Oculus Story Studio was an original animated virtual reality film studio that was a division of

Oculus VR Reality Labs, formerly Oculus VR, is a business and research unit of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as the Qu ...

. The studio was started by Oculus VR to pioneer animated virtual reality filmmaking and educate, inspire, and foster community for filmmakers interested in VR. Story Studio was founded in 2014 by

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

veterans Saschka Unseld and Max Planck, as well as producer

Edward Saatchi Edward Saatchi (born 19 February 1985) is a British businessman and Filmmaking, filmmaker. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of artificial intelligence-powered virtual being company Fable. He was formerly a producer at Oculus Story Studio ...

. The studio was publicly announced and premiered its first film, ''Lost'', at the 2015

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. In 2016 the studio's second film, ''

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

'', won the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for Outstanding Original Interactive Program. Oculus announced in May 2017 that the studio had been closed.

Filmography

The studio produced three films before being shut down.

''Lost''

''Lost'' was the first film released by Oculus Story Studio. Directed by studio Creative Director Saschka Unseld. The film drops viewers in the middle of the woods at night to witness a robot searching for its misplaced hand.

''Henry''

Henry is the second film released by Oculus Story Studio, directed by Ramiro Lopes Dau and narrated by

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

. ''Henry'' is the story of a hedgehog who has trouble making friends. Henry premiered at an event in Hollywood on July 28, 2015. ''Henry'' became the first original VR short to win the Emmy for Outstanding Original Interactive Program.

''Dear Angelica''

The third project from Oculus Story Studio, ''Dear Angelica'', premiered at the

2017 Sundance Film Festival The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016. Awards The following awards were presented: * Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – '' I Don't Feel ...

. The film was directed by Saschka Unseld, produced by

, illustrated by Wesley Allsbrook, and featured music by Drazen Bosnjak and

Sarah Jaffe Sarah Jaffe is an American singer-songwriter from Denton, Texas. Known for her distinctively clear vocals, she has worked as a singer-songwriter across many musical genres, including acoustic-folk, indie pop and hip hop. Early life Jaffe was b ...

. It stars

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Davis made her acting debut in the satirical romantic comedy ''Toots ...

and

Mae Whitman Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actor. She began her career as a child actor, starring in the films '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994), '' One Fine Day'' (1996), ''Independence Day'' (1996), and '' Hope Floats'' (1998), ...

in a "visually splendid and deeply human journey through memory, loss, and the magic of a valorous life." The film was animated entirely with the Oculus Quill, a VR drawing and sculpting application.

References

{{reflist American animation studios Defunct American film studios Virtual reality companies Entertainment companies based in California Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Menlo Park, California Mass media companies established in 2014 Mass media companies disestablished in 2017 2014 establishments in California 2017 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Oculus VR Defunct software companies of the United States