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On the Morning You Wake, a new virtual reality project from EmmyⓇ Award-winning creators Archer’s Mark and Atlas V, will premiere its first chapter at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival as part of the New Frontier program. The project, executive produced by Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security and Games for Change, explores the risks and consequences of a world held hostage by nuclear weapons through the first-hand experiences of people in Hawai’i, who confronted the threat of nuclear annihilation when a false missile alert was sent on January 13th, 2018. Through its worldwide debut at Sundance Film Festival on January 20th—days after the anniversary of the false missile alert—On the Morning You Wake brings new urgency to the conversation about nuclear weapons by illuminating the volatile world we live in and amplifying the voices of people forced to grapple with imminent annihilation on that January morning.
This powerful virtual reality documentary allows audiences to experience the alarming events of January 13, 2018, in Hawai’i like never before. On an ordinary Saturday morning, the entire population of Hawai’i received a startling text message from the state Emergency Management Agency:
“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAI’I. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
As cellular communication networks collapsed and panic took hold of the population, 1.4 million people — as well as their friends and relatives across the globe — came to understand the real, growing, and urgent nature of today’s nuclear threat. For most, nuclear threat is unimaginable—out of sight, and out of our control. It feels distant compared to threats that dominate our collective consciousness from systemic racism to climate change, healthcare to global pandemic.
On the Morning You Wake makes that threat proximate and uses the first-hand experience of citizens in Hawaii to make clear the fundamental injustice of a world held hostage by nuclear weapons.
On the Morning You Wake uses innovative documentary storytelling and virtual production techniques to viscerally recreate the lived experiences of people who, for 38 minutes, had to react and make impossible decisions in the face of nuclear violence – a form of injustice that every community faces but rarely comes face-to-face with. The first chapter of the room-scale long form virtual reality project, “Take Cover,” transports viewers to the moments following the false missile alert in 2018.
Human stories come to life through vivid first-person audio testimonies and performances recorded using cutting-edge volumetric video capture technology, set in a 3D storyworld with art direction that provides a visual metaphor for the chaos and panic in the immediate aftermath of the alarming event. “The 2018 Hawaiian false alarm was a chillingly prophetic event, and one that must never be forgotten,” said creator Mike Brett, co-founder of Archer’s Mark.
“In centering the first-person accounts of those who went through this trauma, we wanted to open an imaginative portal for audiences everywhere to experience a situation and a perspective that would change their collective understanding of nuclear threat forever. By the time they remove their headsets at the end of the experience, we hope that everyone will feel the profound sense that, in our co-writer Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio’s words, ‘maybe, just maybe, the world may not have to end again tomorrow.’”
On the Morning You Wake is one of the most ambitious VR projects to date in terms of its use of volumetric capture throughout a long-form, headset-based documentary VR experience. Human character performances were recorded at Dimension Studios in London, a state-of-the-art volumetric capture stage that uses 120 infrared sensors and 140 cameras to capture 3D images of extraordinary resolution and detail. In order to optimize the experience for wide distribution on the Oculus Quest 2, the production team introduced bespoke technical innovations throughout the production pipeline.
“We knew from the outset that the project’s emotional impact would be tied inextricably to the way that users were able to observe and emote with the characters around them, connecting on a human level,” said creator Steve Jamison, co-founder of Archer’s Mark.
“From a technical perspective, this meant we had to avoid computer-generated character assets and instead embrace the challenges of large-scale volumetric capture to maximize the emotional immersion of each scene. This meant undergoing months of pipeline testing, and working with remote teams in the U.K., France and the U.S. to incorporate data-heavy human assets that feel organic, authentic, natural—everything we were looking for in terms of physical and emotional impact.”
The creative team includes Mike Brett and Steve Jamison of Archer’s Mark, Pierre Zandrowicz and Arnaud Colinart of Atlas V, producer Jo-Jo Ellison and co-producer Kurban Kassam, who collaborated with technology studio Novelab. Among the team’s collective credits are the award-winning VR documentary experiences Notes on Blindness, Sphere, and Vestige. The script was developed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison in collaboration with Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, whose spoken word poem inspired the film’s title and provides a lyrical framework for each chapter of the experience. Original music is composed by Bobby Krlic (The Haxan Cloak), the award-winning musician behind Ari Aster’s Midsommar soundtrack.
