Fantastic Little Splash's VR Short Explores VRChat's Chaotic Early Days
Ukrainian filmmakers Lera Malchenko and Oleksandr Hants have produced a short film titled 'Forward, upward, in all directions,' which pays tribute to VRChat, a virtual reality chat service introduced in 2017 by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey. This platform enables users to design 3D avatars and construct unique worlds. The film presents a documentary-style exploration of diverse environments, such as nightclubs and underwater scenes, highlighting the cultures and rituals within VRChat. It conveys a desire for connection that virtual reality cannot fully satisfy. Set during VRChat's unmoderated early days in 2018, the short is available for free on VRAL, an online extension of the Milan Machinima Festival, featuring an interview with Matteo Bittanti.
Key facts
- Short film 'Forward, upward, in all directions' by fantastic little splash
- Dedicated to VRChat, launched in 2017 by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey
- VRChat is a free VR chat platform similar to Second Life
- Film explores VRChat's diverse worlds and user cultures
- Documentary style reveals desire for intimacy in VR
- Avatars often copied from video games, films, and comics
- Set in 2018, showing VRChat's early unmoderated phase
- Available on VRAL, supplement to Milan Machinima Festival
Entities
Artists
- Lera Malchenko
- Oleksandr Hants
- fantastic little splash
- Graham Gaylor
- Jesse Joudrey
- Brad Bird
- Hajime Isayama
- Matteo Bittanti
- Matteo Lupetti
Institutions
- VRChat
- Second Life
- Milan Machinima Festival
- VRAL
- Artribune
- Scuola Internazionale di Comics di Firenze
- Gravure
- FISAR
Locations
- Italy
- Florence