''Circa 1948'' is both a 2014 interactive app for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

devices and an

interactive installation Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

created by Stan Douglas and the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

's Digital Studio in Vancouver, led by

Loc Dao Loc Dao is a Canadian digital media creator who is the chief digital officer (CDO) of the National Film Board of Canada. Dao was named CDO in March 2016, after serving as executive producer and creative technologist for the NFB English-language ...

. The project allows users to virtually explore such former districts and landmarks in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

as Hogan's Alley and the original

Hotel Vancouver The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, formerly and still informally called the Hotel Vancouver, is a historic hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia. Located along West Georgia Street the hotel is situated within the city's Financial District, in Downtow ...

, in the year 1948. ''Circa 1948'' is set in two distinctly different neighbourhoods:

West End, Vancouver The West End is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located between the Coal Harbour neighbourhood and the financial and central business districts of Downtown Vancouver to the east, Stanley Park to the northwest, the Engli ...

, which was a wealthier district, home to many veterans back from the war, and

East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called "East Van" or "the East Side") is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to th ...

, which was, in the words of Douglas, "basically an ethnic slum where the laws of the city had been suspended. There was bootlegging, gambling, prostitution. Even the mayor would go there to party." The project was originally pitched to the NFB as a film noir feature by Douglas and screenwriter

Chris Haddock Chris Haddock is a Canadian screenwriter, producer and director best known as the creator and showrunner of the CBC Television series ''Da Vinci's Inquest'', ''Da Vinci's City Hall'', ''Intelligence'' and ''The Romeo Section''. He has won 14 ...

, but evolved into a non-linear work based on Douglas' expertise in that field as well as that of the NFB's digital studio, which had produced such works as '' Bear 71''. Douglas has also stated that his initial concept had been for site specific installations in Vancouver but the NFB, with its mandate to create works accessible to all Canadians, encouraged him to rethink the project as an app and movable immersive experience. Douglas, who lives in Vancouver, researched the project with maps and photos, which were digitally converted by the NFB into an explorable

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

, using

Autodesk Maya Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya ( ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for interact ...

. Kevin Kerr wrote the narration for the project. Approximately 20 Vancouver-based character actors provided voices.

Release

The app was launched on April 22, 2014, followed one day later by the installation, at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

. The installation premiered in the Greater Vancouver area in the fall of 2015 at the downtown campus of

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

(SFU) from September 18 to October 16, followed by SFU's Surrey campus, from October 27 to November 13.

''Helen Lawrence''

Douglas has also created the play ''Helen Lawrence'', which shares graphics, story and characters with ''Circa 1948''.

References

External links

*
''Circa 1948''
at the

''Hidden Pasts, Digital Futures: Circa 1948''
SFU Woodward's. History of Vancouver 1948 in British Columbia 2010s interactive fiction Installation art works IOS software National Film Board of Canada Virtual reality works Vancouver in fiction Fiction set in 1948 {{mobile-software-stub