APEX is the latest real-time VR music video experience directed by Arjan van Meerten, the creator of the acclaimed Surge (2015). The experience is set to debut at the Tribeca Film Festival this month.
Update (4/10/17, 12:50PM PT): A spokesperson for Wevr tells Road to VR that Apex will launch on Wevr’s ‘Transport‘ VR content portal following Tribeca.
Original Article (4/5/17): In partnership with Wevr and House of Secrets, Arjan van Meerten’s Apex is said to be a “darkly beautiful apocalyptic vision set to an original score.” Wevr has released an official poster for the experience (shown below) and a new screenshot (heading this article), the first glimpses of the project since the teaser video debuted nearly a year ago.
Details on exactly what the Apex experience will entail are slim; it isn’t clear even how long the experience might last, though judging from Meerten’s prior VR work, we would guess not much longer than 10 minutes (though we’d be happily mistaken). Until we have a chance to see Apex at Tribeca, we have Meerteen’s words, as shared on the Wevr blog, to image the experience by:
Photo courtesy Wevr
I played in bands from when I was 16 – really loud death metal. But I had always been interested in electronic music as well and started make it. VR is a really intense and immersive way to experience music. The best way I can describe Apex is like when I was fifteen and went to a death metal concert, and what I felt being in the crowd as the band played, the aggression and the energy. And it’s overwhelming and kind of scary but it makes you feel something. And that’s what I wanted to do with Apex. There is destruction but there is also beauty in what you are seeing. It’s really more of an atmosphere than a traditional story. And that’s what I’m interested in doing now, putting people in worlds more than telling a traditional stories in those worlds. I like it when people take off the headset and have to adjust to the earth again.
And there’s of course also the teaser released last year:
I’m really excited about APEX, “Surge” was a great experiment. I really hope more and more demos/music videos of this type come out.
I really like the abstract/geometric visual style. I’m still puzzled as to why nobody from the demoscene has taken advantage of VR, the potential there is mind blowing.
yag
“why nobody from the demoscene has taken advantage of VR”
The problem is : demos are meant to be shown to other demomakers, on a huge screen and with big loudspeakers (it’s the best part of a demoparty). You can’t do that with a VR demo.
yag
Apex is now available on Transport (yet another VR portal) but it’s 20 bucks :-/
yag
Apex is now available on Transport (yet another VR portal) but it’s 20 bucks :-/
Details on exactly what the Apex experience will entail are slim; it isn’t clear even how long the experience might last, though judging from Meerten’s prior VR work, we would guess not much longer than 10 minutes (though we’d be happily mistaken). Until we have a chance to see Apex at Tribeca, we have Meerteen’s words, as shared on the Wevr blog, to image the experience by:
