News

Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of the Keanu 360° Video

A couple months before the Blu-Ray DVD release of the comedy flick Keanu, VRScout was invited to the production for the 360-degree video companion piece. Below are several photos captured on set. 


People love cats – especially on the internet. Photos, videos, and animated GIFs of our feline friends are all over the web. Now, thanks to Warner Bros and Sunny Boy Entertainment, people can see what a world of cats in costumes looks like in 360-degrees. It’s hilariously adorable.

The filmmakers recorded the immersive flick called “Twelve Months of Keanu!” in Sunny Boy’s Pasadena-based studio. The experience depicts the behind the scenes action of the star of the original movie, Keanu, during a photo shoot with renowned fictitious cat photographer Huntington Farnsworth. The goal: to create a cat filled calendar with Keanu acting out scenes from various movies like Batman v Superman, Elf and 300.

DSC03575

Director Lex Halaby positions the camera for the 1st scene

Throughout the day, Lex Halaby (the director) put the story in motion by arranging each scene and providing in-the-moment instructions to the crew.

In between shots, the animal wranglers from Hollywood Animals dressed the cats in beautifully hand-made attire. Occasionally, they would make alterations to the costumes all while the pieces of the in-house sets were painted and finished up.

DSC03648

The kittens weren’t the only ones getting into character either. Members of the crew would goof-around with the costumes as well, making it a fun-filled day. It was nice to walk into a comedic environment with everyone having a good time.

The whole production was a team effort, professionally put together. Michael Govier (the lead actor) kept the laughter going with his often spontaneous exclamations, boosting the feline stars’ egos with continuous compliments while yelling at his assistant Martha (played by one of the animal wranglers). Representatives from Warner Bros tuned in here and there as well, providing useful references from the first Keanu movie.

DSC03599

Tosh Young (makeup artist), Michael Govier (actor) & Nicole Angelo (wardrobe specialist)

After a long day of shooting, the set wrapped for the night. The shots were then stitched together and edited for an online release a few weeks later. The video has already reached over 4 million views and can be viewed when logged into Facebook here or by clicking on the thumbnail below:

Capture

After they uploaded the 360-degree video of Keanu online, Sunny Boy debuted another 360-degree experience called Visions with Warner Bros – for the Conjuring 2. This is their followup piece to the original 360-degree film (also produced by Sunny Boy) which has been seen over 5 million times on Youtube.

The production studio plans to continue to create virtual reality content with a few special projects already in motion. VRScout will keep posting updates on what they come up with next. In the meantime, enjoy the following gallery with more photos from the Keanu 360-degree video set.

About the Scout

Matthew Terndrup

Matt Terndrup is a virtual reality journalist and content creator. He has written for Motherboard/Vice, UploadVR, Road to VR, Make Magazine, Hackaday, and many others. He was also worked with Two Bit Circus creating 360-degree video. In addition, he is currently working on a science fiction book related to VR.

Send this to a friend