MAF: Blue Zoo Hoodoo

This was not just your typical short animation that you just watch, this animation was a virtual reality experience animation where you place a head set on and emerge yourself into the animation and become part of the animation. With Blue Zoos Hoodoo you can be a part of the animation by interacting with the characters and pick up rocks and other things and throw them around. I found that this was the best experience I've had at MAF because of the interactivity of the animation, plus I got to chat with the co-founder and producer of Blue Zoo Tom Box and the director of the short Catherine Salkeld.

This VR experience was a first for MAF but it won't be the last because VR is becoming more and more popular with the animation industry, and I feel like this won't be the last time Blue Zoo use VR technology in their animations. This animation was simple but effective with a narrator explaining to the audience what's going on and how to play through the animation. The animation uses the story to drive the audience to interact in a way so that the animation can progress without any awkward moments where there is nothing going on. 

Another good thing about this is that Blue Zoo wanted to create new talent within the studio, so they put together a competition to see who can come up with the best story for the VR animation. The winner was a junior storyboard artist and got to direct her fist VR animation. The idea behind this whole project was to push the studio into something that they've never done before, so with the vive head set they were able to create an animation where the audience can move around and interact with the environments.