Award for walk-in movie „Ein Ganzes Leben“ (A whole life)

The walk-in movie “Ein ganzes Leben” (A whole life) celebrated its premiere as part of the exhibition “Die Ufa – Geschichte einer Marke” (Ufa – History of a Brand) on the occasion of UFA’s 100th birthday. Yesterday, the joint production of UFA and Fraunhofer HHI received the Laval Virtual Award in the category “Arts and Cultural Heritage”.

Volumetric video is regarded worldwide as the next important development step in the field of media production. Volumetric video is currently becoming a key technology, especially in the context of the extremely rapid development of the Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) markets. The Fraunhofer HHI has developed an especially innovative technology for volumetric video, 3D Human Body Reconstruction (3D HBR). UFA LAB and UFA Technology applied 3D HBR in a test production to create an innovative VR experience in the walk-in short movie "Gateway to Infinity". Whereas the holograms for Gateway to Infinity could only be presented in a limited form with the early development stages of the technology, it is now possible for the first time to capture the actors from all camera perspectives and to place them in virtual space. This makes the experience featured in the exhibition, Germany's first walk-in movie in which the actors can be observed from all sides during the action.

Laval Virtual is a world-leading conference and exhibition for virtual technologies and applications in France. The Laval Virtual Award is bestowed upon projects that are distinguished by high technical quality and innovative power by an international jury of experts.

In the VR experience A whole life the viewer follows the actress Maria (played by Franziska Brandmeier) through the story of the film. The shooting of early movies in the 1920s can be experienced in an accessible world. In the course of the VR experience, the viewer is able to perceive how technical tricks and illusions were used to ensnare viewers even at that time. Surprisingly however, this shooting set world turns out to be only an illusion – because Maria takes the viewer on a journey through German film history. Herbert Knaup can be experienced up close along with Franziska Brandmeier. Due to the fact that the cast consists of real and famous actors, even the untrained eye is able to distinguish the real actor holograms from computer generated figures.