The Insider — LI YI-HO Portfolio

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The Insider
A Glimpse of the Mind Landscapes

THE INSIDER

This afternoon, Peter woke up in his room. As he slowly opened his eyes, warm sunlight spilled over his face. Today was meant to be a special day, yet lately, he’d been struggling to remember things clearly. Time didn’t feel faster or slower, but rather as though a part of his memory was slipping away...

It is a spatialised storytelling about dissociative identity. Using the Quest 3’s passthrough mode, our team project virtual contents into the physical room to interact with real furniture, creating body illusion. This layered reality triggers distinct narrative outcomes.

Type: Granted Project, Prototype Development Grant, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA)
Role: Director / Producer / UX Designer
VR Specs: Quest 3 / 6-DoF / Single User / 25 minutes
Production Duration: 15 months
Techniques: Unity, Quest 3 Hand Tracking, MR Occlusion, 4DViews (Volumetric Video Capture Technology)

Experience From multiple angles:
3 Personalities, 3 Memories, 3 endings

We collaborated with a scriptwriter who had researched topics on individuals suffering from “Multiple Personality Disorder”. In this project, for “personalities in the mind”, we made them “virtual”, and for “people at the supermarket”, they were shot from the 4DViews (Volumetric Video Capture). In terms of narrative design, we were inspired by the film “Memento”, and we designed three distinct endings. By interacting with various virtual objects, the viewer can trigger distinct storylines, and even alter the reactions of the three personalities, offering different angles to understand the main character Peter’s painful past.

MR Scene Design:
Combine Virtual objects with FURNITURE

We aim to create a more immersive experience through the combination of real and virtual objects. The bed and table in the room are real, while the window is virtual, allowing us to see the changing weather outside as time passes. When the door is opened, the scene transitions to the supermarket. A pair of virtual scissors, tape, and a shopping basket are overlaid on the real table, making it look like a packaging area. The virtual counter covers the real bed, ensuring that the viewer's movement is not influenced by the objects in the physical reality.

On-site measurements:
Ensure the correct alignment

In this project, we use hand tracking to allow viewers to directly flip through books, turn calendars, scroll on phones, and grab shopping baskets to purchase items. Therefore, when aligning MR objects, it's crucial to position everything precisely. In addition to visually inspecting whether each model is placed according to our concept design, we also need to consider the viewer's initial standing position when the experience begins. Therefore, we ask the viewer to press the “Calibration Completed” option after they have assumed their starting position, ensuring that everything is displayed correctly.

MANDY
First born’s inner personality

Keeps the Memory of...
Peter’s mother abused him.

The Ending
The viewer selects "Waiting for the queue to checkout”, then the clerk starts a conversation, mentioning that she is also a mother and hoping that her son would help with the household chores such as buying groceries. This reminds Peter of his deeply beloved mother. However, what Peter doesn’t know is that his mother had been abusing him all along, with the personality "Mandy" always appearing to protect him. This time, she reveals the painful truth to Peter as a birthday gift.

PICHOU
Second born’s inner personality

Keeps the Memory of...
Peter's father abandoned him.

The Ending
The viewer selects "Pick up the phone”, leading to the devastating news of the death of Peter’s beloved dog. This moment reignites a traumatic memory of his father's living when Peter was a child. In response, the personality "Pichou" appears, taking control of Peter's body. Fueled by anger and sorrow, he set the supermarket on fire in a violent outburst.

MS. YANG
Third born’s inner personality

Keeps the Memory of...
Peter's mom committed suicide.

The Ending
The viewer selects "Cutting in the queue to checkout" and sees a male customer listening joyfully to the store’s closing background music. The tune happens to be his mother’s favourite, but she had chosen to take her own life after his father abandoned the family. At that moment, the personality “Ms. Yang’” appears, gently guiding Peter to the park outside the supermarket to rest.

Shooting 4DViews
(Volumetric video capture technology)

We cast actors to play roles such as the clerk, the customer, the angry mother, and her sad son. Although these characters are "strangers" to Peter, interacting with them triggers his (the viewer's) childhood memories. For example, hearing the mother threaten to abandon her son brings out one of Peter's personalities (Pichou). Shooting with 4DViews was essential as it allowed for clear visual differentiation from 3D models representing Peter's personality. We dedicated time to explaining the concept to the actors and ensuring the seamless integration of 4ds files into Unity.

80 viewers in 10 days

Since only one person could experience the space at a time, we set up a reservation system to invite industry professionals. Each day was scheduled for 8 hours with one person per hour, allowing standby guests to take any available slots. This helped manage the number of viewers and the quality. After they finished, we also asked the viewer to fill out a feedback form to share their thoughts.

THE INSIDER

Co-production: CURIOSKI, Baiaibaiyy Studio
Director: Li Yi-Ho, Cheng Yi-Ting
Screenwriter: Baiaibaiyy
Studio VR Design: CURIOSKI (Li Yi-Ho, Cheng Yi-Ting)
Exhibition Design: Cheng Yi-Ting
UX Design: Li Yi-Ho
2D Artist: Liu Yu-Jou
3D Artist: Ma Ruey-Cherng
Programmer: Leon Jiang
Sound Design: Kao Chin-Lun
Music Design: Lee Pei-Chin

Supported by:
TAICCA (Taiwan Creative Content Agency)

2024