Development, production and platform partners include the BFI (awarding funds from the National Lottery), ARTE France, Oculus VR for Good and Meta. Lizzie Francke executive produces for the BFI, with Marianne Lévy-Leblond and Lili Blumers executive producing for ARTE France. Executive producers for Oculus are Colum Slevin, Yelena Rachitsky and Amy Seidenwurm.
Executive producers Alexander Glaser and Tamara Patton from Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security advise on nuclear arms data and policy, drawing on extensive expertise in nuclear security issues. Executive producer Susanna Pollack at nonprofit Games for Change advances the project’s social impact campaign through their XR for Change initiative. The project was developed with initial support from the MacArthur Foundation.
Chapters 2 and 3 will premiere in March 2022, in advance of the release of the full experience on the Oculus Quest 2. The full three-part experience will be at the centre of a global multimedia impact campaign to raise awareness of the impact of nuclear violence, and inspire everyday citizens to take action that shapes the future of nuclear weapons policy.
“Today, thirty years after the end of the original Cold War, thousands of nuclear weapons can be launched at a moment’s notice, and the world is facing a new nuclear arms race,” said executive producer Dr. Alex Glaser, co-director of Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security.
“Mobilizing the public to engage with nuclear policy issues is more important than ever. We hope that On the Morning You Wake can help reach new audiences and create a more widely shared sense of the scale of existing nuclear stockpiles, the immediacy of the dangers of current nuclear weapon postures and plans, and the devastating consequences of nuclear weapon use.“
“People in Hawai’i will never forget what happened on that day in January. As they share their stories, we have another opportunity to stop talking about the nuclear threat in political or material terms and start talking about it in human terms,” said executive producer Dr. Tamara Patton, formerly of Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security, and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the MIT Security Studies Program.
“Nuclear weapons are not inevitable. There are solutions through collective action, science, and technology to eradicate them. This issue is not the exclusive domain of experts in global security. We all have a meaningful place in the conversation and a role in driving change.”
“On the Morning You Wake is a groundbreaking and transformative work of art that enables viewers to confront the very real nuclear threat we face, and as a result, understand their power to create change,” said executive producer Susanna Pollack, president of Games for Change.
“Our goal is to accelerate change by making the experience widely available, engaging as many people as possible across multiple platforms, and working with the extraordinary organizations on the front lines of the movement for nuclear justice.”
The film creators urge audiences and the public to get involved in the cause of nuclear weapons:
“Let’s reframe the threat from nuclear weapons as an urgent social justice issue, relevant to the fight against systemic oppression around the world.
Nuclear weapons and their modernization are one of the most well-funded aspects of the global military-industrial complex. The existence of these weapons is seeded in racial oppression and supremacist domination that connects to the relative discussions of today’s social justice movements.
We invite our audiences to recognize our current position as hostages within today’s precarious nuclear weapons climate and aim to transform feelings of complacency into active and hopeful participation.”
Plans are underway to screen the experience worldwide, as well as make it available for home viewers. Other iterations of the work will also be broadcast, streamed, and podcasted. At the moment the project times are in person and taking place at The Craft, Park City in January 2022, with one online performance on 20th January which will be available until 31st January. Additionally, the full Sundance schedule is available online, with additional details for viewings outlined as:
January 19
Online Press Event in The Spaceship
January 20 – 28
The Spaceship is open to virtual festival attendees
January 21 – 23, 11AM – 8PM
New Frontier’s physical venue The Craft is open to in-person festival attendees.
January 24 – 25, 1PM – 8PM
New Frontier’s physical venue The Craft is open to in-person festival attendees.
January 21 at 3:30PM
Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier program presents On the Morning You Wake Artist Spotlight at the physical venue The Craft, featuring spoken word performed by Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
January 22 at 7PM
Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier program presents On the Morning You Wake Artist Spotlight in the virtual venue titled The Spaceship, featuring a panel moderated by Susanna Pollack, president of Games for Change, featuring one of the project’s Emmy-award winning creators, Mike Brett and Executive Producer Dr. Tamara Lilinoe Patton, whose research centers around future nuclear arms control and disarmament.
Links:
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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