Last week, Neill Blomkamp teased his mysterious new project Oats Studio, a series of experimental short films available exclusively online. The sci-fi themed shorts, ultimately serving as tests for full length feature films, will be released in a series of volumes, with Volume One, coming to Youtube and gaming platform Steam in the coming months, serving as a testing ground to see if there is an audience for them, and if that audience will pay for a Volume Two. The first, official for Volume One has arrived, giving us a real taste of what Blomkamp’s grand experiment has in store for us.
But a series of shorts isn’t just what Oats will be ultimately, with Blomkamp wanting to give fans something more interactive. That’s where Steam comes in. Speaking to Verge, the director elaborated what his plans for Oats actually are:
I needed a place that I could sell short films, and it felt like iTunes or any of the obvious outlets were massively lacking in any other avenues besides the films themselves. In other words: they don’t give users the ability to look at all of the behind the scenes artwork in any real way. The more I thought about that, the more it became, ‘What if the users had access to all of the 3D files that we used for the visual effects?’ If we just gave that away with any one-time purchase and you could render stuff yourself? Or what if we just give away all of the raw footage of one of the pieces, and anyone in the audience could they recut the the entire thing themselves? Stems from all of the music, or voiceovers from the actors; I just wanted to open it up and let people remix it.
For information of Oats Studios, Check out the official website here.
But a series of shorts isn’t just what Oats will be ultimately, with Blomkamp wanting to give fans something more interactive. That’s where Steam comes in. Speaking to Verge, the director elaborated what his plans for Oats actually are:
I needed a place that I could sell short films, and it felt like iTunes or any of the obvious outlets were massively lacking in any other avenues besides the films themselves. In other words: they don’t give users the ability to look at all of the behind the scenes artwork in any real way. The more I thought about that, the more it became, ‘What if the users had access to all of the 3D files that we used for the visual effects?’ If we just gave that away with any one-time purchase and you could render stuff yourself? Or what if we just give away all of the raw footage of one of the pieces, and anyone in the audience could they recut the the entire thing themselves? Stems from all of the music, or voiceovers from the actors; I just wanted to open it up and let people remix it.
For information of Oats Studios, Check out the official website here.
