Blackout

Blackout is a virtual reality documentary inviting New Yorkers to share stories in their own voice. Blackout illuminates the moments when our lives intersect in a space where differences are most visible – the subway. It is an ongoing, participatory project gathering real experiences from this political instant.

Blackout premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, with production ongoing, onsite during the festival. New participants were invited to be interviewed and 3D scanned daily to become passengers in the virtual experience.

Scatter interviewed New Yorkers daily using a live DepthKit 3D scanning stage at the Tribeca Film Festival. This visible production process aimed to create a diverse “crowd-sourced” cast representing the extraordinary breadth of human experiences in New York City. All the participants and their stories appear in the Blackout virtual reality experience as passengers on the virtual train car for festival audiences to experience.

During the run of the festival, visitors had the opportunity to preview a live-edited version of the first episode of the Blackout series, featuring an evolving cast that changes daily at the Storyscapes Installation.