Experiencing Interruptions?

Orthogonal

Orthogonal is a story of two young women from very different, but equally challenging backgrounds. They each break free from the families, traditions and expectations that are holding them back and set out to find themselves. Instead they find one another and discover just how difficult it is to bridge the rift between their divergent worlds.

  • Ollie Rankin
    Director
    Downloaded (VR)
  • Ollie Rankin
    Writer
    Downloaded (VR)
  • Ollie Rankin
    Producer
    Downloaded (VR)
  • Ollie Rankin
    Composer
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Fantasy
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 41 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Shooting Format:
    Unreal Engine
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Best Shorts Competition

    Award of Merit
  • Short to the Point

    Hungary
    December 30, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Oregon Short Film Festival
    Oregon
    United States
    Best Animated Short (Nominee), Best Original Concept (Nominee)
  • Short. Sweet. Film Fest

    United States
    February 24, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Austin Micro Film Festival

    United States
    May 16, 2021
    Best Animated Short (Nominee)
  • Hang on to Your Shorts!

    United States
    Best Animation (Winner)
  • Athens International Film and Video Festival

    October 15, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Phillip K Dick Science Fiction and Supernatural Festival

    Nominee
  • NewBorn Short Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
  • FlickFair
Director Biography - Ollie Rankin

Ollie Rankin is a Kiwi-Canadian who has spent more than two decades pioneering new technology and techniques in filmmaking and virtual reality. From the use of artificial intelligence to choreograph epic battle scenes in the Lord of the Rings and Matrix trilogies, to his recent induction into the Unreal Virtual Production Fellowship. He has a proven ability to balance creativity with pragmatism in the service of highly engaging storytelling.

His ground-breaking interactive VR film Downloaded employed a unique hybrid live action and real-time approach to allow the viewer to become the protagonist, playing alongside a live action character, performed by Tiera Skovbye (Riverdale, Nurses). Downloaded premiered in competition at the Venice Biennale in 2019 and was ranked by Forbes among the top 50 XR works of the year.

Rankin was recently the principal architect of Lost Horizon Festival, the world’s first multi-day, multi-stage music, art and culture festival in virtual reality. Over the course of two days, 10,000 attendees poured into the virtual stages and dancefloors via VR headsets as well as desktop and smartphone apps. The lineup of bands and DJs was a veritable who’s who of the international dance music scene and attracted more than 4.3 million streams views.

Most recently, Rankin has demonstrated his skill in real-time filmmaking and the tools of virtual production, creating the high concept Sci-Fi short, Orthogonal, in Unreal Engine.

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Director Statement

Orthogonal is intended as a poetic commentary on our current cultural milieu. It hints at the way that tribalism and media echo chambers divide us, despite our common humanity.

Yuka and Kayla, the two characters, are similar in very many ways. Yet, for no reason other than where and to whom they happened to be born, they are unable to fully connect.

Orthogonal also reminds us of the importance of adventure. One must be prepared to leave behind the comfortable and familiar, to explore the world and to meet others from different backgrounds. Doing so allows us to more fully appreciate the complexity and diversity of the world as it also forces us to reevaluate our assumptions and biases.

And finally, Orthogonal is also about the way that families and the expectations and traditions that families impose upon us, often prevent or delay us from fulfilling our own destinies. The soundtrack is a song that I wrote and recorded as I myself was finally emerging from under the weight of my father's expectations.