This Spring, popular podcaster Dan Carlin of Hardcore History and Common Sense and MWM Immersive will premiere War Remains at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s a new mixed reality piece leveraging the power of virtual reality and physical installation to transport audiences into The Western Front of the First World War — the piece will present not only the visuals of the warfront but transport participants into a realistic simulation of a battlefield through a detailed physical set, haptics, wind effects, and more.

We spoke to Ethan Stearns, Executive Producer at MWM Immersive, over email to learn more about War Remains.

No Proscenium (NP): Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background in making immersive works?

Ethan Stearns (ES): I’m an executive producer and head of MWM Immersive, which produced War Remains. MWM Immersive is the virtual reality and interactive entertainment division of MWM, a diversified entertainment media company focused on premium content creation in film, television, immersive media and live theatre.

Previously I served as VP of Virtual Reality at Legendary Entertainment. In 2016, I worked with Alejandro G. Inaìrritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to produce the first ever Academy Award-winning VR project, Carne y Arena. At MWM Immersive I produced another location based VR project titled, Chained: A Victorian Nightmare and act as executive producer across our two home projects Groundhog Day: Like Father, Like Son and Gnomes and Goblins.

NP: What is the War Remains project?

ES: War Remains is a multi-sensory immersive experience that takes audiences to the Western Front of the First World War. It combines VR with a detailed physical set that includes special haptics, floor rumblers and wind effects, to make people feel as if they’re really there. The familiar voice of legendary podcaster Dan Carlin guides audiences through one at a time as they see history up close — guests can actually reach out and touch the hellish landscape. War Remains is premiering at Tribeca Immersive and coming to more cities soon.

NP: How did Dan Carlin (creator of the popular podcast “Hardcore History”) and MWM Immersive get together to create this project?

ES: Dan Carlin was introduced to MWM early in the company’s formation. When story is at the center of all your content, it doesn’t take long ‘till you start talking about Dan Carlin. We at MWM consider Dan to be one of the most impactful voices of our age — in podcasting or any other medium. We’ve been working on this project with Dan for over two years, with much of the time ensuring Dan’s voice fit perfectly with the visuals and tactile elements. We want people to be totally immersed, so balancing his voice with the rest of the project was critical. Working with the team at Skywalker Sound was a huge part of helping us integrate Dan’s narration into the scenes so you always feel like you’re right in the middle of the action.

NP: How are audio-based storytelling and virtual reality combined in the War Remains experience?

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ES: Bringing Dan’s voice into this experience was the most important element to get right. From day one, we knew audio needed to be a core component of this experience. We needed to balance Dan’s narration with the visceral nature of trench warfare. We worked closely with Dan and the geniuses at Skywalker Sound to make sure War Remains would be as thrilling to hear as it is to see.

Sound can provoke a powerful response in the brain and transport people instantly to a different place, similar to Carlin’s podcast. We want the audio and visuals to combine in a visceral way that makes people forget they’re in a headset.

NP: Why choose to tell a World War I story using VR?

ES: When we first sat down with Dan, we talked about the biggest milestones in history and which ones needed something as immersive as VR to deeply feel and understand.

The First World War changed how wars are fought, and it literally left its mark upon the planet. What soldiers experienced there was unlike anything seen before, and we knew telling this story in an immersive way would allow audiences to better understand this moment in history.

NP: How is the audience participating in the story? What aspects of virtual reality make this experience special?

ES: What’s particularly exciting to me about War Remains is the way it engages all of the senses — audiences can touch the set, feel the floor rumbling and experience the wind on their face. Beyond the tactile elements, VR is an incredible tool for transporting audiences to a different time and place, and take them beyond the black-and-white imagery they may have in their heads when they think of this war. It’s one thing to read about history, where you usually feel like you’re at a safely removed distance — it’s completely different to practically be there and see it for yourself.

We don’t think the audience member plays a specific role or character in this experience. We instead want the viewer to feel as if they are walking through someone’s memory of the war. That is why we use the term, ‘Immersive Memory,’ because we want people to understand not only that people had to go through this experience, but also live with these memories for the rest of their lives.

NP: What do you hope participants take away from the experience?

ES: We think that VR has the power to go further then movies or books in tricking your senses and evoking a sense of presence. If that moment of presence inside War Remains could help people better understand the war and what people went through during this war, we would have been successful.

This war continues to make itself felt across the planet, even all these years later. World War I literally transformed the landscape of Europe and changed modern warfare forever. We hope our project can help audiences better understand this reality.

War Remains runs April 26 — May 4 as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Immersive Program. Tickets are $40 for a 3-hour time slot.

View all of our Tribeca Immersive 2019 coverage.

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