaboration with immersive storytellers in East Africa.
From the Archive: Jaboya
Project I shot last year for the Global Fund about a practice known as Jaboya.
“With a furrowed brow, Elizabeth Masere faced the camera and told the story of her life matter-of-factly. She spoke of the tough job of trying to raise her six children by selling fish at the shores of Lake Victoria – East Africa’s largest lake. She told about the men who controlled fishing and who exploited women for sex. As hard as money was to come by, having it did not guarantee she would get the fish she needed to sell, Elizabeth said. To sell her their fish, the fishermen demanded not just money, but sex.”
https://www.theglobalfund.org/…/sp…/2016-12-01-sex-for-fish/
That Time Chimps Stole my 360 Camera..
After two hours of negotiations and a Fanta Orange later I was able to get it back. The following is a result of that encounter:
Google Jump Start!
Excited to be part of the google Jump start project for my upcoming collaboration: https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/say-hello-our-third-round-jump-start-creators/
Huck
Great article talking about my last film We Who Remain and VR.