Virtual Reality
Meta Quest

Micro Monsters with David Attenborough

About Micro Monsters with David Attenborough

Atlantic Productions partnered with Oculus to reveal the hidden lives of bugs in a way never experienced before in virtual reality. Find yourself shrunk down to the size of an insect to be thrown into their thrilling but dangerous world.

Over five episodes, experience the conflicts, courtships, and communities of this micro world. Witness a scorpion and a centipede fight to the death; experience the process of an aphid miraculously cloning itself; and an army of green ants building incredible structures. Narrowly avoid the deadly ambush of a Trapdoor spider and become transfixed by the Portia spider’s deadly musical lullaby. Combining spectacular live-action close-ups with the power of computer graphics, watch a caterpillar’s transformation from inside its cocoon and discover a beetle’s secret chemical weapon.

Behind the Scenes

Produced for the launch of the Quest 2, Micro Monsters brought Oculus users an experience of unparalleled quality. This live-action VR experience can be seen in 8K 3D 60fps, revealing the real-life superpowers of arthropods from a completely unique perspective.

Produced using a combination of specially developed 3D stereoscopic camera rigs, 180° live-action capture, and newly developed VFX compositing techniques, Micro Monsters showcases the best in immersive media production pipelines. Every detail is revealed, for example, the beat of a butterfly wing, through the incredibly high frame rate (60fps) elevated with spatial sound design by 1.618 Digital. This state-of-the-art storytelling is delivered to users thanks to high resolution streaming and caching support on Oculus TV, allowing users to enjoy the incredible stories of Micro Monsters at 8K resolution on the latest Quest headsets. Read Director Elliot Graves and Oculus Immersive Media Lead Eric Cheng discuss how the project production was optimised for VR on the Oculus Blog.

One of the biggest challenges of Micro Monsters was translating the incredible 3D 8K content from flat screen into VR 180 content. This involved a lot of imaginative work extending the set around the arthropods while preserving the 3D. To learn more about how the team worked with Nuke to turn high-quality flat footage into astounding 3D VR, read The Foundry’s interview with director Elliot Graves and VFX producer David Barker.

Credits

Narrator
David Attenborough

Director
Elliot Graves

Executive Producer
Anthony Geffen

Producer
Vianney Comot

Executive Producer (Meta)
Jonathan Gleit

 

Editor
Richard Lester

Sound Design & Spatial Mix
Oliver Kadel (1.618 Digital)

Design Director
Steve McGeorge

Retouch and Motion
Vahakn Vorperian

Creative
Iona McEwan

VFX Producer
David Barker

2D Lead Artist
Tim Baier

3D Lead Artist
Matthew Baker-Jones

CG Supervisor
Bhaumik Patel

Compositing Supervisor
Aleksandra Czenczek

Executive Producer (Meta)
Yelena Rachitsky

Project Manager (Meta)
Elizabeth Malone

AR/VR Legal (Meta)
Andres Carrillo
Shelly McGee