Live-action meets CGI in this six-part adaptation of Lottie Moggach’s hit YA novel.
A suspenseful cyber-drama series developed by Bryan Elsley, Kiss Me First tells the story of Leila (Taboo’s Tallulah Haddon), a lonely 17-year-old haunted by the death of her mother. In order to escape the tortures of her reality, Leila has become addicted to a massive VR universe, known as Azana, where she spends a majority of her time.
While there she eventually befriends a bold, confident player named Tess (The Night Manager’s Simona Brown). After Tess mysteriously disappears, Leila steps into the shoes of her missing friends avatar to uncover hidden secrets affecting not only the world of Azana, but reality itself.
Although we only have a brief trailer to go on, it looks as though we’re dealing with yet another cautionary tale centered around obsession with technology. The one minute thirteen second trailer is packed with dramatic moments, as well as an interesting blend of live-action and CGI. While the scenes taking place in reality are shot with conventional cameras in live-action, the moments taking place in VR are represented as 3D animations akin to that of a video game cut scene.
Kiss Me First is a loose adaptation of Lottie Moggach’s 2013 YA novel of the same name. Brought to us by the same team behind the popular UK series Skins, the 2018 televised rendition began airing on UK’s Channel 4 network back in April. All six, hour-long episodes will be available for streaming on Netflix June 29th.
Whether it be new programming like Kiss Me First or established series’ such as Black Mirror, it seems as though studios can’t seem to shake the feeling of techno-paranoia when it comes to VR technology. At times it almost looks as though a majority of VR related original programming is their to serve as a cautionary tale, designed to warn viewers of the hazards that come from a dangerous new technology such as this.
Hopefully other projects, like Spielberg’s Ready Player One, can continue to paint VR more as a fantastic tool of the future, rather than a weapon capable of one day crippling society.
Image Credit: Netflix
