Today's Short Is A "Virtual Reality" Story From The Creator Of The Oscar-Winning FEAST

I'm not sold on the medium. Seems gimmicky. Having to move around in the environment in order to see what's going on is distracting (and as a result, sort of irritating to someone who's trying to track the story). It's as though Patrick Osborne is expecting me to work.

It's not so much that he's expecting me to work in order to understand what he's trying to say, which is what most storytellers do (and should). It's that he's asking me to work in order to even hear (or see) what he's saying. Feels like an impediment to the story; a stumbling block that slows down my ability to actually understand and appreciate his work.

And that's a shame, because the story is very powerful. So powerful that it overcomes the medium, actually. But it's a story that would have been even better and more effective in a more traditional venue, I think. Interesting experiment, but let's go back to the "real" drawing board, guys. (Also, I ended up with a bit of a crick in my neck, because I was actually craning it in an effort to look around. "Sympathetic craning," or something.)

Still, nothing here to suggest that Osborne is anything but a master storyteller.

“Set inside their home, a beloved hatchback, Pearl follows a girl and her dad as they crisscross the country chasing their dreams. It’s a story about the gifts we hand down and their power to carry love. And finding grace in the unlikeliest of places.”
Attribution(s): Images and stills are the property of Google Spotlight Stories and other respective production studios and distributors.