In a first for a Brazilian company, ARVORE Immersive Experiences (ARVORE) won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Programming for its virtual reality (VR) love story, “The Line.” The series claims to be the first VR narrative experience for Facebook’s Oculus Quest hand tracking feature.
“To receive this recognition, particularly in an innovation category, is truly an incredible achievement for us, which validates our dedication and our vision for the future of immersive technologies as a storytelling medium,” Ricardo Justus, CEO of ARVORE, said in a statement.
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Set within a scale model of 1940s São Paulo and narrated by Rodrigo Santoro (HBO’s “Westworld”), “The Line” is an interactive story about love and the fear of change, transforming players into a child who unlocks an enchanted maquette of two miniature dolls, Pedro and Rosa. This room-scale experience invites players to pull on knobs, and crawl under the scale model engine, to unfold the story of these figurines who are perfect for each other, but reluctant to live out their love.
“One of the most beautiful side effects of VR is bringing the body back to the center of the experience,” said series director Ricardo Laganaro. “We use the body movement as a language device to create emotions inside of the story. When we use our whole body to not only interact with but also tell and listen to stories, we remember that we are human.”
The show’s creators says VR is key to developing the storyline that could not be replicated on standard video or film. Specifically, the VR user is responsible for the development of the story by engaging in a series of interactions that are triggers to unravel the narrative. Justus and Santoro say “The Line” is first narrative with full-hand tracking interaction, where the user can touch the story with their hands with his/her bare hands — at both a God-Like perspective of the scale-mode, and then at the scale of the dolls.
“We believe that we have entered a new phase in the VR market, and now the users are becoming more and more mainstream,” they said. “However, for first-time VR users the library of content is still very scarce so ‘The Line’ is a fantastic gateway into VR that in just under 20 minutes demonstrates the best attributes of the technology.
The Emmy adds to a list of awards “The Line” has received, including Best VR Experience at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Best VR Immersive Award at the 2019 Kaohsiung Film Festival and more. The Emmy will be presented to the team on September 17.
“The Line” is available globally on Oculus for $4.99.