The brainchild of @johngriffithphotography, The Soloist is a VR project which aims to have viewers feel what it’s like to free-solo some of the most iconic mountains on Earth alongside climber, Alex Honnold. Using large form factor VR cameras with complex rigging, John’s goal was to make ‘Freesoloing’ more understandable and more experiential than has ever been achieved before. We wanted the viewer to truly take in the exposure and the tension, something that arguably can only be wholly achieved through Virtual Reality. Having worked with John on a broadcast and BTS spot for Turkish Airlines, as well as a Google 360 Project in Chamonix, we’d always looked for more ways to tell stories in the mountains together. Whilst preparing for his next feature VR documentary ‘The Soloist’ project with Oculus & Meta, John reached out to @expedition.studios to help with a Behind-The-Scenes feature of the process, looking at the state-of-the-art techniques used in VR filmmaking and leaning into our experience telling stories from some of the most iconic places on Earth. “There was one moment where Alex was freesoloing a 5.13a called Desert Gold above Red Rocks in the Desert and although many filmmakers have their skepticism about VR, this one shot where Alex was climbing up the roof with his shadows extending towards the exact point where the camera was hanging down from the roof - casting shadow puppets dancing towards ‘us’, all in this literal 3D space - the sun shining golden beams either side of him from the background - it was a big epiphany for me of how powerful VR can be if you’re in the right place at the right time.” says Director @Renan_ozturk @meta @metaquest @expedition.studios @nicolashojac @james_lucas @korra_pesce @tomasmuellerguide @thenorthface_climb @treefighter #VR #FreeSolo