CORPORATE UNCONSCIOUS AND THE VIDEOWALK FORMAT
1.1 Background and Context
1.2 Research Question
1.3 Objectives and Scope
1.4 Structure of the Thesis
2. Corporate Unconscious 2.1 Credits
2.2 Description
2.3 Video Documentation
2.4 Synopsis
2.5 Full Text
3. Theoretical framework 3.1 Videowalk: Exploring the Format
3.1.1. Walking as a type of art.3.1.2 Audiowalks
3.1.3 The emergence of Videowalk
3.1.4 Choosing the format3.2 Site-Specific Art and Spatial Narratives
3.3 Engaging Audiences in a Constructed Reality
3.3.1 Illusion and Engagement: The Rubber Hand Effect in Theater
3.3.2 We should invent reality before filming it
3.3.3 Simul Entertainment GmbH3.4 Meta-Score
4. Creative process 4.1 Concept Development
4.1.1 Synchronicity and simultaneity.
4.1.2 Corporate Language as a Narrative Tool4.2 Space research
4.3 Development of visual, auditory and performative identity
4.3.1 Corporate Identity
4.3.2 Art Direction and Stage Design
4.3.3 Performativity
4.3.4 Costumes
4.3.5 Music composition
4.3.6 Cinematography4.4 Dramaturgy and Script Development
4.4.1 Narrative Layers
4.4.2 Storytelling
4.4.3 Dramaturgical arc
4.4.4 Space Score and Timing4.5 Videowalk Production phases
4.5.1 Creation of Fake Historical Footage
4.5.2 Videowalk Filming
4.5.3 3D Modeling and Scanning of the Space
4.5.4 VFX Development and 3D Animated Scenes
4.5.5 Documentary Development4.6 Performance and Participation4.6.1 Installations & self-reflective moments
4.6.2 Leveled performances
4.6.3 Fake participants and recursive participation
4.6.4 Easter eggs4.7 Multimedia Techniques
4.7.1 LiDAR Scanning and As-build modeling
4.7.2 On-site shading and texturing
4.7.3 Character and animations
4.7.4 Camera tracking and VFX compositing
4.7.5 Virtual production and "inverse virtual production"
4.7.6 Video Game development
4.7.7 Spatial audio
4.7.8 AI text models
4.7.9 iOS playback app
5. Conclusion
6. Acknowledgments
7. References
Virtual production is a method that has revolutionized filmmaking and video game development. It combines real-time visual effects using environments rendered in engines like Unreal Engine, allowing creators to see their digital scenes come to life in real-time, often while shooting on set with a massive video wall -also called "Volume". In Corporate Unconscious I used this technique to integrate 3D digital elements directly with live-action footage, ensuring that the virtual content matched the physical space's lighting, perspective, and movements accurately.
For the final scene set in the MFS, participants encounter an expansive video wall portraying performers within a seemingly infinite corridor, achieved through virtual production techniques. This setup used a combination of Unreal Engine's rendering capabilities and MadMapper software to project a 3D-rendered environment onto the video wall. This environment was distorted in such a way that it appeared correct only from a specific viewpoint — that of the in-scene camera, creating a unique, perspective-specific illusion. This approach exposed the virtual production technique and played with the participants' perception of space and reality.
Conversely, I explored what could be called "inverse" virtual production. Instead of employing digital backdrops for real actors, we placed digital characters within real-life settings. This inversion allowed us to exploit Unreal Engine's Lumen technology for global illumination and ray tracing, ensuring that our digital characters were lit in a way that matched the real-world lighting conditions. This method generated surprising outcomes in scenes where digital representations of the Simul workers interacted within the textured real-world environment of the HfMT.