Background
Recently premiering at Sundance, iAnimal is a VR project that exposes the animal agriculture industry, which is notorious for keeping their practices under wraps. VR is allowing us transparency into normally unseen places, and we hope to open up conversations in the circles of those who strive to be more health and socially-conscious.
iAnimal, Episode 1
In the first episode of iAnimal, you’re transported inside pig factory farms and slaughterhouses from five countries. This immersive story is a trip through a pig’s merciless journey from farm to slaughterhouse through its own eyes. No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal and Downton Abbey star Peter Egan were so moved by this project that they are narrating the film in the U.S. and the U.K., respectively.
Cultural Effects
iAnimal has been covered by NPR and Vice, and affected the journalists to be more conscious about their meat consumption. At the inaugural Versions VR festival in Manhattan, NY, "Sam Dolnick of the New York Times said that he knew all about the cruel practices of the meat industry, but was never persuaded to give up meat until watching iAnimal, a VR documentary that goes inside a Mexican slaughterhouse." (Killscreen)
Filming
The iAnimal crew used a specialized waterproof 360-video capture unit built with six GoPro Hero 4 cameras, with the footage stitched together in post-production using Kolor Autopano. With additional post-effects, the result is a crisp 4K video, and one of the clearest and highest-quality 360-video experiences -- iAnimal is incomparable as far as documentary-style VR storytelling experiences go.
Tour
The iAnimal experience is currently touring college and university campuses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
Viewing and Release
With the Samsung Gear VR as our first choice for viewing the VR content, the iAnimal team is also working on an app whereby anyone can download the video and view it with the VR headset of their choice. The video will be available soon on the Oculus Gear VR store, as well as from a dedicated VR video app created by Animal Equality. New iAnimal stories featuring other farmed animals will be releasing in the coming months.
