Virtual Reality — VR Playhouse
Virtual Reality — VR Playhouse
Defying the Nazis was the VR companion to Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky's PBS documentary The Sharps' War — the true story of an American couple who helped refugees escape Nazi Europe in 1939. The experience puts you on a boat crossing from Portugal to America, traveling alongside young refugees on a rescue that saved 27 children.
It's fully computer-generated, with a letter from Martha Sharp read by Maria Bello and narration from real survivors — directed by Elijah Allan-Blitz and produced by VR Playhouse with Artemis Joukowsky and Farm Pond Pictures. I was Technical Director and Lead Artist. It was also the first project from Time Inc.'s new LIFE VR platform.
Why it matters: putting a viewer inside a real rescue — a real boat, real survivor voices — is VR doing what film can't: not showing you history, but standing you in it.
The experience included
The experience puts you on the deck of the boat — Portugal to America, 1939 — traveling alongside the young refugees of a rescue that saved 27 children.
Every frame is computer-generated, built to hold up with the viewer standing inside it.
"A real boat, real survivor voices — VR doing what film can't."
The full 360° frames — the world as it wraps the viewer, from the deck to the horizon.
There is no edge of frame to hide behind; the whole sphere has to carry the story.
As Technical Director and Lead Artist, this was my side of the work — the layered CG build behind the finished 360° frames.
Each pass assembles toward the final image the viewer stands inside.
