Documentary
The Story Behind
The Bone
How did the idea of embarking on a journey into a fish's skull come about in a virtual world? The Story behind the Bone tells us why this is not only possible but also an outstanding experience. The film tries to capture the atmosphere and poetry of the virtual reality experience and to put a light onto the themes of the artwork, the fascinating underwater world, its importance and the destruction by humans.
The focus is on the artistic background of Michelle-Marie Letelier, who provided the ideas and concept and was artistically responsible, and the creative collaborative process between the artist and other creatives and producers of the team during development of the interactive vr-world and atmosphere.
The Film
An artistic portrait
An extraordinary project like The Bone deserves an equally extraordinary documentary. Not the usual documentary, not a pure making-of, not an explanatory film. But a film that arouses interest, raises questions, does not explain or tell everything, and thus opens up space for associations and inspiration, that is visually, acoustically and narratively unusual and is simply fun to watch. The result is a portrait that throws light on the project, the participants and the makers from different perspectives and thus brings to light the multi-layered connections that make up The Bone and other OCEANS21 projects.
The VR experience The Bone captivates with its atmosphere, which leaves us in the undefined and opens up space for associations and imagination. An almost mystical atmosphere, between the underwater world and the universe, between the past, present and future, also characterised by the stream-of-conciousness narratives, whose fragmentary use and changing perspectives create their own poetic space of imagination. The film picks up on this atmosphere.
By alternating between abstraction and representation, by image design and lighting, by playing with projections and quotations from the experience. Through soundscapes in the background and differentiation in colouring: while the playouts from the VR experience retain their "other-wordly look", the real film scenes on location are shot in black and white.
Editing/ cinematography/ directed by
Michael Krautter
Credits
Artist & Team
A Film by Michael Krautter Produced by OCEANS21.
Michelle-Marie Letelier
Ina Krüger
Diana Schniedermeier
Daniela Arriado
Special appearance: Nicolás Lartaun
Yoik singer: Ánde Somby
Salmon's voice in english: Martin Lee Mueller
Using footage from the VR Artwork The Bone
