Experiencing Interruptions?

Upstander

"Upstander" is a 360 animated experience about bullying, and how we can make a difference if we step in. It was created in partnership with the Oculus VR for Good Program and youth charity The Diana Award. The experience uses scale, embodiment, and space to push the boundaries of the medium. Upstander uses backpacks to represent children in a school environment to immerse the audience in the story that defies reality and challenges the participant to think and aspire them take action. How can we be part of the solution and not be part of the problem?

Any proceeds from awards or licensing of Upstander will be donated to the youth charity the Diana Award.

  • Van Phan
    Director
    Values
  • Van Phan
    Writer
    Values
  • Van Phan
    Producer
    Values
  • Amy Seidenwurm
    Producer
  • Averie Timm
    Producer
  • Paula Cuneo
    Producer
  • Lauren Burmaster
    Producer
  • Alex Holmes
    Producer
  • Huan Huynh
    Producer
  • Will Poulter
    Key Cast
    "Narrator "
    Midsommar
  • Prashanth Srinivas
    Key Cast
  • James Powell
    Key Cast
  • Duy Phan
    Key Cast
  • Michael Armando
    Key Cast
  • Lan Phan
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 15, 2020
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    360 Video
  • Aspect Ratio:
    360 Video
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Tribeca Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    April 17, 2020
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • NA
Director Biography - Van Phan

Van Phan is an award-winning filmmaker, designer, animator, and educator, who as worked on projects which went on to win the best of the show at the Venice film festival, and SIGGRAPH. As a refugee escaping from Vietnam, Van's childhood dream job was to become a storyteller through comic books; however, his parents wanted him to pursue a more stable career, so off he went to UCLA. Upon graduating with cum laude honors in Psychology and Business, he worked for Ernst and Young. As Van was crunching numbers as an accountant, he yearned to doodle instead. Fortunately, a chance screening of the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater changed his life. After seeing a computer-animated short created just by one person, Van was inspired and transformed and had an aha moment. He realized he could tell his own stories if he learned emerging technology, which was computer animation at the time. He enrolled at USC and created two award-winning animated shorts.

Two decades later, Van is still passionate about using emerging technology, and this time it is XR and real-time rendering that is allowing him to push the boundaries of storytelling. He will premiere his new 360 films Upstander at the Tribeca Film Festival 2020.

In addition to storytelling, Van also finds purpose as an educator by helping the next generation of storytellers create their own WOW moments. He teaches at various colleges in the San Francisco Bay area. He has a couple of interactive projects that he is in development and is actively looking for collaborators or partners to bring it to life.

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Director Statement

"Upstander" touches on the trauma caused by social, verbal, physical, and cyberbullying. How can we be part of the solution and not the problem? "Upstander" revolves around the periods of a child's school day, recess, class time, and after school and uses backpacks to represent children in a school environment. The bullying begins in a gym where the story unfolds with social isolation. The bullying persists in the classroom with repeated taunts from multiple perpetrators. It escalates into the hallway where the person bullied gets his phone stolen and gets trap in a school locker. In the school locker, the POV shifts, and the participant experience how overwhelming and relentless cyberbullying can feel. It concludes in the gym again, where the bystander has a choice to make. Will they be part of the solutions or part of the problem?

Upstander starts as a conventional linear narrative with extraordinary characters as it uses backpacks to represent characters. Upstander surprise and delight the participant with exploration in timing, scale, space and perspective to take advantage of the medium and defy reality. Changes in POV, camera movement and embodiment support the narrative arc of the experience as well as to explore a new visual language."Upstander" is the first fully animated experience in partnership with the Oculus VR for Good Program and the Diana Award. Any proceeds from awards or licensing of Upstander will be donated to the youth charity the Diana Award.

Bullying is more relevant now then every during COVID-19, as pandemic has escalated racial bullying towards Asians. Van hopes to push the boundaries storytelling further with his next project an interactive experience.